Outline the Particular Strengths and Weaknesses of Research Questionnaires, Panel Studies, Lab Experiments, and Field Experiments.

The impact of mass media on society has been the topic of many studies dating back to the 1940’s. Early studies were performed to gauge specifically the political effects with radio being the main point of focus. Today there is a lot of focus on what the impact of viewing violent material on TV may be, if it has any impact at all. Studies were conducted in a number of ways, some with varying results and some with consistent results. The bottom line is that there is no final conclusion as of yet but there is preliminary data that should not be ignored.

The first type of study we will look at is the research questionnaire or survey. A questionnaire is basically a series of questions designed to gather data from the people who participate. The advantages of questionnaires are that they are inexpensive, do not require much effort from the questioner, and often have standardized answers that make it simple to compile the data (“Questionnaire”). The disadvantages of a questionnaire are that the standardized answers could frustrate the participants, and the fact that they can be limited by participants ability to read and comprehend the questions, and ultimately answer them (“Questionnaire”). Finally, questionnaire data has not been shown to establish sufficient cause and effect relationships (Dominick 445).

Another type of study that has been used to gauge the impact of viewing violent material on TV is the panel study. The panel study does provide better data for establishing cause and effect relationships than the survey. The downside is that they are expensive to conduct, they can be time restrictive, and they are only as effective as the willingness of the individuals that participate (“What are Panel Studies”). The end result of panel studies is that there may be a small relationship between viewing violent material and aggressive behavior, however there are other factors that could influence the finding (Dominick 445).

Lab experiments have also been...