1. Abstracts of Papers.
- Subjects
RESEARCH ,CONFERENCES & conventions ,PUBLIC opinion polls - Abstract
The article presents several abstracts of research papers presented at the 27th annual conference of the American Association for Public Opinion Research held in Atlantic City, New Jersey from May 18 to 21, 1972. The paper entitled Some Reasons Why Information Campaigns Can Succeed by Harold Mendelsohn of the University of Denver indicates that information campaigns can be effective: if they are planned around the assumption that most of the publics to which they are addressed will be only mildly interested or not interested at all in what is communicated; if middle-range goals which can be reasonably achieved as a consequence of exposure are set as specific objectives; if, after middle-range objectives are set, careful consideration is given to delineating specific targets in terms of their demographic and psychological attributes, their life-styles, value and belief systems, and mass media habits; if mass communications researchers work together with practitioners in developing information campaigns that are based on solid social science principles and designed specifically to overcome the types of indifference that are manifested by well-defined targets; if in their evaluation as much attention is paid to delineating specific aspects of the communications process which contribute to success, as has previously been allotted to demonstrating failure. The paper entitled Mass Communication and Political behavior: A Reassessment of Two Decades of Research by Sidney Kraus claims that mass media, particularly television, play decisive roles in voting and political socialization.
- Published
- 1972