Understanding Audiences
Theory and Method
First Edition
- Andy Ruddock - Monash University, Australia
March 2001 | 208 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
The history of audience research tells us that the relationship between the media and viewers, readers and listeners is complex and requires multiple methods of analysis. In Understanding Audiences, Andy Ruddock introduces students to the range of quantitative and qualitative methods and invites his readers to consider the merits of both. Understanding Audiences: demonstrates how - practically - to investigate media power; places audience research - from early mass communication models to cultural studies approaches - in their historical and epistemological context, explores the relationship between theory and method; concludes with a consideration of the long-running debate on media effects; includes exercises which invite readers to engage with the practical difficulties of conducting social research.
Introduction
Questions of Theory and Method
Media Effects
Media and Public Opinion
Cultivation Analysis
Cultural Studies and Audience Research
Audiences, Media and Consumption
Conclusion