MEDIA AT THE MOVIES: ANALYZING THE MOVIE-VIEWING AUDIENCE By SEAN MICHAEL MAXFIELD A THESIS PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS IN MASS COMMUNICATION UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2003 This thesis is dedicated to my family, all the survey/questionnaire people who have the courage and patience to ask strangers for help in getting a job done, and to all people who in some way contributed to this thesis, great or small. It is finally done! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank the following people for their help and encouragement, as well as giving of their time and talent, throughout this thesis process. First, I would like to thank my parents and other family members for their time, support, love, and monetary aid, without which I would not even be writing this thesis. I would especially like to thank my parents for their assistance in getting the Orlando theater to help me with the surveys. In the same way, I would like to thank the theaters that allowed me the time and opportunity to get people’s ideas on paper about the movies. Special thanks go to Cinemark Theater in Orlando and Gator Cinemas in Gainesville. They both get ten stars! A special thank-you goes to fellow graduate student Todd Holmes, who got me through the first leg of this thesis when we originally proposed its beginning for our research class. He was there to give this baby life. I would also like to thank my chair, James Babanikos, for taking time to listen to this thesis idea and running with it. He also gave me more confidence in trying to explain myself to others, especially when talking with my other committee members. My other committee members, Dr. Michael Weigold and Dr. John Wright, should also be congratulated. They taught me how to research my ideas and to make things more concrete. Dr. Wright gave me the initial idea to try this thesis, and Dr. Weigold gave me a refresher course on SPSS and statistical tests. Without their help, I would not be this far. I will remember them most of all because they made it fun to answer questions in iii classes and taught a sometimes-shy guy to talk in class. All my committee members gave me their best and helped me to become a better researcher and student. Before my committee guided my studies, there was one person who helped me develop as a grad student and that was Dr. Kim Walsh-Childers. Kim had been my advisor for a year and a half and started me on the path of writing a thesis. She made it sound less scary. I would also like to thank her for helping in my first contacts with UF. This last thank you is for all who aided me in my thesis and who may remain nameless, from the patrons at the movie theaters who answered my survey to the people at the UF computer lab. They provided some of the essential ingredients of this thesis and should also be congratulated for their help. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................ vii ABSTRACT....................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 PURPOSE AND SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY .......................................................1 2 LITERATURE REVIEW...........................................................................................9 Introductory History...................................................................................................9 Foundation Study .....................................................................................................12 Other Related Studies...............................................................................................16 Uses and Gratifications Theory................................................................................40 3 SURVEY AND METHODOLOGY ........................................................................44 Research Questions and Survey ...............................................................................45 Sampling Technique.................................................................................................46 Collecting Surveys ...................................................................................................48 Analysis of Research Questions...............................................................................53 Analyzing the Remaining Questions (Researchers’ Reasons for Adding the Remaining Questions): ...................................................................................54 4 DATA AND RESULTS...........................................................................................56 Data Cleaning...........................................................................................................56 Data Analysis ...........................................................................................................59 Analysis of Written-Response Answers...................................................................64 5 CONCLUSION AND CLOSING THOUGHTS......................................................91 Looking at Likert Scales ..........................................................................................94 Closing Thoughts ...................................................................................................102 v APPENDIX A QUESTIONNAIRE................................................................................................109 B TABLE OF RESPONSES......................................................................................115 LIST OF REFERENCES.................................................................................................151 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH ...........................................................................................154 vi LIST OF TABLES Table page 1: Times ............................................................................................................................69 2: Miss the Theater.............................................................................................................70 3: Feelings about Critiques ................................................................................................71 4: Feelings about Trailers ..................................................................................................72 5: Ad Effect........................................................................................................................72 6: Movie Stars....................................................................................................................73 7: Subject Matter................................................................................................................74 8: Word of Mouth ..............................................................................................................75 9: Director ..........................................................................................................................76 10: Seeing a Movie with Someone?...................................................................................77 11: Rating TV as a Medium...............................................................................................78 12: Rating Radio as a Medium...........................................................................................78 13: Rating Internet as a Medium........................................................................................79 14: Rating Magazines as a Medium...................................................................................80 15: Rating Newspapers as a Medium.................................................................................80 16: Rating Theaters as a Medium ......................................................................................81 17: Rating Word-of-Mouth as a Medium ..........................................................................82 18: $5 Increase-Yes or No .................................................................................................82 19: How Much Do Movies Make Up Your Entertainment?..............................................83 vii 20: Age Ranges..................................................................................................................84 21: Sex( m, f, or no)...........................................................................................................84 22: Counts for Feelings about Critiques ............................................................................85 23: Counts for Feelings about Trailers...............................................................................86 24: Counts for Ad Effect....................................................................................................86 25: Counts for Movie Stars................................................................................................87 26: Counts for Subject Matter............................................................................................87 27: Counts for Word-of-Mouth .........................................................................................88 28: Counts for Director ......................................................................................................88 29: General Linear Model: Within-Subjects