Investigate the different sorts of newspapers and magazines, form a hypothesis and investigate it by comparison.
Maths coursework.
Introduction
Our chosen task was to investigate the different sorts of newspapers and magazines, form a hypothesis and investigate it by comparison. There are many differences between newspapers and magazines, and many internal differences depending on the intended reader of the publication and also the general topic of writing. There are specialised magazines dealing with anything from DIY to Cars and Gardening. Newspapers also differ from one another, with tabloids and broadsheets varying in content depending again on the intended reader. We had to take this into consideration when formulating our hypothesis as we did not want to undertake a large task which would be overwhelming and time consuming. So we decided to focus on newspapers, and in particular the differences between broadsheet newspapers and tabloids.
Hypothesis
My chosen hypothesis is:
"The percentage of a page that is covered with pictures is greater in a tabloid newspaper compared to a broadsheet newspaper."
For the following reasons:
* I think that tabloid newspapers will have more pictures because they have more people related articles compared to the broadsheets which tend to go into more detailed and serious articles.
* Tabloids focus on celebrity stories and will usually include photos of the person being discussed.
* I think that broadsheets will have more words than a tabloid, as they tend to go into greater detail in their stories.
* Tabloids use pictures to grab the readers attention and draw it to a certain article, whereas the broadsheet papers have much more serious content and tend to focus on the political, intellectual views rather than simply stories of interest and curiosity.
By pictures we mean non-text items excluding advertisements but including graphs and statistical representations. Photographs, drawings and cartoons will be included in pictures.
Planning
I am going to take two of each newspaper, two tabloids and two broadsheets. I will use the 'Mirror' and the 'Sun' versus 'The Times' and 'The Telegraph'. I think taking two papers from each type will give me a set of more accurate results.
I will take out every fifth page starting from the front page of the newspaper until I have 6 pages from each paper. I will then work out the total area of each page and then the area covered by pictures. This will then be converted into a percentage.
After working all the above out, I will present them in an appropriate way to enable me to work out the average percentage by using Mean, Median, Interquartile range etc. I will then be able to compare the two.
I think a there are many problems I may anticipate whilst working out the percentage area of each page covered with pictures. First of all, there may be an unusual story in one of the papers that leans itself to needing lots of pictures. This could alter our results, as it will not be an accurate representation of the newspaper. Another problem I may come across is working out the percentage area of some of the pictures. Not all of the pictures are in a square shape. Some for example may be in a circular shape. For pictures ...
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I think a there are many problems I may anticipate whilst working out the percentage area of each page covered with pictures. First of all, there may be an unusual story in one of the papers that leans itself to needing lots of pictures. This could alter our results, as it will not be an accurate representation of the newspaper. Another problem I may come across is working out the percentage area of some of the pictures. Not all of the pictures are in a square shape. Some for example may be in a circular shape. For pictures that there is no mathematical formula in working there percentage out I will simply take the width of the picture and the height and times, as I would a square.
Data Collection
As said above in the planning, I will take every fifth page from the start of the newspaper until I have 6 pages. This I think will give me enough results to compare and come to a conclusion.
Sample Trial.
My sample trial will also show how I have worked out my results.
All trial paper articles are numbered and can be found in 'appendix 1' of my 'appendix' section of this project.
Tabloid results:
The Mirror.
Page 1.
Picture Dimensions:
0.7 * 16.1 = 172.27
(4.7*5) * 6 = 141
3.5 * 3.8 = 13.3
The above added together = 326.5
11.0625 (This number comes from the total area of the page divided by 100)
= 29.52%
Page 2
Picture Dimensions:
(9 * 6.4) * 2 = 115.2
(8.5 * 5.9) * 3 = 150.45
The above added together = 265.65
11.0625 = 24.01%
Broadsheet results:
The Times
Page 1
Picture Dimensions:
21.2 8 16.3 = 345.56
21.9 = 15.78%
Page 2.
Picture dimensions:
6.8 * 10 = 168
21.9 = 7.67%
I will show my final set of results in a graph looking something like this.
The Times
The Mirror
Page 1
5.78%
29.52%
Page 2
7.67%
24.01%
MY RESULTS
Tabloid Papers.
THE SUN
The Sun
Percentage of page covered in pictures
Page 1
34.16%
Page 2
4.82%
Page 3
22.97%
Page 4
27.34%
Page 5
62.62%
Page 6
4.56%
THE MIRROR
The Mirror
Percentage of page covered in pictures
Page 1
53.07%
Page 2
20.08%
Page 3
29.08%
Page 4
51.46%
Page 5
28.48%
Page 6
3.34%
Broadsheet Newspapers
THE TIMES
The Times
Percentage of page covered in pictures
Page 1
20.20%
Page 2
5.87%
Page 3
0.07%
Page 4
6.30%
Page 5
3.68%
Page 6
6.24%
THE TELEGRAPH
The Telegraph
Percentage of page covered in pictures
Page 1
9.73%
Page 2
4.91%
Page 3
4.43%
Page 4
20.80%
Page 5
.14%
Page 6
0%
All the workings out of the results gained above can be found in original draft in 'appendix 2' along with all the newspaper pages.
Here are 4 bar diagrams to illustrate the %'s of each page taken out of each paper:
Statistical values of the above results:
Median % of page covered in pictures.
Sun
25.16%
4.56%, 4.82%, 22.97%, 27.34%, 34.16%, 62.62%.
Mirror
28.78%
3.34%, 20.8%, 28.48%, 29.08%, 51.46%, 53.07%
Times
14.78%
6.24%, 10.07%, 13.68%, 15.87%, 16.3%, 20.2%
Telegraph
14.67%
0%, 1.14%, 14.43%, 14.91%, 19.73%, 20.80%.
Mean % of page covered in pictures.
Sun
34.16 + 4.82 + 22.97 + 27.34 + 62.62 + 4.56
6 = 26.08%
Mirror
53.07 + 20.08 + 29.08 + 51.46 + 28.48 + 3.34
6 = 30.92%
Times
20.2 + 15.87 + 10.07 + 16.3 + 13.68 + 6.24
6 = 13.73%
Telegraph
9.73 + 14.91 + 14.43 + 20.8 + 1.14 + 0
6 = 11.84%
Standard Deviation % of page covered in pictures
Sun
Percentage covered
Frequency
Total score
Squared deviation
34.16%
34.16%
65.29
4.82%
4.82%
451.99
22.97%
22.97%
9.67
27.34%
27.34%
.59
62.62%
62.62%
335.17
4.56%
4.56%
463.11
6
56.47%
2326.82
MEAN =
26.08%
Standard Deviation = 19.69%
Mirror
Percentage covered
Frequency
Total score
Squared deviation
53.07%
53.07%
490.62
20.08%
20.08%
17.51
29.08%
29.08%
3.39
51.46%
51.46%
421.89
28.48%
28.48%
5.95
3.34%
3.34%
760.66
6
85.51%
800.02
MEAN =
30.92%
Standard Deviation = 17.32
Times
Percentage covered
Frequency
Total score
Squared deviation
20.20%
20.20%
41.86
5.87%
5.87%
4.58
0.07%
0.07%
3.4
6.30%
6.30%
6.6
3.68%
3.68%
0.0025
6.24%
6.24%
56.1
6
82.36%
22.54
MEAN =
3.73%
Standard Deviation = 4.52%
Telegraph
Percentage covered
Frequency
Total score
Squared deviation
9.73%
9.73%
62.25
4.91%
4.91%
9.42
4.43%
4.43%
6.71
20.80%
20.80%
80.28
.14%
.14%
14.49
0%
0%
40.19
6
71.01%
413.34
MEAN =
1.84%
Standard Deviation = 8.30%
* The median shows the middle value when the data is listed in order from the lowest percentage to highest.
* The mean shows the total of the entire percentages divided by the number of percentages collected.
* The standard deviation calculates the measure of dispersion within the results gathered in a set of data.
Now, I must combine the 'Mirror' and the 'Sun' and also 'The Times' and the 'Telegraph' to be able to compare them against each other. To do this I am going to take the 'median' results and find the mean average of them both.
The Mirror/Sun results:
25.16 + 28.78
2 = 26.97%
The Times/Telegraph results:
4.78 + 14.67
2 = 14.73%
On the next page is a bar graph to show the above figures to make it a little clearer:
Analysis
After collecting my raw data and presenting it in an appropriate way, I can now move forward making comments as to what my results tell me. I can refer these comments made back to my hypothesis. This will help me understand whether or not my hypothesis is supported.
The graphs found in my results section each tell me the same thing. They list the different newspapers studied, and show the percentages for the results gathered for each page taken out of that paper.
After looking at these I then moved on to calculate statistical values of each paper. I used: median, mean and standard deviation. Each statistical value I used proved that my hypothesis is supported. I now have to explain how.
The median percentage of the page covered in pictures for the 'Sun' and the 'Mirror' are considerably higher than that of the 'Times' and the 'Telegraph'. The 'Times' and the 'Telegraph' results were round about 14% compared to the 'Mirror' and the 'Sun', whose results were 25.16% and 28.78%. This clearly supports my hypothesis. It's almost double the difference.
The mean percentage of the page covered in pictures also showed an increase in the 'Sun' and the 'Mirror'. The 'Times' and the 'Telegraph' results were: 16.47% and 14.2%. These are a lot lower than that of the 'Sun' and the 'Mirror': 31.29% and 37.1%. Again, these results are almost double the results gathered from the 'Times' and 'Telegraph'. This, as well as the median results, proves my hypothesis.
The last form of statistical calculation I made was the standard deviation. Again the results show a positive result when comparing to my chosen hypothesis. The results show a huge difference. The 'Sun' and the 'Mirror' both have results in the top tens: 19.69% and 17.32. The 'Times' and the 'Telegraph' however both have results under 10: 4.52% and 8.30%. This is a great difference, so yet again it proves my hypothesis.
Again, when I combine the 'Mirror' and the 'Sun' and also 'The Times' and the 'Telegraph' by taking the median results and calculating the mean average of them both I see my hypothesis is supported. My calculations show these results: 26.97% for the 'Sun' and the 'Mirror' and 14.73% for the 'Times' and the 'Telegraph'. I can say yet again that the results of the 'Sun' and the 'Mirror' are almost double that of the 'Times' and the 'Telegraph' and so supports my hypothesis.
After looking at all four of my statistical calculations, it is clear to me that I have gathered enough calculations with enough evidence to support my hypothesis.
Limitations
The possible causes of bias during my research could have been that I picked out pages in the newspaper knowing that one would have a higher percentage of page covered in pictures than the other. This would affect my results and would obviously prove my hypothesis. To avoid doing this, I stated in my plan that I was going to take every fifth page from the front until I had 6 pages. Therefore I couldn't have cheated.
To gain more accurate results I could have picked out more pages from each newspaper in research. I would only suggest doing this if I doubted my results and if my hypothesis clearly wasn't supported in any way. My results are enough to prove my hypothesis so I wouldn't have to do this.
Conclusions
In conclusion to the above sections: analysis and limitations; I think that I handled the given task very well. I collected the data required for my project and presented it in an appropriate way so as to make sense to the reader.
My hypothesis was supported so this shows I gathered the correct set of data and also in the right amount. The 'Statistical Values' section shows the results in the clearest way possible. Looking at the table of results to some readers wouldn't make much sense, so as to make it more obvious and more easy to work with, I calculated 4 different statistical values: median, mean, standard deviation and a combination of median and mean to combine the four sets of results into two. Each statistical value shows something different. One thing I could have improved on in my research was the amount of pages taken out of each paper to be studied. This could have given me a more accurate result and a larger set of data.
Where bias comes into the project, I think I handled this in an appropriate way. I picked the pages out of each paper using a certain method explained in the 'Planning' section.
All in all and in conclusion I found the following:
" The tabloid papers, being the 'Mirror' and the 'Sun' have an average percentage of page covered in pictures higher than that of the broadsheet newspaper, the 'Times' and the 'Telegraph' ".
Which proves my hypothesis.
Stuart Small
1-OD.
