The Religious Television Audience: A Matter of Significance, or Size?
Religious Broadcasters and their critics alike have been guilty of misleading claims as to the actual numbers of Americans who view religious television. Much of this disagreement can be laid to the unreliability of audience research techniques. "Demand characteristics," sampling error, co...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Springer
1987
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| In: |
Review of religious research
Year: 1987, Volume: 29, Issue: 2, Pages: 135-151 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Religious Broadcasters and their critics alike have been guilty of misleading claims as to the actual numbers of Americans who view religious television. Much of this disagreement can be laid to the unreliability of audience research techniques. "Demand characteristics," sampling error, construct problems and instrumentation problems all contribute to the technical difficulty of a achieving a reliable estimate. More importantly, the whole question of the meaning or significance of religious television viewing is rarely carefully addressed. Social, cultural, institutional, and theological factors all contribute to misunderstanding of viewing behavior. Defining a "religious viewer" is a complex question that is too frequently ignored along the way to establishment of so-called definitive audience estimates. Some conclusions are possible, based on available data: Religious television viewing is socially-desirable for most Americans, but is an infrequent behavior which is engaged in for very short periods of time; The aggregate audience for religious television is quite small by conventional standards; Cable television and other "alternative" channels appear to have done little to increase the overall size or to alter the "traditional" character of the audience. Religious television viewing continues today to be what it has always been--a relatively infrequent behavior which is seen to be socially desirable by most Americans, and a behavior largely engaged in in sectors of society that have traditionally been the most "religious." |
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| ISSN: | 2211-4866 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Review of religious research
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.2307/3511723 |