Chapter 3: Research Proposal
My research proposal is concerned with the design and methodology that I have used in my qualitative research dealing with the effects of viewing television and its possible behavior modification capabilities (Buzzell, 1998; Miles, 1997; Greto, 1999; Heally, 1990). This study focuses on increasing our understanding of the potential for societal and individual behavior modifications that could result from the involuntary ingestion of visual cues and thematic messages carried through digitized visual media (Bauder, 1998; Gerbner, 19950. The questions that are studied throughout the following research are as follows:
-In our society, what habits have evolved into becoming part of a daily routine that includes television and computers?
-In what ways have television and computers affected communication between people in our society?
-Are there certain conditions that may increase or decrease the potential for behavior modification in an individual when using a computer or television?
-What technological advances increase the potential for subverting individual thought?
The review of literature in Chapter 2 has provided a historical perspective to the developing philosophy that has guided my research into the possible effects on television viewing as it concerns the individual, the child and society in general. Documentation concerning various theories that support a concerted effort to manipulate societal behavior has also been presented within the literature review.
Limitations to this study were mainly due to time factors. Since the research of literature pointed to various gaps in correlative data that would support my premise of the increased potential of behavior modification due to the combination of newly developed technological advances in media, I decided to focus my own study on trying to fill in some of the identified gaps. The information that I needed to find is so new, and so volatile, that there has not been much written and published that combines the necessary factors. This, in itself, is both a limitation and a perfect challenge for a researcher. The following questions fuels the research:
-How is television a tool for corporate goal attainment? Why?
-Why does society exhibit so many signs of denial (Hunter, 1958; Mander, 1991) when confronted with the negative effects of television?
-Why are we not asking "why?' when told that violent programming is on the rise (Clinton, 1996; Murray, 1999) in visual media?
-What are we not questioning? Is there a 'smokescreen' being put up to keep us from looking further into what television really is?
-Who would benefit from such research? Who would not want such research pursued?
-Does violent programming do more than increase violent behaviors (Everett, 1997; Johnson, 1999;Murray, 1999) in some people? What does it do? Who would benefit if our society had a perception of an increase in overall violence occurring around us? Why?
-How is/could TV and the media contain our society's outcry by manipulating the problems and channeling the discussion? Why?
These questions were introduced in Chapter 1 of this study and literature that was related to these questions was explored in Chapter 2. They have remained as a focal point to every step that I took in my data collection and analysis and continue to be explored in depth throughout Chapters 4 and 5.