My second piece of material is the ‘Uses and Gratifications model’ of media effects, studied by McQuail (1972) and Lull (1990). The Uses and Gratification model states that media audiences are active and ‘use’ the media in various ways for their own pleasures and interests. In addition, the audiences have many individual differences and interpret the media in different ways in order to satisfy their specific needs.
McQuail and Lull found that audiences use media such as fashion magazines, for entertainment value in order to have fun, and for escapism so that they can get away from their everyday problems or boredom from their academic studies or work for instance. For example, women may enjoy fantasizing about celebrities and expensive goods as a means of escapism from their real lives. They may find pictures of thin celebrities and ‘real life’ stories on diet or fashion as a pleasing distraction from their normal routines. They do not necessarily end up copying what they read. It will be interesting to see if the women I give the questionnaire to use magazines as means of escapism or for entertainment as McQuail and Lull found and I will be testing these two concepts in my questionnaires.
(Word Count 397)
Methodology
In order to find out if negative representations of women in women’s magazines encourage a cult of femininity or allow moments for entertainment and escapism, I have chosen the method of close-ended yes/no questionnaires. This will produce quantative data making my data highly reliable and creating easily comparable data that will be straightforward to analyse and quick and simple to present in graphs and pie charts. As a Positivist, I believe that quantitative data is the best way to measure the effects magazines have on female readers, as it will enable me to identify trends and patterns concerning factors indicating the concept of the ‘cult of femininity’, entertainment and escapism. A practical advantage of using questionnaires will be that they are quick to produce and to complete which would be of benefit to women who are pushed for time.
I will be using a quota sample of 50 women between 16 to 30 years old. I will find the women for my investigation from magazine publishing houses, as I would be sure they read these particular magazines, and seek permission to contact people on their database. I would disclose the nature of my study to the women I contact in order to prevent deception. I will also enclose a stamped self addressed envelope with the questionnaire to ensure a high response rate.
In order to operationalise of the ‘cult of femininity’, I will ask the women ‘Do you follow diet articles in magazines?’ or ‘Do you fill in magazine questionnaires aimed at improving your sex life/relationships?’ To operationalise the concept of escapism and entertainment, I will ask questions about ‘What pleasures they get from reading women’s magazines’ with multiple choice answers including g ‘To escape the boredom of work’ and ‘For fun’.
I will also conduct a pilot study, asking a small number of friends who read women’s magazines to complete a trial questionnaire to ensure that the questions are appropriately worded.
Ethically, the questionnaire will not require respondents to add their names so they are assured anonymity, essential in covering sensitive topics such as eating disorders. In terms of objectivity it will avoid respondents feeling intimidated in front of others or being embarrassed about giving honest answers. By completing them in private, this will help to ensure more valid data is produced, giving me a true and accurate picture of the effects of reading women’s magazines.
(Word Count 397)
Potential Problems
Interpretivists criticise the method of questionnaires in close-ended question form, as my respondents cannot give full in depth answers. It does not allow the young women to write down all their thoughts and feelings about the effects magazines have upon them and there is no room for elaboration. My questionnaire does not allow the young women to express their views on body image or their motivations for escapism as they see it.
Practically, my questionnaires could result in a low response rate, as some women might not be prepared to fill out questionnaires, or find time to complete them. Therefore, I may not get enough back to make adequate generalisations about the ‘cult of femininity’ and issues of escapism. This would therefore reduce the representativeness of my study.
There are also flaws in the sampling choice I have made. Quota sampling would not be representative of the whole population; it is only focused on British women, so I cannot generalise my results to conclude that all magazines world-wide affect all women in the same way.
Issues around social desirability may affect the validity of my research, since some respondents may not want to admit to being affected by magazines, for fear of being thought of as gullible. Therefore, they may try to be more critical of magazines in their answers, leading to invalid data.
Issues around impartiality and objectivity might also be raised in terms of how I phrase questions. Some questions might imply that women’s magazines do affect females negatively, so respondents may wish to ‘please’ me by providing me with answers that appear to agree with my aim.
My questionnaires could be considered insensitive in dealing with this thorny social issue, as some women may feel offended by what they may see as blunt inquiries on media influences, leading to unanswered questions.
It is important to keep in mind that my study does not fully present a true picture of the effects of magazine reading on women. This is because other factors that may have greater impact on them are not examined in my investigation. For example, factors such as family and friends or by religion, class or sexuality may have a greater influence on the way women feel or are shaped. Some women may suffer from low self-esteem, so they may be more susceptible to persuasive messages in magazines than more confident women.
(Word Count 308)
(Overall Word count 1212)
