THE PATTERN 0F MASS MEDIA ATTENDANCE AMONG THE NSUKKA 2630 OF EASTERN NIGERTA THES'TS FOR THE DEGREE 9F M. A. MICHEGA‘N STATE UNWERSiTY mama mm mms ‘ a9 53 ‘ l. i ‘v' i I I I} '1‘. .t.‘ ,1" ‘ f‘. t ’31. fr- 1: - - ' I‘di;(.:§*1imn. 31733.6 ‘ #2 U nxv srsrty g m- If. ' ‘I I Accepted by the faculty of the Department of Communication, College of Communication Arts, Michigan State University, in partial fulfillment of the require- ments for the Master of Arts deg-roe. Ciwfiu @ ML Director of Thesi—s I Guidance Comittee-z w 65%;. L, Chairman “.1; Aims“ .x -- mixL ' ’V I.4/ . ‘t - . . 3,7.v‘.“ .. \o‘ . .""‘"‘_v(‘- 45' q‘"’."-‘ A‘ 1.5 \‘a .1! 3.35}. br $U~¥'¢‘ '.‘ :_/‘ I 'T Y I " a, w :-.-r . .5 I ’ ' ' ' ..J— J -~II-".I f] i e L I 7'5 3‘ 4 I -’ 9 ‘1!“ gun-J A) 1;.“ .4 _. I‘K ‘ ." ' \‘ c“ ‘ " l "‘t;~fi'f‘.11;‘!'muxzrfif. .3" :.\ THE PATTERN 0F MASS MEDIA ATTENDANCE AMONG THE NSUKKA 1630 OF EASTERN NIGERIA By ‘ 'Richard Keith Thomas, A THESIS Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Department of Communication 1968 ---~w"‘"‘31‘7 s (iv—nu {213113— ‘ fi ,2. “ I‘Aic‘nigan State -: Ua'xivcrsity E LIBRARY (J;- - c511 - W'T‘W . , ,1-” ‘ 1.. 1’ T; MAL-3.. «3::- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my whole-hearted gratitude and appreciation to Dr. George H. Axinn and his wife, Nancy, for their limitless patience, cooperation, and hospitality. Also, I thank very much l , Dr. Erwin P. Bettinghaus, my academic advisor, and Dr. Larry Sarbaugh for their guidance during the preparation of this thesis. In 5 addition, I would like to give my appreciation to Dr. Eugene Jacobson, whose brief comments supplied the approach used in presenting the data collected. —.._- -.., ii --— ~._. _. --.,,__. . , __--.‘-‘v‘. u— rwonrv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOHLEWBMENTS ..OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO0.00.00.00.000.. LIST OF TABIES ..OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Chapter I. STATEMENT or THE 9120an II. THE PROCEDURES 8 III. RESULTS ........................................ Iv. DISCUSSION OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO iii Page ii iv 1“ 21 28 _fii.--- .-_ l ‘1.) LIST OF TABLES Table 1. 2.. 3. Number of subjects attending to one or both of the mass MdiaoIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Distribution of radio and print media exposure by audience typeeoeessoesoeeeooossesoseesosseesoeesseee Distribution of radio exposure by group and individual attendanceOOOOOOOOO0.00000000000COOOOOOOOOO0.0.0.... Distribution of print media exposure by group and inleldual attendance............................... Distribution of being in the company of others by whether or not a radio is on or off................. Mean number of hours per diary spent in travel for high exposure andience members-000000assess-0000000000000 iv Page 22 22 23 2M 25 26 J 3“" Michigan State ' E University 1} LIBRARY .._.1 . Irv-- 4.__, .‘a—D""‘ m“. ~..-_' .p—‘—-.. -_—-- w— Chapter One: Statement of the Problem This thesis exanines the pattern of iattendance to recently introduced mass communication channels by members of a social sys- tem. Specifically, we are concerned with the manner in which pea- sants in the rural areas of less developed countries attend to the mass media. The purpose of this study is to gather data in order to determine the possible effeotiveness of .the mas’s media to disseminate modernizing information into peasant communities. By as communication channel we refer to radio, television, and print media - books and newspapers. These channels are also referred to as the mass media. A social system is a body of inter- dependent, interacting people who differentiate their members from non-members and are recognized by non-members as composing an identifiable membership. , This thesis is concerned with the social system of the peasant ‘Igbo of Nsukka. Nsukka is a town about thirty miles north of Bnugu, the regional capital of the Eastern Regim of Nigeria. A social system possesses a culture. "A culture consists of material and non-material aSpects of a way of life, shared and transmitted among the members of a society, which are constantly changing over time."1 Dash culture exists at some level and possesses some rate of change. i This changing over. time is represented at both the system and individual level. the type of system change is 'development'. ..‘y- r _—. - ~—m— \. "Development is a type of social change in which new ideas are introduced into a social system in order to produce higher per capita incomes and levels of living through.more modern production methods and improved social organization."2 DevelOpment can be considered the cumulative result of the change of individual mem- bers from the traditional life style to more technologically advanced life styles. Such individual change is 'modernization'. This is "--the process by which individuals change from traditional way'of life to a more complex, technologically-advanced, rapidly- changing style of life."3 i The lowlevel of modernization is epitomized by the 'subculture of peasantry.’ The subculture of peasantry refers to the way of life of peasants throughout the world in nations which have a relatively low level of development. "A peasant is a farmer who is oriented largely, but not necessarily entirely, to subsistence production... While pure subsistence production is characterized by a complete lack of commercialization, peasants are regarded ~ as oriented largely toward subsistence, but often partly toward the market."u The new channels of communication to the peasant culture are radio and the print media. These new channels offer to the peasant e vicarious experience with people and events outside his habitual environment. This mass media experience has been consistantly associated with the modernization of the peasant. _.—.-__. ——‘—- _-- m“ M .j existence of communication channels, or (2) the non-attendance to Exposure to the mass media as a social experience is in sharp contrast to the habitual pattern of communication in peasant society. The communication pattern in traditional societies is characterized by almost total communication by word-of-mouth; the exception being that segment of the total communication system's messages that are sent through the channel of music. The source and the receiver are well-known to each other and tend to communicate in consistent and familiar situations. The messages are also consistent over time, frequently being prescriptive rather than descriptive of social behavior.5 The communication system in the traditional peasant subculture can be summarized as (l) reinforcing and perpetuating the existing order and (2) maintaining isolation from other 'fbreign' social systems. i It is isolation, the lack of communication with other social organization, that prohibits contact with more developed populations. This lack of communication is a consequence of either (1) the non- available communication channels, or a combination of both. Whichever explanation is correct in a particular instance, the result is that modernizing information tends not to reach the inhabitants of the sub- culture of peasantry. g- Because it is the crux of the problem, isolation is now examined more fully as it is related to the subculture of peasantry. Isolation refers to the impermeability of a value - system maintained.by the absence of effective interusocietal communication. ---— «p. .. ... ‘uw .__~..———- ~— Mao-I “ ' ”Wm-W-.- . ‘ - ---ru-—w- . e.. .f*iu 61'». “A (‘31:. Becker6 describes three forms of isolation: vicinal, social, and mental. ‘gi Vicinal isolation refers to the physical inability of cultural q». ~. contact with persons from other societies. The more primitive the communication and transportation technology of two societies located some Specified distance apart, the less likely it is that they will come into contact. Also it follows that the more rugged the topography between the groups relative to their existing means of communication and tranSportation, the greater must be their SOphistication in order to originate and maintain an inter-societal communication system. Social isolation_is the absence of an effective communication system with outside societal groups when there are no physical barriers. The inter-societal, or inter-system, association is limited to symbiosis, i.e. social contact limited solely to mutually beneficial activities. The barrier is cultural: a norm of mutual exclusiveness. For any society the norm of social isolation is a representation of one of the central functions of a social systemJi That is, social isolation exists "to maintain effective performance of social roles Nhherent'in it, to assure full social participation within its various Spkereh, and to maintain the members' identification with its ultimate vglhes and symbols."7 _ T: The result of vicinal and social isolation is mental isolation. This refers to the lack of a 'common universe of discourse', the in- ‘m ability of members of different systems to share elements of knowledg° and attitudes that are prerequisites for the Operation of a comunication 'system. The degree of social and mental isolation of a social system may be, to some extent, an indication of the aggregate anxiety of the members for the security of their system. That is, these forms of isolation may inhibit the exchange of messages with individuals from other societies. The underlying attitude might be the fear of exposing weaknesses that would induce others to become an aggressor. Another possible fear is for the maintaining of the purity and unity of the existing order. These fears by the members of peasant society resembles the three monkeys who represent: hear no evil, see no evil, and Speak no evil. In regard to isolation, there are three asPects of the subculture of peasantry which directly reflect the theme of the perpetuation of 'the peasant life style by the lack of exposure to new ideas and tech- nologies. These three aspects are localiteness, low exposure to the 'nmss media, and mutual distrust. Localiteness is "---the extent to which an individual is oriented ,‘to his own social system rather than externally from his system." I. Localiteness is a function of and is perpetuated by social and mental .1solation. The peasant does not know anyone from outside his habitual I Tenvironment. He neither looks forward to visiting anyone in a different setting_nor does he anticipate the visiting of others that are foreign to ; his habitual environment. The circularity of the problem is that (1) if he never travels Outside of his limited social universe he will never meet anyone from whom he could then anticipate a visit and (2), if he is afraid and suspicious of people that come to his habitat, it is doubtful that he will develop with a visitor the 'common universe of discourse' which would enable him to learn about the rest of the world. Without being a traveler or accepting a visitor, the orientation of localiteness perpetuates itself. Little, if any, mass media exposure is a characteristic of the peasantry that compose traditional society.9 Mass media exposure refers to the extent to which messages sent through the mass communi- cation channels are received by individuals or sets of individuals. In other words, an individual has more mass media exposure than another person if he receives more messages through mass media than the other individual. Mass media exposure can thus be indexed by the amount of time devoted to attending to mass communication channels. If we assume, practically speaking, a constant rate of reading among literate peasants, then reading as media exposure can also be represented by the amount of time devoted to it. , The near absence of time devoted to mass communication channels T by'the peasantry is a function of the low level, or nonexistence, of integration of the peasant subculture into the socio-economic system of the urban complex. The net result is the inability of the peasants to acquire capital with which to purchase such luxuries as a radio or a.newspaper subscription. If a peasant has such a subscription, his “ physical inaccessibility from the source of the medium may prohibit i or delay the receiving of the newspapers. Finally, he may not com- . prehend the radio broadcasts if they are not in his native language; iind, if he is illiterate in the language of publication he will not couprehend his newspaper either. .“B 11*”.-- _ h- ___‘- .- #— l V :“' o..'4: Ithheiii the peas ta nope If Tent; ”JV”: 'AC ssxia' accegta In Nigeria, for example, there are between one hundred and fifty and 2u8 languages spoken. In contrast to the large number of languages spoken, eighty-nine percent of the pOpulation is literate in 2222 of them.10 Suspicion, fear, envy, and mutual distrust describe the peasants' attitude toward interpersonal relations. This set of attitudes makes the peasant individualistic, withdrawn, self—reliant, and reluctant to cooperate with others.11 This amounts to a fine point description of mental isolation. It is the set of attitudes that prohibit a common universe of discourse. This exhibits itself in the lack of travel and I 3 2 association with different people and ideas as well as the absence of i Em; acceptance to those who come from distant places. In any culture for a Specified aspect of behavior some modal manner can be, at least theoretically, identified and degrees of differ- ‘ence from the modal behavior recognized. In the peasant subculture i ‘the modal pattern is localiteness and isolation. There are of course i lnembers of the society who have significantly greater physical and ‘nental participation with other social systems than those who exhibit the modal pattean of behavior. The communication behavior of this non-modal subset of the jpeasantry has its own circular, reinforcing pattern parallel to the pattern of reinforcing aspects of the subculture of peasantry. Previous ; research has indicated that the two most consistent variables related i 'to the attendance to a new mass communication channel are (l) the attendance to other available mass media and (2) the level of cos- ,‘ .ggpoliteness, "the degree to which an individual's orientation is exnernal to a particular social system.12 That is to say, those who participate across systems by one means tend to participate across systems by the other available. "On one hand, multiple media eXposure would seem to increase the influence of the media upon human behavior as each mass medium tends to reinforce the other. On the other hand, peasants who are not directly reached by one mass medium tend not to be readhed by others either, leading to two categories of peasants: (1) those who are in the audience for all the mass media, and (2) the 'unreachables."la t These 'unreachables' also tend to be the 'unreaching', those that do not have much person to person association with people from different social systems. We focus our attention now on the subset of.peasantry with non- modal patterns of communication, those peasants who do attend to the mass media and communicate with persons from outside their own parti- cular system. As indicated earlier, the technology of communication and transportation in the peasant, rural areas has contributed to the 1“ The low level of short supply of radio receivers and printed matter. literacy in these areas has also been described. The combination of these factors has led to a relatively high rate of non-contrived group receiving of mass communication messages. Group 'reading' sometimes consists of one literate individual reading aloud to illiterates. In this fashion the audience for printed .media may be larger than the population of literates within peasant society. Nevertheless, the radio audiences are larger than those for the printed media in these societies. As the mass communication channels are attended to in different proportions by the media audience, so the characteristics of the system's members are represented differentially in the mass media audience. "Thus we see that education and social status are positively related to mass media eXposure. The more elite among our peasant respondents have higher mass media exposure. Older villagers are probably less neoteric in their attitudes and value orientations, so they selectively expose themselves less to the mass media (saturated with modernizing content) than do younger peasants. Also, we found that age was negatively correlated with literacy in the two most traditional villages, so that the age-GXposure relationship may occur through the intervening variable SE literacy, at least in the most traditional setting." In summary, the subculture of peasantry has been described with emphasis on the isolationism that it fosters. Then the process of mass media receiving in the peasant society was described and related to isolationism and cosmopoliteness in the peasant subculture. Lastly, a brief differentiation was made between those that attend to the mass media and the larger portion of the population. We now examine the Nsukka Igbo16 and compare their society to the model of peasant exist- ance that has been described. The Nsukka Igbo 'There is no evidence of kingship orchieftaincy in the Igbo areas before the late seventeenth century. Despite the social, cultural, and linguistic homogeneity of these people, they evolved no centralized states. Kingship institutions finally entered Igbo life when the Benin culture entered the Niger area in the late seventeenth century. The Igbo maintained a social unity while each village remained sovereign. A council of elders ruled each village. The central political assumption was the changelessness of government. The old i were considered the most knowledgable and experienced. The elders judged disputes and suggested decisions; the latter being more informal than the former. 10 The implied conservatism of this ruling system was counter- balanced by the institution of 'title societies'. They were not political institutions, but composed a system for acquiring status. The modal manner of acquiring status was through the demonstration of having obtained wealth, i.e. the production of yams. I The title societies constituted a social security system in which farmers invested in their more productive years in order to be eligible for interest, in yams, after their productive years had ended. This incentive system produced one of the most efficient agricultural systems in Africa. This successful system of production has not led to the unifica-_ tion and centralization of Igbo society. The lack of these two social configurations has contributed to the maintenance of many dialects within a relatively small geographic area. As a result, there are at least five Igbo clans, each with its-own dialect, having feelings of social distance between each other. As a culture group, "the Ibo (Igbo) are generally held to be 3 tolerant, ultra-democratic and highly individualistic. They . dislike and suspect any form of external government and authority.' They have a strongly developed commercial sense and a practical unromantic approach to life."17 In brief, the Igbo typify the localiteness and isolationism of ~the subculture of peasantry. They are suspect of external authority . and of other clans. The outstanding exception to the rule is the extensiveness of their contacts with other groups in the pursuit of. commerce. This commerce is typical of peasant society in that the bulk of goods traded are not in a commercial (money)fmarket. “AA: 11 The Problem The problem to be analyzed in this thesis is the pattern of communication among those individuals who attend to the mass media. This pattern is divisible into three sub-sections: (1) mass media exposure, (2) interpersonal communication within the compounds*, and (3) travel. The purpose of examining these factors is to illustrate i | the pattern of communication among those who attend to the mass media. from each of these factors is derived at least one major question for investigation. Under the first section, mass media exposure, are two of the major questions. One of these deals with multi-media I u “fiesta... exposure; the other concerns the relative audience sizes of each of the mass media, radio and print. The second section, interpersonal communication within the com- pounds, also poses two questions for investigation. The first of these concerns the extent to which non-contrived group attendance to the mass media is more prevalent than individual attendance to the mass media. The second question deals with the extent to which inter— personal communication occurs simultaneously with radio exposure when there is access to radio. _ bastly, travel is examined because it tends to be correlated :.with the state of mind of cosmopoliteness. The question fer investi- gation is whether or not those who have high levels of exposure to the mass media also have a high rate of travel relative to the rest'of a papulation within the subculture of peasantry. *7 A compound is a set of dwellings, grouped together, that is a home area for one or a few extended families. The population of a compound may vary between one or two dozen and a hundred or so individuals. "':‘l| .L...‘ ——L- SECS “a” ‘i-nl 3‘25 U! I n. p, as. .. ‘mz him. €031 ’1 I. Uniqueness of the Study. 12 This study is unique because it examines the trend of mass media 'exposure over an extended period of time. Previous research has in- dicated the tendencies for multi-media attendance.and for greater ex- posure to radio than to the print media. In this thesis, the trends in multi-media exposure and audience size will be analyzed. Another unique aspect of this thesis is that it elaborates on the general conclusion that there is non-contrived group attendance to the mass communication channels in the peasant societies. This is done through the analysis of interpersonal communication as related to media exposure. The last unique feature of this study is that 'travel' is indexed in units of time as recorded by direct observation. It is anticipated, of course, that the results would be in agreement with past findings. :But, by using observed elapsed time as the unit of measure, the extent of travel can be directly related to the distribution of time spent in forms of communication. \ Q (A) (B) The size of the audience fer radio is larger than the audience (C) The Major Questions for Investigation If a person attends to one channel, he tends to attend to the other channel. (radio, print media) for print media. A person tends to attend to the mass media in the company of others rather than alone. V9.4 sane-u». 1111—- tr - 1 (D) (B) 13 Given that a person has access to a radio, he will be in the company of others more often when the radio is on than when it is off. I If an individual has high mass media exposure,1he average amount of time traveling per day tends to be longer than that of the population as a whole. Chapter Two: The Procedures The Location for The Study The subjects in this study were selected on the criterion of age from eight compounds located around Nsukka, Nigeria. The selection of i the compounds was a function of the selection of diary-keepers. The diary-keepers were young, literate, English-speaking residents of the ; E ; compounds from which the sample was drawn. These individuals observed _—m§WH and recorded the activities of the subjects during the study. The paper forms on which the activities of the subjects were recorded by these .5 individuals were called diaries: Hence, these indigenous observers : 1-! were given the name of diary-keepers. Part of the condition of employment of each diary-keeper was that his or her compound would form the nucleus of a cluster of compounds which would contain at least eight men and eight women potential subjects. ...In cases in which the number of subjects res insufficient, people from nearby compounds were included. In all, eight compounds or compound clusters were selected. Each of these is located around the perimeter of the town of Nsukka. The g names of the eight compounds are as follows: (1) Amenu, (2) Amasumesu, (3) Amcgu, (u) Owerri-Ugwu, (5) Ofolonu, (B) Achala, (7) Ibeku, and (8) Umeze. I From each of these compounds eight men and eight women were selected, thereby a total'cf 128 subjects was selected. The Group ‘ The group thus consisted of 128 subjects. These subjects were Selected "on the basis of age, with the limiting criterion being that 1“ Ash" v4.- 15 all must be at least above school age. Beyond this, they were to be as widely distributed by age as possible.19 The age of each of the subjects was determined by combining three indices: (l)_'guesstimates’ by the indigenous members of the research staff, (2) knowledge of the rank-order of birth of the subjects acquired through conversations with residents of the compounds, and (3) dating historical events that each of the subjects could recall.20 The Operational definitions for the age categories of the subjects are as follows: Men: Women: ) 321% Time Distribution of Diary-Keeping Ag§_number 01-3wa 013wa Age category_ very old man old man senior man young adult school leaver very old women old women mature women young wife new wife or school leaver 21 65 50 35 25 '15 60 45 35 25 15 Ass. or over approx. - 65 approx. - 50 approx. - 35 approx. - 25 approx. or over approx. - 60 approx. #5 approx. 35 approx. 25 approx. The study lasted throughout the year of 1966. Half of the ccnnpounds were observed on the even.numbered.weeks of the year. The other four compounds were observed on the odd numbered weeks of the Year. Within each week, observations were made Monday through Friday. Inasmuch as the .Igbo. lwae’a‘ has only four days. the Monday through a 3 "0 . PI‘iclay schedule correSponds to an Igbo week plus the addition of the z‘Pe‘tnition of. the day on which observations were first made. ..e ‘U n4 ['3' co 'm Hi 5. ’l 0 A red} 3‘ Cat 16 On each day the subjects were observed from seven o‘clock in the morning until eight o'clock in the evening. This thirteen hour- period was divided into twenty-six halfehour time periods.- In each half-hour period the activities of each of the subjects being observed were recorded. One diary was used per subject on any given day; the diary was the record of the activity of a single subject on a particu- lar day.' I The Recording of Behavior For each half-hour, the behavior of a subject was recorded in two sets of categories. One set of categories can be called general activity. This set included the categories of work, travel, resting- sleeping, and eating-drinking. One and only one category in this set was checked by the diary-keeper for an individual for each half- hour period. The other set of categories can be called communication activity. ' This set included the categories of English - broadcast radio, Igbo - brc>adcast radio, English language newspapers, Igbo language newspapers, Otfrer reading in English, other reading in Igbo, and talk. As many FOmH‘Iunication modes'as were observed were recorded. The maximum number 0f mod- 99 actually recorded simultaneously was three: talk, one of the radio categories, and one of the reading categories. In addition to the checking of categories for general activity and cGlllrllunication activity, diary-keepers would often write in the diary the Specific task or activity that was being carried on by a subject. In the Category of 'talk‘ the age and sex of each of the individuals with ..‘C 0- A i". ..a: m , . . ,5 s - sh oil-\- rie' Hi “1.: .i. am : Media Exposure/Attendance to Mass Media 17 :mom the subject was speaking was recorded. If the other individual(s) hufluded the husband or wife of the subject observed, then 'husband' or 'wife' was recorded in place of age and sex. When a category of mass uwdia‘was checked, the title of the printed matter or radio program. was occasionally recorded on the back of the diary by a diary-keeper. ‘Location of Recorded Behavior Only the activity that occurred in the compounds was observed and recorded. If an individual left his or her compound 'the category of 'travel‘ was checked. Often the destination of the subject was written on the diary. On any half-hour that the individual was seen in the compound area, some other category of general activity‘was checked, whichever was appropriate. Hence, mass media exposure outside the compound area was not recorded. Part II: Operationalization of Variables l u I A“ The attendance to mass media or media exposure is operationalized Isimply by the checking of a channel being attended to by a subject. Radio exposure was recorded by a diary-keeper in regard to a subject if the subject was observed to be near a radio that was on. Subjects were not asked about the content of the messages in the channel.being attended to. Reading exposure was recorded if a.subject was observed ~to be reading. 18 One limitation exists in the interpretation of the amount of time devoted to attending to the mass media by subjects. In the half- hour period a diary-keeper observes the eight subjects he/she is responsible for observing. Each subject is watched for only a few minutes. Hence, the interpretation of media being attended to during a unit of time is that the subject was observed to have attended to radio or printed matter or both; I_1_c_>_1_:_ that the subject attended to one , or- more media for a half-hour. Acce ss to a medium An individual has 'access' to a channel if he is observed to have been exposed to that channel during at least one half-hour period in a day. Therefore, access to the mass media is determined on a day- t°‘<>unds can be made. Also, the selection of the compounds to be 8".“udiedwas, as stated previously, a function of the process of hiring diary-keepers. Therefore, inferences about the comunication P‘ttcms in other locales can only be made on the assumption of “imliarity. . The analysis framework is a series of descriptive statistics, each related to one of the major questions for investigation. These - atfi-t istics refer only to the subset of the group that composes the “a“ media audience. There are thirty-six individuals in this subset. as. 1—0 Chapter Three: The Results This chapter is divided into six sections. The first section gives a distribution of the mass media audience by the percentage of the total observed time that subjects attended to mass communication channels. Each of the other sections presents data related to one of the questions for investigation. ‘ These sections are ordered as the questions appeared in Chapter One. Dist ribution of the Group by Media ExPosure Time INinety-two of the 128 subjects had no mass media eXposure dwiing the time they were observed. 0f the thirty-six subjects in the mass media audience, twenty-four had eighteen or less hours 0f media exposure for. the year. That is, each of these subjects attended to the mass media one percent or less of the time they were °bsebved for the year. Eight individuals had less than 5.596 but more than one percent, °f the ir observed time devoted to the mass media. The range, in hours, I of: this subset was 27.5 to 92. The remaining four subjects attended to the media between 11 and 21} percent of the time they were observed. The ‘1°"es~c total time of these was 192 hours, the highest was I405 hours. “1989 four individuals are the m e§posure audience. The high exposure audience accounted 'for 53.2 percent of the mass media exposure for the group. Those with one percent or less of their observed time devoted to mass media exposure had 7.5 percent of the total e"D‘ssure to the mass communication channels. The middle range subset I accounted for 39. 3% of the mediaexposure. . Non for Investigation (A): If a person attends to one medium, he 1: .ndfi to attend to the other medium. ; 22 Table 1 Number of Subjects Attending to One or Both of the Mass Media MEDIA , print media only radio only print media and radio TOTAL 01hlh‘ cncorecnpz The majority of those subjects who attended to at least one medium attended to both of the mass media. All four members of the. high exposure audience attended to both media. Question for Investigation (B): The size of the audience for radio is larger than the audience for print media. Tflne2 Distribution of Radio and Print Media EXposure by Audience Types Audience Type Print Exposure Radio E osure print media only 9% ' + radio only 0% 26% print media and radio 91% 7u% 100$ 1005 Table 2 indicates that thirty-one subjects attended to radio and seventeen subjects read; this includes the 19 individuals that did both. The 'print media and radio' audience, or 'centripetal' audience, accounted fer 7n percent of the total radio exposure and 91 percent of the total exposure to printed matter. The high exposure audience accounted for 57 and 58 percent of print and radio exposure, respectively. *For these data, if;an individual was reading and listening to the radio simultaneously in a half-hour, he was credited with one hour of media exposure. ' 23 IQuestion for Investigation (C): A person tends to attend to the mass media in the company of others rather than alone. Tflne3 Distribution of Radio EXposure by Group and Individual Attendance Radio Audience except high exPosure audience (n=27 persons) radio exposure in the company of others 50.H% (313 hours) radio exposure while alone ”9.6% (298.5 hrs) TOTAL . 100.0% (611.5 hrs) High Exposure Audience (n=u persons) radio exposure in the company of others 70% I (557.5 hrs) radio exposure while alone ‘ 30% (238.5 hrs) TOTAL 100% (796.0 hrs) Total Radio Audience (n=3l persons) radio exposure in the company of others 61.9% (870.5 hrs) radio exposure while alone 38.1% (537 hrs) TOTAL 13676$11n07.5 hrs) l The high exposure audience listens to the radio more often in the company of others rather than alone. An equal amount of time was spent listening to radio alone and in the company of others by the other members of the radio audience. 21+ Table a Distribution of Print Media Exposure by Group and Individual Attendance Print Media Audience except high exposure audience (n=20 persons) reading in the company of others 31% (19.5) reading while alone 69% (“3.5) High Exposure Audience (n=u persons) reading in the company of others 1u% (1n) reading while alone 86% (72) Total Print Media Audience (n=2u persons) reading in the company of others 22% (33.5) reading while alone 78%- (115.5) 100% Both the high exposure audience and the rest of the print media audience read more often alone than in the company of others. The high exposure audience's members read more often alone than the other subjects who read. ‘Question'for Investigation (D): .Given that a person has access to a :‘1 radio, he will be in the company of others more often when the radio is on than when it is off. 25 Table 5 Distribution of Being in the Company of Others by whether a Radio is on or off. Radio Audience except high exposure audience (n=27 persons) Visitors are Present and: radio is on _ “5% (313) radio is not on 55% (75k) 100% High Exposure Audience (n=u persons) Visitors are Present and: radio is on ' 89% (507.5) radio is not on 11% ( 60.0) 100% Total Radio Audience (n=31 persons) Visitors are Present and: radio is on 50% (820.5) radio is not on 50% (81a) 100% When members of the high exposure audience have access to a radio, they tend to be in the company of others much more often when 'the radio is on than when it is off. The other members of the radio .- A - audience tend to be in the company of others at times when the radio is not on. mmmtion for Investigation (E): If an individual has high mass media exposure, the average amount of time he spends travelling'per day tends to be longer than that of the population as a whole. The data does not supply sufficient information in order to test 'flds question for investigation. The average time spent in travel per day for each of the 128 subjects would be required to properly analyze 26 "this question. This would permit comparison of the high exposure aaudience to other four-subject subsets of the sampling distribu- ‘tion. The present data only compares the average for each member of “the high exposure audience to the average travel time per day for all male subjects . Table 6 Mean Number of Hours per Diary Spent in travel for High Exposure Audience Members H.E.A. Members Mean Travel Timeflper Diary 1 5.38 2 5.19 3 3.83 a 2.78 The mean travel time per diary for all 6N men in the group was 3.H6. One member of the high exposure audience averaged less travel time per diary than the average travel time per diary for all male sub- jects. The other three were above the group average, but the differ- ence did not exceed two hours per diary. Although no clear difference exists between the high expOsure audience and all male subjects as a whole in regard to travel time, ‘this question may be worthy of further investigation. Summary There was no significant tendency for individuals who were in the mass media audience to attend to both mass communication channels. The radio audience was larger than the print channel audience, more so in terms of the number of hours in attendance‘to radio than print -4—._..—.—..—.._— _.. l . . .m;-_.- Le .._....._‘;__—,... _ .- h. _._..-.-t' 27 'than in the number of persons attending to each channel. With one exception, there was no tendency to attend to the mass. rncdia in the company of others. This exception was the tendency for rnembers of the high exposure audience to attend to radio in the com- gaany of others. For the radio audience as a whole, there was equal JLikelihood of having a radio on while in the company of others on days xvhen subjects had access to radio. The high exposure audience had ea very strong tendency to have a radio on when visitors were present can days when they had access to radio. No conclusive data is available in regard to the relative amount (of time spent in travel per day between high exposure subjects and all the other subjects. Chapter Four: The Discussion Interpretation of the Results Thirty-six of the 128 subjects in the group were in the mass media audience. Of these, there was almost an even split between those who attended to print media and radio and those who attended to one channel or the other. Members of the media audience who attended to both media tended to have greater exposure to each channel than individuals who attended to a single channel. In other words, those who had exposure to both mass communication channels tended to have more exposure to print media than those whomweréwifimthe"print“media audience only. -They also tended.to .-u have greater radio exposure than those who were in the radio audience only. . l The above finding is largely explained by the media exposure of a subset of the two-channel audience, the high exposure audience. The four members of this audience. each attending to both mass media, accounted for fifty-eight percent of the total mass media exposure recorded for the sample. All four of these subjects were Senior Hen, i.e.between 35 and 50 years of age and in the high crescent of their productivity. The high exposure audience differed from the remainder of the mass media audience in regard to being in the company of others (1) when there is access to radio and, (2) when they are attending to the mass media. Members of the high exposureaudience tended to 28 . -..~.~, 29 listen to radio when visitors were present rather than while alone. They also tended to be listening to radio rather than not listening when in the company of others on days that they did attend to radio. In contrast, the other members of the radio audience listened to radio while alone as often as when in the company of others. In addition, on days when these members had access to radio they tended to have visitors at times when they were not attending to radio. No one in the group owned a radio. The subjects with high ex- posure might have actively sought out individuals who did own tran- sistor radios and, on rarer occasion, borrowed it. This might account for the high rate of group attendance of the high exposure individuals. On the other hand, the other members of the radio audience might have spent a greater proportion of their time in the company of others who did not have transistor radios. The Results and Previous Research The findings that (1) less than one-third of the sample had any mass media exposure, (2) four individuals accounted for almost three- fifths of the total media exposure, and (3) that less than one per- cent of the total recorded time fer all the subjects was devoted to the mass media are evidence that the social system studied is an example of the type of communication network found in the subculture of peasantry. Within this context we will compare the mass media audience that is a subset of this sample with findings about this audience that have been made elsewhere. 30 Previous researchzgas indicated that in the peasant subculture the radio audience is larger than the print media audience. The data in the present study show the expected difference. Not only did more peeple attend to radio than to print, those who attended to radio had much more exposure to it than those who attended to 'print had to that. This was also true for those that had exposure to both media. It was not expected that the audience size for radio would be much larger than that for print media. Research by Rogers2gnd others has indicated that those who attend to one channel tend to attend to other channels. Hence, the expectation is that the audience sizes would be very similar because it is the identical people who are in both of the audiences. This expectation of exposure to both media among those who attended to the mass media at all was not strongly substantiated in the sample studied. Only half of those attending to at least one of the media did expose themselves to the other. In keeping with the audience size expectation more individuals attended to radio only than attended to print matter only. Literaturezin the area has stated that thereuis a relatively high rate of non-contrived group attendance to the mass media in peasant systems in the less developed countries than either in the urban centers of these same countries or in more developed countries. :wo previous research has presented any data as tohow high is 'relatively high'. It was found in this sample that group atten- dance to radio accounted for over sixty percent of all radio ex- 31 posure time. About twenty percent of the time devoted to reading was done in groups. These figures may prove to be a benchmark for any other data collected on this issue. One of the factors that has been associated with the mental state of cosmpopliteness is travel. The index of travel in the present study is the average amount of time spent in travel per day, for the days and hours an individual was observed. The average daily travel time for the members of the high exposure audience did not differ significantly from the average daily travel time for all the men in the study. The data is inconclusive in regard to how high media exposure time is related to travel time. Therefore, no inferences to cosmopoliteness will be made. Limitations of the Thesis There is a major limitation in the statistical generalizability of the group to a population. This is attributable to the manner in which the group was selected. The selection of the locations was, as previously stated, a function of the selection of the diary- keepers. The selection of the subjects within the locations was done on the criterion of age in a non-random, unspecified manner. The second major limitation is the lack of data concerning the socio-economic status of the members of the sample. Factors such as occupation, number of titles, and productivity are not available to be correlated with mass media exposure. As explained earlier, this was the result of having to evacuate the Nsukka area quickly as ordered by the 0.8. Department of State. ---u— ‘A ‘4 —.—_._-.—.- —._ 4. n _ m -—-— r..._ “L“--- 44~———-_.__._.._ I 32 Another limitation of the study was that there was no record made of the patterns of communication that individuals had outside the compound. The extent of mass media eXposure in the markets and in other locations.was not studied. Hence, the size of the mass media audience might have been larger than reported. Also, the distribution of the total exposure within the mass media audience might have been different. Another major limitation of this thesis is that the data collected is not qualitative in nature. There is no record of what was heard or comprehended by the subjects. In regard to reading there is no record of the number of different messages or sources that an individual used. An individual might have re-read the same pages of a book five times and it would not have been known. Implications ‘ It is evident that the greatest portion of the messages re- ceived through the mass communication channels by the group were received by Senior Men. All four members of the high exposure audience were Senior Men. This audience accounted for almost sixty percent of the total exposure time of the group. In addition, eight other Senior Men had 3 percent of the total eXposure time. . I These men were between the ages of 35 and 50. They were in the peak production years of their lives, having near and far farms and hiring extra labor to work their land. They tended to attend to both channels, with nine of these twelve attending to both print media and radio. Another character- istic, at least for the high exposure audience, was the tendency to listen to the radio in the company of others. Therefore, the total -"‘--“ *n-w—‘J—a‘ .—.-a--.— “He— - - .o. .. 33 audience was expanded beyond these subjects. On the surface it appears that one would recommend to the Nigerian Ministry of Agriculture a program of radio messages to Nsukka. The argument for doing this would be that those peasants prone to relatively high production and have a self-image of high production and high status (i.e. title holders) are those in the mass media audience. 1 However, we do not know what particular messages were re- ceived e.g., music or agricultural information. Nor do we know to what extent the messages that were received were understood. That is, did these listeners understand English-language broadcasts? In regard to those messages that were received and understood, we do not know if they were positively or negatively reacted to by .this subset of the audience. The data suggests that extension workers from the Ministry of Agriculture be sent in to this area to inferm the Senior Men .of beneficial innovations in agricultural production. The argument 'N ’, fer this recommendation fellows. The size of the mass media audience in these compounds is too small to justify programming. Second, an extension agent can receive immediate feedback on the ‘ reception of his ideas by the peasants. He may also be able to determine, at least in part, the extent to which agriculturelly- ' related programs are understandably received. ‘4' an Changes in Research Methodology. The selection of subjects Before the manner in which a sample is selected can be determined, the population to which the findings are intended to represent must be defined. The defining of the appropriate population should be a function of the intended utilization of the findings. This present study of the findings represent only the group that was observed. There are no generalizations intended for larger groups. It becomes the reader's job to define the relevance of the findings to other pdpulations. In comparative research of social systems, representative samples would be more appro- priate. The indigenous diary3keeper methodology. This methodology need not be limited at nonverbal communi- cation behavior patterns as the type of concepts researched. The process of randomization of observation time would reduce the total hours that any individual subject be observed without losing precision. When an individual is observed for less time, there may be more opportunity to collect a greater variety“cf information for the time being observed. The diary-keeper may ask the subject various questions about the channel and the messages that are attended to at a given time. This techniquemay give infermation concerning comprehension of the message, redundandy in messages, and attitudes toward particular messages. I k._—.4.4_ __‘ _ _. _, 4—__ -~-_i-.—. Mil—IAh-—_. .- - 35 Time distribution of observation The distribution of thirteen consecutive hours of observation during the day is an arbitrary selection of potential activities, both general and communication. It might prove fruitful to examine the life-styles of a community, either through previous research or through interviewing, to determine how the members of a social system divide the year into seasons and the days into smaller meaningful segments. The research can then select uniform time periods within each season or day segment from which to quantify the time units of observations. ‘ The Nsukka Igbo, as well as other traditional societies, do not have clocks. The interpretation of the distribution of activities and communications in time intervals may be more useful when based on time distributions defined by the subjects rather than the ob- server. The recording of sources In the present study, the sources attended to by the subjects were occasionally recorded on the back of the diaries by the diary- keepers. In other research the sources used should be methodically recorded. This would enable correlations to be made between source and redundancy of messages and comprehension of messages. Inapplicability bf the indigenous diaryykeeper method This method is not functional for repeated recordings of messages. It is better suited for observing behavior with the addition of formal interviewing. The limitation in this situation _.._ film—~_ a...” ..._ _» ..-~,_- “-w.—- g...— .—.. __.._.\ -_....,__-. ___- __. - , -—. gs .-_~ - 36 is the sensitivity effect of being interviewed on many occasions by the same individual. This may be partially reduced by the sequencing of interviews or the specialization or rotation of diary-keepers in regard to some sample of subjects. Suggestions for Future Research The prediction that individuals will make verbal reaponses to a stimulus in order corresponding to the relative frequency that those responses have been associated to the stimulus is called the spew hypothesis. A study that measures the changes, if any, in the response hierarchy that is associated with attendance to the mass media would offer evidence to changes in concept importance. These concepts may be related to political personalities and organization, technology, or tOpics of curiosity. A relatively short-term diary-kseper study which includes brief interviews immediately after observing subjects attending to the mass media for some Specified length of time could serve to analyze both the volume of mass communication channel messages, the redundancy of such messages, and purpose or intent of redun- dant message exposure by the subjects. The present study does not examine the extent_of mass media exposure in the market places. A'roving' diary-keeper who goes , to the market on a given day and observes the behavior of specific individuals at the market would be an extension of the present methodology. . i 37 Since it appears that mass media exposure is not necessarily contingent on owning a radio or newspapers, a study to locate the sources of mass communication receivers within peasant societies might be made in order to shed light on the problem of the most effective manner in which to purposefully input receivers into the subculture of peasantry. The present study did not record in detail the characteristics of the members of the groups attending to the mass media. This pertains to both subjects and to other individuals involved in .group attendance to mass communication channels. A study examining the tendencies of people with given social characteristics to ‘aggregate around mass media might be made. A Concluding Statement The subculture of peasantry perpetuates the traditional life- style of little, if any, technological improvement and little or no change in the organization of human activity. This subculture's inability to make large changes is partially a function of its Fisolationism.’ This isolationism includes the relatively low level 0 :5). “of exposure to the mass communication channels. These channels, being urban ceqtered, tend to be saturated with modernizing content. The mésSages sent'through these channels, heavy in modernizing content, tend not to reach the peasant societies. These are the .societies that are the least modern and least developed in terms of technology and associated life-styles. These peasant communities tend not to be interwoven into the commercial socio-econcmic system of the urban centers and other more advanced social systems. 38 In order to modernize the peasant and to develop the resources of his social system, he needs to gain the knowledge, talents, and resources that are part of the developed world. One primary Problem is to inform the peasant of these artifacts of the modern world and to make them available and desirable to the peasant. The mass media serve the function of informing the peasant. The increase in satura- tion of mass media messages into the potential peasant audience is facilitated by (1) increasing the number of media receivers and (2) encouraging group attendance to the mass media. It is the role of those who operate the mass media to provide relevant information for the peasant audience. Irrelevant information may encourage isolationism or at least influence the peasant to seek information through other means. These other means are represented by traditional answers and solutions to questions and problems. 10' 10. . ’11. 12. 13. 1". 15. 39 FOOTNOTES John Winterton, A Subculture of Peasantry, p. 10; a revision of "Motivations, Values, and Attitudes of Subsistence Farmers: Toward a Subculture of Peasantry" by Everett M. Rogers, presented at the Conference on Subsistence and Peasant Economics, ,University of Hawaii, 1965. i Everett M. Rogers, "Communication Research and Rural DeveIOpment", Rural Africans, V, (Spring, 1968), African Studies Center - Political Science Department, Michigan State university, East Lansing, Michigan, p. 3. Ibid. Winterton, p. 3. Denial Lerner, The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East, New York, Free Press of Glencoe, 1958, p. 58. Howard Becker, Through Values to Social Interpretation, Durham, North Carolina, Duke University Press, 1950, p. 253. S. N. Eisenstadt, "Communication Process among Immigrants in Israel", Communication and Culture, ed. by Alfred G. Smith, New York, Holt, Rinéhart,and Winston, 1966, p. 586. Winterton, p. 25. Hinterton, p. 27. Case Studies on Mass Communication and Modernization, Department of Communications, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 1966. (Class material), p. 10. ‘ Winterton, p. 11-12. Everett M. Rogers, Diffusion of Innovations, New York, Free Press of Glencoe, 1962, p. 17. Everett M. Rogers, "Mass Media Exposure and Modernization among Colombian Peasants", Mass Communication and the Developmentj of Nations, International Communication Institute-Department of Communications, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 1966, p. III-7. Some Generalizations about Communication and the Development of Nations, Department of Communications, Michigan4 State university, East Lansing, Michigan, 1966, p. 3. (Class Material) . Cit., Rogers, "Mass Media Exposure and Modernisation among Colombian Peasants," p. III-ll - III-l2. 15. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. . 23. 2h. 25. 40 John E. Flint, Nigeria and Ghana, Princeton, New Jersey, Prentice- Hall, Inc., 1966, p. 96-97. The following section about the Ifbo if from this source unless otherwise noted. Daryll Forde and 6.1. Jones, The Ibo and Ibibio—Speaking Peoples of South-Eastern Nigeria, London, Stine and Cox, Ltd., 1950, p. 24. George H. Axinn and Nancy W. Axinn, "The Indigenous Observer Diary - Keeper: A Methodological Note", to be published in-Human Organization, smer , 1969 0 Ibid. Ibid. Ibid. (The description of methodology in the next three sections is from this source.) George M. Axinn and Nancy W. Axinn, "Rural Communications: Preliminary Findings of a Nigerian Study", Rural Africans, V, (Spring, 1968), African Studies Center - Political Science Department of Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, p. 19-20. Op. Cit., "Some Generalizations..." Op. Cit., Rogers, "Mass Media Exposure...” Op. Cit., "Some Generalizations..." u1 BIBLIOGRAPHY .flAxinn', George H. and Nancy W. Axinn, "Rural Communications: Preliminary Findings of a Nigerian Study", Rural Africans, V, (Spring, 1968) African Studies Center - Political Science Department, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. Axinn, George H. and Nancy R. Axinn, "The Indigenous Observer Diary - Keeper: A Methodological Note", to be published in Human Organization, Summer, 1969. Becker, Howard, Through Values to Social Interpretation, Durham, North Carolina, Duke University Press, 1950. , Department of Communications, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, Case Studies on Mass Communication and Modernization, 1966. Department of Communications, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan,Some Generalizations about Communication and the Development of Nations, 1966. Eisenstadt, S. N., "Communication Process among Immigrants in Israel, Communication and Culture ed. by Alfred G. Smith, New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1966. . Flint, John E., Nigeria and Ghana, Princeton, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1966. Forde,Dary11 and G. I. Jones, The Ibo and Ibibio - Speaking_Pecp1es of South - Eastern Nigeria, London: Stine and*Cox, Ltd., 1950. Lerner, Danial, The Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East, New York: Free Press of Glencoe, 1958. - Rogers, Everett M., Diffusion of Innovations, New York: Free Press of - 'Glencoe, 1962. Rogers{ Everett M., "Mass Media Exposure and Modernization among Colombian ’ ‘ .Peasants", Mass Communication and the Development of Nations, East Lansing: International Communication Institute - Department of Communications, Michigan State University, 1966. ‘ .5'0 Rogers, Everett M., "Communication Research and Rural Development", Rural Africana, V, (Spring, 1968), East Lansing: African Studies* Center- Political Science Department, Michigan State university. Hinterton, John, A Subculture of Peasantry, a revision of "Motivations, Values, and Attitudes of SubsistenceL Farmers: Toward a Subculture of Peasantry" by Everett M. Rogers, presented at the Conference on Subsistence and -Peasant Economics, University of Hawaii, 1965. h ' I d" "a chhlgan State ~ University LIBRARY .x QCCND a» RIES l ”'Tl't‘lfirfll'huijflnflmflfijxiriulmfllflflfiflfim