Television over the past couple of decades has become a major role in households all over the world. With this in mind I wanted to research and find out if the television shows that we so dearly love can affect the way people act in society. When I first asked myself this question I had to think about it a while, but then I realized that the shows I watch everyday influence the way I act, what clothing styles I like to wear, and even the way I talk to friends. For example, teens are watching shows like Jersey Shore where they see guys and girl’s party till 4 in the morning or another show My Super Sweet Sixteen where kids see sixteen years olds throw elaborate and outrageously priced birthdays. People watch these shows and they start to believe that this is what is right and that to be cool you must act like the people on TV. People then try to follow in the footsteps of these shows by trying to act like the characters they see on TV, which then affects the rest of society. With TV’s growing importance to society there have been a number of studies done to see the affects it has on people. Corey Sipe of Associate Content has conclusive evidence that agrees with my hypothesis. He stated, “At one time television shows couldn’t even show two married people in the same bed; they had to have separate beds but into today’s shows immorality is reinforced in shows that are similar to soap operas but air in the evening such as Fox’s Beverly Hills 90210. These shows portray characters cheating on their spouses and openly brought up issues about sex that were taboo twenty years ago. Since 90210 first aired we are seeing divorce on the rise, more people are cheating on their spouses, and we are seeing a country that was founded under God being transformed into a society where promiscuous sex and violence dominate today’s television shows”(Sipe 2006). Overall I believe my survey will show that television shows now-a-days do affect the way people act in society and that it is also in a negative way.
When conducting this survey and asking my sample size the question of whether TV has affected the way they act may seem very similar to other studies done in the past. To make sure that I get honest and real answers that isn’t similar to past studies I plan on asking other questions such as, what shows do they watch, how often they watch them, and have they ever felt like the show has persuaded the way they thought about things. By asking these other questions I will be able to target a more specific answer to the main question. Also, from these other questions I will be able to see what shows tend to affect people the most and whether it has a negative or positive effect on people. For example, if someone says they frequently watch shows like Desperate Housewives and they tend to believe that divorce and having scandalous affairs is a normal thing in society then I can obviously make the correlation and say that this person is affected by the show and in a negative way. By having my survey be a little different than past studies by having a few more detailed questions, in my opinion, will give me much more honest and unbiased answers that will prove that TV does affect the way people act in society.
After organizing my questions and strategy of how I will conduct the survey I will then go out and start applying the survey to my sample size. My population for this survey will be California residents of all ages and my sample size will be northern California residents of all ages. The reason why I am choosing northern California residents is because, in my opinion, southern California is much more a materialistic region and my results would definitely be lop sided with the majority of people saying that television does affect the way they act. To get my results I will be surveying people with a hard copy of the questions where they will answer the questions on a piece of paper by circling yes or no and filling in the information. By doing it this way I feel I will get the most accurate results because if I ask them verbally they may answer the questions untruthfully because they don’t want to be embarrassed or judged. That is why if I do the survey through paper they can keep their answers anonymous and answer the questions truthfully giving me the best possible results.
From the research that I have already done and seen I would have to say that my results will be very one sided with most of the surveys suggesting that television does affect the way people act in society. Once I get enough people to take my survey roughly around 50 to 70 people I will then use bar graphs to show how the data proves or disproves my hypothesis.
By researching this question further I believe I will get a strong amount of the surveys showing that TV does affect the way people act which means my hypothesis should be correct. Television is such a big part of our lives today that I can’t imagine our lives without it. In my opinion everybody is influenced by television one way or another, but we will see what other people have to say when they take the survey.
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