Free Custom «The Power of Reality Television: Cultivated Perceptions» Essay Paper

Methodology

The study mainly focuses on George Gerbener’s cultivation theory and the effects it has on the perceptions of the African American race. This case study focuses more on the perception of African American women and the way reality television influences on how other outside races view them. For this reason, there will be used primary and secondary sources to congregate data for the study. This data will be extremely helpful in understanding the theory and its application to how the media influences the society. Moreover, these sources provide credible information unlike the data provided by other scholars doing similar studies. However, it is extremely vital to note that it is not every secondary source that is credible to use while performing a research. Therefore, for purposes of achieving credibility and quality of the study, there will be utilization of credible sources.

After gathering relevant and credible data relating to the study, the questionnaires and interviews will be used. In this case, since the study entails the evaluation of people’s perceptions, interviews will help in attaining actual information of findings on this study. Additionally, since the study needs direct contact with people, the use of questionnaires and interviews will help access direct contact with people to gain data. Moreover, questionnaires help in attaining a true representation of what is happening, since no names are mentioned. In case of interviews, they help in gauging the emotions of people when answering questions. Therefore, the two, questionnaires and interviews, will be helpful in gaining honest and emotional data for research.

Finally, there will be use of observation in conducting the research. The use of questionnaires, interviews and primary or secondary sources in conducting this research do not provide a real moment in the society. For instance, people may not be aware that they form certain perception towards the African American women due to the influences of reality television. Therefore, using questionnaires, interviews and other sources may not provide this information. For this reason, the use of observation to study different perceptions other races have towards African American women will help in gathering the unspoken or the obscure information. Henceforth, the application of observation will provide more data that will result to a concrete conclusion.

Materials

Primary Sources

The first primary source materials to use in this study are books. In order to come up with the basis or the background information to understand cultivation theory, there will be application of books. For this reason, it is extremely valuable to select credible books for the purpose of enhancing the quality in the study. Secondly, the books will also be utilized in the research, to establish the effects of media on the society. Thirdly, in the study, these books provide a basis of understanding different perceptions the society forms towards a certain issues on television. Therefore, the use of books in this study helps in adding value because of the credible and detailed information they contain. Moreover, the books will provide definitions of different terms to be applied in this study.

Secondary Sources

The other materials the study will use are secondary sources. The first secondary sources to be used are scholarly articles. The main aim of using scholarly articles in this study is to evaluate research findings of other researchers doing similar studies to come up with a solid conclusion. Additionally, the study is going to use scholarly articles due to their credibility. This is because scholarly articles are done by researchers who have skills and experience in this study. Finally, scholarly articles provided the research with a true representation of what is happening in the ground. Moreover, scholarly articles provide the study with reality. For this reason, scholarly articles are extremely crucial since they provide evidence to support the results or findings of the study.

Finally, the internet is another secondary source material to be applied in this research. Presently, due to technological advancements, many people and organizations are using the internet to post their work. In addition, many people and organizations are posting their current work on the web before publishing information on print sources. Therefore, for purposes of conducting a current study, there will be exploitation of web sources to gather valuable data critical to the study. This is because, in comparison with the past, the present social behavior of society is extremely different. Henceforth, the use of web sources will eradicate uncertainties created by past sources like books. However, since the web does not have restrictions, there is the existence of irrelevant information. For this reason, it is critical to evaluate the credible sources from the irrelevant sources. Therefore, there will be application of credible sources from the internet to gather data for the purpose of coming up with excellent findings.

Questionnaires, Interviews Notes and Observation Notes

First, there will be use of questionnaires as materials in this study. This is because the questionnaires will contain crucial information about the study. In this case, the use of questionnaires as materials for the study will help in capitalizing field information of the topic. Second, interview notes will be excellent materials for this study. Similarly to the questionnaires, interview notes will provide realistic data that might contain emotional observation of the study group. Finally, observation notes will be a valuable material for the study. This is because observation notes will provide the study with emotional information in relation to the perception of African American women by other races due to the influence of reality television.

Sample Size

A sample size is another valuable aspect useful in this research. This is because the research is a quantitative study trying to establish the perception other races have towards African American women due to the influence of reality television. In this case, a wrong study sample size can lead to inaccurate conclusion. Additionally, it will be wrong to use a large sample size because it will be extremely expensive and difficult to manage. For this reason, it will be crucial to derive an appropriate sample. First, the study requires participants from other races. These races include Asians, Latinos, Arabs and whites. Additionally, certain participants will be required for the interviews while other participants will be required to participate in answering questionnaires. Therefore, the study will require a considerable sample size for purposes of efficiency and accurate information.

Therefore, this study will employ quota sampling due to the characteristics and nature of the study (Kothari, 2009). In this case, this study is not complex since it focuses on a social study of a certain community in the environment. Moreover, participants are not going to be selected at random because the participants selected must represent the different races. Random selection might lead to choosing many participants from one race (Kothari, 2009). The next step of establishing a sample size is calculating a convenient sample size. In this situation, there will be application of sample size table to select an efficient sample size. The population of the society is approximately one thousand. For this reason, in the study, a confidence level of ninety five percent and a margin of error of five percent will be applied. Henceforth, according to the sample size table, the sample size will be two hundred and seventy eight (Research Advisors, 2012).

Data Collection and Analysis

After establishing the materials and the different methods to be used in this study, it is valuable to plan the process to use when collecting and analyzing data. This process is extremely crucial because it helps in acquiring relevant information useful in coming up with recommendations and conclusions. For this reason, if not properly applied, it can be disastrous, leading to biases or irrelevant information. In this case, an excellent data collection and analysis strategy depends on whether the strategy will answer the research questions or prove the hypothesis. For this reason, there will be application of three strategies that will help in collecting data to answer the hypothesis question.

The first strategy is the use of primary and secondary sources. In this case, the school and local libraries will be the main point of accessing primary sources while the website will provide an access to the secondary sources. This is where data will be collected from the books. It is critical to collect data from credible sources. Therefore, books written by psychologist from a recognized institution will be credible. The data collected from these books, and the web will be analyzed being based on the research. In this case, data collected from these books will be sorted in terms of definitions applicable to the study and background information of the study. The other strategy of analyzing this data is evaluating information to figure out the surprises the study might experience. This will reduce any challenges in the event of performing interviews or issuing questionnaires.

Another strategy is the use of interviews and questionnaires. In this case, using the data collected from the primary and secondary sources, there will be preparation of questions to form the questionnaire. The questions will aim at answering whether reality television influences the perception other races have towards the African American women. In addition, questions to data collection for the study will be formulated to be used in interviews. In this situation, the two hundred and seventy eight sample size will be divided into two categories of one hundred and thirty participants each. The first category will participate in answering questionnaires while the second category will participate in answering the interview. These categories will then be separated into four subcategories to cater for different races. This is where three subcategories will have thirty five participants and one subcategory will have thirty six participants. This is needed for purposes of reducing biases and inequalities of the information collected. The strategy to analyze this information will be the use of statistical methods. This is where there will be used tables, charts and graphs to analyze the data. These statistical methods will decipher the data collected in small portions to provide detailed information that will answer the research questions or prove the research hypothesis.

The last strategy for data collection in this study is the use of observation. In this case, critical notes relating to the study will be collected. In order to come up with quality information, different people of different races will be observed for a period of two weeks to establish whether reality television influences their perception on African American women. It would be effective to analyze those people who watch television and those who do not watch television. This information will be recorded and analyzed to answer the research questions together with other data collected.

Implications for Future Study

Therefore, assuming that the research will prove the hypothesis, it will have a few implications for future study. First, the researchers should evaluate the reality shows that affect people’s perceptions. The second implication is to study whether other television programs affect the perception of people. Finally, researchers should study to establish whether other media tools have the same effect.