Changes in Public Attitudes: A Comparison of Content Analysis of Media and Survey Results

在20世纪40年代中期，民意调查开始收集美国种族态度的趋势数据。然而，没有调查数据或其他可靠的证据来回答关于1940年代中期以前态度的问题。这项研究将通过完成1930年至1946年的报纸和期刊的系统内容分析来解决这个问题-后者是第一年，即使是最小的全国趋势调查数据成为白色种族态度。调查人员已经开发了一套广泛的类别，并使用这些来分析约35年来报纸文章的随机样本，以确定发生了什么变化，如果有的话，反映或影响了白色种族态度。第二个研究目标是研究从1946年到20世纪60年代中期的态度。与1930年至1946年的早期不同，这些年来有重复的全国性调查，内容分析的结果可以与之进行比较。这使得研究者能够间接地分离出分析报纸文本有助于理解1930年至1946年早期态度变化的程度。最初的研究结果提供了有希望的证据相当大的变化：例如，报纸文章的上下文分析产生了一个统计上可靠的增加的故事，黑人的成就，而不是报告的指控黑人犯罪。这项研究将严格审查其他发生变化的领域，包括对两性平等态度的转变，并继续制定方法，使人们能够确定对报纸文章内容分析的结果与同期全国调查的结果之间的联系。更广泛的影响这项研究有可能增加对大萧条和第二次世界大战期间少数民族态度的理解。这项研究还将有助于评估大众媒体内容分析在查明公众态度趋势方面的价值，从而补充和补充从抽样调查中获得的证据。试图系统地比较两种截然不同的社会科学数据，应有助于深入了解每种数据的优点和局限性，并有助于了解内容分析是否以及如何在没有可靠的调查数据或由于局限性（例如，答复率低）而受到怀疑时揭示态度。研究结果将通过跨学科界限的演讲和文章传播，达到历史学家，社会学家，通信研究人员和其他人，从而增加跨学科的沟通和认识。此外，对内容分析和调查数据的结果进行系统比较，可能对社会科学研究方法的研究生和本科生有价值，对一般研究社会变化和具体研究对不同类型人权的态度的人也有意义。

In the mid-1940s, public opinion surveys began to gather trend data on racial attitudes in America. There, however, is no survey data or other reliable evidence to answer questions about attitudes prior to the mid-1940s. This study will address this by completing a systematic content analysis of newspapers and periodicals from 1930 until 1946 - the latter date the first year when even minimal national trend survey data became available on white racial attitudes. The investigator has developed an extensive set of categories and has used these to analyze a random sample of newspaper articles newspapers over some 35 years in order to determine what, if any, changes occurred that reflected or influenced white racial attitudes. A second research goal is to study attitudes in the years from 1946 to the mid 1960s. For these years, unlike the earlier 1930 to 1946 period, there are repeated national surveys to which the results of the content analysis can be compared. This enables the investigator to indirectly isolate the extent to which analyzing newspaper texts can contribute to understanding changes in attitudes between the earlier 1930 to 1946 period. Initial findings provide promising evidence of considerable change: for example, the context analysis of newspaper articles yielded a statistically reliable increase in the stories about black accomplishments as against reports of alleged black crimes. This study will examine critically other areas in which change has occurred, including shifts in attitudes about gender equality, and continue to develop the methodology that allows one to determine the association of findings from content analyses of newspaper articles and those based on available national surveys over the same period. Broader ImpactThe research has the potential to increase understanding of attitudes toward minorities during the Depression and World War II years. The research will also help to assess the value of content analysis of mass media in identifying attitudinal trends among the general public, thus complementing and supplementing the evidence obtained from sample surveys. The attempt to compare systematically two very different types of social science data should yield insights into the advantages and limitations of each, and contribute to an understanding of whether and how content analysis can shed light on attitudes when trustworthy survey data are not available or are suspect because of limitations (for example, low response rates). The results of the research will be disseminated through presentations and articles that cross disciplinary boundaries, reaching historians, sociologists, communications researchers, and others, and therefore adding to cross-disciplinary communication and awareness. In addition, the systematic comparison of findings from content analysis and survey data has the potential to be of value to graduate and undergraduate students of social science research methods, and to be of interest both to those studying social change generally and attitudes about different types of human rights, specifically.