I am using stratified sampling because this will enable me to take a sample of 80 sentences which is proportionately spread out through the newspapers.
To use stratified sampling, I will measure the total amount of column inches which each newspaper has for the following sub topics in newspapers; Politics, Business, Sport, Current Affairs and Entertainment.
I will only be measuring the actual main text in each newspaper, not pictures, headings, subheadings or adverts.
Below are tables showing the amount of column inches in each newspaper.
The Sun has a total of 867 column inches. To work out the stratified sample I will have to divide each of the values above by the total number of inches and then multiply by the size of my sample. Therefore each value would be divided by 867 and multiplied by 80. The table below shows the number of sentences I should take from each article.
Therefore, I would have to randomly select eight sentences from the politics section of the newspaper, eight sentences from the business section of the newspaper and so on.
I will have to divide each value above by the total number of inches which is 742 and then multiply each value by the sample size which is eighty. Below is the table showing the results from my calculations.
Therefore, I would have to randomly select fourteen sentences from the politics section of the newspaper and so on.
I will have to divide each value above by the total number of inches which is 690 and then multiply each value by the sample size which is eighty. Below is the table showing the results from my calculations.
Therefore, I would have to randomly select ten sentences from the politics section of the newspaper and so on.
Now I will make three tables showing the word length of sentences in each newspaper.
Below is a bar chart showing these results.
You can see clearly that the Evening Standard has a higher word length than the Daily Mail or The Sun.
Below is a table of averages showing the median, mean and mode for all three newspapers.
The Evening Standard has a higher median, mean and mode than the Daily Mail which in turn has a higher median, mean and mode than The Sun.
This means that the Evening Standard has longer sentences than both the Daily Mail and The Sun.
The Evening Standard has a higher word length and sentence length than both the Daily Mail and The Sun. However, the Daily Mail has a higher word length and sentence length than The Sun.
Therefore, The Sun is easier to read than both the Daily Mail and the Evening Standard. The Daily Mail is easier to read than the Evening Standard. This concludes my investigation and I have proved all of my predictions correct.
List
Newspaper comparison part 1/3
Newspaper comparison part 2/3
Newspaper comparison part 3/3
