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Faith, Family, and Ducks: A Content Analysis of Duck Dynasty by Makenna Lange B.S. A Thesis In Agricultural Communications Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Texas Tech University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Sciences Approved Dr. Erica Irlbeck Chair of Committee Dr. Todd Chambers Dr. Cindy Akers Dr. Jon Ulmer Mark Sheridan Dean of the Graduate School August, 2014 Copyright 2014, Makenna Lange Texas Tech University, Makenna Lange, August 2014 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are so many people that I could thank and recognize for helping me through this thesis writing process, but considering the length of this paper I will keep it short. First I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Erica Irlbeck, for being on board with this out of the box topic and her willingness to listen to all of the Duck Dynasty knowledge I acquired along the way. I would also like to thank her for being there to help me work my way through this process, and not making me feel like an idiot for any of the million questions I had along the way. How she could read the multiple drafts I sent her, will never cease to amaze me. Next I would like to thank my office mates and fellow cave dwellers. I made amazing friends along this process, and never would have made it through without them. Thank you all for being there to listen to me vent about all of the articles I had to read or formatting issues I could not figure out. Amber Krause, thank you for sitting in the desk behind me for 12 days straight until all hours of the night while we slaved away on these theses. Kelly Harkey, thank you for being there to send me something funny every time I needed to smile. I am 100% sure that I would have never made it through this process without either of you to commiserate with. To the rest of my cave dwellers, thank you for putting up with me for two years. Last, and most importantly, I want to thank my family. My parents have always been here to help me reach my goals and dreams. They have never told me I couldn’t do something, and were there every step of the way in this process. From listening to me complain, to staying on the phone with me as I drove home from campus at 2 a.m., they never complained or told me to get over myself. While I am the one who wrote this, it was all of you that helped me make it possible and because of that I thank you very very much! ii Texas Tech University, Makenna Lange, August 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................ vii I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1 Background and Setting .................................................................................... 1 Reality Television ....................................................................................... 3 Social Media................................................................................................ 4 Statement of Problem ........................................................................................ 5 Purpose of Study ............................................................................................... 6 Delimitations ..................................................................................................... 7 Limitations ........................................................................................................ 8 Basic Assumptions ............................................................................................ 8 Definition of Terms ........................................................................................... 9 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................. 10 Duck Dynasty Background .............................................................................. 10 Merchandise .............................................................................................. 12 Controversy ............................................................................................... 17 Reality Television ........................................................................................... 26 Agriculture and Natural Resources in Reality Televsion .......................... 28 Rural American Values ................................................................................... 30 Social Media and Social Television ................................................................ 32 Duck Dynasty and Social Media ............................................................... 35 Uses and Gratifications ................................................................................... 37 The Internet and Social Media .................................................................. 38 III. METHODOLOGY ....................................................................................... 40 iii Texas Tech University, Makenna Lange, August 2014 Purpose and Objective..................................................................................... 40 Research Design .............................................................................................. 41 Data Sources.................................................................................................... 42 Data Collection Methods................................................................................. 44 Episodes .................................................................................................... 44 Facebook Posts .......................................................................................... 44 Facebook Comments ................................................................................. 45 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 46 Trustworthiness ............................................................................................... 47 Researcher Bias ............................................................................................... 49 IV. FINDINGS ..................................................................................................... 51 Research Question One ................................................................................... 52 Family & Marriage .................................................................................... 52 Faith .......................................................................................................... 53 Nature & Natural Resources ..................................................................... 54 Friendship .................................................................................................. 55 Research Question Two .................................................................................. 55 Episode One .............................................................................................. 55 Episode Two ............................................................................................. 66 Research Question Three ................................................................................ 74 Research Question Four .................................................................................. 77 V. CONCLUSIONS, DISCUSSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......... 80 Research Question One ................................................................................... 81 Research Question Two .................................................................................. 84 Research Question Three ................................................................................ 85 Research Question Four .................................................................................. 87 Discussion ....................................................................................................... 88 Recommendations ........................................................................................... 90 Practitioners............................................................................................... 90 Research .................................................................................................... 92 iv Texas Tech University, Makenna Lange, August 2014 REFERENCES .................................................................................................... 94 v Texas Tech University, Makenna Lange, August 2014 LIST OF TABLES 4.1 Description of Facebook Posts Coded for Episode One. .......................... 61 4.2 Number of Likes, Comments, Shares Received and Hashtags Used in Facebook Posts from Episode One .................................. 64 4.3 Desciption of Facebook Posts Coded for Episode Two ............................ 70 4.4 Number of Likes, Comments, Shares Received and Hashtags Used in Facebook Posts from Episode Two ................................. 72 vi Texas Tech University, Makenna Lange, August 2014 LIST OF FIGURES 2.1 Duck Dynasty products available at Walmart. .......................................... 13 2.2 Duck Commander 500 & Duck Commander Independence Bowl Logos ................................................................................... 17 2.3 Screen shot of sold out merchandise on Walmart.com after controversy ...................................................................................