ABSTRACT THE FLOW OF COMMUNICATION IN A COMMUNITY COLLEGE by Vernon'Wanty This study was designed to determine how the students and faculty members of a community college in a metropolitan area get to know about the policies and operation of their college. In consultation with members of the college administrative staff, the investigator selected three types of commercial channels (news- papers, radio and television) and the five campus channels of com- munication (student newspaper, college radio, student conversation, president's talks, and bulletin board) which the administrators be- lieved were the most frequently used to convey official information from themselves to the college community. Five issues were also identi- fied as those which had been well publicized, and with which the students and faculty could be expected to be conversant. A tentative question- naire was pre-tested, and on the basis of the answers to that and further consultation with the administrators, a questionnaire was de- signed to determine which of the above-mentioned media appeared to have provided most information on the above issues according to the faculty and students. The results suggested that more than 90 per cent of the students and the faculty depended on college media rather than commercial media for news about the college. From among the city media, a majority of the respondents named the daily newspapers rather than radio or r teleViSion as their main source of college news. On the campus, more than 50 per cent of both the students and the faculty named the student nawspaper as their main source of college news. The students ranked the other four campus media in the order of: student conver- sation, bulletin board, president's talks, and the college radio. The faculty ranked those media in the order of: president‘s talks, / ' - « bulletin board equally with student conversation, and the college radio. No relationship was seen between a person's reporting himself as a frequent user of a particular medium and his choice of that medium for college news. Particular students were identified as "influentials" in the spread of college news, and although in many respects these students were no different fronltheir fellow students, they were all student officers, and all reported themselves as heavy consumers of at least one of the mass media. A small degree of relationship was noted between students' ad- mitting having heard of an issue and the degree of favor with which they regarded the content of a message about the iSSue. THE FLOW OF COMMUNICATION IN A COMMUNITY COLLEGE by Vernon Wanty A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY College of Education 1967 —-——..._—--—— ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to thank the numerous people whose cooperation has made the writing of this thesis possible. My thanks are due to Dr. Max S. Smith, Director of Community College Cooperation and Coordinator of the Kellogg Foundation Com- munity College Administration Program at Michigan State University, for his helpful advice as Chairman of my committee. I am also grateful to my committee members, Dr. Kenneth G. Hance of the Department of Speech, Dr. William A. Faunce of the De- partment of Sociology and Anthropology, and Dr. Richard L. Featherstone, Assistant Dean of the College of Education, for their assistance in the initial stages of the research, and their suggestions with regard to the presentation of the results. I also wish to thank Dr. Kenneth Hallam, Director of Research at Towson State College, for his advice on the processing of the data. My thanks are also due to the President, Dr. Harry Bard, other members of the administration, the faculty, and the student body at Baltimore Junior College who took the time to permit me to interview them personally and who completed the questionnaire. I am especially grateful to Miss Leona Morris, Dean of Students, and Mr. Edward Johnston, Director of Adnissions, who were particularly cooperative in making student records available to me. I also wish to give appreciation to my wife for her long standing patience through the years this project was in progress. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . LIST OF TABLES . TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF‘ APPET‘TDIXES . C O O O O C O O O O O O O C C C C O 0 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Definition of Terms. . . . . . . . . . . . Limitation S 0 0 0 o 0 o o 0 0 0 0 0 0 o 0 Assumptions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE . . . . . . . . The Community College . . . . . . . . . . Characteristics of Community College Students. The Communication Process . . . .. . . . . CHAPTER III P'ETHODOLOGY 0 0 o 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 CHAPTER IV RF.‘ISULTS . . C C Q C O O O O O O O O O C O O 0 Personal Data . . . . . . . . . . Mest Frequently Used Media . . . . Most Frequently Used Local Media. Mest Frequently Used College Media Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . College Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . Media Consumption.and Media Choice . . Newspaper Reading and Choice of Media Radio and TV Usage and Choice of Media Students as Information Sources . . . Message Content and Its Relationship to Message Reception . . . . . . . . . . . CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIOJS FOR FTHEHER RESEARCH . . . . .. . . . . . . . Choice of College Versus Commercial Media The Student Newspaper . . . . . . . . . . The President's Talks . . . . . . . . . . The CollegeRadiO 00000 0000000 Media Consumption and Media as Main Source of College News . . . . . . . . . . . . Student Conversation . . . . . . . . . . . Student "Influentials" . . . . . . . . . . The Bulletin Board . . . . . . . . . . . . "Pleasant" Versus "Unpleasant" Messages . iii 00..0 00000.0..0 76 76 83 85 91 9h 96 102 103 APPENDIX A . . . . APPENDIX B . . . . BIBLIOGRAPHY . . . iv Page 106 116 lh2 Table 10 ll 12 13 IJST OF TABLES Percentage of college community who chose college media versus local media as their more frequent source of college news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Percentage of college community, by group, who chose college media versus local media as their more frequent source of college news . . . . . . . . Percentage frequency of group choice of local media. Percentage frequency of choice of college media by gro up 0 O O O O O O O O O O O C O O O O O I O 0 Chi square result for each group showing signifi- cant difference in choice of college media . . . . . Characteristics of students named by fellow students as sources of college news. . . . . . . . . Claim to knowledge of issues v knowledge as revealed by "influentials" in comparison with their fellow students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Freshmen replies on their attitude to two representative issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sophomore replies on their attitude to two representative issues . .. . ... . . . . . . . . . Graduates' replies on their attitude to two representative issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comparison of freshmen responses to questions con- cerning knowledge of tuition increase and new bUildingS I O O O O O O O O O O O O O O C O I I O 0 Comparison of sophomore reSponses to questions con- cerning knowledge of tuition increase and new buildings 0 O O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O O 0 Comparison of graduate responses to questions con- cerning knowledge of tuition increase and new buildings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Page M; 145 h? 149 SC 60 62 69 70 71 72 73 7h APPENDIXES AP EIQ‘DIX A O O O O O O O O 0 O O O O O O O O O O O O I O O O 0 President's Letter to the Faculty . . . . . . . . . President's Letter to the Alumni . . . . . . . . . . Sample Questionnaire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . APPEN’DIXB0000000000000000000.000000 Table 1 Chi square result for each group showing significant difference in choice of local media. . . . . . . . . Relationship indicated by freshmen between frequency of newspaper reading and choice of local mediaas a source of college news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relationship indicated by sophomores between fre- quency of newspaper reading and Choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . Relationship indicated by graduates between fre- quency of newspaper reading and choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . Relationship indicated by faculty between frequency of newspaper reading and choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Relationship indicated by freshmen between fre- quency of newspaper reading and choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . Relationship indicated by sophomores between fre- quency of newspaper reading and.choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . Relationship indicated by graduates between fre- quency of newspaper reading and.choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . Relationship indicated by faculty between fre- quency of newspaper reading and choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . vi 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 12h Table 10 11 12 13 1h 15 16 17 18 19 20 Page Relationship indicated by freshmen between fre- quency of radio listening and choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 126 Relationship indicated by SOphomores between fre- quency of radio listening and choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 127 Relationship indicated by graduates between fre- quency of radio listening and.choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 128 Relationship indicated by faculty between fre- quency of radio listening and choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 129 Relationship indicated by freshmen between fre- quency of radio listening and choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 130 Relationship indicated by sophomores between fre— quency of radio listening and choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 131 Relationship indicated by graduates between fre- quency of radio listening and choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 132 Relationship indicated by faculty between fre- quency of radio listening and choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 133 Relationship indicated by freshmen between fre- quency of television viewing and choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 13h Relationship indicated by sophomores between fre- quency of television viewing and choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 135 Relationship indicated by graduates between fre- quency of television viewing and choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . 136 vii Table 22 23 2b 25 Page Relationship indicated by'faculty between fre- quency of television viewing and choice of local media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . . 137 Relationship indicated by freshmen between fre- quency of television viewing and choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . . 138 Relationship indicated by sophomores between fre- quency of television viewing andchoice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . . 139 Relationship indicated by graduates between fre- quency of television viewing and choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . . . . . 1ND Relationship indicated by faculty between fre- quency of television viewing and choice of college media as a source of college news . . . . . . 1h1 viii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This study is concerned with providing information on how the students and faculty members of a community college in a metropolitan area get to know about the policies and operation of their college. It is hOped that this information will serve as guidelines to help community college administrators to organize an effective communication structure and thus improve the efficiency of the operation of their college. Mere specifically, the study attempts to answer the following questions: (1) Which type of media, commercial or college, do the students and faculty members of a community college report as their more frequent source of college news? (2) Which of the commercial media do students and faculty members report as their most frequent source of college news? (3) Which of the channels of communication identified by the college administrators as the most frequently used are reported by the students and faculty members as their most frequent source of college news? (L) What relationship, if any, is there between the media which (5) are reported as the most frequently used by the students and faculty members, and their choice of media as the most frequent source of college news? Can particular students be identified as "influentials" in that they are the most frequently'named by their fellow students as regular sources of college news? (6) Does the content of a message, i.e. whether "pleasant“ or "unpleasant,“ influence student responses in their reporting of having heard or not heard the message? It is a.matter of record that one of the major problems of our society is how to provide higher education for the increasing number of high school graduates. One partial solution appears to be the establishment of large numbers of community colleges. According to a recent report, 1.25 million students were enrolled in junior or community colleges last year, and the annual rate of increase in en- rollment, which is accelerating, is currently about 20 per cent. Today, there are approximately 800 of this type of institution in the United States. Fifty new two-year colleges opened in 1965, 50 more Opened in 1966, and it is expected that this rate of growth will continue each year through 1970. Within ten years it is expected that more than 1,000 publicly supported community junior colleges will be in operation.1 With so many of this type of institution already in operation, and with the expectancy that their number will continue to grow, there would appear to be a need for an understanding of all phases of their operation. It is generally accepted that an organization can best be understood 8 through a knowledge of how information is communicated among its differ- ent parts. A search of the literature in education, communication and the behavioral sciences suggests that although much is known about how people communicate, most of the information is concerned with areas other than education. The literature suggests that studies which have been completed of communication patterns in education apply to four-year 1Edmund J. Gleazer, Jr., Junior College Journal, Vol. 37: No. 3., November, 1966, p. 7. institutions or to the public schools. In some of its characteristics the community college resembles both the public schools and four-year institutions of higher education, but the two-year college has problems of a special nature. As can be seen from the review of the literature which follows, one factor about the community college is the extreme heterogeneity of its students, which results from the availability of a broad program and non-selective admissions policies. Community college students are also likely to be varied in social status and age range.2 In general, the two-year colleges do not have dormitory accommodation, and most of their students live at home,-from which they commute every day. This means that it might be difficult for them to make a complete break from the life they have known as high school students, as for much of their time they move in the same environment as they moved in before attending college. As a result, they are subject to the same influences that they have known for years. The varied socio-economic background of community college students could mean that a bigger proportion of them than would be the case in a four-year school hold full or part-time jobs. If the college has a complete program, i.e. a vocational-technical program as well as a progran which provides the first two years of college work, a number of the students will be in a work-study curriculum. The latter will 2Ralph R. Fields, The Community College Mevement, New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, Inc., 1962, pp. 78-79. mean that they will attend classes for several days a week, and spend a prescribed amount of time each week working in a local industry. Such an arrangement will affect a student's time schedule, and might well prevent him from developing that sense of "belonging to the college," as might be the case of a student whose whole time is committed to college activities. Community college students may also have a tendency to have a greater sense of being in transition than do students in senior insti- tutions of higher education. The former know that they will attend their college for only two years; then they will transfer to a four-year college or university, or leave the community college to take a job. In addition, many community colleges have been established for only a short time, and have not yet been able to develop the tradition which is enjoyed by many four-year institutions. In some instances, too, particularly in those states where community colleges have only recently been developed, the students at these institutions might not be accorded as much prestige in their home-town as the students who have gone away to four-year colleges and universities. This situation may develop in the two-year college students an attitude of inferiority toward the status of their college, and reduce their enthusiasm for its activities. As a result, they may not reSpond as mush asrnight be expected to communications about the activities. A suggested way of judging the success or failure of communication is by the response produced. If its students fail to respond, communication in a community college 1 could be judged to have been ineffective. Communication in the two-year college could also be difficult with those who have jobs in addition to being students. Unlike their counterparts in the senior institutions, because of being employed in the local community, many of the students in the two-year colleges are not available after the early part of the afternoon, nor can they be communicated with in dormitories or dining rooms. Offsetting this, however, it seems reasonable to suggest that the fact of community college students spending more time at home and.moving around more frequently in the local community outside the college, should mean that they are more exposed to the commercial mass media such as newspapers, radio, and television than are the students who go away to college. The latter situation would be advantageous to a community college administrator if he could establish and maintain good relations with the people who operate the city media. For those students and faculty members who are heavy consumers of the commercial media, these media might prove to be more effective in keeping the college community in- formed about the college than are the campus media such as the student newspaper and the student radio station. On the other hand, if the members of the college community are not heavy commercial media consumers, the college media may be the only way of keeping them informed. lFrank-R. Hartman, "A Behavioristic Approach to Communication: A Selective Review of Learning Theory and a Derivation of Postulates," AX Communication Review, Vol. 11, No. 5, September-October, 1963, p. 165. In the latter event, the administration would have to view such media as the student newspaper and the college radio station as more than extra-curricula activities for the students. To do an effective job, the community college administrator should guard against the danger of assuming that he is communicating effectively with his students and faculty members merely because he is frequently writing or speaking. As stated by Schramm: Few school administrators need to be told that they have communication problems. Some school executives go through their careers with a vague but pervasive sense of being misunderstood; others awaken suddenly, when they face a crisis in their school system or an angered public to the realization that communication has broken down...l Today the student is exposed to a great deal of communication over which the school has no control. There is not only his exposure to the mass media, but to all the messages which a student receives from his primary and peer groups.2 One way in which the administrator can improve his communication effectiveness is by knowing which of the "pathways” open to him yield the best results. This study attempts to provide this knowledge by exploring which of several ”pathways” of communication are perceived by the students and faculty members as their best source of information about the policies and the operation of their college. The study applies to only one community college, and the decision to use only one college was made because it was felt lWilbur Schramm, "Educators and Communication Research,u Educational Leadership, Vol. XIII, No. 8, p. 506- %0 0—130, p0 5090 that a more intensive study could be conducted in that way than if several colleges had been included. This is a descriptive pilot study whose findings might be used as a basis for similar studies of other community colleges. Burns supported the suggested need for this study when he wrote: Intensive study of individual institutions with the active participation of the members of the institutional staffs would greatly facilitate the acquisition of the intimate knowledge of actual working relationships that is essential to an appraisal of the elements of the administrative process. This is probably the area in which the need for research in higher education is greatest.1 Definition pf Terms The Administration: for the purposes of this study, this body is thought of as consisting of the President of the College, the Dean of the College, the Dean of Students, the Director of Admissions, and the Registrar. The College Community: in this study this term refers to the freshmen and.sophomore studeits, and full-time faculty members. Student Body: this term refers to full-time day students, i.e. those students who are registered for a minimum of 12 credit hours, and whose classes terminate by four o'clock each day. They include freshmen, sophomores, and the members of the most recently graduated class. lNOrman Burns, "Higher Education,“ Review 2f Educational Research, XXII (October, 1952), p. 376. lelege Media: refers to the five channels on the campus of the community college which the administration identified as the most frequently used channels of communication between themselves and the students and faculty members. The channels are: student newspaper, college radio, President's talks, student conversation, bulletin board. Commercial Media: This term is used to refer to the profit-making media which operate in the metropolitan area served by the community college being studied. They consist of three metropolitan newspapers, ten radio stations, and three television stations. At times these media are also referred to as "City Media" to identify them as separate from the media which operate on the college campus. Communication: the process by which a message passes from a sender to a receiver so that the receiver gets the meaning from.the message that the sender intends him to get. Credibility: the judgment of an audience of a communicator as to howrmuch they consider him an expert and how much trust they have in what he communicates. Feedback: information which a communicator or sender of a message obtains from an audience or a receiver of the message, which tells the communicator whether or not he is "getting throughn so that his receiver interprets the message in the way the communicator intends it to be interpreted. Flow gf Information: the passage of news about the college from the administration of a particular community college to its faculty members and.students. “Influentials”: students who are named by their peers more frequently than other students as being regular sources of information about the college. "Pleasant": that which a person sees as beneficial to himself, and which as a result he regards with favor. "unpleasant": that which a person sees as not being beneficial to himself, and which as a result he regards with much less favor than that whiCh he regards as ”pleasant." Limitations 1. This study is limited to one community college located in the metropolitan area of a large city in the eastern United States. The findings will not necessarily be applicable to any other college unless supported by additional empirical evidence pertinent to the particular institution. 2. No attempt will be made to study the community in which the college is located. 3. The questions used were formulated in consultation with the members of the college administration, and after pre-testing with a snail group of students. They are not necessarily the most suitable questions to determine the objectives of the study. h. The assertions of the members of the administration regarding their use of channels of communication both on and off campus were accepted as stated by them. Other than the study itself, no attempt was made to check the veracity of their perception of their own behavior. 10 5- The findings are based on the answers to a questionnaire administered to faculty members, students, and recent graduates of the college, and are, therefore, limited by the accuracy of the self- reporting of these individuals. 6. The administration of the questionnaire was not uniformly carried out. For all the freshmen students the questionnaire was administered in person by the investigator or his representative. The faculty members were given the questionnaire and asked to complete and return at their convenience. Attempts to administer the questionnaire to the sophomores in person at the college did not provide enough responses for this group. It was, therefore, necessary to obtain the majority of the sophomores' replies by mail. The replies from the most recent graduates had also to be obtained by mail. 7. The results are based on the subjects' responses regarding their main source of college news, and the media were ranked only on the basis of the number of subjects who named them. It is stressed, therefore, that because one medium, e.g. the college newspaper, was named by a larger perca'xtage of subjects than any other medium, it does not necessarily follow that the other media were not important as supplementary sources of college news. Assumptions 1. Knowledge of the communication structure of a community college will be valuable to the administration of that college in implementing the objectives of the institution. 11 2. The population of the college concerned would cooperate in contributing relevant information about their knowledge of specific matters affecting the college's operation. 3. A community college which has been established for several years will have in operation specific and varied channels of communication between the administration and the students and faculty. h. The faculty and students of a community college located in a highly populated metropolitan area will have the opportunity for regular and frequent exposure to the commercial media of newspapers, radio, and television in their community. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE A review of the literature in the area of communication suggests that although much has been written about the communication process, little or no research has been carried out in this area as it applies to the Community College. The Community College The literature does not lack for definitions as to what the Community or Junior College is supposed to be, but there appears to be a lack of agreement among the writers as to how the role of this type of institution should be defined. A number of them indicate that one of the chief difficulties in the path of its progress is that the role of the Community College has yet to,be defined. All seem agreed that this is a two-year institution which offers post high school education. A number of writers such as Clark and Thornton adopt the attitude that the Community College is a unique educational institution in that it is a kind of educational supermarket which is open to everyone in its local community, and that it has an obligation to serve everyone who enters its doors. According to Clark, it is the Community College's policy of not being selective in its entrance requirements which differentiates it from the feur-year college and university.1 Thornton lBurton R. Clark, The en Door College, New York: McGraw Hill Book Company Inc., 1960, pp. 1 9-IhO. 12 l3 maintains that its emphasis is on the provision of legitimate educa- tional services for the area in which it is located, and does not have to conform.to any "preconceived notions of what is or is not collegiate "1 Kintzer subject matter, or of who or who is not college material. refers to the Community College as a "second-chance" college, and stresses the value of this type of institution in its performance of the salvage function for students who have failed academically in their first attendance at a university.2 Reynolds provides a summary of what he believes to be the function of the junior or community college as follows: (1) preparatory education; (2) vocational education; (3) general education; (h) in- struction; (S) guidance; and (6) increased availability of appropriate education Opportunities. He writes that these colleges should make a serious attempt to meet the needs of their students in the above areas rather than concern themselves with "creating a golden calf which embodies all the diverse aspects of all junior colleges."3 Other critics represented by such people as Knudson, and Nunis and Bossone, say that the junior college has yet to define its role. Knudson, writing on the future of the two-year institution, claims that the organization pattern for the administration of junior colleges lJames'W. Thornton, Jr., 223 Community Junior Collegg, New Ybrk: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1960, p. 275. 2Frederick C. Kintzer, ”Admission of Students to California Public Junior Colleges Who Are in Academic Difficulty at the University of California," College and.Uhiversity,'Winter, 1966, p. 221. 3James'W. ReynoldEI" Images or Services of Junior Colleges?" Junior College Journal, Septenber 1962, p. 2. . - l . I . t ‘ ~ , , . . . . . . 0 - ( 2 ' . . . , "1 “is as varied and confusing as can be found in any social organization. Nunis and Bossone, tracing the history of the Junior College from the time of what is thought to have been the first one in Joliet, Illinois, maintain that "the junior college has been an institution in search of an educational identity."2 Whether the role of the Community or Junior College has yet been defined appears to be an academic question. The fact is that this is a unique type of institution which is growing faster than any other segment of post high school education in the United States, and it offers educational Opportunities to thousands of American youth, which otherwise they would not get. As pointed out by Kastner, there are several institutions which provide similar services to the Community JUnior Cbllege. The latter is unique in its ability to provide such a variety of educational opportunities simultaneously.3 Characteristics 2f Community College Students The variety of educational fare provided by many Community Colleges draws to these institutions varied types of students. Several studies have been completed of the characteristics of the students who attend Community Colleges. One which appeared.relevant was made by Mellinger lMarvin Knudson, "The Junior College in the Decade Ahead,n Junior College Journal, February, 1962, p. 12. 2Doyce B. NUnis, Jr. and Richarde. Bossome, "The Junior College's Search for an Educational Identity,” Junior College Journal, Novanber, 1962, p. 121. 3Harold H. Kastner, Jr., "The Economic Value of Community Junior Colleges," Junior College Journal, Novenber, 1965, p. 29. 15 in which he studied 65h freshmen in Chicago's junior colleges. Of the families from.which these students were drawn, 58 per cent had incomes of over $6,000 and 25 per cent received over $8,000. More than half the students subsidized their own expenses, and 60 per cent said they worked part-time. The majority of the students indicated that there was some reason other than their own choice for their attending a two-year institution. Only 13 per cent said they had chosen to attend a free public junior college, and 81 per cent said they would rather have attended a local four-year institution. Fifty per cent said that the higher standard kept them out of the senior institution, and 30 per cent claimed that the cost of attending a four-year school was a deterrent. Their responses indicated that many more of the students were attending college for utilitarian than for intellectual reasons. Half of the students expected to Obtain vocational~professiona1 education; 38 per cent said they were attending college for social development, and 12 per cent said they were attending for intellectual development. The students' self-image suggested that they thought of themselves as an "uncoordinated mass of individuals rather than as a cohesive group." Mellinger expressed his concern at the poor self-image held by the junior college students in his study, and suggested that they might be helped if improved counselling services were provided for them.1 1“Morris Mellinger, "Changing Trends Among Public Junior College Student Bodies," Junior College Journal, November, 1962, p. 172. 16 The idea that students in the community junior colleges are academically inferior to students in the four-year institutions appears to be shared by a number of writers. Clark, for example, says that one important role of the two-year college is to provide education beyond high school to those students who are academically less 1 Hillway, however, maintains that such a view is a basic competent. misconception which arises from snobbery. He says that, according to the A.C.E. Psychological Examination, the scholastic aptitude average for junior college freshmen is not much lower than it is for freshman in standard four-year institutions.2 Reynolds also maintains that the characteristic of academic inferiority attributed to community college students is without foundation. He claims that the best in the two-year schools compare favorably with the best in the senior institu- tions. The students in the two-year sshools appear to be academically inferior because of the wide range of ability among them, which is much greater than in the four-year colleges and universities.3 Thornton also coments on the characteristic of the community college students' academic ability. He points out that although, on the average, test scores in the two-year colleges are lower than average scores of freshmen in liberal arts colleges, "the range of scores in both kinds of colleges is equivalent." To be valid, any comparison would have to be made on the basis Of individual students rather than 1Clark, p. 158. 2Tyrus Hillway, The Americ§g_TEE-Year Collegg, New York: Harper and Bros. 1958 p. 680 3James W.,Reynolds, The Junior Colle 9, New York: The Center for Applied Research in EducatIEn, Inc., 1965, pp. h6-h7. "5 omit“! " . ; ..':'. 17 on the basis of categories of students.1 As in colleges in general, community college students are principally male. However, the proportion in particular colleges varies according to the type of program a college Offers. Thornton questions if junior colleges offer enough programs to attract women students.2 The marital status of students in the two-year colleges studied by Medsker gt 31 appears to be that between 20 and 25 per cent of the students are married.3 As found by Wise, this percentage is similar for colleges of all types throughout the country where the proportion of married students is about 22 per cent.’4 In general the Characteristics of community college students are little different from those Of students in other colleges. As stated by Medsker, "there is no stereotyped student body in the two-year college,5 and the adjective "heterogeneous" may be applied to them with little fear of contradiction. The Communication Process More apparent than the lack of agreement on how to define the role of the community college is the lack of agreement as to the definition of the term "communication." As pointed out by Newman, the absence of a definition of communication is surprising, when one 1Thornton, op. cit., pp. 150-151. 20p. Cit. — _ 3L51afid_L. Medsker, The Junior College: Progress and Prospect, New York: MCGraw Hill Book Company, Inc., 1960, p.‘h5. kW. Max Wise, They Come for the Best of Reasons -- College Students Today, American Council on Education, 1958:_p. 10. SMedsker, pp. 222., p. D9. . . 0 . x u ‘ . x . o . 0 . t u t ' ' . - . . . . . . . g . - . 0 - p 0 - . . 0 . t c . - . 1 18 considers how long communication has been going on as one of the oldest of human activities.1 Cherry proposes the explanation that communication means so many different things to different people that to try to find a definition broad enough to include them all would risk concluding 2 The Hartleys' contention that the most with a meaningless generality. simple definitions are probably the most useful appears to make good sense.3 In keeping with the Hartleys' contention, Schramm, using the Latin derivation communis, explains that the act of communicating is that of sharing information or an attitude or an idea. In other words, when a person is trying to communicate he is trying to get a sender and a receiver tuned together so that they have the same understanding of a message.h Cooley defines communication as the force which binds society together and enables it to function. In further explanation he writes that communication is concerned with all the symbols of the mind and the means used to convey those symbols through space and preserve them through time. The latter consists of not only'words and their transmission, but facial expression, attitude, gesture, the tone of the voice, the mechanical means of transmitting words such as writing, printing, telegraph, telephone, "and whatever else may be the 1John B. Newman, "A Rationale for a Definition of Communication," Journal of Communication, 10, 1960, p. 115. 2COIIn Cherry, 0n Human Communication, New York: Science Editions, Inc., 1961, p. 6. '_— 3Eugene L. Hartley and Ruth E. Hartley, Fundamentals of Social szychology, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1959: p. 26. ‘__ ‘HWilbur Schramm, The Process and Effects of Mass Communication, ‘Urbana: University of Illinois, 195E, p. 3. __ 19 latest achievement in the conquest of time and space."1 A study Of any process involves examination of its ingredients, and according to Campbell and Hepler,the ingredients of the communica- tions process can best be seen in their relationship to each other by means of a conceptual frame or model.2 A number of models have been formulated to describe the communication process, and although some of them differ in one or more respects, they all have in common some similarity to the ingredients proposed for communication by Aristotle's Rhetoric more than two thousand years ago.3 The three Aristotelian ingredients were: the speaker, the speech, and the audience. These three ingredients or some corresponding version of them can be adapted to any communication situation. Often they are referred to as a source, a message, and a receiver. Crane adds that if communication is to take place the "source and receiver have to have goals, and each has to expect benefit..."’4 A suitable model vhich might represent the communication process in a community college is one of the many developed from the Shannon- Weaver model. Its ingredients are: l. the communication source (the originator of the message); 1Charles H. Cooley, Social Organization, New York: Charles Scribner‘s Sons, 1909, p. 61. 2James H. Campbell and Hal W. Hepler, Dimensions in Communication, Belmont, California: 'Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1965, p. 9. 3David Berlo, The Process of Communication, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1960, p. 29. hEdgar Crane, Marketing Communications, New York: John Wiley 8!. Sons, 1965, D0 110 Q p . 0 . Cr- . I A . A. . . . - 0 t D ' ' A ' I \ . I Q ‘ O 0 a . n . . . . 20 2. the encoder (sender of the message); 3. the message (content of the communication); h. the channel (medium by which the message is transnitted); 5. the decoder (receiver of the message); 6. the receiver (interpreter of the message).1 In the present study the President of the College is the source of information for all the channels considered. Who or what might be regarded as the encoder depends on which channel is being used. On newspapers the encloder is the editor; in the electronic media it is the radio or television announcer; for the President's talks the Chief Administrator performs the triple function of being the source, the encoder, and the channel; in student conversation the encoder is the person relaying the information; and for the bulletin board the encoder would be the person who prepares and displays the bulletin or poster. The channel is one of the three commercial channels, or one of the five campus media identified by the administration as their regular means of communicating with the college community. In all cases the decoder and the receiver are the same, being one or more of the three groups Of faculty members, student body, and recent graduates. As can be seen from the communication channels identified above, they can be categorized into the two broad groups of mass media and person-to-person communication. These two groups have individual characteristics, and they also share the characteristics common to 1Warren Weaver, "The Mathematics of Communication," Scientific Amarican, 181, 19h9, p. 13. 21 all communication. For each group there has to be a communicator, a message, a channel, and a receiver, and for communication to take place the message has to be interpreted by the receiver in the terms the communicator intends it to be interpreted.1 One writer claims that it is not possible to communicate without making some attempt to persuade.2 This investigator believes that it is possible to communi- cate merely by presenting information. The communicator need not try to encourage belief or disbelief by the receiver in either the message or the person delivering the message. For example, a newscaster might present a description of an event which has been prepared by someone else. In such a case the newscaster does not necessarily take into consideration whether the description is a true one or not, nor does he give any thought to whether the audience believes him or not. He merely acts as a go-between in conveying the in- formation from the source to the channel. Uhder such circum- stances he is not trying to exercise persuasion on his audience. To this writer the connotation of persuasion is that of trying to induce a person to a course of action which the latter is re- luctant to take. One might also ask questions of a person who is known for his willingness to give advice. In such a circumstance it lWilbur Schramm, The Process and Effects of Mass Communication, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, l95h. .— David Berlo, The Process of Communication, New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1960, p. 9-_— 22 is not likely that the questioner would have to persuade his listener to talk, but the questioner could be communicating. This does not deny that the goal of a communicator is usually that of persuasion, or an attempt to effect a change in the behavior of those with whom he communicates. Boulding refers to the change in behavior as a change in a person's image. He believes that behavior is detennined by the image a person holds, and if a communicator can find out how that image was developed, he will be better able to understand the person with whom he is trying to communicate. Boulding also reiterates what has been stated by many other people that it is a result of all past experience which determines a person's image. He also suggests that the amount of meaning a message carries can be calculated in tenns of amount of change receipt of the message affects in a person's behavior. If a particular message agrees with an image already held, the message will reinforce the image; if the message does not agree with the image it will probably meet with strong resistance from the image's possessor, and have to be repeated many times for the latter to accept it, if he accepts it at all.1 A helpful discussion of the factors in the communication situation which appear to be responsible for the change in a person's behavior lKenneth Boulding, Th3 Image, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan PreSS, 1956’ p0 S. 23 is provided by Hovland, Janis, and Kelley. They tie communication's effectiveness to the nature of the communicator, the content of the communication, and the predisposition of the audience.1 If an audience has a negative attitude toward a communicator, they are less likely to accept his message than if their attitude is positive. A number of investigators have shown that in giving advice,as communicators older people can be more effective than younger people. DeFleur and Larsen, for exanple, found age to be an important factor in the diffusion Of a message distributed via leaflets dropped from an air- plane.2 However, more important than age is the relationship of the people involved in the interaction. In a family situation children have been found to be the most effective transmitters of infonnation about their school.3 Also of importance is the amount of source credibility accorded to a communicator by his audience. If the audience regards the communicator as important, or is thought to have access to important people as sources of information, this factor may make a message more acceptable to an audience than the content of the message itself. This is why debaters, authors of articles, and news columnists "bolster lCarl I. Hovland, Irving L. Janis, and.Harold H. Kelley, Communi- cation and Persuasion, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953: p. E9. ZMEIVin L. DeFleur and Otto H. Larsen, Th3 F10W‘2£ Infonnation: £2_Experiment i§_Mass Communication, New York: Harper & Bros., 1958, p. 267. 3Chester'W. Harris, Encyclopedia 2f Educational Research, 1960, p. 1078. 2h their contentions with quotations from figures with prestige."l In discussing another facet of audience behavior, Hovland, Campbell and Brock report that if there are two sides to an issue, and the audience hears one side first, they often act on what they have heard immediately. Such an action might be that of making a comment to a neighbor. Having stated his opinion or committed himself, the receiver then proves to be more resistant to subsequent persuasion than when he does not act on what he has heard.2 Naturally, the content of a message is also an important factor in determining a message's acceptability. Crane proposes that ideas rather than words are the key to successful communication, and that words have to be structured so that they fonnulate symbols to repre- 3 sent ideas. Berlo supports this assertion when he considers the mes- sage from the standpoint of its code, its content, and its treatment, and suggests that these three factors should be examined for the elements in each and the way in which the elements are structured.h The structure Of the message has received much attention. At times, messages presented in which the conclusion has been drawn lHovland, Janis and Kelley, p. 19. 20ar1 I. Hovland, et. 3.1:: "The Effects of 'Commitment' on Opinion Change Following—Communication," The Order of Presentation i3 Persuasion, New Haven: Yale University PFESS, 1957:_p. 23. 3Crane, p. 130. hBerlo, p. 5h. 25 rather than permitting the recipient to drawhis own conclusion, have had more favorable acceptance. In such cases, however, the audience did not have a high degree of sophistication. ‘Where the audience had a high intelligence quotient, they resented the conclusion being drawn for them.1 Also important in the structure of a message is whether the content presents only those arguments whiCh favor a recommended conclusion, or whether it also includes arguments Opposed to the position advocated. However, variables other than the content have to be considered. In one experiment reported, when the audience was initially opposed to the communicator's position, presenting both sides of the argument was found to be more effective. When the audience was initially favorable to the communicator's position, it was found better to present only one side of the argument.2 The elements of communication are much inter-related. The effectiveness of the communicator is detenmined in part by the attitude of the audience to him, and he should structure his message according to what he knows about the nature of his audience. A no less im- portant factor is the channel, and the choice of this has to be made on the basis of the message content, the code, the treatment of the message, and the knowledge the communicator has of his audience.3 To give an extreme example, one would not use radio in a school for the lHovland, Janis, and Kelley, pp. 103-105. 2912.. SEE.’pp. 105-107. 3Berlo, p. 68. 26 deaf, and a visual medium would be similarly inappropriate in a school for the blind. In the present study regular channels of communication have been identified as the commercial or city media of newspapers, radio, and television,and five channels on the campus. The latter are the student newspaper, the college radio, the President's talks, student con- versation, and the bulletin board. Commercial media have been studied in detail, and there appears to be considerable disagreement as to which of then is the most important. There is, however, no question as to their availability. As mentioned by one writer, "It is virtually impossible for the average person in modern American society to go through the day without coming into contact with at least one form of the mass media of communication...."1 In discussing their relative importance, another writer says that as a news medium newspapers are more important than radio or television because the brevity of the news broadcasts over the electronic media does not permit them to do an efficient job of presenting the news.2 The situation of newspapers in America today is paradoxical. Although there are more than hOO fewer daily newspapers published than there were 60 years ago, today's combined daily circulation is nearly to million more than it was at that time. Naturally, the increased circulation is partly due to the 1Robert C. O'Hara, Media fer the Millions, New York: Random Houseé 1962, p. 3. __— SEA Staff, Social Progress, Philadelphia: United Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., March, 1960, p. 3. 2? growth in population, but neWSpaper circulation has gone up approxi- mately one-third more than the population increase.1 A nationwide survey showed that 86.6 per cent of all households buy or borrow at least one daily newspaper each average day. The study also showed that 80.5 per cent of the men and 79 per cent of the women read a newspaper every day. Among the 13 million Americans between the ages of 15 and 20, 72 per cent read a newspaper on any given weekday.2 However, some writers claim that radio and television, not news- papers, are the principal source of news for the majority of the population.3 Statistics on usage suggest that the electronic media are the most used, although the figures recorded do not show a breakdown of usage as news media as against usage for entertainment. In the U. S. 93 per cent of households have a television set, and 97 per cent have at least one radio. The average person's television viewing time is estimated at 213 minutes per day, and radio listening time is calculated at 11;? minutes per day.h According to some investigators, the channel regarded as most lWilliam Rivers, _T_h__e_ Mass Media, Harper 8: Row, 1961;, p. 18. . cit. 3John—Ii: Rider, "The Role of Electronic Newsmen: 0h, The Humanity!n '_I'__he Q_u_i___ll, Vol. 53, No. 8, August 1965, p. 18. R. H. Breskin Associates, "TV and Radio Consumption Survey," Broadcasting, 1966, p. 21;. _ an? - 28 important depends on the type of news being disseminated. Greenberg in a study of how the news of President Kennedy's assassination was diffused concluded that the broadcast media were more important when the news was about major events, but newspapers took the lead for lesser news. Referring specifically to the late President's assassination, Greenberg reported that person-to-person communication became very important.1 Supporting Greenberg's conclusion, Hill and Bonjean found that television assumes the major role when the news is important; radio is ranked second, personal contact third, and newspapers last.2 In another study restricted to news of the Kennedy tragedy, MBndelsohn reported on 97 males and 103 females, ranging in age fron 13 to 65. Overall, 39 per cent mentioned radio as their first source; 32 per cent said word-of-mouth; and 17 per cent mentioned television. By comparison, among college students Mendelsohn found that hO per cent claimed word-ofqnouth as their first source of the news, 26 per cent said they had first heard the news on television, and 18 per cent claimed to have first heard it on the radio.3 1Bradley S. Greenberg, "Person-to—Person Communication in the Diffusion of News Events," Journalism Quarterly, Vol. bl, No. h., Autumn, l96h, pp. h89-h90. 2Richard J. Hill and Charles M. Bonjean, "News Diffusion: A Test of the Regularity Hypothesis," Journalism Quarterly, Vol. bl, Nb. h, Autumn, l96h, pp. 336-3b2. 3Harold Mendelsohn, "Broadcast vs. Personal Sources of Information in Emergent Public Crises: The Presidential Assassination," Journal 33 Broadcasting, Vol. VIII, Nb. 2, Spring, 196h, pp. 1&7-156. 29 An interesting comparison in the way people see themselves as mass media consumers was provided by McNelly and Fonesca in a study d? students and faculty members at the University of Costa Rica and adults in four cities in the united States. The investigators listed six media--newspapers, radio, TV, magazines, books, and movies--and asked for information on whether each subject used a particular medium yesterday. The students were all first or second year undergraduates. The results are shown below. Egg 2: 323 Mass Media Yesterdayl Adults in h Media Students ProfeSSors Latin Americans U.S. Cities Newspapers 97% 95% 95% 92% Radio 7h% h5% 76% 57% TV 29% 39% 51% 72% Magazines 37% 59% h5% 39% Books 39% 56% 71% 18% Movies 15% 1h% 12% (no data) (N) (280) (66) (21h) (511) Also completed south of the border, was a study reported by Carter and Sepulveda, which was concerned with how people in Chile said they used the mass media, and wifli their opinions about the media. These investigators found that average radio listening time was three 1John T. McNelly and Eugenio Fonesca, "Media Use and Political Interest at the university of Costa Rica,“ Journalism Quarterly, Spring, 1961:, pp. 225-231. hours each day, and there was no difference between men and women in this connection. Eighty-six percent of the men and women who could read said they usually read a daily paper. However, only half the men and two-thirds of the women said they had read a newspaper on the day of the interview. Mbre than half the interviewers (56%) said they had seen TV at some time. Sixty-two per cent of the women went to movies occasionally (two or three times a month). On the question of book reading, 57 per cent of the men and 51 per cent of the women reported reading on the average five or six books during the previous year, and three out of five men and women said they were magazine readers. The investigators also found that there was seemingly no difference in the media consumer habits of the people designated as opinion leaders and the non-leaders. This is in marked contrast to the United States where public affairs opinion leaders have a generally high intake of neWS related to mass media content. The opinion leaders in the U.S. also tend to make greater use of books and magazines than do non-leaders.1 Providing information about the role of opinion leaders in news diffusion, Danielson and Deutschmann found that opinion leaders were better informed than those for whom they provided information. How- ever, these investigators also found that important news events were 1Roy E. Carter, Jr. and Orlando Sepulveda, "Some Patterns of Mass Media Use in Santiago de Chile,n Journalism Quarterly, Spring, 19611., V01. ’40, pp. 216“22ho 454'; q,‘ mew e! 31 not usually diffused via a two-stage flow of communication. They also found that for important news the pattern of diffusion was not affected by the time of the day or the nature of the story. They, too, found that television was important in delivering important news, and so was radio. They saw newspapers as a supplement to reports from radio and television.1 The last~named study supported a much earlier study made by Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet to detennine if during a voting campaign there were people who might be identified as “influentials.” These people were identified, and the investigators concluded that the "influentials" were no different from those they influenced in social- class status, education and age. The leaders did, however, expose themselves considerably more to the mass media than did the people they influenced, particularly to the media which could be seen as more relevant to the leaders' sphere of influence.2 The effect of people's exposure to the mass media still seems to be a matter for conjecture. Katz says that many studies have shown that mass media campaigns, particularly in the field of public affairs, 1Paul J. Deutschmann and wayne A. Danielson, "Diffusion of Knowledge of the Major News Story,“ Journalism Quarterly, Vol. 37, No. 3., Summer, 1960, p. 355. 2Elihu Katz and Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence, Glencoe, 111.: The Free Press, 1955, pp. 32-33. _ _ - l x - , ' u u . . . . . . p V a v .- . 32 have failed to cause much change in people's opinions, attitudes, or actions. In a democratic society the audience exposes itself to what it wants to hear, and even when the audience is "captive,“ its members are prone to miss the point if what they hear or read opposes their pre-judgments.l Katz's opinion regarding the ineffectiveness of the mass media is not shared by other observers of the media. Carpenter believes that each medium presents the consumer with a different way of seeing an event, and comments on the effectiveness of television to explain his belief. For example, if a court scene were being reported on television, the viewer would be exposed to visual and auditory images and thus be able to hear the accuser and watch the accused simultaneously. Carpenter also maintains that "a given idea or insight belongs primarily, though not exclusively, to one medium, and can be gained or communicated best through that mediumJ' Thus a particular medium has a different way of codifying reality, and.as a result, greatly influences the content of the message communicated.2 Carpenter suggests that he supports McLuhan who dressed the effectiveness of particular media. MCLuhan says that the medium is the message. He claims that media are different in the way some of lElihu Katz, "The Diffusion of New Ideas and Practices,“ The Science of Human Communication, New Yerk: Basic Books, Inc., 1963, p. 60. ZEdmund Carpenter, "Our New Languages, the Mass Media,n Languages ‘gf the Mass Media, Boston: D. 0. Heath & Company, 1957: p. 11. them, more than others, demand greater involvement of their consumers. He categorizes the media as “hot" and "cool.“ The hot media he defines as those which "do not leave so much to be filled in or completed by the audience." Cool media on the other hand demand a great deal of completion by the audience.1 To McLuhan, television is a cool medium, and he likens it to the open-mesh silk stocking, which he says is far more sensuous than the snooth nylon "because the eye must act as hand in filling in and completing the image...."2 The importance of television as a news medium is not seemingly appreciated by the majority of the students at a large university in the Midwest. A study at this institution showed that for national news 76.2 per cent of the students reported the radio as their first, second, or third choice, and h1.5 per cent named radio as their most important source. Twenty-three per cent ranked television first, and 12.1 per cent named newspapers other than the campus newspaper. Magazines were named by 10.3 per cent of the students, and the campus newspaper was named by 8.5 per cent as their first source of national news. For community and campus news the pattern was reversed. As the main source of this type of news more than 90 per cent of the students named the campus newspaper in top place; 3.5 per cent said radio was 1Marshall McLuhan, Understanding Media: Th3 Extensions 2£.MEE’ New York: McGraw—Hill Book Company, 1965, pp. 22- 3. 22.20 Fit-o, p: 29- 3h their first choice, and less than 1 per cent named television.l As can be seen from the preceding discussion, the question of how people obtain news about what is going on is not easily answered. One observer, such as McLuhan, believes that the medium is the most important factor; another, such as Gibbs, suggests that people have been assailed by too much news, and this “has bred cynical and paranoidal responses in listeners."2 There is not necessarily reason to believe that what is true of people in general is any less true of faculty members and students in a Community College. The fact still remains, however, that the administrator of an organization such as a Community College has to enlist the cooperation of his students and faculty members, and to do this he has to keep them informed as to what is happening on the campus. His best course of action would seem to be first to identify the channels of communica- tion which operate in his organization, and who uses them. It seems reasonable to suggest that possession of this infonnation, could make him a more efficient administrator. A summary of the review of the literature suggests that the Community College is a unique institution in that it offers a wide range of post-high school educational programs, which may range from lMichigan State News Staff Bulletin, "Study of Michigan State News Readership," 196E, . 7. Jack R. Gibbs, "Defensive Communication," ETC, Vol. XXII, No. 2, JUne, 1965, p. 221. v . . . , . l n _ . o . v ' ‘ . l . - o . . . . . y n u u . . v 35 the Older liberal arts concept to the most modern techniques of a particular local industry. Although not everyone is agreed as to the role of this type of institution, the disagreement has not prevented a phenomenal growth of two-year colleges throughout the country, which has provided educational opportunities for post-high school students which otherwise they would not have had. Offering such a varied fare, the community college draws an extremely heteregeneous student body, which a number of writers Show, has been misrepresented as consisting solely of students of lesser intelligence and academically less able than students in four-year senior institutions. The literature also Shows that there are a number of opinions as to how communication should be defined, and which medium is the most effective in transmitting information. As might be expected, an attenpt to determine the latter discovers so many variables in- volved that the question can only be answered by further questions pertaining to sudh factors as the content of the message, the facilities or channels of communication available, and the nature of the audience. This review is considered to be pertinent to this study, as it has attempted to define the Community College and its function, and the relative effectiveness of various channels of communication media which have their parallel on the Community College campus. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY The questions proposed to be answered by this study suggested that a suitable population would be the faculty and student body of a public-supported community college in a metropolitan area. The factors affecting the choice were that the college had to have been established long enough to have a student body of several hundred, and have developed a number of channels of communication such as a regularly published campus newspaper and a campus radio transmitter which broadcast regular programs. The college Should also be located in an urban area so that the students would be regularly exposed to local mass media such as commercial radio, television, and newspapers. It was also desirable that there should be a number of current matters about whiCh both students and faculty members had been given informa~ tion over several weeks, and on which they could be expected to have developed some opinion. Baltimore Junior College in Baltimore, Maryland provided a suitable setting for making the study. According to the institution's curreit catalogue, BJC is a two-year co-educational, public junior college which offers a variety of programs. These include the first two years of university-parallel courses for those who intend to transfer into baccalaureate programs in four-year colleges and universities, and two years of semi-professional and technical 36 37 training;with general education for those expecting to terminate their formal education at the end of two years and enter a vocation. The College has a student body of 1500, of whom one-third are women, and it has a full-time faculty of 6h. The College owns and operates a 250 watt radio station, WBJC-FM, which broadcasts daily programs from 2:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. The students also publish a weekly newspaper THE CRIER. ' Discussion with the College's President, Academic Dean, Dean of Students, and Director of Admissions suggested that the adminis- tration would be willing to cooperate in the proposed study. These discussions also revealed that there were sufficient activities taking place on the campus, which had been well publicized, and which, therefore, the students and faculty could be expected to be informed about. Five of these items suggested thenselves as being suitable for study. First, tuition fees had been increased frdn $100.00 to $112.50 a semester, effective as from the Fall of 196h. Second, the grade point average necessary for a student to remain academically eligible had been raised from 1.0 to 1.5, which was also to go into effect in the fall of l96h. In addition, a $2.5 million building program was in operation. One particular building, which was scheduled to be ready for occupancy by September, 1965, was being constructed to house administration offices, the college radio station, and provide facilities for new programs. Consequent on the additional space to be provided, two new programs, Nursing and Urban Development, were . . _ a _ V ' I . ‘ . , . . . . I ' I . I . I I I t \, I C ' t z A ‘ ' ’ ‘ \ l . ' _ I _ t . . ~ ~ . 1 38 to be introduced in September, 1965. Another issue, not actually taking place on the campus, but which suggested itself as affecting the college, was that the Maryland State Legislature had recently granted the University of Manyland permission to establish a branch nearby. An analysis of the communication picture with the members of the administrative staff showed that, in addition to the local commercial media of newspapers, radio, and television, the campus had five channels of communication by which students and faculty members obtained regular information about the College. These were: student conversation, college newspaper, president's talks, college radio, and bulletin board. On the basis of the discussions with the administrative staff, a tentative questionnaire was designed listing the five issues named above, and using both the college aid the commercial media. From a list supplied by the Dean of Students, persons who had recently graduated were contacted until ten were obtained who agreed to be personally inter- viewed and complete the questionnaire in their homes. When he completed the questionnaire, each subject was timed, and after answering the questions was asked to comment on the clarity and relevance of the questions. No person took longer than thirty minutes, and none less than twenty minutes to complete the questionnaire. More than half the respondents said they could not understand the reason for the question about the location of the branch of the University 39 of Maryland. Consequent on the respondents' attitude to this question the writer had further consultation with the adnunistrative staff at the College, and as there seemed to be some question about the relevancy of this question to the objectives of the study, and in response to a request from the Dean of Students, the question was replaced by a question regarding knowledge of student activities. After consultation with the college representative of the local IBM office re the best way of handling computation of the data, the writer re-wrote the questionnaire (See Appendix 'A') in a form which would enable the students to answer on IBM form 00h1-2. The reason for using this form was that it was suggested that the students in the high schools from which this college drew most of its students were used to answering on these forms, and that this method would ensure greater accuracy in the acquisition of the data, and simplify the data processing. It was decided that a study of students who had recently graduated would make an interesting comparison with the freshmen who had been in attendance at the College only a short time. The questionnaire was, flierefore, mailed to 185 graduates from a list obtained in the Dean of Students' office. Accompanying the questionnaire was a letter signed by the President of the College (See Appendix 'A') requesting the respondents' c00peration in this project, and a stamped, addressed envelope. These were mailed on September 16. Completed questionnaires began to be returned by the third day, ho with the highest percentages, eight and seven per cent respectively, arriving on the fourth and fifth days after mailing. Deliveries then decreased abruptly, and continued intermittently. A followeup letter was Sent to those who had not replied on the fourteenth day after the original, and three days after that there was an increase to five per cent, and then a falling back again to small intermittent deliv- eries. On the thirtieth day after the original mailing h1% (77) had been received, and ten of these questionnaires had to be dis- carded because they were not completed. An additional check was made with the Dean of StudentsI office regarding this return, and it was found that the usable questionnaires received actually comprised 60% of the 112 who had actually graduated, as 73 of the students on the list had left the College but had not graduated. It was considered that 60% of the graduates was a fair sample with which to work. The questionnaires were administered to the freshmen class at their weekly orientation sessions, and the 862 questionnaires completed constituted 98% of the freshmen who attended fullutime classes. There was considerable difficulty encountered in getting the questionnaires completed by members of the sophomore class. An attempt to have the faculty administer the test in their regular claSSes proved unsuccess- ful, and a second attempt proved impractical for various reasons. Finally, the writer mailed out the questionnaire from a class list to the students who had not completed it, and thereby obtained 189 replies. This number represented 6h% of the sophomore class. Ilka investigator was permitted to distribute the questionnaires to the faculty members at one of their regular faculty meetings. Acconpanying each questionnaire was a letter from the College Presi- dent (See Appendix A) asking the members of the faculty to cooperate in the study. Fifty-seven replies were received from faculty members, representing 89% of full-time faculty employed. After the data were collected it was found that the IBM 1095 machine which had been recommended was not suitable to process the data in the form required for the study. The questionnaires were, therefore, coded and punched on IBM cards. Tabulations and cross- tabulations were done on a sorting machine. In all cases where there was any doubt regarding the significance of results, statistical tests were used. Chi square was the test mainly used. However, cognizance was taken of the fact that statisticians are not agreed as to how many cases constitute a sufficient number expected in a cell to fulfil the assumptions of chi square, and that its use in some instances is open to question. lJohn E. Alman and David M. white, "Statistical Methods in Communication Research," Introduction to Mass Communications Research, Ralph 0. Nafziger and David M. White (“é-dad, Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1963, p. lh3. CHAPTER IV RESULTS The questions were designed to cover three categories of sources of information designated as the "formal" sources, e.g. college new- paper, college radio, and talks by the president; "informal" sources, e.g. conversation with fellow students and faculty members; and "out- side sources such as city newspapers, and city radio and TV stations. The order of the questions was arranged to first provide a picture of the media habits of the students, recent graduates, and faculty members. Then followed questions on five specific items about the college. These items had been publicized during the 12 months prior to the study, and were: tuition increase, new programs, increase in grade point average, new buildings, and student activities. Collectively, the questions were designed to provide data on the question “How does communication flow from administrators to faculty members and students in a community college?" Personal Data Eleven hundred and seventy-five questionnaires were received from 862 freshmen (99%), 189 sophomores (6h%), 67 graduates (61%) and 57 faculty members (89%). The total number of responses to each item varied because all subjects did not respond to each item. The number of subjects not responding was, however, generally small and thus these subjects were not included, as it was thought improbable that h2 4 h3 omission of them would affect the outcome. Most Frequently Used Media Three daily newspapers, three TV stations, and 12 radio stations, 10 of which have AM and FM frequencies, disseminated news to the area served by the Community College used as the subject of this study. Such an availability of commercial media to students who are 100 per cent commuters suggested that their exposure to the city media would be greater'than to the college media. As can be seen in Table l, a significant number (92.h%) reported college media rather than city media as their main source of college news. As shown by Table 2, a chi square test showed no significant difference in the frequency with which freshmen, sophomores, graduates, or faculty reported college media or city media as their main source of news about the college. The above results might have been expected of the students, but they also applied to the graduates and the faculty. It was particularly surprising in the case of the graduates as they had been left the college for four months at the time they answered the questionnaire. The results suggested that the subjects either did not expect the city media to carry college news, or the city newspapers, radio and TV did not carry much college news. If the latter is true, it would appear to require explanation, as the college is located in the city limits, serves city residents almost exclusively, and draws uh Table 1 Percentage of college community who chose college media versus local commercial media as their more frequent source of college news Media N Percentage College 1079 92.h% Local 88 705% Total 1167 99. 9% g2 = 15.1132, 93 = _l_, P. 4 .001 hS Table 2 Percentage of college community, by group, who chose college media versus local commercial media as their more frequent source of college news Media GrogL Freshmen Sophomores Graduates Faculty Percentage N Percentage N Percentage N Percentage N College 93. 5% 803 90. 3% 168 86.3% 57 89.h% 51 Iocal 6.1% 55 9.6% 18 13.6% 9 10.5% 6 Total 9.9% 858 99. 9% 186 99.9% 66 99.9% 57 f=6.181, df=_3_ E (.05 146 one-third of its operating costs from local taxes. Most Frequently Used Local Media As shown in Table 3, there were differences among the groups in the way they reported city media as a college news source. There is a lack of agreement among statisticians as to what constitutes a sufficient number of cases expected in a cell to fulfil the assump- tions of chi square. For the purposes of this study the guidelines 1 He states that if there are offered by Cochran have been followed. more than two rows or columns, and if fewer than 20 per cent of the cells should have an expected frequency of less than five, or if any cell should have an expected frequency of less than one, and if adjacent categories cannot be logically combined, the chi square is not appro- priate. The small number of cases for the electronic media for some groups prevented meaningful use of the chi square test.2 It was not appropriate to combine adjacent groups or items, and as an alternative, eadh group was considered independently, thus the data lent itself to testing by chi square. These results are shown in Table 1 in Appendix 'A'. As can be seen in each group, many'more subjects re- ported newspapers than reported any other medium as their main source of college news. This is contrary to the national trend for general 1W. G. Cochran, "Some Methods for Strengthening the Common Chi Square Tests," Biometrics, 10sp-hl7. 2Sidney Siegel, Ncn—parametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences, New York: MEGraw Hill Book Company, I956, p. 110. b7 Table 3 Percentage frequency of group choice of local commercial media Media Group Freshmen Sophomores Graduates Faculty Percentage N Percentage N Percentage N Percentage N Newspapers 93.8% 792 8h.6% 160 88.0% 59 92.9% 52 Radio 5-7% h8 9.5% 18 7-h% 5 1-7% 1 Television 0.b% h 5.9% 11 u.uz 3 5.3% 3 Total 99.9% 8th 100.0% 189 99.8% 67 99.9% 56 148 news. More and more people appear to be looking to the electronic media rather than to newspapers as their main source of news.1 m Frequently 9262 College _M_e_d2 The fact that so many subjects named college media in prefer- ence to local media naturally raised the question as to which medium was most frequently reported. Again, the newspaper was ahead of the other media. As can be seen in Table h, more than 50 per cent in each group named the college newspaper as their most frequent source of college news; although, there was considerable difference in the way the college media were reported. Again, the small number of cases which showed for particular media (college radio and President's talks) prevented meaningful use of the chi square, nor was it appro- priate to combine adjacent groups or items. As an alternative, there- fore, each group was considered independently, and treated in this way, the date lent itself to testing by chi square. As seen in Table 5, the results were significant with the probability for all the groups less than .001 in the difference in frequency of mention of particular media. This indicates that there was a significant difference in the way they regarded the various media. Referring again to Table )4, it can be seen that media other than newspapers were named fairly frequently. Student conversation was named by 28.8 per cent of the freshmen, 37.2 per cent of the sophomores, 1John H. Rider, "The Role of Electronic Newsmen: Oh, The Humanity!" The Quill, August, 1965, p. 18. b9 Table h Percentage frequency of group choice of college media Media Group Freshmen Sophomores Graduates Faculty Percentage N Percentage N Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 28.8% 2h9 37.2% 63 31.8% 21 7.0% h College newspaper 50.8% h38 50.8% 86 51.5% 3h 50.8% 29 President's talks 1.3% 12 2.9% S 0% 0 35.0% 20 Radio 0.6% 6 3.5% 6 0% 0 0% 0 Bulletin board 18.2% 157 5.3% 9 16.6% 11 7.0% h Total 99.7% 862 99.7% 169 99.9% 66 99.8% 57 Table 5 Chi square result for each group Showing significant difference in choice of college media 50 Group ‘_ .___ ‘2 Freshmen 756.17 h .001 Sophomores l70.hl h .001 Graduates 79.18 h .001 Faculty 56.71 h .001 51 and 31.8 per cent of the graduates. That there should be such a large number of the sophomores who named.this medium.is under- standable. Having been together through their freshman year, the upper classmen had had an opportunity to detennine on whom they could rely for news from among their fellow students. In the case of the freshmen, however, they had been in college only about four weeks. The explanation for the freshmen might be that many of them had gone to the same high schools, and that their high school friend- ships had continued in college. Probably, more important, is whether the students with whom they conversed and from whom they obtained news were the same people who had supplied then with news in high school, and even earlier. In other words, are there particular people who might be identified as news disseminators even as children, and who continue to play thisrole as they grow older? As can also be seen, more than 30 per cent of the graduates named student conversation as their first source of college news. This might mean that they had continued to maintain their college friendShips after graduation, or that still living in the area served by the college, they obtained news from students who were still attending the college. The responses which named the President's talks were much more frequent from the faculty (31.5 per cent) than from any of the student groups. This is understandable, as the faculty were required to attend a monthly meeting presided over by the President, whereas 52 the students' attendance at the President's monthly meetings were on a voluntary basis. The question might well be asked if the lack of compulsion is sufficient explanation of why so few students re- ported the meetings. According to the President, the Specific purpose of holding the meetings was to keep students informed about the college. They were informal gatherings held in the school cafeteria, so that students could partake of refreshments while they listened to what the President had to say. Only 1.1 per cent of the freshmen named these talks. This may be because the group had not had a chance to attend more than two meetings. On the other hand, only 2.9 per cent of the sophomores reported the talks as their main source of college news. Apparently, the talks were not meeting the objectives as well as the administration thought they were. Maybe the time or location needed to be given further consideration. While the talks were held in the afternoon when very few classes were scheduled, perhaps most of the students had gone home or gone to work by that time. Maybe too, the talks might be reviewed from the standpoint of content and its presentation. Bulletin Egard As can be seen, 18.2 per cent of the freshmen named the bulletin board as their main source of college news. This might be a carry- over from high school, where, having become accustomed to depending on this medium for news, they continued to regard it as their main 53 source. It is difficult, however, to see why such a comparatively high number of graduates should name this medium as their main source of college neWS, particularly when not one of them reported the President's talks. As many of them still lived in the area, they probably visited the school frequently and read the bulletin board. If so, this channel might be regarded as a convenient and economical form of alumni communication. College Eadig Except for a few sophomores (3.5 per cent), this medium appeared to be completely disregarded as a source of college news. This was not because the college radio did not carry college news. Examination of the station's log and convarsations with the station manager and faculty adviser, indicated that regular news broadcasts were given every hour on the hour between 2:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. and that every story about the college carried by the newspaper was also carried by the radio. Often, the radio was more up-to-date in its news reports than was the newspaper, as the newscasts were six times daily, where- as the newspaper was published only once a week. Part of the explanation might be that the radio station operates on an FM wave length, and the students do not own FM radios. On the other hand, students might not tune in to FM stations, but prefer local AM stations which carry the type of programs they prefer. It could be that the only students who regarded the radio as their main source of news were those who work at the station, either as part 5b of their regular curriculum, or as an extra-curricular activity. The college radio's functioning as part of the curriculum might also be a factor. Students might regard it as an activity carried on as part of the instructional program for students who intend to make radio work their career. It might, too, be thought of as a college pUblic relations medium; in fact, anything but as a news service to keep them informed about what was going on at the College, rather than as a source of news service to themselves. Media Consumption and Media Choice The more a person uses a particular medium, overall, the more he might be inclined to depend on it as a source of specific news. Marshall McCluhen of the University of Toronto has advanced the theory that some media involve their consumers far more than do others. Those media which involve consumers less, such as the print media, e.g. newspapers, he has designated as "hot" media. Those which provide a great deal of consumer involvement, such as the electronic media, McCluhen has designated as "cool" media.1 It seemed reasonable to suggest that the subjects who reported themselves as frequent users of the cool media, or which entailed most involvement of the consumer, would be more likely to select as their main source of news the medium they most frequently used. Conversely, those subjects who said they were frequent users of the hot media, would be less likely to report 1Marshall McCluhen, Understanding Media: 222 Extension of Man, pp. 22-23. __ ___ 55 the medium they most used as their main source of news. In other words, an attempt was made to find out if there was any relationship between a person's consumption of a medium and his selection of that medium as a source of college news. Respondents were asked to indicate how frequently, in a typical week, they read a newspaper, listened to the radio, or watched tele- vision. The replies were divided for each group into highend low frequency, dependent in the case of newspaper reading on the number of days respondents indicated they regularly read a newspaper, and in the case of radio and television, dependent on the number of hours respondents said they spent regularly with these media. A basis of approximating the groups as equally as possible was established to try to provide a cmnparison across media, as there did not appear to be any reason for assuming that there was necessarily a relation- ship between the number of days a week a person said he read a news— paper and the amount of time he said he spent weekly listening to the radio or watching television. 0n the above basis, high and low frequency newspapers readers were designated according to whether they said they read a newspaper regularly every day in a typical week or less than every day. Higheand low frequency radio listeners and television watchers were designated as those who said they spent five hours or more weekly on each of these media for high, and those who said they spent less than five hours weekly for low. Significance was determined by a chi square test, except in those cases where there 56 was an insufficient number of responses by a group for a particular medium, which prevented the result of a chi square test from being meaningful. As can be seen from an examination of Tables 2-25 in Appendix B, none of the groups showed a significant difference be— tween the frequency of use of a particular medium and their choice of that medium as their main source of college news. In the case of the subjects who said they read a newspaper every day, for example, in every group more than 80 per cent selected new- papers from among the local media as their most frequent source of college news. But this was also true of the respondents who said they were not everyday readers. Similarly, in their reporting of college media, the choices of the high frequency readers were little different from those of the low frequency readers. There was an ex- ception in the case of the graduates (Table 8, Appendix B), of whom almost three times the number of high frequency readers selected the college newspaper than did the low frequency readers. In this case it was not apprOpriate to test by chi square, as none of the graduates reported either the President's talks or the college radio as their main source of college news. Thus the results shown could have been arrived at by chance, and had to be viewed with reservations. The responses regarding use of the electronic media andchoice 57 of media as a source of college news showed no more difference than did subjects' responses on newspaper reading. The high frequency radio users had a majority who named the newspaper as their main source of college news from among the city media and from among the college media. In the case of the sophomores and freshmen (Tables 10 and 11, Appendix B) there was a slight increase in the number of high frequency listeners who reported radio from among the local media as their main source of college news over the number of low frequency listeners who named that medium. But off-setting that, none of the graduates who said they were high frequency listeners named radio as their chief source of college news, and less than one per cent of the faculty group's frequent listeners named radio. Examination of the responses for the subjects' selection of college media, as can be seen from Tables 19-22, shows many less responses which named the college neWSpaper against the number who had reported that medium from among the local media. However, the change was not to the electronic media but to student conversation and the bulletin board. In no case was there any appreciable differ- ence between the high frequency listeners and low frequency listeners. The data in Tables 18—21 (Appendix B) show that the choices of the frequent TV viewers were no different from those of frequent radio listeners. By chi square test none were significant. A look at Table 26 shows that in the case of the faculty's naming of the local media, the number of both high and low frequency viewers who named 58 newspapers as their main source of college news were so many that the remaining responses were too few to be tested for significance. As with radio listening, when the subjects were asked to name the college medium on which they relied most for college news, there was a lesser number who named the newspaper than had named the newspaper from among the local media. Butthose who changed selected student conver- sation or bulletin board rather than television. The data indicated a lack of relationship betWeen the degree of use of a particular medium and its choice for college news. All groups reported the newspaper as the main source of college news. Irrespective of the medium usage being discussed, mien subjects did not name the newspaper as their main source of college news, from among the college media, whether they had reported themselves as high or low consumers of a particular medium, they named as their chief source student conversation or the bulletin board, rather than the President's talks or the college radio. Students As Information Sources Carter and Sepulveda, when studying the use of mass media in South America, found certain people who could be designated as "opinion leaders,“ and they compared these with "opinion leaders" in the United States.1 It was reasoned that "opinion leaders" might be 1Roy E. Carter, Jr. and Orlando Sepulveda, “Some Patterns of Mass Media Usage in Santiago de Chile," Journalism Quarterly, Spring, l96h, pp. 216-22h. 59 identified from among the student body, and if they could be, they might prove to be a valuable medium for channeling information to their fellow students. Each respondent, therefore, was asked to name any other student or students on whom he relied for news about the college. The results showed 10 per cent (87) of the freshmen being named, 25.3 per cent (h8) of the sophomores, and h3.2 per cent (29) of the graduates. Most of the students named, however, received only one nomination. Those who received the highest number of nominations were nominated as follows: Sophomore #1 30 nominations Sophomore #2 15 nominations Sophomore #3 8 nominations Freshman 5 nominations As can be seen in Table 6, the students who received most nominations had a number of characteristics in common. With one exception, they were all upper classmen, and the exception, a freshman, had the least number of nominations. They were all men, and all held a student office to which they had been elected by their fellow students. Because they were student officers, it could be reasoned that they were automatically identified as knowing more than the other students about what was going on at the College. If this was so, they could be likened to Katz and Lazarfeld's women public opinion leaders in public affairs. The latter were defined individually as "the woman who knows what is going on, the woman to 60 Table 6 Characteristics of students named by fellow students as sources of college news Student Sophomore #1 Sophomore #2 Sophomore #3 Freshman Nominations 30 15 8 5 Age 23 22 26 23 GPA 2.0 2.0 2.0 --* Media preference Local College College College College media preference Radio Newspaper Newspaper Newspaper Frequency of media usage - Newspaper High High High High Radio High Low Low Low TV High High High LOW No. of maga- zines read regularly 3 - h l - 2 2 - 3 l - 2 Personal More than Less than library books 500 100-200 100-200 Student President Vice-President President office Student SGA SOphomore Freshman held Council President Class Class Military service None Navy Ex-Army None Previous college experience 1 Year None 1 Year NOne * This man had not been at the college long enough to have a GPA. I 61 whom.0ther women turn for public affairs information and opinion."1 On the other hand, it might be asked if they had been elected to office because they did appear to know what was going on. As re- corded in Table 7, compilation of these students' answers to questions about the issues shows that, in general, they thought they knew what was going on at the College. However, their answers on the questions intended to test their knowledge did not necessarily confirm that they did know. Knowledge of the increase in grade point average, for example, was non-existent in the case of two of them, and although the other two said they knew about the increase, they failed to select the right answer from among four alternatives. An explanation for this might be that their own GPA was not high, and this suggested that their main interest was something other than the academic area. How- ever, these students did apparently frequently interact with a number of different other people, as on the issues about which they said they knew, all of them said they had discussed the issues with students, administrator, faculty member, and with a person outside the college. A number of studies, starting with the Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet study of 19h0, have confirmed that people named as "influ- entials" are no different from other people in social class, status, education, age, and the like. The main difference was that opinion 1Katz and Lazarsfeld, pp. 271-272. . n n v a I , . . a . 1 ‘v 0 o I ,‘ O u ‘ ’ .- 1 . . u . . Table 7 62 Claim to knowledge of issues v knowledge as revealed by "influentials" in comparison with their fellow students Issue Tuition increase: Said they knew Knew New Programs: Said they knew Knew GPA increase: Said they knew Knew New buildings: Said they knew Knew Student activities: Said they knew Knew 5.1 Yes No Yes Yes Yes 8.3 Yes Yes Yes No No Yes Yes F.1 Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Percentage of general student body (N - 1051) 68.1% 27-7% 77-5% 71-5% h7-8% 20.3% 92.3% 82.0% 82.2% 73.3% I ‘1 1‘ i: } \“IIII| . 63 leaders were considerably more exposed to the mass media than were the others, particularly to the media which were most relevant to their sphere of influence.1 The students reported by their fellow students as sources of information fit the pattern as "influentials" if exposure to the medium most relevant to their sphere of influence is the criterion. Referring again to Table 31, it can be seen that all four students reported themselves as high frequency users of the newspaper. All but one named the newspaper as their main source of college news on the campus; it might be assumed that in general they had high exposure to the college newspaper. The exception reported the college radio as his main source of college news, and either it or the newspaper might be regarded as the medium "most relevant to their sphere of influence." Measured by some of the other criteria which investigators have identified as being associated with "influentials," these men do not fit the pattern. In age, for example, all of them were one or more years older than the average of their classmates. While among older' adults one or two years might not be regarded as important in the evaluation of a person's knowledge, in the case of college students, the fact that one of their number is "older" might well automatically imply that he Should know more about what is going on in general. The same might also be said of the factor of experience other than lIbid., pp. 32-33. 614 college, and/or of experience on another college campus. Sophomore #1 had spent a year at the University of Maryland prior to attending this college. The records showed that he had been suspended from the state university because of academic difficulties, but his fellow students would not necessarily know that. Sophomore #2 had served in the United States Navy, and Sophomore #3 was both an ex-paratr00per and had gone for a year to a state college in Tennessee. While the number of cases involved is in no way sufficient to make generaliza- tions on these factors, it is obvious that these men were not nominated as saurces of information because of their high academic standing, and while they were informed on a number of the issues, a number of those not named by their fellow students were as equally well informed. It might well be hypothesized that in a community college, ex-servicemen, who would naturally be a year or two older than their fellows, could, if they wished, be elected to office, and be important channels of communication for a good number of the students. Meriting special discussion are the sophomore who received the highest number of nominations, and the freshman who was reported the least number of times, frmn among the four who might be classified as "influentials." The former is typical of the people who have been designated as "opinion leaders" by investigators in other studies, and the latter is typical, particularly in most of his mass media usage practices. Sophomore #1, who had twice as many 65 nominations as any other student, was also one of the small group (9.8%) of the college comrmnity who reported local commercial rather than college media as his chief source of college news, and one of a snall number (9.5%) who selected the radio as his chief source of college news on the campus. He also named himself as a high frequency television viewer and radio listener, and was one of the 6 per cent who claimed to have a personal library of more than 500 books. He also claimed to be a more frequent magazine reader than a1y of the other students named as a source of news by their fellow students. By contrast, the only medium the freshman claimed to use fre- quently was the newspaper, and as his overall media preference was for college rather than local commercial media, he presumably meant the college newspaper. This man also said he was a low frequency user of both radio and television. He reported reading regularly as few magazines as any student, and has as few books in his personal library as any of the respondents. In his case, it does not look as if high media exposure was necessarily a deciding factor in his being named as a source of college news. A comparison of the number of nominations he received with the number received by Sophomore #1, suggests that there might be a relationship between the way a student reports himself as a consumer of the mass media and the degree to which he is regarded by his fellow students as a source of college news. More specifically, it might be hypothesized that the more a student reports himself as a user of the mass media, the more likely he will u u u a l . c x o l . n _ 1 o 66 be regarded as a source of information by his fellow students. If this were so, an administrator could identify the heavy mass media consumers and keep them supplied with frequent and accurate campus news. If such a channel of communication to the students could be established, it could, according to the findings of some investiga- tors, be more effective thai the mass media in keeping the students informed about the College. Klapper, for example states: ...face-to-face discourse is a more effective instrument of persuasion than the mass media because of certain characteristics deriving from the personal relationship involved.1 To return to the specific question as to whether or not particu- lar students can be identified as sources of information about the College by their fellow students, the results of the current study indicated that there were such students on the campus of the College at which the study was conducted. A study of these individuals, who, as previously mentioned, could be termed "influentials," suggested that the way information flowed on the campus was in keeping with the “two-step" flow of communication found to operate in a number of communities.2 Hewever, before such an assumption could be positively made, in view of the small number of students so identified, more research would have to be carried out. lKlapper, p. 1070. 2%. c_it_., p. 32. awn-FE" r ', ‘ ,1 .5. ..;';1§rcrs-r;fgsgwg . . ' o I '4 so. C e C I I O o ' V i O ‘ 67 Message Content and lts Relationship 33 Message Reception Communications research has shown that "The Audience...exposes itself to what it wants to hear.“1 Based on this assumption, it seemed reasonable to suggest that the students would be inclined to report that they had heard about an issue which they favored more than they would report having heard about an issue which they viewed with less favor. The subjects were asked to evaluate the tuition increase, the new programs, the increase in GPA, the new buildings, and student activities, as to which they regarded as "good," and which "bad." Cross tabulations were made to compare their answers with their answers as to whether or not they had heard about the issues. In the case of the responses regarding new programs, increase in GPA, and student activities, it was difficult to make comparisons, as although the respondents in varying numbers reported particular items as "good," they were seemingly reluctant to say the issues were "bad." To provide a basis for comparison, and to try to answer the matter in question, the two issues of tuition increase and new build- ings were selected as those which provided the most clear-cut data. These were compared on the basis of how many students reported them as "good" or "bad," and how'many'of those subjects reported having heard about them. lHovland, Janis, and Kelley, pp. 78-79. As can be seen in Tables 8-10, the reporting of the groups on how they felt about the tuition increase varied. 'Whereas only 7.7 per cent of the freshmen answered "good," 20.6 per cent of the sophomores and l6.h per cent of the graduates answered in this way. The students who responded on both issues reported as having heard about the tuition increase as follows: freshmen 66.0 per cent, sophomores 70.3 per cent, and graduates 71.6 per cent. On the new building issue, more than 90 per cent of all three groups said it was "good". The subjects who said they had heard about it were as follows: 92.0 per cent freshmen, 92.0 per cent sophomores, and 86.5 per cent of the graduates. To determine the significance of difference in the replies to the two questions, a MCNemar test was administered for each of the groups. As can be seen in Tables ll-13, the reponses of both the freshmen and sophomores were significantly different in the may the students answered the question about tuition and the way they answered about the new buildings. As Table 38 shows, the graduates' responses were only slightly different on the two questions. The answers provided by the freshmen and sophomores suggested that the students were more likely to say they had heard about something they liked very much than about something they did not like as well. In the case of the graduates, the lack of significance in the differences in their answers, when one question was canpared with another, suggested a neutral attitude on their part. They Table 8 Freshmen replies on their attitude to two representative issues 69 Tuition increase New Buildings Percentage N Percentage N Said they had heard 66% 569 92.6% 799 Said they had not heard 33% 285 5.6% h9 Knew the answer 13.2% 11h 71.1% 613 Opinion of the issue: Good 7.7% 67 9h.7% 817 Neither good nor bad 9.1% 79 1.2% 11 Bad 5.1% hh .0% 1 No opinion 15.7% 136 2.0% 18 No answer 62.1% 535 1.7% 15 SOphomore replies on their attitude Table 9 to two representative issues 70 Tuition increase New buildings Percentage N Percentage N Said they had heard 70.3% 133 92.0% 17h Said they had not heard 29.7% 56 8.0% 15 Knew the answer h2.3% 80 82.5% 156 Opinion of the issue: Good 20.6% 39 93.6% 177 Neither good nor bad 25.3% h8 1.5% 3 Bad 10.0% 19 2.6% 5 No opinion 22.2% h2 1.0% 2 No reply 21.6% hl 1.0% 2 71 Table 10 Graduates' replies on their attitude to two representative issues Tuition increase New buildings Percentage N Percentage N Said they had heard 71.6% h8 86.5% 57 Said they had not heard 28.3% 19 10.h% 10 Knew the answer 22.3% 15 77.6% 52 Opinion of the issue: Good 16.h% 11 92.5% 62 Neither good nor had 26.8% 18 l.h% 1 Bad 8.9% 6 1.h% 1 No opinion 31.3% 21 .O% 0 No reply 16.h% 11 boh% 3 - ,w-Emu!‘ v-r-l—g -- w...— . . . . . . q . . ~ . u ‘ O 4 «- 72 Table 11 Comparison of freshmen responses to questions concerning knowledge of tuition increase and new buildings Do you know about the tuition increase over last year which is in effect this fall? ‘ NO YES Do you know what new YES 1.71. 269 buildings are currently being built on campus? NO 37 10 g2 = hh2.911 if = 1 p_<.001 73 Table 12 Comparison of SOphomore responses to questions concerning knowledge of tuition increase and new buildings Do you know about the tuition increase over'last year which is in effect this fall? ‘ NO YES Do you know what new YES D7 123 buildings are currently being built on campus? NO 8 8 222 = 26.2511 d = 1 31:.001 7h Table 13 Comparison of graduate responses to questions concerning knowledge of tuition increaseaand new buildings Do you know about the tuition increase over last year which is in effect this fall? NO YES Do you know what new YES 12 bl buildings are currently being built on campus? NO 7 7 §2= .8h21 df=1 E>.05 75 would not be paying the increased tuition nor using the new buildings. CHAPTER V CONCLUSIONS AND FECOMiENDATION S FOR FURTHER RESEARCH The results of this study indicated that more than 90 per cent of the students, faculty, and recent graduates at a Community College in a large Eastern city depended on college media as their main source of news about their College, rather than on the commercial mass media. Nbre than 50 per cent of the subjects said that from among five channels of communication on the campus the student new- paper was their main source of college news. From among the subjects who reported depending more on college media than on commercial media for news about the College, those who did not name the student news- paper named one of four other communication channels as their main source of college news. In their choice of the four other channels, however, there was a difference in ranking between the students and the faculty, taking the number of subjects who named a particular channel as the criterion for deciding the priority of ranking. Ranked in order by the students the four other channels were student con- versation, bulletin board, President's talks, and the college radio. The faculty ranked the channels in the order of President's talks, bulletin board equally with student conversation, and the college radio. Choice of College Versus Commercial Media The percentage of students who named college media rather than 76 Tarn-an -. 77 commercial media as their main source of college news suggested that the Community College students were similar in this respect to the students at a large Midwestern University. In an earlier study more than 90 per cent of the latter selected college media rather than commercial media as their main source of college news.l Mbst students might be expected to favor college media rather than commer- cial media as their main source of college news. However, in the case of the Community College students in this study it might have been expected that a higher percentage of students would have named the commercial mass media. All the students were commuters who lived in an area served by a variety of mass media, i.e. three metropolitan newspapers, three large television stations, and 12 radio stations, ten of which operate on both AM and FM frequencies. Living at home, the students might be expected to have had frequent exposure to all of these. It was known that all the city media carried regular news about the local community college. The college was the only one of its type within the city limits, and it received one-third of its operating revenue from city taxes. The majority of subjects in all the groups said they read a newspaper every day, and most of the students said they listened to the radio every day. In addition, the administration indicated that they regarded the commercial mass media as part of their regular method of keeping their students and 1Michigan State News Staff Bulhatin, "Study of Michigan State News Readership:figl96fl, p. 7. 78 faculty informed about events at the college. This study, however, showed comparatively few of the college community who reported the city media as their main source of college news. Seeing that the administration were so confident that their communication via the commercial media was effective, and the majority of the students re- ported spending time each day as consumers of one or more of those media, it would be of value to the administrators for them to know why so few of the students and faculty regarded the city media as a main source of college news. The implication seemed to be that the students and faculty looked on the commercial mass media as a source of other than college news and/or as a source of entertainment. Knowledge of this situation might enable the administrators to deve10p ways of persuading the city media to more effectively communicate news about the college. It seems reasonable to suggest that the administrators might also thereby keep the public better informed about the College and thus increase, or at least maintain, the public's support to the greater benefit of the College. As already mentioned, more than 90 per cent of the Community College students in this study and the students at a Midwestern University named college media rather than commercial media as their main source of college news. This was not because there was any lack of commercial media. In both areas there were available at least three metropolitan daily newspapers, a number of AM and FM radio stations, and three television stations. One reason for this 79 seemed to be that for the students and the faculty the college media appeared to be a more credible source then the commercial media as a purveyor of college news. This supposition is in keeping with the conclusion made by Hovland, Janis and Kelley that the publication or channel by which a message is transmitted could affect the impact of communication.1 hey reported that in the publication of an article on whether or not a particular drug should continue to be sold with- out a doctor's prescription, a journal of biology and medicine was regarded as a high credibility source, whereas a mass circulation magazine had low credibility when it carried an article on the same topic. From this it might be hypothesized that the more specialized a channel of communication appears to be, the more credibility it will have for its audience. It might also be that students saw the college media as being nearer to the source than the commercial media appeared to be. The former were therefore viewed as being more trustworthy than the latter because to get to the former, the news did not have to pass through as many "hands" as it did to get to the commercial media. Thus, it might be hypothesized that the further news gets from its source, the less credible it becomes. The students might also have perceived the college media as free from control, whereas they did not know whether the commercial media were free or not. The latter may be perceived as having to please their owners and lHovland, Janis and Kelley, p. 19. advertisers. The college media such as the student newspaper and radio stations are seen by the students as being operated by their peers, or people who share the same interests as themselves. Seeing them thus, it seems reasonable to suggest that the students may have credited the college media with being more trustworthy for college news than would be media which are operated by people the students do not know. The difference in the percentages of the groups who named news- papers from among the commercial mass media as their main source of college news suggested that the upper classmen had less confidence in the city newspapers than did the freshmen and.the faculty. In comparing the student groups' responses, an explanation of their difference might be that whereas the freshmen expected the commercial newspapers to carry news about the college, experience had taught the sophomores not to have these expectations. On the other hand, the faculty members seemed to share the expectations of the freshmen in regarding the city newspapers as their main source of college news in comparison with the other commercial mass media. The graduates also had a higher percentage of their number who named the newspapers as their main source of college news than did the sophomores. Schramm.suggested that one of the reasons why peeple select particular media is in accord with "Kipf's principle of least effort."1 lPeterson, Theodore EE‘.§1” The Mass Media and Mbdern Society, New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 1955: P. 136. "' 1" Wu ‘. ._..~ :t 81 According to this principle least effort is basic to all human action, and the chief factor in the selection of media is that of availability. In the case of the subjects in this study, this principle might or might not apply to their choice. The newspaper would most probably be available in their homes, but so would radio and television. This suggests that they named the newspaper because it was their main source of college news, and not because it was any more available than were the other commercial media. The differences among the student groups in the percentage of each group who selected the commer- cial newspaper as their main source of college news were not reflected in their reporting of their mass media consumption habits. A little more than 50 per cent of the freshmen said they read a newspaper every day in comparison with almost 70 per cent of the sophomores and more than 60 per cent of the graduates. From these differences in percentages it might be deduced that confidence in the newspaper as a source of college news was not related to the frequency of consumption. Although further research would be necessary to give validity to the assumption, it might be assumed that the extent of a student's confidence in the commercial newspaper as a source of college news is inversely propor- tional to his rate of consumption. In other words, those students who said they did least reading in the commercial newspapers were more likely to see those newspapers as a source of college news than those who reported reading the city newspapers more frequently. However, this assumption did not appear to be true in the case of the faculty. 82 Their reporting showed more than 90 per cent who selected the com- mercial newspaper in preference to radio and television as their main source of college news, and more than 80 per cent of the faculty said they read a newspaper every day. What was true of the subjects' reporting of the print medium was not true of the commercial radio or television. For all the gnoups not more than 30 per cent said they listened to the commercial radio more than ten hours in a typical week, and not more than ten per cent named that medium as their main source of college news. These results showed that the majority of both the students and the faculty members reported their radio listening time as considerably below the average time calculated for the average person in the United States. The latter figure is estimated to be about 1h? minutes per day or about 17 hours per week.1 Similarly in the case of television, not more than 20 per cent of any group reported watching television more than ten hours a week, and not more than 6 per cent of any group reported television as their main source of college news. It might be assumed that neither the students nor the faculty regarded the electronic media as an important source of college news because they neither watched tele- vision nor listened to the radio very much measured by the number of 1R. H. Breskin Associates, "TV and Radio Consumption Survey,n Broadcasting, 1966, washington, D. C.: Broadcasting Publications, Inc., p. 2b. News; 83 hours they reported spending in this activity each week. 223 Student Newspaper The newspaper was also the most frequently naned from among the five college channels of communication. More than 50 per cent of all the groups named the student newspaper as their main source of college news. This result supports the conclusion made by Harrington in a study of junior college student newspapers that student newspapers can contribute successfully to the over-all purposes of the junior college.1 What has been said above in positing reasons for the sub- jects' dioice of college rather than the commercial media as their main source of college news applies specifically to the student news- paper. One reason for the students' apparent confidence in the student newspaper could be that the majority of then had only been graduated from high school less than two years. It seems reasonable to suggest that in high school the students would be more dependent on their student newspaper than on other channels for news of their school, and this habitual dependence on a particular news medium could well have carried over to when they became college students. Another factor could be that the student newspaper in question was Supported entirely from funds provided from student activity fees, and as such might well be regarded by the students as their own particular medium. 1John H. Harrington, "Criterion for Rating Junior College Student Newspaper," Junior College Journal, January, 1960, p. 255. ‘7 8h In addition, the newspaper was staffed entirely by student volunteers who received neither money nor college credit for working on the newspaper. Judged by the comparative number of subjects who naned this medium as their main source of college news, the student news- paper was the most effective of the five channels of communication on the campus identified by the members of the administration as a regular means of communication with the faculty and students. Further research might also reveal to what extent working on ‘ the newspaper gives status to students in the eyes of their fellow students. Klapper points out that a number of writers, such as Lazarsfeld and Merton, and Hovland, have observed the "halo" effect which the media confer on issues or personalities.1 To do this, the media have themselves to have prestige, and it seems reason- able to suggest that just as columnists in the commercial press, e.g. Lippman, Bishop, and Sevareid, develop as "prestige sources," working on the campus media might give those known to fill this role more prestige among the students than would otherwise be accorded to then. The results do suggest that the student newspaper has high status for more than half of both the students and faculty as a main source of college news. This finding has important implications for the administration. It would appear worthwhile to determine if 1Joseph T. Klapper, 229 Effects pf Mass Communication, Glencoe, I11., pp. lob-105. 85 the newspaper might be further strengthened as a communication channel. Experimentation might show that more frequent publication muld be advantageous, and provision might also be made to enable the students to have a larger newspaper than the four pages of which it presently consists. More than 50 per cent of the recent graduates named the student newspaper as their main source of college news. The mailing list for the graduates showed that the majority of them still lived in the area served by the College, and obviously a number of then would see the newspaper through friends at the College. Further investigation might be worthwhile to see if the student newspaper would serve as a medium of communication with the alumni. If a significant number of them were interested in receiving the paper regularly, that might be an economical and effective way of keeping them informed about the College until a regular alumni organization with its own publi- cation oould be established. TIE President's % Two channels, the President's talks and the college radio should be of concern to the administration because of the small number of students who named the talks, and the small number of all the subjects who named the radio as their main source of college news. A little more than one per cent of the freshmen and less than three per cent of the sophomores named the talks as their main source of college news. According to the President, who personally delivered the talks, 86 his sele objective in doing so was to provide the students with up- to-date information about the College. The results suggested that the objective was not being attained. Further research would appear to be necessary to determine why the talks were not more popular. They were held in the cafeteria at three o'clock on one of the after- noons during the first week of each month. The gatherings were not formally structured in the sense of the students being required to sit in a particular group. The students were permitted to sit at the tables and consume food and beverages as was done on other days. Attendance was not compulsory, nor were the meetings restricted to any particular group of students. The talks were advertised ahead of time by notices posted on bulletin boards and by news announce- ments in the student newspaper and over the college radio. The number of students who attended the sessions was not known, and investigatia1 revealed that it was difficult to determine who was in the cafeteria to hear the President's talks and who was there for cafeteria service. Further research would seem to be necessary to see how many students attend the meetings. Poor attendance could account for the lack of student responses whid1 named this medium as their main source of college news. One factor which might also affect the attendance is the timing and the amount of publicity. The student neWSpaper is published each Friday noon. A meeting called for early the following week, and announced in the newspaper the previous Friday might fail to draw some students because they would not have had time to arrange their schedule so that they could attend. Then, too, meetings held in mid-afternoon might be expected to be poorly attended on a campus where the students are commuters, and a considerable of them have employment outside the college. It seems reasonable to suggest that the students' opinion might be sought as to the best time for the President to give the talks. There is also the point that providing the students with an opportunity to decide the time of the meetings might result in better attendance. NUmerous studies have shown that when people have an opportunity to influence a decision, the people concerned are more likely to ensure that the decision works when it is put into practice.1 Previous research by'a number of investigators has shown that face-to-face communication such as the President's talks can be more effective than the mass media because the former method involves a personal relationship which is not present in the latter.2 In the face-to-face type of communication more kinds of stimuli are brought into play, and these in turn activate more senses than are activated in other types of communication. The face-to-face method also provides immediate feedback for the communicator, Who can thereby tell almost lRonald F. Reid, Introduction to the Field of Speech, New York: Scotté Foresman and Company, I965, E? 80: '-_ Joseph T. Klapper, Encyclopedia of Educational Research, 3rd. Edition, 1960, p. 1078. "' g“, m ~wu-r Jr... D, ._ . mmmmmszfe' 88 immediately whether he is effectively communicating or not.1 As has been pointed out, an important link in any communication chain is the communicator, Further research to examine the President as a communicator might explain why his talks were not named by more students as their main source of college news, when providing news about the College was the declared intention of the talks. It could be that as shown by Johnson 93. a_l_. in a study of speakers, the President may have voice disorders of which he is not aware, and these could adversely affect his ability to communicate effectively. Other physical characteristics, such as lack of height, have also been shown to affect an audience's willingness to take notice of what a speaker has to say.2 Che would suppose that as the chief administrator of the College the President would have credibility for the students, when credibility is defined as expertness and trustworthiness. Certain- ly to the students he should be better informed about the College than anyone else, and unless he has given them reasons not to trust him, by virtue of his office he should be regarded as trustworthy. On the point of trustworthiness, Kelmand and Hovland reported oneinvestigation in which even when the sources were not trustworthy, it was found that over-all, the effect of a communication was in the direction indicated 1Bruce H. Westley and Malcolm S. MacLean, Jr., "A Conceptual Model for Communication Essearch,“ Journalism Quarterly (Winter 1957), p- 35 2Wendell Johnson, "Speech and Personality", 223 Communication 22 Ideas, p. 61- .. _' ,-~ ‘ .F'P W WWW- £14497:- ‘3'13'1'1’, '16 em”! ’9'.‘ EFJETM .3." :..:‘ an" 9’ .; O O 89 by the communicator.l The trustworthiness of the communicator was apparently secondary to the content of the message, when the latter was of a nature which the audience believed to be worth knowing. On the other hand, in cases where the audience trusted the communicator but could not accept his message, they were inclined to dissociate the message from the communicator and attribute the source to someone else. The present study indicated that only a few students thought of the President's talks as a main source of college news. The fact that in other situations face-to-face communication has proved.to be an effective method of communication, being preferred even to the mass media, it would be valuable to the college administrators to experiment with a number of communicators. If the results of such research were to show a larger number of students naming the talks as the main source of college news when given by a person other than the President, this might indicate that the chief administrator Should function as the source, but the talks should be given by a person such as the Dean of Students who might have had an Opportunity to develop a closer re- lationship with the students. The small number of students who named the President's talks as their main source of college news might also be caused by factors independent of the communicator. In the case of the freshmen, for lCarl I. Hovland, Irving L. Janis, and Harold H. Kelley, "Credibility of the Communicator," Dimensions 12 Communication (Belmont, Cal. 1965), p. 103. 9O example, up to the time of this study, they would not have had a chance to attend more than two of the talks. It could also be that having attended the College for only two months, and as lower class- men, they might have been reluctant to attend meetings which they saw as being held principally for upper classmen. On the other hand, the upper classmen might be reluctant to mix with lower classmen. Separate talks for different classes may have held more appeal for freshmen and sophomores. Consideration might also be given to making groups even more selective than segregation by classes. The small number of subjects who named the talks as their main source of college news suggested that the President was not achieving his objective via this medium. The talks might be more effective if the President addressed only select groups such as student leaders, and asked them to transmit the infonmation to their classmates. If the success of the talks were judged by the results of this study, the President's time might be better Spent in writing what he had to say for publication in the student newspaper. By contrast, the faculty ranked the President's talks second to the student newspaper according to the number (35.0%) who named this medium as their main source of college news. An explanation for the talks' comparatively high ranking by the faculty could be that they were referring to the talks given by the President at their monthly faculty meetings. Faculty members were Obliged to attend these meetings, and although they also met in the cafeteria, the food . 91 service area was closed at that time, and their meetings were more structured than those held for students. It seems reasonable to suggest that the President's talks might be named by more students as their main source of college news if their meetings were more closely patterned on those of the faculty. Experimentation might show that compulsory attendance and more structure might help. Attendance might also be restricted to select groups. Thus the students might perceive attendance at the President's talks as a privilege rather than "something anyone could do." Wdth regard to structure, those in attendance could be required to sit in rows rather than be scattered at tables, and cafeteria service be suspended as it is during faculty meetings. Research might also show that the content of the student talks and those given to the faculty was not the same exactly. The students were probably given news about the College, but it is possible that the President was accorded more credibility by the faculty because he discussed other matters with them in addition to the type of issues used in this study. The College Radio Having less status as the main source of college news than the President's talks was the college radio. Apart from a small number of sophomores (3.5%), almost none of the subjects named the latter medium. The majority of the students said they listened to radio for some part of every day, but the results did not suggest that they listened to the 92 college radio for news about the College. The station manager main— tained that newscasts were broadcast hourly from 2:00 P.M. to 7:00 P.M. daily, and that these included all the news about the College which appeared in the student newspaper. The radio was also a student- operated medium, but working at the station might enable a student to obtain academic credit, whereas work on the newspaper was voluntary. The results suggested that information should be obtained on how many students at the College listen to the college radio, and if they do not,the reasons why. The big difference between the number of students and faculty who named the student newspaper as their main source of college news and those who named the college radio calls for further research as to the reason. There was the fact that the college radio was an FM station, and it was not known how many students owned a mficcamfleofrwdyflgtfistfimofpmgam mmmmutMsim formation needs to be known, as much time and effort is expended each day in preparing programs specifically designed for student audiences. The content of the programs might also be investigated. It is possible that the students listened to the college radio for other than neWS of the College, but one would expect there to be more students than those who work at the station who would regard the college radio as their main source of college news, especially when newscasts were broadcast so frequently. One factor which additional research might determine is flue status accorded the students who operate the radio station in comparison with that of the students who work on the news- 93 paper. If, as mentioned above, the media might confer status on those who work in them, it seems reasonable to question why one medium should apparently confer so much more status than another, if that is the situation. It should be of value to the administration to know if there is a relationship between the amount of credibility accorded to the students who work on a medium on a voluntary basis and that given to students who work on another medium for which they can earn academic credit. It could be that the voluntary workers were perceived by their peers as being more concerned about the interests of the students, whereas those working for credit were seen as self-interested. Exper- imentation might also determine the effect which would result from attempting to change the students' perception of the college radio by a deliberate effort to stress its function as a news medium. In the college catalog, for exanple, the radio's function is described as that of providing students in the Department of Speech, Radio and Television with training and experience in various aspects of pro- gramming and broadcasting. No reference is made to the radio as a news medium. Another factor which might cause the students to neglect the news function of the college radio was that the evening programs from 7:00 P.M. to 11:00 P.M. were designed primarily for broadcasting music and discussion programs for adults who live in the area served by the College. The above suggests that the college community had good reason to regard the college radio as more of an instructional and public relations medium than as a source of college news. This ‘ 9h fact COlld account for their failure to name this medium as their main source of college news. Perceiving the main purpose as that of instruction and public relations might also have affected the amount of credibility this medium was granted by the students as a source of college news. The student newspaper was maintained from student activ1ty fees, but the perceived function of the college radio would be likely to suggest to the students that it was supported by funds from the college operating budget. This could mean that whereas the newspaper was viewed by the students as their "very own," the radio was thought of as belonging to the College. The radio would, therefore, be expected to carry news which was favorable to the College and ignore unfavorable news or present it in a manner as favorable to the College as possible. Media Consumption and Media 33 Main Source 2: College News Analysis of the subjects' responses to their media consumption habits, as might be expected, showed that some people spent more time as consumers of one medium than of another. It was thought that if a person seemed to favor a particular medium, his preference might influence his choice of that medium as his main source of college news. The results indicated that there was no significant relationship between the frequency of a medium's consumption and the selection of that medium as a main source of college news. The college newspaper as the main source of college news was named by the majority of those subjects who did not claim to be frequent newspaper readers just as 95 it was so named by those who said they were frequent newspaper readers. The same was true of high frequency users of the electronic media. The majority of those who said they spent five hours or more listening to the radio, and of those who said they spent five hours or more watching television, named the college newspaper as their main source of college news and so did the majority of those subjects who said they spent less than five hours weekly as consumers of either of these media. Student Conversation Named as their main source of college news by approximately one- third of each of the student groups student conversation was ranked as second to the college newspaper. This finding supported a number of previous studies which have shown person-to-person communication to be an important medium in the transmission of news, in sane cases proving to be even more effective than communication by the mass media.1 Katz suggests that the effectiveness of person-to-person communication might be because via this medium people are not only induced to perfa‘m a variety of activities by what they hear or see, but they are also influenced by interpersonal relations. In the case of the mass media the personal contact by the communicator is not present.2 For the lElihu Katz, "The Diffusion of New Ideas and Practices," The Science of Human Communication, p. 82. Elihu Katz and Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence, p. 85. student subjects in this study close personal association could have made person-to-person communication effective. They had not only had the opportunity of getting acquainted with each other in college, but most of then had graduated from the same group of high schools, so that their associations would be of long standing. The fact that ten per cent more of the sophomores than of the freshman group named student conversation as their main source of college news suggested that association as college students may have increased the importance of this medium. On the other hand, further research might Show that the upper classmen's greater reliance on student conversation indi- cated that the longer they were in college the more they came to rely on what other students told them than on what they read in the student newspaper. As might be expected, only a snall percentage of the faculty named student conversation as their main source of college news, but this did not necessarily mean that there was not a close association betweei the faculty members and the students. For a main source of college news faculty members would be expected to look to sources other than their students. Student "Influentials" A number of studies have shown that in person—to-person communi- cation particular people have been identified as regular sourcesof information.1 When asked to name a fellow student or students to whom 1Katz and Lazarsfeld, p. 32. ,..~"-.;:.‘n'1:‘--..- ‘. 3 . v - a. an '- . "'" they looked for information about the College, ten per cent of the freshmen, 25.3 per cent of the sophomores, and h3.2 per cent of the graduates were so named. However, most of the nominees received only one nomination, and only four students, three sephomores and one freshman, received five or more nominations. Ranked according to the number of students who named them were Sophomore #1 with 30 nominations, SOphomore #2 with 12 nominations, Sophomore #3 with eight nominations, and a freshman with five nominations. An examination of these students showed that they held a number of characteristics in common. They were all male; three out of the four were sophomores, and all four held an elective student office. As student officers they could be expected to know more than their fellow students about what was going on at the College. A look at their responses, however, suggested that these students were probably thought of as knowing what was going on more than they actually knew. Two of them, for example, said they did not know about the increase in grade point average, and although the other two said they knew about the increase, they failed to select the right answer from among four alternatives. All four of these students said they knew about the other four issues, and were able to give the correct answer for two of the issues, but each of them answered in- correctly on one of the other two. However, their replies indicated that these students did interact frequently with a variety of other people, as each of them said that they had discussed with students, an administrator, a faculty member, and a person outside the college 98 those issues on which they claimed to be knowledgeable. Although the students identified as sources of information by a number of other students did not have all the characteristics seemingly possessed by "influentials" in other studies, they had most of them, and could be said to fit the pattern more than not fit it. A number of studies have suggested that "influentials" are no differ- ent from those they influence in social class, status, education, and age.1 The student "influentials" were of the same social class as their fellow students, although as student office holders, they could be said to hold higher status than other students on the campus. In education they were no more advanced than the majority, none of them having higher than a 2.0 average grade point. Hmwever, they were all one or more years older than the average of their classmates. Before attending this college, the sophomore "influentials" had each had experience which would not have been shared by many of their fellow students. One of them had attended another college, another had served in the U. S. Navy, and a flaird had both served in the Marine Corps and attended another college. From this it might be hypothesized that students seen as having broader experience than their fellows are likely to be regarded as "influentials" by the latter. On the other hand, the freshman among the group did not appear to have had this extra experience. He was one year older lKatz and Lazarsfeld, pp. 231-233. 99 than the average of his classmates, but the main reason for his being named as an "influential" appeared to be that he was the President of the Freshman Class. As they were all class officers, and all older than the average, it might be hypothesized that class officers and students known to be older than their peers are likely to be regarded as "influentials." A variety of studies have shown that older persons tend to be more influential than younger ones.1 Although in society at large being one or two years older may not qualify a person as "older," it seems reasonable to suggest that among younger people one or two years is more meaningful than among their elders. Further research might determine the exact connotation of ”older" as far as college students are concerned, and if and how the age factor affects the image college students have of their fellow students. Although the student “influentials” did not have all the char- acteristics identified for "influentials" in previous studies, their responses regarding their mass media consumption suggested that they followed the pattern in their media exposure. Previous studies have shown that opinion leaders are considerably more exposed to the mass media than are those they influence, particularly to those media which 2 are relevant to the leaders' sphere of influence. All of the student "influentials" reported themselves as high frequency newspaper 1Hovland, Janis and Kelley, p. h9. 2Katz and Lazarsfeld, p. 32. ~‘~'»-u~ ._ w «w—+ mm * “ ‘ ' ‘ 7_7__ . . W*:W##J."-b‘. 3" " ' '2 100 readers. The student, nominated by twice as many students as any of the others, said he was a frequent consumer of newspapers, radio, and television. This student was also a frequent magazine reader and said he had a large personal library. He was also one of the small number who said he regarded the city media rather than the college media as his main source of college news. One case cannot be regarded as providing conclusive evidence, but further research in this area might justify developing the hypothesis that students who are high frequency consumers of a multiple of the mass media would be perceived as being better informed generally than those who are not heavy media consumers. In contrast to the most frequently named student, the student "influential“ who indicated.that the college newspaper was the only medium he spent time on frequently was named by only five students as their main source of college news. It might, therefore, be suggested that this student's relatively low rate of media consumption resulted in his being regarded by only a few students as a source of information. In the case of the other three student "influentials," their responses regarding mass media usage suggested that on the campus the flow of information followed the "two-step" pattern traced by a number of investigators, whereby "influentials" obtained information by heavy expOSure to the mass media, and then passed it on through interaction with their fellows.l 122. as. 101 As the above discussion indicates, the results of this study Showed that there are "influentials" among the student body on whom a number of other students depend to be kept informed about what is going on on the campus. These students were student officers, and this raises the question as to whether they had been elected to office because they were "influentials," and viewed by their peers as being better informed than their fellow students, or were they thought to be better informed because they were student officers. Further re- search might identify students who are naturally more curious about what is going on than their fellows, and as such are regarded as "natural" information sources. Such might be the case with the studeit "influentials" identified. It might be found, for example, that when these men were children in grade school and secondary school they were regarded as sources of information for the other children. Then when they became college students they continued to follow their normal behavioral pattern as information transmitters. That there are "influentials" on the campus is important knowledge for the members of the administration, especially as person-to~person communication appeared to be regarded by so many students as their main source of college news. As student officers these "influentials" should be better informed than their fellow students, but the admin- istrators should ensure that students so identified are supplied with specific and accurate information about what is going on, and make themselves available to these students at regular times. These students may already function as sources of information to the ad- ministrators on such matters as student opinion in general, or on particular issues. One factor which should be guarded against is that the students identified as "influentials" should not, when en- couraged to function as a two—way communication medium, i.e. from administration to students and vice versa, be put in danger of being regarded as acting for the administration. The slightest suspicion aroused in the student body that their “influentials” were not identifying solely with student interests would destroy the opportun- ity for the student "influentials" to function as channels of commun- ication in any direction. The Bulletin Board The bulletin board was an additional visual medium of communica- tion which although not named by many of the upper classmen, appeared to be important for more than 18 per cent of the freshmen. As high school students, the freshmen may have come to regard this medium as their main source of news about the school, and when they became college students have continued to check the bulletin board regularly. That the bulletin board can be an important means of communication has been shown by a number of studies, although it appears to be regarded more as a source of mmroborating other media rather than as a main channel.1 Further research might indicate whether it is being 1Scott M. Cutlip and Allen H. Center, Effective Public Relations, Englewood Cliffs, N. J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1955, p- th. used as effectively as possible, particularly with upper classmen. Such factors as its location, size, and appearance are known to affect its effectiveness. Although it can be effective, if its importance is recognized, and it is kept up-to-date, the bulletin board might quickly lose its effectiveness if it is permitted to become cluttered as a catch-all for trivia as well as for important announcements. Research would be worthwhile to find the best location on the campus, i.e. where student traffic is heaviest, and the most effective duration ‘ of exposure for announcements. This medium has obvious limitations such as space and the number of people who can view it at one time. In consequence messages have to be brief, and they have to be superior from a visual standpoint. However, the bulletin board can serve a valuable function in carrying infonnation which directs people's attention to other sources of information rather than itself present the information. "Pleasant" Versus "Unpleasant" Messages The results of this study suggested that the students were inclined to say they had heard about an issue which they favored.more than they would about an issue they viewed with less favor, providing the issues were regarded by them as significant. Out of five issues, i.e. new programs, increase in GPA, student activities, tuition increase, and new buildings, the students in varying numbers said they thought the issues were "good," but they were seemingly reluctant to say they were "bad." The two issues of tuition increase and new buildings drew 311C hav abo' more clear-cut responses than did the others. In the case of the former issue less than eight per cent of the freshmen and a little over 20 per cent of the sophomores said they thought this was "good," and more than 90 per cent of all the student groups said they thought the new buildings were "good." Against these responses, of the students who responded on both issues, whereas 66.0 per cent of the freshmen and 70.3 per cent of the sophomores said they had heard about the tuition increase, 92.0 per cent of both groups said they had heard about the new buildings. In the case of the recent graduates, there was no significant difference in the responses to either of the issues. This might be interpreted as a neutral attitude on their part, as‘they would not be paying the increased tuition nor would they have an opportunity to use the new buildings as students. In view of the reluctance of the students to provide clear-cut answers on the issues used in this study, it cannot be said conclusive- ly that they were inclined to say they remembered the messages they favored more than those they did not regard so favorably. To determine such an assertion would appear to demand issues on which the students have specific opinions, such as whether or not football should be abolished, or whether women should be allowed on the campus. In general, the study provided answers as follows: the students and faculty members of the Community College studied depended on college media rather than city media for their news about the College. From among the city media, most of the college community reported 105 depending on commercial newspapers rather than on radio and television as their main source of college news. On the campus, although the student newspaper was named as the main source of college news for both the students and the faculty, the two groups differed in the number of them who named four other media as their main source of college news. After the student newspaper the students named student conversation, bulletin board, President's talks, and the college radio, in that order. The faculty ranked the President's talks as second to the newspaper, and an equal number of them named student conversa- tion as named the bulletin board. None of the faculty named the college radio as their main source of college news. There was no appar- ent relationship between the media which were reported as the most frequently used and the choice of those media as the most frequent source of college news. Particular students were identified as "in- fluentials" in that they were most frequently named as regular sources of college news for their fellow students. It appeared, too, that through the latter, communication on the campus followed the "two-step" pattern identified by Katz and Lazarsfeld and others.1 A small degree of relationship was noted between students' ad- mitting having heard of an issue and the degree of favor with which they regarded the content of a message about flie issue. 192- .12 *5 '2’ ‘ :5 :9 t f K. I: E i i i a 'bvau-m‘.” ”TF1?” . p—TVM‘KFH 1'? - 1. 71. . . ‘ ' r ' 2-' . C . c x v v i ' O u a s a o A I . C "" 1‘ . l u ‘ Q I fl ' \ l . . \ . ' \ .q r . q t O . . . . ‘ - . . , . _ l i l o l . i 0 « 9 , . . . . - o . . O I . o APPENDIX A 107 Baltimore Junior College 2901 Liberty Heights Baltimore Maryland 21215 September, 1961; Dear Colleague : Your cooperation is requested. The accompanying qmstionnaire has been designed by Mr. Vernon Wanty, a Kellogg Fellow from Michigan State University, who is doing a study of communication flow at BJC. Mr. Wanty will hand the questionnaire to you personally, and I would appreciate it if you would let him know when he can pick it up from you completed. It is hoped that the results might show ways in which information about our institution might be better dissem- inated. Sincerely , Harry flBarg QM President 108 Baltimore Junior College 2901 Liberty Heights Baltimore Maryland 21215 October. 1964 Dear Alumnus: By now, you will I hope, be involved in a job or in furthering your formal education. As you know, we at BJC are constantly striving to improve all facets of our program. The enclosed questionnaire, as you will see from the cover sheet, is designed to give us information which we hope will show us how to improve the ways in which we let people know what is going on at the college. Your cooperation is requested. Would you please complete the questionnaire by marking with a pencil the appropriate spaces on the blue answer sheet? After completion, would you then return only the blue answer sheet in the stamped, addressed envelope? Sincerely, /(//M yea/«fl! I~Iarr£yBécrr\J President ‘1 £01: 109 WHAT DO YOU KNW ABOUT BJC? How do college people learn about what's going on on their campus? No one Seems to know specifically. Your answers to the following questions will show how you heard about particular activities at BJC. Please answer every question, WRITING ONLY ON THE ANSWER SHEET. Machine scoring techniques will be used, and all replies will, of course, be regarded as confidential. If your answer sheet is not carefully and completely filled in, we will not be able to use your responses. On the answer sheet where it says "Name", please PRINT your name. Where it says "School", please print the name of the last high school you attended, and include the city in which it is located. Where it says "1" underneath "School", please place the letter "W" if you intend to get a full-time Job after grad- immediately after leaving BJC; if you intend to transfer to a1 other institution/nation from BJC, please put the letter “C". Also, give in the appropriate places, date oif'birth, age, and sex. In the "Grade or Class" space please mark "F'r if you are a freshman (0-30 hours), "8" if you are a sophomore (30-60 hours), and "SP"‘if you are a special student, not in either of these categories. Leave blank spaces where it says "Instructor", "Name of test", and "Part". DIRECTIONS FOR THE QUESTIONNAIRE Each of the questions below is followed by suggested answers. You are to decide which one of the answers you should choose. You must mark all of your answers on the separate answer sheet. The question booklet is not to be marked in any way. You must mark your answer sheet by blackening the block having the sane question number and letter as the answer you have chosen. Example: i SAMPLE QUESTION! A. In my opinion the "Beetles" are: A-l Good A—2 Neither Good nor Bad A-3 Bad A—h No opinion [SAMPLE ANSWER SHEET! l 2 3 t flflfllfl Make your answer marks heavy and black. Mark only one answer for each question. If you change your mind about an answer, be sure to erase after first marking the correction. .. mats-5- ‘-. - . Jill ll I. OF THE ”mm"; WA IEDIA, NARK ON THE ANSNER Sl-EET THE oil‘- FR‘" ““0" You GET 5; NENS ACOUT BJC: ‘-\ fiaPMRS I-Z RADW I-3 TV 2. OF THE FOLLINIIIG M NEDIA, MRK ON THE ANSNER SHEET THE 0" FROM I'lICH 7W BET m IEUS AIN'T BJC: 2-l NEWSPAPERS 2-3 TV 3. OF THE FOLLONIIG COLLECE NEDIA, NARK ON THE ANSNER SIEET THE ONE mu l-IICH YOU GET m NEVIS ADOUT BJC: 3-I STUDENTSI CONVERSATION 3—2 COLLEGE NENSPAFER 3—3 PRESIDENT IARD'S TALKS 3-5 DULLETIN BOARD 3-4 COLLEGE RADIO 4. OF THE FOLLONIIG NEDIA, NARK ON THE m SIEET TIE ONE me \OIICH YOU GET gag NENS ADOUT BJC: 4-I STUDBITS' CONVERSATION 4-2 COLLEGE EWSPAPER #5 BULLETIN DOARD 4-.3 MIIDENT BARD'S TALKS 4-4 COLLEGE RADIO 5. MARK ON YOUR ANSNER SHEET NHICI-I NENS SOURCES PROVIDE You NITH HOST INFORNATION ADOUT BJC: S-I LOCAL NEDIA 5-2 COLLEGE NEDIA 6. How NANY NAGAZINES DO YOU READ RERILIRLY? 6-I ONE OR Two 6-2 TIREE OR FOUR 6-3 FOUR OR FIVE 6-4 FIVE OR SIx 6-5 SIx OR NORE 7. DURING A TYPICAL NEEK, I READ LOCAL NEHSRAPERS THE FOLLONINC mER OF DAYS: 7-I OI: TO Two 7-2 THREE TO FOUR 7-3 FIVE TO SI): 74 SEVEN 7-5 NOTE OF THESE a. UN TTIE AVERAGE, NON NANV DAYS A NEEK DO YOU NATCN TV? 84 ODE To Two 8-2 THREE TO FOUR 8-3 FIVE TO S”: 8-4 SEVEN 8-5 NONE OF THESE 9. HON NANV HOURS A NEEK NOULD YOU ESTINATE THIS TO DE? 9-I LESS THAN ONE HOUR A NEEK 9-2 ONE TO FIVE 9-3 FIVE To TEN 9-4 NORE THAN TFN 9-5 NONE OF THESE O O 110 ON THE AVERAGE, HON IUINY DAYS A NEEK Do YOU LISTEN TO RADIO? Io-I ONE TO THO IO-2 THREE TO FOUR l0-3 FIVE TO SIx IO-4 SEVEN l0-5 NONE OF THESE HON NANV IIsz A EEK DO YOU ESTINATE THIS To CE? II-I LESS THAN ONE INAIR A NEEK ”-2 ONE To FIVE II-3 FIVE TO TaI II-4 NORE THAN TEN Il-s NONE OF THESE ABIAIT NON NANV COOKS DO YOU NON HAVE IN YOUR PERSOfl LIBRARY? I2-I LESS THAN FIFTY I2-2 50-Ioo l2-3 I00 - 200 I2-4 200 - 500 I2-5 NORE THAN 500 DO YOU RNON AOOOT THE TUITION INCREASE OVER LAST YEAR THAT Is IN EFFECT THIS FALL? I3-I YES I3-2 NO IF YOUR ANSNER Is NO, SKID TO QUESTION 2." 4. Now DID YOJ FIRST IEAR ABOUT TTIE TUITION INCREASE? IO-I STUDENT CONVERSATION ”-2 FRESIDENT IARD'S TALKS IA-a COLLEGE NENSFARER IH COLLEGE RADIO ”-5 NONE OF THESE HON DID YOU FIRST IEAR AOOUT THE TUITION INCREASE? Is-I LOCAL NENSRAFER Is-z LOCAL RADIO I5-3 LOCAL TV I 54 PERSON OUTSIDE TIA: COLLEGE I 5-5 NONE OF THESE HON DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THE TUITION INCREASE? I6-I FACULTY NET-OER I6-2 DEAN OR OTHER ADNINISTRATOR I6-3 LETTER RON THE COLLEGE I64 COLLEGE CULLETIN DOARD I6-5 NONE OF THESE DID YOUR FIRST SOURCE SUCCEST THE TUITION INCREASE To DE: I7-I GOOD I7-2 INDIFFERENT l7-3 BAD I7-4 NO OPINION PLEASE TURN OVER SHEET - 2 l8. NHEN DID YOU FIRST YEAR ABOUT THE TUITION INCREASE? I8-l LAST FALL SENESTER ‘ I8-2 LAST SPRING saIESTER Ia-a LAST SUINIER SESSION l8-4 NONE OF THESE SINCE YOU FIRST HEARD, HAVE YOU IEARD ANYTHING NORE ABOUT THE TUITION INCREASE? I9-I YES l9-2 M HAVE YOU HEARD MORE ABOUT TIE TUITION INCREASE I-TTON: 20-I STUDENT CONVERSATION 20—2 PRESIDHIT 8W5 TALKS 20-3 COLLEGE NENSPAPER 20-4 COLLEGE RADIO 20-5 NONE OF THESE HAVE You HEARD NORE ABOUT THE TUITION INCREASE FRON: 2I-I LOCAL NEHSPAPER LOCN. RADIO LOCAL TV PERSON OUTIIDE THE COLLEGE 2I-5 NONE OF THESE HAVE You HEARD NORE ABOUT THE TUITION INCREASE FRONT 22-I FACULTY NEIeER 22-2 DEAN OR OTHER ADNINISTRATOR 22-3 LETTER FRON THE COLLEGE 22-4 COLLEGE BULLETIN BOARD 22-5 NONE OF I'D-ESE DID YNR SECOID WRCE SJGGEST THE TUITION INCREASE TO BE: ‘ 23-I GOOD 23-2 INDIFFERENTINEITHER 6000 DR MD) '23-; CAD 23-4 No OPINION HAVE Yw DISCUSSED THE TUITION "CREASE WITH OTHER PEOPLE? : 24-I YES 24»?! N0 IF YES, GIVE DEGREE OF CONTAINICATION: 25-I A GREAT DEAL ' 25-2 SONE 25-3 A LITTLE 25-4 NOT AT ALL 26. 30. 31- 33- 34- IF YES, NITH w-IAT KIND OF PERSON DID you DISCISS THE TUITION INCREASE: 26-I STUDENT 26-2 ADHINISTRATOR ‘ I 26-3 FACULTY NaeER 26-4 PERSON OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE 26-5 NONE OF THESE Hal RICH IS TIE TUITION "CREASE PER SHESTER? 27-I $2.50 27-2 27-3 27-4 27-5 DON'T KNON 28—l GOOD 28-2 NEITHER GOOD NOR BAD 2&3 GAD 28-4 NO OPINION HAVE YW HENRI.) ABOUT THE NEW PROGRAMS THAT HILL AVAILABLE AT THE COLLEGE SOON? 29-I YES 29.2 No IN YWR OPINION, IS THE TUITION INUREASE: l I i, I HON DID You FIRST HEAR ABOUT THE NEH PROORIIC? 30-I STUDENT CONVERSATION 30-2 PRESIDENT BARB'S TALKS 30-3 COLLEGE NENSPAPER I 30-4 COLLEGE RADIO I 30-5 NONE OF THESE HON DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THE NEH PROGRAIS‘? 3I-I LOCAL IENSPAPER 3I-2 LOCAL RADIO l 3"3 LOCAL TV 3I-4 PERSON NTSIDE THE COLLEGE SI-S NONE OF THESE ’ HON DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THE NEW PROGRW 32-I FACULTY HEIBER I 32-2 DEAN OR OTHER ADMINISTRATOR 32-3 LETTER FROH THE COLLEGE I 32-4 COLLEGE BULLETIN BOARD 32-5 HOME OF THESE DID YOUR FIRST SOURCE SUGGEST THE HEN News” 33-I GOOD 33-2 NEITHER GOOD NOR BAD 33-3 BAD 33-4 No OPINION 34-I LAST FALL SBAESTER 34-2 34-3 34-4 5? NHEN DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THE NEH PR0” 1 LAST SPRIIS SEMESTER LAST SUMER SESSION NONE OF THESE ‘ SHEET 0 V max . 35- £01.13 36. GEAR ‘5'- 37. ms Hr, 38‘ {i PRC-.71: . 500"? ”(III III 0" 39' I0“ TALKS 1 MT m fl‘ ‘0- 4L- IE COM“ w ”“91 WWW 42. 90A” I IN“ ms at” 43. I n‘ I'- II '9’“ fl Isl“ 5W" -3 SINcE YOJ FIRST HEARD, HAVE You HEARD ANYTHING HORE ABOUT THE NEH PROGRAMS? 35-I YES 35-2 N° HAVE YOU HEARD HORE ABOUT THE NET: PROGRAMS FRON: 36—I STUDENT CONVERSATION * 36-2 PRESIDENT BARD‘S TALKS 36-3 COLLEGE NEHSPAPER 36-4 COLLEGE RADIO 36-5 NONE OF THESE HAVE YOU HEARD HORE ABOUT TIE IEN PROGRA'NS FROM: 37-I LOCAL IENSPAPER 37-2 LOCAL RADIO 37-3 LOCAL TV 37-4 PERSON OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE 37-5 NONE OF THESE HAVE YOU IEARD HORE ABOUT TIE HEN PROGRANS FRON: 38-I FAuILTY IEIBER 38-2 DEAN OR OTHER ADNINISIRATOR 38-3 LETTER FROH THE COLLEGE 38-4 COLLEGE BULLETIN BOARD 38-5 NOIE OF THESE DID YOUR SECOID SOURCE SUGGEST THE HEN PROGRANS To BE: 39-: GOOD 39-2 IEITHER GOOD NOR BAD 39-3 BAD 39-4 NO OPINION HAVE YOU DISCUSSED THE DEVI PRISM NITH OTHER PEOPLE? 40-! YES 40-2 N0 IF YES, GIVE DEGREE OF CONTAINICATION: AM A GREAT DEAL 4I-2 SOIE “-3 A LITTLE 4I-4 NOT AT ALL IF YES, NITH NHAT KIND OF PERSON DID Yw DISCJSS THE HEN PROGRANS? ‘2-I STUDENT 42-2 ADMINISTRATOR 42-3 FAwLTY IEIBER 42-4 PERSON OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE 42-5 NONE OF THESE MARK ON YOUR ANSNER SHEET ANY OF THE FOLLONIIG THAT YOU RECOGNIZE As NEH PROGRANS:THAT ARE BEIIB OFFERED: 43-I BUILDING PRACTICE '* 43-2 AUTOVECHANICS 43-3 PRACTICAL mRSINs 43-4 URBAN RENENAL 44. 45. ‘6. 47. 48. 49 5°- 5|. 52. 112 HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE CHAN'IE IN GRADE POINT AVERAGE THAT HAS RECENTLY BEOONE EFFECTIVE? 44-I YES ‘4-2 NO HON DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THIS CHANGE? 45-I STUDENT CONVERSATION 45-2 PRESIDENT BARO'S TALKS 45-3 COLLEGE NENSPAPER 45-4 COLLEGE RADIO 45-5 NONE OF TIESE HON DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THIS CHANGE? 46-I LOCAL NENSPAPER 46-2 LOCAL RADIO 46-3 LOCAL TV 46-4 PERSON OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE 46-5 NOIE OF TIES! HON DID You FIRST HEAR ABOUT THIS CHANGE? 47-I FACULTY NEIBER 47-2 DEAN OR OTHER ADNINISTRATOR 47-3 LETTER FROH TIE COLLEGE 47-4 COLLEGE BULLETIN BOMB 47-5 NONE OF THESE DID YWR FIRST SWRCE SJWEST THE CHAISE IN GRADE POINT AVERAGE TO BE: 40-l Goon ‘3-2 NEITHER GOOD NOR BAD 48-3 BAD 48-4 M OPINION NHEN DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THE CHANGE IN GRADE POINT AVERAGE? 49-I LAST FALL SENESTER 49-2 LAST SPRING SENESTER 49-3 LAST SUMMER SESSION 49-4 NONE OF THESE SINCE YOU “FIRST HEARD, HAVE You HEARD ANYTHING HORE ABOUT THE CHANGE IN GRADE POINT AVERAGE? 5o-I YES 50-2 NO HAVE YOU HEARD HORE ABOUT THE CHAAGE IN GRADE POINT- AVERAGE FRON: 5I-I STUDENT CONVERSATION 5I-2 PRESIDENT BARD'S TILKS 5I-3 COLLEGE NENSPAPII SI-4 COLLEGE RADIO 5I-5 ‘ NONE OF TIESE HAVE YOU HEARD HORE ABOUT THE CHANGE IN GRADE POINT AVERAGE FRCH: 52-I LOCAL NENSPAPER 52-2 LOCAL RADIO 52-3 LOCAL TV 52-4 PERSON OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE 52-5 NOIE OF THESE 53- 54. 56- 57. 58. 59o 60. SHEET 4 SINCE YOU FIRST IEARD, HAVE YOU I-EARD HORE ABOUT TIE CHANGE IN GRADE POINT AVERAGE FROM: 53-I FACULTY FENDER 53-2 DEAN OR OTI£R ADMINISTRATOR 53-3 LETTER FROH TIE COLLEGE 53-4 COLLEGE BULLETIN BOARD 53-5 MODE OF THESE DID THIS SECOND SOURCE VIEH TIE CHANGE IN GRADE POINT ANERAGE AS: 54-I GOOD 54-2 IEITIER GOOD NOR BAD 54-3 BAD 54-4 NO OPINION HAVE YOU DISCUSSED THE CHATGE IN GRADE POINT AVERAGE HITH OTHER PEOPLE? ' 55-I YES 55-2 No IF YES, GIVE DEGREE OF COHNINICATION: 56-I A GREAT DEAL 56-2 SOAE 56-3 LITTLE 56-4 NOT AT ALL HITH NHON HAVE YOU DISCISSED TIE CI-IAIBE IN GRADE POINT AVERAGE? 57-I STUDENT 57-2 ADMINISTRATOR 57-3 FAwLTV TEASER 57-4 PERSON OUTSIDE TIE COLLEGE 57-5 NOII£ OF THESE CHECK NHICH OFTIE FOLLONING Is TIE NINIHUM GRADE POINT AVERAGE REQUIRED TO BE ACADEMICALLY ELIGIBLE AT BJC: 58-I I.0 58-2 I.5 58-3 W 58-4 2.0 58-5 DON'T KNON IN YOUR OPINION, Is CHANGING THE GRADE POINT AVERAGE: 59-I GOOD , 59-2 NEITHER GOOD NOR BAD 59-3 BAD 59-4 N0 OPINION DO YOU KNOH NHAT NEH BUILDINGS ARE OJRRENI'LY BEING BUILT ON TI£ BJC CAHPUS? 60-I YES 60-2 NO 6I. 62. 63. . 65. ‘ 66. 67. 68. 55-5 113 HO! DID YOU HRST DEAR MU? THESE? 6I-I STUDENT CONVERSATION 64-2 PRESIDENT BARD'S TALKS 6I-3 COLLEGE EMT-ER 6I-4 COLLEGE RADIO 6I-5 NONE OF THESE HON DID YOU FIRST NEAR ABOUT .1115“ 62-1 LOCAL IENSPAI-ER 62-2 LOCAL RADIO ’ 62-3 LOCAL TV 62-4 PERSON OUTSIDE OF COLLEGE 62-5 NONE OF TIES! HON DID YOU FIRST HEAR ABOUT THESE? 63-I FACULTY IEIBER 63-2 DEAN OR OTHER ADNINISTRATIT 63-3 LETTER FROH TIE COLLEGE 63-4 COLLEGE BULLETIN BOARD 63-5 NOIE OF TIESE DID m FIRST SOIRCE ITDICATE TIE IDEA OF THE TEN BUILDIIGS As: 64-1 GOOD 64-2 NEITHER GOOD NOR BAD 64-3 BAD 64-4 NO OPINION MN DID YOU FIRST FEAR ABOUT TIE In! NILOIIBS? 65-I LAST FALL SEIESTER 65-2 LAST SFRIIG SENESTER 65-3 LAST GIIOER SESSION 65-4 ? NONE OF “-135 m II‘EARD ANYTHIPB MORE ABOUT TEEN PRC: 66-I 66-2 ‘66-3 66-4 SIACE YOU FIRST IEARD ABOUT THE NET! BUILDIIGS, H1 STwENT «NIERSATION PRESIDENT IARD'S TALKS COLLEGE IENSPAPER COLLEGE RADIO NONE OF THESE | I SINCE YOU FIRST HEARD ABOUT THE TEN BUILDIIGs, NW YOU IEARD ANYTHING HORE ABOUT THBI FROM: 67-I LOCAL NENSPAPER 67-2 LOCAL RADIO 67-3 LOCAL TY I 67-4 PERSON OUTSIDE THE COLLEGE I 67-5 NOIE OF THESE S‘INSE YOU FIRST IEARO ABOUT THE Isa IOILOIIBSI "I, YOU IEARD ANYTHING NORE ABOUT TIEN FISH: ! 68-I EACILTY IEIDER . 68-2 DEAN OR OTHER ADNINISTRATUI 68-3 LETTER FRO-I THE COLLEGE 68-4 COLLEGE BILLETIN BOARD l 68-5 Nous OF THESE ”a5 AW.“ I“: ' Mir: 70. mm?“ AW ““6”. sTfifi El 75. mi“ \ “” IE 4"“ ‘II‘ It“‘ A 2934“" “‘flflufl A “a“ If" " Mn nus 5E6“m We: InIcATE THE IDEA oF Tl! In wILaIIes 10 BE: 69-I coon 69-2 lilTl-ER coca In: an 69—3 an 69-4 no mm HAVE You aIstSEa THE IIEII auIans mm one: PEOPLE? 7o-I IEs 70-2 M IF YES, GIVE DEGREE 8F counIIIICATIon: “II-I A aREAT DEAL 7I-2 SOME 79-3 A LITrLE 7I—4 IIoT A1’ ALI. HITH won HAVE m TALAEa new TIIE Itu aaILIIIIaS? 72-I swaEIIr 72-2 AMINISTRAToa 72-3 FAwLTv was: 72-4 PERSOI MSIaE I'IIE coLLEaE 72-5 um: oF TIIESE CHECK amen OF TIIE FOLLoIIIuaauILams utE MRENTLY aEIIIa EREcIEa on TIE an em: 73-I none Econoulcs 73-2 scIENcE 73-3 awNASIIIII 73-4 AMINIsmATIoII 73-5 LlBRAflY CnEcx amen 8F TIE FoLLaIIIIo m anIEVE TD a: TI: Tum coST OF THE concur swam macaw: 74-I t2 IIILLIoII 74-2 $4 IIILLIoI 74-3 46 IIILLIoII 74-4 $8 IIILLIon 74-5 ms or IIIESE CIIEcA mm: m a'ELIEVE To aE comm- FaI IAEII TIE EH auILnIms ARE SCHEME!) 1!: as READY Fan 83E: 75-I ALL av FALL 3965 75-2 oIIE av FALL I965 75-3 THO av FALL I965 75-4 IcoIE av FALL I965 75-5 norm m In voun OPINION, IS THE IaEA oF TIE IIEII mums: 76-I 8000 76-2 NEITIER soon In: BAD 76-3 an 76-4 no OPINION 11h M: van FAIIILm IIrrII smm AcrIvrrIES AT BJC? 77-I was 77-2 In How an nu FIRST Ian Aawr THESE? 78-I smear cuEASAnou 78-2 RESIDEII' BARD'S TALES 78-3 coLLsaE IEISPAFEA 78-4 caILEGE IIAan 78-5 no: oF ms: now an m mm It»! A888! 1143:? 79-I LocAL IIEIISPAFEII 79-2 LocAL Iuan 79-3 LocAL TV 79-4 FEES" MSIIIE mE coLLEaE 79-5 nouE oF “ESE How am m FIRST DEAR Aaour MSE? 804 FAuILTY IEIBEII 80-2 BEA: on OTHER AIIIIIISIIIATIII 80-3 LETTER mu IIIE COLLEGE ”-4 COLLEGE IILLETII MARE 80-5 III»: 8F TIESE DID m FIRST “CE QGGEST THAT TI! 51.“? ACTIVITIES AT IJC IE: al-I MD BI-Z INNER GOOD M MD Ol-S BAD BI-‘ U OPINION Hutu an: no FIRsr FEAR Aaour BJC’S SMIEIII' ACTIVITIES: e-I aEFonE no man couEaE 82-2 va FIRST 53:51:: 9-3 nun SEeoIo SEIESTEII 82-4 mm mm: suS'rEa 82-5 you: LAST saIEerII Sun: us FIRST FEARI Aaour 11¢ smaEIIr AImVITIES, FIVE m HEARD AIImIIIn Ion: new In Him: 83-4 smelt OOINERSATIOI 83-2 RESIDENT sun's TALIIS 85-3 cOLLEaE IIISPAFEII 83-4 COLLEGE RADIO 83-5 Inn-E 8F TIIESE SIICE m FIRST IIEAIza now IIIE smaEII'r AcTIvaS, IIAVE You IIEARa AIInIIIus IoRE Aaour 'I'IIaI mu: 84-I LocAL IEIISFAFER 84-2 Loan. RAnIo 84-3 LocAI. 1" 84-4 panama oursmE IIIE causes 84-5 noIIE oF use PLEASE man «ER anti SHEET 6 85. 87. 88. 89. 90. 91¢ 92. 93. SINCE Yw FIRST HEARD ABOUT THE STwENT ACTIVITIES, HAVE YOU HEARD ANITHINC IIORE ADOUT TIEH FROM: 85-I FAGJLTY FENDER 85-2 DEAN OR OTHER ADIINISTRATOR 85-3 LETTER FROM THE COLLEGE 85-4 COLLEGE DILLETIN aOARD 85-5 NONE OF THESE DID YOUR SEmm SOURCE SUCCEST TIAT BJC'S STLDENT ACTIVITIES ARE: $4 8008 86-2 REITHER OOOD NOR 8A8 86-3 DAD $4 NO OPINION HAVE YW DISGJSSED TIE STUDENT ACTIVITIES AT BJC? 87-I YES 87-2 no IF VES, OIVE DECREE OF COIOAINICATION: 88-! A GREAT DEAL 88-2 SOIE - 88-3 A LITTLE 88-4 NOT AT ALL IIITH IIHON HAVE YOU DISCUSSED STUDENT ACTIVITIES AT BJC? 89-I STUDENT 89-2 AMINISTRATOR 89-3 FAOJLTY EIBER 89-4 PERSON OUTSIDE THE mLLECE 89-5 NOTE OF TIESE CHECK \fllCH OF TIE FOLLOHITB ARE OIRRENTLV SMIENT ACTIVITIES AT BJC: 90-I FRENCH OLua 90-2 SPANISH cum 90-3 INTERFAITH GAB 90-4 INTERNATIONAL Gun 90-5 SCIETCE CUB IN YwR OPINION, ARE STUDENT ACTIVITIES AT BJC: 9I-I OOOD . 9I-2 IEITHER OOOD NOR aAD 9I-3 BAD 9l-4 N0 OPINION 0N TIE DAG OF YOUR ANSWER SIEET PLEASE GIVE TIE NAME OF ANY STUDENT (I? STUDENTS ON HIM W PART- ICULARLY DEPBID TO KEEP Y0). INFGRIED ABWT H'lAT IS 60MB ON AT THE mLLEGEo ON THE BACK OF YWR ANSWER SIEET PLEASE ADD ANY AWITIONAL REMRKS YW MAY HAVE ABOUT ANY WESTION (R QLESTIOIB ‘IN THIS QUESTIONNAIRE. 115 E “-_ * APPENDIX B ”7.”. ‘1" "mm- ‘ Table 1 Chi square result for each group showing significant difference in choice of local media ll? X2 d r Group __ __ E Freshmen 1,3hh.b1 2 .001 Sophomores 2hh.h0 2 .001 Graduates 91.75 2 .001 Faculty 87.83 2 .001 118 Table 2 Relationship indicated by freshmen between frequency of newspaper reading and choice of local media as a source of college news MEdia Frequency High LOW Percentage N Percentage N Newspaper 92.62% £02 91.52% 389 Radio h.6o% 20 6.58% 28 TV 2.76% 12 1.88% 8 Total 99.98% h3h 99.98% h25 Relationship indicated by sonhomores between frequency of Table 3 newspaper reading and choice of local media as a source of college newa 119 Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Newspaper 85.15% 109 83.05% h9 Radio 8.59% 11 11.86% 7 TV 6.25% 8 5.08% 3 Total 99.99% 128 99-99% 59 = 2 2?.05 Table h Relationship indicated by graduates between frequency of newspaper reading and choice of local media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Newspaper 87.80% 36 88.00% 22 Radio b.87% 2 8.00% 2 TV 7 . 31% 3 h. 00% 1 Total 99.98% bl 100.00% 25 X = O f = 2 p_ >- .OS .‘I'll'lll' ‘IJ 121 Table 5 Relationship indicated by faculty between frequency of newspaper reading and choice of local media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Newspaper 91. 98% ’43 100 . 00% 9 Radio 2 . 12% l 0. 00% 0 TV 6. 38% 3 O. 00% 0 Total 99. 98% h? 100. 00% 9 122 Table 6 Relationship indicated by freshmen between frequency of newspaper reading and choice of college media as a source of college news Media FreqLLeng High Low Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 28.31% 123 28.73% 127 College newspaper 50.92% 221 51.58% 228 President's talks .h6% 2 2.26% 10 Radio .92% h .90% 1; Bulletin board 19.35% 8h 16.51% 73 Total 99.99% 1:31: 99.98% hhz g2=6.32 d_£=h 2 5 .05 Table 7 Relationship indicated by sophomores between frequency of newspaper reading and choice of college media as a source of college news 123 Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 26.35% 3h 28.81% 1? College newspaper hl.08% 53 38.98% 23 President's talks 1.55% 2 1.69% 1 Radio 2.32% 3 1.69% 1 Bulletin board 28.68% 37 28.81% 17 Total 99-98% 129 99-98% 59 2 i=015_.£'h 2>~05 L—“‘P~ ,-;--.-..r;m $4.712. f".3'-"",'T .-.F.Z"'."-' “"U‘ifiv' n’glu .18" ""5"." 1 I I O C O D U Q 0 I C C .1 t' Table 8 Relationship indicated by graduates between frequency of newspaper reading and choice of college media as a source of college news 12h Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 31.70% 13 32.00% 8 College Newspaper 60.97% 25 36.00% 9 President's talks 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 Radio 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 Bulletin board 7.31% 3 32.00% 8 Total 99.98% hl 100.00% 25 125 Table 9 Relationship indicated by faculty between frequency of newspaper reading and choice of college media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low ‘ Percentage N Percentage N Student conversati on 8. 33% h 33. 33% 3 College newspaper 52 . 08% 25 55. 55% 5 President's talks 33.33% 16 0.00% 0 Radio 0 . 00% 0 0. 00% 0 Bulletin board 6. 25% 3 11. 11% 1 Total 99.99% h8 99.99% 9 ..... nnnnn II" III |III.|I ll Table 10 Relationship indicated by freshmen between frequency of radio listening and choice of local media as a source of college news 126 Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Newspaper 91.38% 801 92.38% 37h Radio 6.15% 27 5.18% 21 TV 2.50% 11 2.h6% 10 Total 99-99% 839 99.98% hos §2=.33 d =2 B>-05 E4: 127 Table 11 Relationship indicated by sophomores between frequency of radio listening and choice of local media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Newspaper 82.88% 92 86.8h% 66 Radio 11.71% 13 6.57% 5 TV 510% 6 ' 6.57% 5 Total 99.99% 111 99.98% 76 2 >4 ll 0 \O m 0.. in II N It V .05 Table 12 Relationship indicated by graduates between frequency of radio listening and choice of local media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Newspaper 89.18% 33 83.33% 25 Radio .00% 0 16.66% 5 TV 10.81% h .00% 0 Total 99.99% 37 99. 99% 30 §2= 7.87 d -= 2 p_ .02 Table 13 Relationship indicated by faculty members between frequency of radio listening and choice of local media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Newspapers 96.55% 28 88.88% 2h Radio 3.hh% 1 0.00% 0 TV 0.00% 0 11.11% 3 Total 99- 99% 29 99- 99% 2? Relationship indicated by freshmen between frequency of radio listening and choice of college media as a source of college news Frequency Percentage Percentage Student conversation Newspaper President's talks Bulletin board N 105 213 ‘8 2 7S 1403 df= h p> Relationship indicated by sophomores between frequency of Table 15 radio listening and choice of college media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 28.82% 32 2h.67% 19 Newspaper h2.3h% N7 37.66% 29 President's Talks .90% l 2.59% 2 Radio 2.70% 3 1.29% 1 Bulletin board 25.22% 28 33.76% 26 Tot a1 99. 98% 111 99. 97% 188 5.11 d=h 139-OS I'll ll 1‘: Table 16 Relationship indicated by graduates between frequency of radio listening and choice of college media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 37.83% 1h 2h.13% 7 Student newspaper h8.6h% 18 55.17% 16 President's talks 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 College radio 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 Bulletin board 13.51% 5 20.68% 6 Total 99. 98% 37 99 . 98% 29 ..... Table 17 Relationship indicated by faculty members between frequency of radio listening and choice of college media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 7.1h% 2 7.lh% 2 Student newspaper 50.00% 1D 53.57% 15 President's talks 35.71% 10 32.lh% 9 College radio 0.00% 0 0.00% 0 Bulletin board 7.1h% 2 7.1h% 2 Total 99.99% 111 99.99% 28 13h Table 18 Relationship indicated by freshmen between frequency of television viewing and choice of local media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N NeWSpaPeT 92-53% 3D? 91.23% D27 Radio h.80% 18 6.hl% 30 TV 2.66% 10 2.35% 11 Total 99. 99% 375 99.99% 168 x2= .97 df= 2 37-05 I’llll‘l Ill IJI' Relationship indicated by sophomores between frequency of television viewing and choice of local media as a Table 19 source of college news 135 Media Frequency High . Low Percentage N Percentage N Newspaper 85.1h% 86 83.52% 71 Radio 6.93% 7 12.98% 11 TV 7.92% 8 3.52% 3 Total 99. 99% 101 99. 99% 85 = 3.65 f = 2 13 ;> .05 136 Table 20 Relationship indicated by graduates between frequency of television viewing and choice of local media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Newspaper 91.17% 31 87.87% 29 Radio 0.00% 0 9.09% 3 TV 8.82% 3 3.03% 1 Total 99. 99% 3h 99. 99% 33 = 5.06 d = 2 p > .05 Relationship indicated by faculty members between frequency Table 21 of television viewing and choice of local media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Newspaper 91.30% 21 93.93% 31 Radio 0.00% 0 3.03% 1 TV 8.69% 2 3.03% 1 Total 99-99% 23 99.99% 33 lfll'llll'll Table 22 Relationship indicated by freshmen between frequency of television viewing and choice of college media as a source of college news Media Frequency High Low Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 29.86% 112 27.62% 129 Newspaper h8.80% 183 51.39% 2&0 President's talks 1.33% S l.h9% 7 College radio 1.06% h .85%! h Bulletin board 18.93% 71 18.62% 87 Total 99. 98% 375 99. 87% A67 Lu Table 23 Relationship indicated by sophomores between frequency of television viewing and choice of college media as a source of college news Media Frequency High ___ Low Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 27.h5% 28 25.88% 22 College newspaper 82.15% h3 38.82% 33 President's talks .98% l 2.35% 2 College radio 1.96% 2 2.35% 2 Bulletin board 27.hS% 28 30.58% 26 Total 99.99% 102 99.98% 85 _)_(_2=1.87 f=h 13>.os Table 2h Relationship indicated by graduates between frequency of television viewing and choice of college media as a source of college news Media Frequency High LOW Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 30.30% 10 38.37% 11 Student newspaper 51.51% 17 50.00% 16 President's talks 0.00% O 0.00% 0 College radio 0.00% O 0.00% 0 Bulletin board 18.18% 6 15.62% 5 Total 99.99% 33 99-99% 32 181 Table 25 Relationship indicated by faculty members between frequency of television viewing and choice of college media as a source of college news Media Frequency High ____ Low Percentage N Percentage N Student conversation 8.69% 2 5.88% 2 College newspaper 60.86% 1h hh.ll% 15 President' 5 talks 17.39% h h7.o§% 16 College radio 0.00% O 0.00% 0 Bulletin board 13.0152: 3 2. 91% 1 Total 99-93% 23 99-98% 3h l bll III J u BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Arons, Leon and May, Mark A. (eds.) Television and Human Behavior. New York: Appleton-Century Crofts, 19 3.— Berelson, Bernard and Janowitz, Morris. Reader in Emblic Qpinion and Communication. 2nd edition. New York: The Free_ Press, 1966. Berlo, David. The Process of Communication. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston—_1960. Boulding, Kenneth. 223 Image. Ann Arbor: The university of Michigan Press, 1956. Campbell, James H. and Hepler, Hal W. (eds.) Dimensions in Communication. Belmont, California: wadsworth Publishing Co., _1965. Cherry, Colin. On Human Communication. New York: Science Editions Inc., 1961.— Clark, Burton R. The en Door College. New York: MCGraw Hill Book Company, Inc., 19 O. Cooley, Charles H. Social Organization. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1909. Wmm,mmmu Mammmngmmmafimm. MWYmk: mm1m1w and Sons, 1965. Deer, Irving and Deer, Harriet (eds.) Language of the Mass Media: Readings in Analysis. Boston: D. C. Heath, I965__— DeFleur, Melvin and Larsen, Otto N. The Flow of Infonnation: An Experiment in Mass Communication. New York: Harper and Row, 19 . Fields, Ralph R. The Community College Movement. New York: MCGraw Hill Book anpany Inc., '”“—' Goff, Erving. The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and_ Company, Inc., 1959— Goldfield, Edwin P. (ed.) Statistical Abstracts of the U. S. washington, D. 0.: U. S. Department of Comnerce, 1965_—— Hillway, Tyrus. The American Tho-Year College. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1958.* 112 lh3 Hovland, Carl I. (ed.) The Order of Presentation in Persuasion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1957. (Yale Studies in Attitude and Communication, Vol. I). Hovland, Carl I., Janis, Irving L. and Kelley, Harold H. Communi- cation and Persuasion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1953. International Typographical Union. Federal Responsibility for a Free and Competitive Press. Colorado Springs: I. T. U., 1963. Katz, Elihu and Lazarsfeld, Paul E. Personal Influence. Glencoe, Illinois: The Free Press, 1955. Medsker, Leland L. The Junior College: Progress and Prospect. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1960. McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media: The Extensions 2f Man. New York: MCGraw-Hill Book Company, 196D. Monroe, W: B. (ed.) Encyclopedia of Educational Research. 3rd ed. New York: MacMillan and Company, 1960. National Education Association. Mass Communication and Education. washington, D. C., 1958. Nafzinger, Ralph G. and White, David M. (eds.) Introduction to Mass Communications Research. Revised edition. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State university Press, 1963. O'Hara, Robert C. Media for the Millions. New York: Random House, 1962. Peterson, Theodore,r Jensen, Jay W}, and Rivers, William B. The Mass Media and Modern Society. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc., 196;. Reid, Ronald F. (ed.) Introduction to the Field of Speech. Oakland, N. J.: Scott Foresman and Co., 1965. Reynolds, James w., The Junior College. New York: The Center for Applied Research in Education Inc., 1965. Edvers,'William L. The Mass Media. New York: Harper and Row, 196k. Schramm, Wilbur. The Process and Effects of Mass Communication. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, l95h. ‘l . hp Schramm, Wilbur (ed.) The Science 3: Human Communication. New York: Basic Books Inc., 1963. Siegel, Sidney. Non-Parametric Statistics for thngehavioral Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, I936. Smith, Alfred C. Communication and Culture. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1966. Steinberg, Charles R. (ed.) Mass Media and Communication. New York: Hastings House, 1966. ’ Thornton, James W. Jr. Egg Community Junior College. New York: John Wiley and Sons Inc., 1960. 'Wise,'w. Max. They Come for the Best of Reasons - College Students 'T958- Articles and Periodicals Carter, Roy E. Jr. and Sepulveda, Orlando. "Some Patterns of Mass Media Use in Santiago de Chile," Journalism Quarterly, (Spring, 19st), Vol. h, 216-22h. Cochran, W: G. "Some Methods for Strengthening the Common Chi Converse, Philip E. "Information Flow and the Stability of Partisan Attitudes." Public Opinion Quarterly, (Winter, 1962), V01. XXVI, ‘NOO LL, 5970 Deutschmann, Paul J. and.Danielson, wayne A. "Diffusion of Knowledge of the Major News Smory," Journalism Quarterly, (Summer, 1960), Vol. 37, No. 3, 355. Earle, Clifford (ed.). Social Progress,(March, 196QL Vol. I, No. S. Gibbs, Jack R. "Defensive Communication," QC, (June, 1965), Vol. XXII, N . 2, 221. Gleazer, Edmund J. Jr. Junior College Journal, Vol. 37, No. 3, November, l966,7. {I‘l’l‘ll‘lllll its Greenberg, Bradley S. "Person-to-Person Communication in the Diffusion of News Events," Journalism Quarterly, (Autumn, l96h), Vol. hl, No. h, h89-h90. Hartman, Frank R. "A Behavioristic Approach to Communication: A Selective Review of Learning Theory and a Derivation of Postulates," AZ Communication ReView, (Sept./Oct., 196D), Vol. II, No. 5, 16h. Kastner, Harold N. Jr. "The Economic Value of Community Junior Colleges," Junior College Journal, (November, 1965), V01. 36, 29. Kintzer, Frederich C. "Admission of Students to California Public Junior Colleges Who Are in Academic Difficulty at the University of California." College and University, (Winter, 1966), Vol. bl, No. 2,221. Knudson, Marvin. "The Junior College in the Decade Ahead." Junior College Journal, (February, 1960), Vol. 30, No. 6, 12. McNelly, John T. and Fonesca, Eugenio. "Media Use and Political Interest at the university of Costa Rica." Journalism Quarterly, (Spring, 196h), Vol. hl, No. 2, 225-231. Maloney, John C. "Advertising Essearch and an Emerging Science of Mass Persuasion." Journalism Quarterly, (Autumn, l96h), Vol. bl, No. b, 517. Mellinger, MOrris. "Changing Trends Among Public Junior College Student Bodies," Junior College Journal, (November, 1962), Vol. 33, 172. Menelsohn, Harold. “Broadcast vs. Personal Sources of Information in Emergent Public Crises: The Presidential Assassination." Journal Bf Broadcasting, (Spring, 196A), Vol. VIII, No. 2, 1b7-156. Nichols, mm. L. "Editing for 13,000,000 Families," Daedalus, (Spring, 1960), Vol. 89, No. 2, h10-b18. Nunis, Doyce B. Jr., and Bossone, Richard N. "The Junior College's Search for an Educational Identity." Junior College Journal, (November, 1962), Vol. 33, 121. Wilson, Kenneth M. (ed.). Papers presented at Swannenon Con- ference on Institutional Research on College Students, March 1962. £35.51!” " “Hula—.1 . .l ...-,.o 1 a. "ITAILITAITTTTTTTW