Effective use of oral history in the media

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Problem Statement
Background. Case Study
Literature Review
Methodology
Summary Of The Research Data
Works Cited

Introduction

Educating members of a community using oral history calls for presenting the narrative in a manner that facilitates insight since oral history is sensitive enough to be interpreted differently by the audience. Despite the fact that technology has influenced the modern journalists to focusing on the technological aspect of the media, the journalists should also note that social issues related to communication are equally important.

Thus, the procedures used by journalists while presenting oral history through the media can affect the perception of the oral history to the subsequent generations (Carey 32).This raises the key question: can effective use of oral history in the media be achieved through a clear understanding on how the modern society interprets the intended message?

Problem Statement

A majority of the modern journalists believe that effective oral history in the media can be achieved through technology advancement. It is believed that oral history in the media, however, is a powerful tool that aids in passing specific cultural values, customs, and beliefs from one generation to the subsequent ones.

Nevertheless, oral history in the media has received mixed perception, as some psychological and cultural studies have already demonstrated that oral history yields to minimum effects on the society, and therefore the current generation as well as the subsequent generations cannot emulate its teachings (Eadie 47).

Background. Case Study

Journalists have endeavored to portray how education was perceived as a tool that created an avenue for the African American to achieve equal social as well as economic status with their white counterparts.

The journalists normally do this by using oral history that narrates a collaboration of African American community activists in a bid to liberate the African American from racial segregation that played role in the education system, among other areas.

Contrary to the psychological and cultural value models, the journalists believe that oral history reveals the advantages associated with it in a number of ways.

One of the major roles that the oral history has played is demonstrating how the African American people have turned their dreams to reality, which were envisioned by the fore leaders, including Martin Luther King and Malcolm X (Hall 229). Thus, this case study prompts the media communication researchers to find out effective ways of using oral history in liberating the minds of African American of this generation.

Literature Review

The media communication discipline affirms that a number of ancestries can be used in outlining the modern communication theory. Communication theory started in the 1940s with adopting of the transmissional model, which was also known as the injection model (Eadie 47). This model alleged that information conveyed by the media is effectively conveyed to the listeners with its intended meaning.

This notion was also supported by the Marxist theory, which holds the view that media communication is in itself an effective communication strategy in communicating oral history. With regard to conveying the intended information, this theory was compared to a powerful drug that had the capacity of influencing positive behavioral change through a change of audience attitude.

However, in 1960s, the transmissional model was found to be questionable since the media communication researchers came to the attention that the audience does not receive the intended message from the oral history appropriately (Eadie 48). This was attributed to limited effects that encompassed low rate of attitude as well as behavioral changes.

This gave rise to more questions from psychologists’ discipline, which explained that people’s perceptions and behaviors could be negatively influenced by a conflict of cognition emanating from oral history, as they can interpret the intended information in a different manner or even discard the information since it may necessitate other obligations that are uncalled for (49).

More so, cultural studies conducted in 1970s to 1980s came up with views from audience, which revealed that oral history has no effect on the audience (Eadie 49).

This therefore necessitated the need of coming up with other media communication theories, which came into place in the 1990s in order to ensure that information brought forth by the media is authentic. However, lack of clear understanding of whether using oral history in the media contributes to positive effects on the audience leaves a gap for more investigation.

Methodology

Purpose of the Study

By using supported inferences and substantiated claims, this study aims at finding out how the journalists should engage themselves in handling oral history through the media in order to benefit the members of the society.

Despite the opposition from the psychological and cultural value models, this research study will be based on media communication models in order to ascertain the role of communicating oral history through the media on a journalism point of view.

This will also provide the journalists with a suitable avenue for becoming skillful in dealing with complex issues pertaining to oral history. Thus, the study will answer whether effective application of oral history in the media can be achieved through a clear understanding on how the modern society interprets the intended message.

Design of the Study

The study will use both quantitative and qualitative designs, with a set of dependent and independent variables.

The dependent variable will include participants’ attitude on the use of oral history in the media and the knowledge of interpreting oral history in the media; the independent variable will include the media communication strategy used in the oral history, and the demographic variables will include age and race/ethnic group of the participants.

The validity and the reliability of this design study will be carefully identified in order to ascertain that the study holds a clear objective in answering the research question.

The study will be conducted for a period of 5 weeks, and several measures and observations will be taken at various points of the study in order to assess the impact of the study on short-term as well as on long-term basis. The qualitative measures will emanate from textbooks as well as journal articles that are grounded with media communication theories.

The quantitative measures, on the other hand, will emanate from a sample size of African American population as well as other racial/ethnic groups. The study will be designed in such a way that it provides an effective analysis of the content in the textbooks and journals, as well as provide significant results of data obtained from the ethnography study.

Sample

The sample for the qualitative study necessitated the need of selecting high quality primary and secondary sources for media communication. These sources provided the study with information regarding communication on oral history from the onset of media communication models.

The selection was done in a manner that interconnects all the historical information of the communication models; thus, it facilitated an effective analysis since it created room for understanding communication of oral history in the media from its onset.

The sample for quantitative study, on the other hand, necessitated a selection of a sample size of 1,500 participants, who were taken out of more than 2,000 applicants living across the United States. After selecting this sample size from all race/ethnic groups, the researcher described in details to the participants on the kind of study they will undergo.

This was followed by ensuring them that the media research ethics, including anonymity of confidential information will be observed. All the 1,500 participants were contented with observation of the media research ethics; hence, this study was characterized by content validity. Content validity is defined as the extent to which a device represents the content of interest of the participants (Pedhazur and Liora 79).

In addition, the sample size for quantitative design was based on probability-based sampling in order to ensure that participants from all parts of the country were equally represented. However, the applicants who lacked normal communication behavior, including the deaf and the dump were excluded from the study since the study involved learning from oral history through the media without the use of sign language.

More so, the study eliminated the participants who exceeded the age of 45 years since the context of the oral history was based on motivating young African American towards educational goal through the media.

This exclusion criterion helped to improve the internal consistency of the study. Internal consistency is the degree at which the items that make up the scale are all measuring the same underlying attribute (Pedhazur and Liora 81).

Procedure and Data Collection

The procedure and data collection method used for the content analysis was carried out by determining the scope of the research and then defining the extent to which oral history in the media can be utilized in educating the public.

This was followed by determining the evidence that demonstrates the challenges facing the use of oral history in the media. Finally, the researcher organized the ideas collected from the textbooks as well as from the journals articles. These ideas worked as the basis for coming up with the questionnaire that was used in the ethnography study.

The participants were then provided with the questionnaire after they were assured of their anonymity rights. The questionnaire was divided into two parts. The first part aimed at assessing the participants’ attitude and knowledge towards oral history in the media. The second part of the questionnaire involved collecting data from participants after watching an oral history through the video.

In order to increase the validity of the study, the questionnaire was designed in a manner that accommodated various responses from the participants (Pedhazur and Liora 85). The assessment of the participants’ attitudes’ was also based on observing the verbal cues of the participants as they watched the oral narrative through the video.

Assessing the participants’ attitude and knowledge towards oral history before watching the video helped the researcher to make a cross comparison with the results obtained after watching the oral history from the video; hence, the researcher was able to establish the impact of utilizing oral history in educating the public.

More so, providing the participants with questionnaire after watching the oral history through the video was imperative since the researchers could have misinterpreted some of the verbal cues portrayed by the participants. Hence, the questionnaire provided clarity on the non-verbal cues portrayed by the participants as they watched the oral narrative through the video.

Data Analysis and Results

The statistical data was analyzed using statistical software known as the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS), and the findings were presented in form of percentages.

This package was used to obtain the mean and standard deviation that helped the researcher to assess the difference in attitude and knowledge between the African American and the other racial/ethnic groups represented in the study. Bi-variate analysis was used to establish the correlation between communication style and interpretation of the message derived from the oral history in the media.

The results of the study proved to be significant, as the study revealed an alpha level of.0.02. According to the research findings, 65 % of the African American believed that the use of many vocal non-fluencies influence negative interpretation of the intended message as opposed to 46 % of participants from other ethnic/racial groups.

This was also evident through the data collected by observation, as majority of African American showed negative nonverbal cues while listening to the oral history through the video. 34 % of the African American believed that there are diverse advantages associated with using oral history in educating the public as opposed to 58% of the other ethnic/racial groups.

Limitation

Even though the researcher attempted to control the independent variables of the study by employing user-friendly language that encouraged the participants to smile at various points, the research study was still found to be wanting since some respondents proved to be unresponsive.

This could be attributed by the fact that the topic under discussion was based on racial/ethnic ground, which is a sensitive area of research since some responses could seem as hate speech.

Summary Of The Research Data

This research focuses on oral history in the media by putting much emphasis on social aspect of communication rather than the technological aspect of communication. This research shows that the advantages associated with oral history in the media can only be experienced if the target group is able to interpret the intended message appropriately.

According to this study, a high number of the African American ethnic group expressed a negative attitude towards much of vocal non-fluencies than the other racial/ethnic groups. This was attributed to the fact that this oral history is aimed at inspiring the African American ethnic group, and hence much vocal non-fluencies can affect them more than the untargeted group.

Contrary to the other race/ethnic groups, a higher percentage of African American believed that oral history in the media lacks substantial benefits. This was attributed to having much expectation from the oral history than the untargeted group. Thus, substantial benefits can only be achieved by engaging the target group with subjects that trigger their mind and making them to process the data under discussion (Carey 73).

In addition to this, using oral history through video shows that the target group seeks for more empathy than the non target group , whereby the targeted group can only get a clear understanding of the message by demonstrating more emotional and intellectual intelligence emanating from the motivation of the content.

Since this study used a large sample size, the results of this study can be generalized that oral history in the media can yield to substantial benefits to the target ethnic or cultural group if a clear understanding on how the modern society interprets the messages is realized by the journalists.

Works Cited

Carey, James. Communication As Culture: Essays on Media and Society. London: Routledge, 2008. Print.

Eadie, William F. 21st Century Communication: A Reference Handbook. Los Angeles: Sage, 2009. Print.

Hall, Timothy L. American Religious Leaders. New York: Facts On File, 2003. Print.

Pedhazur, Elazar J, and Liora P. Schmelkin. Measurement, Design, and Analysis: An Integrated Approach (4^th ed.). Hillsdale, N.J: L. Erlbaum, 2002. Print.

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