How to measure television exposure from a contents-received point of view?

Abstract

In this paper different operationalizations of the television exposure measure in cultivation research are being studied. The background of using both the total viewing volume and the genre exposure as measure of exposure to images is studied. Based on the conclusion that both operationalizations have limits a new operationalization is constructed on two cultivation themes: medical characters on television and illness and death on television. These two new exposure measures are based on the respondents’ individual exposure to types of television programming. Furthermore all types of programming are weighed with the proportion of specific images that is shown in this type of television programs. The proportions are the result of a large scale content analysis performed all television content. Structural equation models are used to compare the different operationalizations. Results show that the new operationalizations are the best measures for predicting cultivation variables of medical characters and illness and death.