Method
Procedure and sample . A random‑digit‑dialing telephone survey was
conducted in Spring 1991 among adults living off‑campus in a university
town in the Midwest. Out of the 813 valid attempts (excluding business
numbers and no answers), there were 615 completions and 198 refusals,
for a 75.6% completion rate. The sample was 45.1% male and ranged in
age from 17 ‑ 93 (M = 36.27, SD = 17.01). The average
respondent had completed 14.45 years of education (ranging from 8 ‑ 20
years, SD = 2.45). Hollingshead’s two‑factor social position
index (Miller, 1983) measured occupational level (lower scores reflect
higher occupational levels) and ranged from 11 ‑ 73 (M = 46.50,SD = 18.52).
Television exposure . Respondents indicated how many hours they
viewed ”yesterday” and ”on a typical day.” Averaged television exposure
ranged from 0 to 17 hours a day (M = 2.98, SD = 2.24).
New technology use . Because the focus of this second study was on
the impact of new television technology use and channel repertoire on
cultivation effects of television, we considered six media use variables
in this study: Cable subscription, VCR ownership, RCD ownership, channel
changing, and two types of channel repertoire.
Of the sample, 68.7% subscribed to cable television (comparable to
national figures of 59%). More than three‑quarters of the sample
(76.9%) had access to a VCR where they lived (comparable to the
national average of 73%). Of the sample, 73.5% had access to a RCD
where they lived (once again, comparable to the national average of
77%).
Channel repertoire (CR) is defined as the number of channels that a
respondent typically watches (Heeter, 1985; Ferguson, 1992a). For this
study, we created two CR measures. Broadcast channel repertoire (BCR)
was defined as the sum of the broadcast channels and the cable channels
that are nearly identical to broadcast channels for which at least some
response (in hours) was given using unaided recall (Ferguson, 1992a;
Ferguson & Perse, 1992). These included network affiliates, independent
stations, superstations (e.g., WTBS), and cable networks (e.g., USA
Network). Broadcast channel repertoire represents exposure to channels
that offer much the same content as network programming (”more of the
same”). Broadcast channel repertoire had a possible range of 0 to 9
channels, given the capacity of the only cable system in the sampling
area during the survey. Broadcast channel repertoire ranged from 0 ‑ 8
channels (M = 3.59, SD = 1.22).
Cable channel repertoire (CCR), on the other hand, was operationalized
as the sum of all cable networks for which at least some response (in
hours) was given using unaided recall (Ferguson, 1992a; Ferguson &
Perse, 1992). Cable channel repertoire reflects exposure to channels
that offer more specialized content that differs from network
programming (e.g., FNN, The Weather Channel, CNN, MTV, etc.). The
possible range was from 0 to 31 channels, given the capacity of the only
cable system in the sampling area during the survey. Cable channel
repertoire ranged from 0 ‑ 20 (M = 2.76, SD = 2.36).
Channel changing . Ferguson (1992b) reported on the unreliability
of asking respondents to indicate how many times per hour they change
channels. Such mundane behavior is difficult to recall precisely.
Instead, respondents with RCDs described their frequency (1 = never, 2 =
seldom, 3 = often, 4 = very often) to the question ”How often do you
flip channels?” The mean score was 2.37 (SD = 0.81).
Cultivation measures . Respondents indicated their agreement
(1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree) with three statements about
their fear of crime and three statements concerning interpersonal
mistrust.3 These items were drawn from earlier
cultivation analyses (Gerbner et al., 1978; Gerbner et al., 1979). Item
responses were summed to create scale scores. Fear scores ranged from
3 ‑ 12 (M = 7.62, SD = 1.80, alpha = .78). Mistrust scores
ranged from 3 ‑ 12 (M = 7.06, SD = 1.15, alpha = .60).
Statistical analysis . There were two stages to data analysis.
First, Pearson correlations were computed to explore the bivariate
relationships between the variables of study. Then, hierarchical
multiple regression was used to test the hypotheses of the study. In all
cases, demographics were entered on the first step to control for any
variance they might contribute to the equation. Television exposure was
entered on the second step, followed by the new technology use variables
entered on the third step.