JMC 614: MASS MEDIA AND PUBLIC OPINION (SPRING 2011)
Meeting time and place: TR 12:30-1:45, TBA
Professor: Paul Brewer
Office Hours: Johnston 126, TBA
Phone: 229-5376
E-mail:
This course has three goals. The first is to prepare students to be informed and critical consumers of polls and media coverage of them. The second is to introduce students to basic theories and findings regarding mass media influence on public opinion. The third is to provide students with firsthand experience in conducting and writing about public opinion research.
We will begin by exploringthe most common method for studying public opinion: polling. We will discuss how to (and how not to) design and conduct polls, as well as how to find and interpret poll results. We will also discuss the ways in which politicians and journalists use (and misuse) polls and consider the results of some recent public opinion polls. The first part of the course will conclude with a look at survey-based and experimental studies of media effects on public opinion.
The second part of the course will revolve around a class research project. Each student will be responsible for conducting and writing about part of this project. Along the way, we will discuss how the research process works and how to write a research paper.
Course requirements and grading
Survey design project10%
Survey interview paper10%
Midterm exam25%
Completed questionnaires for class project10%
Data file for completed questionnaires5%
Research paper40%
Survey design project
For this assignment, students will be required to design a brief survey questionnaire and write a three-page (typed, double-spaced) paper in which they explain the logic behind their survey design. A detailed version of this assignment will be given on January 27. The assignment will be due on February 8.
Survey interview paper
For this assignment, students will be required to interview a person and write a three-page (typed, double-spaced) paper in which they present and interpret their findings. A detailed version of this assignment will be given on February 15. The assignment will be due on February 24.
Midterm exam
Students will take this exam onMarch 17. It will cover the readings and lectures from the first half of the course and will consist of short answer questions and essay questions.
Completed questionnaires and data file for class project
For the class project, each student will be required to administer a questionnaire to 20 respondents and submit the completed questionnaires. Students will also be required to enter the results from their questionnaires into an Excel file. The completed questionnaires and data file will be due on May 3.
Research paper
Students will be required to write a paper (about 12 typed, double-spaced pages) that (1) introduces the topic that the class project addresses, (2) reviews previous research related to the topic, (3) presents research questions and/or hypotheses, (4) describes the project’s research design, (5) presents findings from the student’s own portion of the project, and (6) draws conclusions from those findings. This paper will be due on May 12.
Late work
Assignments will due in class on the indicated due date. Assignments will receive a letter grade deduction for each day that they are late.
University policies
1.Students with disabilities:Students who need accommodations in order to meet any of the requirements of this course should contact the instructor as soon as possible.
2. Religious observances:Students will be permitted to make up assignments when (a) There is a scheduling conflict between the student’s sincerely held religious beliefs and taking the examination or meeting the academic requirements; b) The student has notified the instructor, within the first three weeks of the beginning of classes of the specific days or dates on which he or she will request relief from an examination or academic requirement.
3. Incompletes:A notation of “incomplete” may be given in lieu of a final grade to a student who has carried a subject successfully until the end of a semester but who, because of illness or other unusual and substantiated cause beyond the student’s control, has been unable to take or complete the final examination or to complete some limited amount of term work.
4.Discriminatory conduct (such as sexual harassment): The University will not tolerate discriminatory conduct. It poisons the work and learning environment of the University and threatens the careers, educational experience, and well-being of students, faculty, and staff.
5.Academic misconduct: Cheating on exams or plagiarism are violations of the academic honor code and carry severe sanctions, including failing a course or even suspension or dismissal from the University.
6.Complaint procedures: Students may direct complaints to the head of the academic unit or department in which the complaint occurs. If the complaint allegedly violates a specific university policy, it may be directed to the head of the department or academic unit in which the complaint occurred or to the appropriate university office responsible for enforcing the policy.
7.Grade appeal procedures: A student may appeal a grade on the grounds that it is based on a capricious or arbitrary decision of the course instructor. Such an appeal shall follow the established procedures adopted by the department, college, or school in which the course resides or in the case of graduate students, the GraduateSchool. These procedures are available in writing from the respective department chairperson or the Academic Dean of the College/School.
For further information about university policies, please see the Secretary of the University’s Web site (
Readings
All of the following books are required.
Asher, H. (2007). Polling and the public: What every citizen should know (7th ed.). Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly Press.
Iyengar, S., & Kinder, D. R. (2010). News that matters: Television and American opinion (Updated ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Additional required readings will be available online, through e-reserve, or in a course reader.
Read all assignments in advance so that we may discuss them in class. Do not accept their arguments uncritically, however. Keep in mind that there will be test questions about the readings.
COURSE TOPICS AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
Jan. 25Introduction
Part I: Studying public opinion
Jan. 27Public opinion polls
Read: Asher, Ch.1
Feb. 1 How to conduct a poll: Questionnaire design
Read: Asher, Chs.2-3
Feb. 3How to conduct a poll: Sampling and interviewing
Read: Asher, Chs.4-5
Feb. 8Analyzing and interpreting poll results
Read: Asher, Ch.8
Survey design project due
Feb. 10Polls and the media
Read: Asher, Ch.6
Feb. 15Polls and democracy
Read: Asher, Chs.7, 9
Feb. 17Studying the public’s news habits and attitudes
Read:Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. (2010). Americans spending more time watching the news. (Overview, Sections 1-5) [
Feb. 22Public opinion about politics
Read:TO BE ANNOUNCED
Feb. 24Public opinion about science
Read:Pew Research Center for the People and the Press. (2010). Public praises science; scientists fault media, public. (Chs.1-7) [
Survey interview paper due
Mar. 1Media effects on public opinion: Television and cultivation
Read: Stossel, S. (1997). The man who counts the killings. Atlantic Monthly, 5, 86-104. [
Mar. 3Media effects on public opinion: Specific television programs and cultivation
Read: Quick, B. L. (2009). The effects of viewing Grey’s Anatomy on perceptions of doctors and patient satisfaction. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53, 38-55.
Mar. 8Media effects on public opinion: Television news and agenda-setting
Read: Iyengar & Kinder, Chs.1-4, 6
Mar. 10Media effects on public opinion: Television news and priming
Read: Iyengar & Kinder, Chs.7, 12, Epilogue
Mar.15Media effects on public opinion: The CSI effect
Read: Brewer, P. R., & Ley, B. L. (2010). Media use and public perceptions of DNA evidence. Science Communication, 32, 93-117.
Mar. 17Midterm exam
Mar. 22Spring break
Mar. 24Spring break
Part II: A public opinion research project
Mar. 29Selecting the topic
Read: Lyons, L. (2005). One-third of Americans believe dearly departed may not have departed. [
Read: Nisbet, M. (2006). Cultural indicators of the paranormal. [
Read: Wilcox, L. (2010, June 20).The haunted: The debate about whether ghosts exist will never be settled, but for paranormal investigator John Warfield, it’s all about the search for proof. Washington Post. [
Mar. 31Reading the literature, part I
Read: Sparks, G. G., Nelson, C. L., & Campbell, R. G. (1997). The relationship between exposure to televised messages about paranormal phenomena paranormal beliefs. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 41, 345-359.
Read: Sparks, G. G., & Miller, W. (2001). Investigating the relationship between exposure to television programs that depict paranormal phenomena and beliefs in the paranormal. Communication Monographs, 68, 98-113.
Apr. 5Reading the literature, part II
Read: Sparks, G. G., & Pellechia, M. (1997). The effect of news stories about UFOs on readers’ UFO beliefs: The role of confirming or disconfirming testimony from a scientist. Communication Reports, 10, 165-172.
Read: Sparks, G. G., Pellechia, M., & Irvine, C. (1998). Does television news about UFOs affect viewers’ UFO beliefs?: An experimental investigation. Communication Quarterly, 46, 284-294.
Apr. 7Developing research questions and hypotheses
Apr. 12Designing the survey
Apr. 14Conducting the survey, part I
Apr. 19Conducting the survey, part II
Apr. 21Turning the data into usable form
Apr. 26Analyzing the data
Apr. 28Writing the literature review (including citations and references)
May 3Writing the methods section
Completed questionnaires and data file due
May 5Writing the results section (including tables and figures)
May 10Writing the introduction and conclusion
May 12Discussing the findings
Final paper due