University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

A description of some of the viewers who enrolled for credit in the telecourse "Shakespeare on T.V.," Spring Semester, 1954

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A description of some of the viewers who enrolled for credit in the telecourse "Shakespeare on T.V.," Spring Semester, 1954

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Content A DESGRIPTIOM OF SOME OP THE VIEWERS WHO ENROLIED FOR CREDIT IN THE TELECOtlRSE "SHAKESPEARE ON T. V.," SPRING SEMESTER, 1954 Robert Atwood Seothom A Thesis Presented to the F ACUITY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (Telecommunications) June 1955 UMI Number: EP66999 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Piibhsh^Dg UMI EP66999 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106 - 1346 -f ' S ’ S S 4 - This thesis, written by Robert Atwood Seothom t undèr the guidance of h%^..,.Faculty Committee, ^ ^ approved by all its members, has been presented to and accepted by the Faculty of the Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts D ean D a te...................... . Faculty Committee Chairman TABIE OP COHTENTS ! CHAPTER PAGE 1. THE PROBIBH, TERMS, AND LITERATURE.......... 1 The problem. ........................... 1 i Purpose of the study.................... 1 Statement of the problem................ 2 I i Importance of the problem................ 6j I I I Basic assumptions........................ 7; ! Description and history of the program . . 10 Promotional efforts for both semesters . . 12 A description of the credit group, , . , , 16 I Definition of terms........................ 16 Review of the literature.................. l8 } Summary of Chapter I .... ............. 26 I Organization of the remainder of the thesis. 28 : II. METHODS, TECHNIQUES, AND PROCEDURES. ..... 29 Method............. 29 I Techniques.............. .......... 3^ Limitations of technique............... . 31 Procedures ........ 32 Preparation of the questionnaire.......... 32 Pilot study.............................. 33 1 ; Techniques of the pilot study............... 33 Administering the pilot study questionnaire. 3^ Iv CHAPTER PAGE Results of the pilot study ....... 35 The final questionnaire.................. 36 Gathering the data......... 37 ........ .......... 57 .................... 38 Procedure emd techniques ........ 38 Processing and evaluating the data .... 4l Summary ............................... 45 III. PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OP DATA. . . 4% What were some relationships of some primary characteristics of the students to their enrollment in the course. ... 47 Was a sex and a marital status predomi nant among the enrol lees?............ 47 What were the ages of the enrollees? . . 50 Were these enrollees free of parental responsibilities?. ........ 54 What were the educational backgrounds of the enrollees? ......... 55 How many years of formal education had they completed?................ 55 What were the predominant kinds of college degrees and what fields of study were represented?. . . . . . ____ 6l V 1 CHAPTER PAGE Educational background and age . . . Were the enrollees former University of Southern California students? . Had these enrollees taken other college correspondence or extension courses before the spring or fall sessions of "Shakespeare on T.V."? • . . . . What were the enrollees* backgrounds in the study of the plays of William Shakespeare? ......... 74 What proportion of these enrollees had | studied the plays of Shakespeare?. . . 74 i I Were these enrollees favorably disposed | towards the plays of Shakespeare before they enrolled for this course? .... 76 ; What were the occupational backgrounds of the students?. . .................... 79 Were they full-time college students?. . 79 What were the enrollees* occupations?. . 8l Bureau of Census Classification. .... 85 Occupations associated with educational institutions ................ 86 Vi PAGE What bearing did particular occupations have on the students* being enrolled?, 87 Was there evidence that these enrollees had much leisure time?......... What were the social statuses of the students as measured by their occupations? .......... ............ What were some relationships of the usual reading preferences and television viewing preferences of the students to their enrollment in the course^? . .... 93 What were their reading habits?........ 93 To what extent were these enrollees book readers?. .............. 93 Did these enrollees have library cards? 94 I^d these enrollees ever belonged to a book club?........................ 94 To what extent were these enrollees rea ders of periodicals?.............. 94 Which periodicals did the enrollees read regularly?.................... 99 What were these enrollees * preferences in television viewing?. . . . . . . . . _ 102 vil CHAPTER How long had the enrollees had regular access to television viewing?........ Did the enrollees regularly watch other-than-educational television programs?........................... Did the ©ther-than-educational programs which the enrollees regularly watched suggest any characteristics of the enrollees? ................. . . Did the enrollees regularly watch other educational television programs for adults?. ... ........ ....... Which of the programs they watched regularly did the enrollees consider educational? ........................ 110 Did the enrollees watch television regularly?.......................... 115 I Did the enrollees participate in the only other accredited telecourse which was offered locally at that time?................................ 116 CHAPTER Did the enrollees have regular access to viewing the programs of the educational station KTHE, which used the only Ü.H.F. channel in the vicinity? • • • , ........ What other subjects did the enrollees wish to view on television?. . . . What days and hours were the most convenient for enrollees* viewing of educational telecourses?. . . . What were some characteristics of condi tions under which the enrollees viewed "Shakespeare on T.V." and some evalua tions of the course by the enrollees; and what was the most effective means of promotion in first reaching the enrollees? ............................ What were conditions under which the enrollees viewed "Shakespeare on T.V. "? Did the students watch the program in groups? ..... .............. viii PAGE ; 124 , 127 127 Ix GHâPTEH PAGE Bid high school students watch the program regularly? . . . • ........ Bid the enrollees watch the program regularly..................... What were evaluations of the course by the enrollees? .................. 135 Why were they taking the course? .... 135 Of what value was the course to the enrollees? ............... ...... 139 Would they enroll in another semester of "Shakespeare on T.V."? ............ 145 What was the most effective means of pro motion in first reaching these enrollees?............................ 146 Summary.................................. 148 IV. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, SPECULATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOE PURTHER RESEARCH ... 155 Summary . .............................. 156 What were some relationships of primary characteristics of the students to their enrollment in the course? ...... 156 X I CHAPTER What were some relationships of some pri mary characteristics to their enroll ment in the course?. ......... What were some relationships of the usual reading preferences and the television preferences of the students to their enrollment in the course?............ What were some characteristics of con ditions under which the enrollees viewed "Shakespeare on T.V.," and some evaluations of the course hy the enrol lees; what was the most effective means What were some relationships of the usual reading preferences and television viewing preferences of the students to their enrollment in the course?. . . . 159 What were some characteiÉstics under which the enrollees viewed "Shakespeare on T.V.," and some evaluations of the course by the enrollees; and what was the most effective means of promotion in first reaching the enrollees? . . . xl| CHAPTER PAGE' of prœiotlon in first reaching the i enrollees? ..................... . 175 Speculations on how to promote "Shakespeare i on T.V." and other telecourses ..... 176 Promotion through occupational status. . 178 Television preview programs. ...... Television announcements ........ Disadvantages of television promotion. . Word-of-mouth.......................... l8l Promotion through reading activities . . l8l Promotion through libraries. ...... 182j The public library as a telecourse meeting place* ...................... I83 Summary. ................. 1851 Recommendations for further research ... Summary. ......... . .......... APPENDIX......... 194 Awards . . . ................. 195 General instructions............... 196; Questionnaire. .......................... 197-199 Pilot study questionnaire. . . .......... 200-201 LIST OF TABLES PAGE I. Number of Years of Formal Education Completed by the Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 II. Degrees and Fields ............ .63>64 III. Educational Background and Age ........ . 66 IV. Some Characteristics of Extension Users Com pared to Characteristics of the Enrollees. . 73 V. Experience that the Respondents Had in the Plays of Shakespeare Previous to Enrolling in "Shakespeare on T.V." (Fall and Spring Semesters) ........ ........ .... 75 VI. Where the Students Had Their Academic Intro duction to Shakespeare*s Works, and Whether They Enjoyed this Introduction ....... 77 VII. Respondents* Full-Time Activities and Some of Their Part-Time Activities........... 80 VIII. Full-Time Occupations of the Respondents by Bureau pf Census Classification ...... 83 IX. Census Classifications of Enrollees* or Their Spouses* Full-Time Occupations Upon Which They Depended for their Livelihood . . 91 X. Mos t-Frequently Head Periodicals .......... 100 XI. Classifications of Other-Than-Educational Pro grams Which the Respondents Viewed Regularly. 104 xill XII. The Eleven Most-Popular Other-Than-Educational Television Shows Which the Respondents Viewed Regularly. ............ XIII. Classifications of Some Programs Which the Enrollees Considered Educational and Watched Regularly ......... Ill XIV. Enrollees* Television Viewing Activities. . . 117 XV. Subjects the Enrollees Would Wish to View on Television ..... .................. 122, 1 XVI. Most-Preferred Bays and Hours for Tele- course8 ............. ........ XVII. Humber of High School Students Who Watched the Program Regularly with the Enrollees. . XVIII. Humber of Lectures Missed .......... 133 XIX. Enrollees* Absences During the Semester . . . 134 XX. Reasons for the Enrollees* Taking "Shakespeare on T.V." ........ ...... 136 XXI. Personal Evaluations of the Course.......... LIST OP FIGURES FIGURE PAGE j 1. Frequencies of Ages............... 52 2. Educational Backgrounds of the Respondents. . . 56 3. The Respondents* Reading Activities ...... THE PROBLEM, TERMS, AND LITERATURE Pi'oducers of educatlonallj accredited television I programs face at least three main problems: (1) they must ; I ! Î obtain physical facilities through which to reach the ! i I ; television audience, (2) they must create programs for the | j I I time which they obtain, and (3) they must attract and j I I develop audiences for these programs* This thesis is ; I I concerned with the last of these problems* i ! To be successful, any television program must have ; I ■ ■ ■ I I viewers* Similarly, the success of an educational tele- i I vision program is directly dependent upon the number of viewers who view the program and enroll in it* Because ; direct and immediate audience participation is Important to the success of educational television, it would seem | I to follow that the more characteristics known about that part of the television audience which does participate in 1 i 'educational programs, the more successful the program- viewer relationship might become. This study is a description of some of the participants who enrolled in an English lecture telecourse for college credit. Purpose* The principal purpose of this study was ,to seek out certain characteristics of the enrolled viewers 2 which might furnish a basis for speculations; these spec- lulations might help to determine future educational program I practices, and they might help to guide future promotion I of "Sliakespeare on T.V." The principal data of the study I ■ - were collected by means of an audience survey. I I THE PROBLEM i ! Statement of the Problem* The problem was stated ■ I as a series of questions about three major areas of ; inquiry. j I I I. What wore some relationships of some primary | ! I I characteristics of the s tudents to their I enrollment in the course? A* Was a sex or a marital status predominant among the enrollees? B. What were the ages of the enrollees? C. Were these enrollees free of parental re spons lb Hit ies ? D. What were the educational backgrounds of the enrollees? I 1* How many years of formal education had they completed? 2* What were the predominant kinds of college ' degrees, and what fields of study were represented? 3* Were the enrollees former University of Southern California students? 3 ; 4. Had these enrollees taken other college correspondence or extension courses , before the spring or fall sessions of | "Shakespeare on T.V."? | 5. What were the enrollees* backgrounds in i the study of the plays of William ! Shakespeare? j a) What proportion of these enrollees had studied the plays of Shakespeare? j ' I b) Were these enrollees favorably dis posed toward the plays of Shakespeare ! before they enrolled for this course? I S. What were the occupational backgrounds of | these students? 1. Were they full-time college students? 2* What were the enrollees* occupations? 3* What bearing did particular occupations have on the students* being enrolled? 4. Was there evidence that these enrollees had much leisure time? 5* What were the social statuses of the students as measured by their occupations? II. What were some relationships of the usual reading preferences and television viewing preferences of the students to their enroll- / ment in the course? A. What were their reading habits? ; 1. To what extent were these enrollees book readers? 2. Did these enrollees have library cards? 3. Had these enrollees ever belonged to a book club? 4. To what extent were these enrollees readers of periodicals? 5. Which periodicals did the enrollees read regularly? B. What were these enrollees’ preferences in television viewing? 1. How long had the enrollees had regular access to television viewing? 2. Did the enrollees regularly watch other- than-educational television programs? 3. Did the other-than-educational programs which the enrollees regularly watched suggest any characteristics of the enrollees? 4. Did the enrollees regularly watch other educational television programs for adults? 5. Which of the programs they watched regu larly did the enrollees consider educational? 6. Did the enrollees watch television regularly? 7. Did the enrollees participate in the only other accredited telecourse which was offered locally at that time? 8. Did the enrollees have regular access to viewing the programs of the educational station KTHE, which used the only U.H.P. channel in the vicinity? 9. What other subjects did the enrollees wish to view on telecourses? 5 I i 10. What days and hours were the most I convenient for enrollees* viewing of I educational telecourses? I III. What were some characteristics of conditions j under which the enrollees viewed **Sliakespeare I on T.V." and some evaluations of the course I by the enrollees; and what was the most I effective means of promotion in first reach- I ing the enrollees? A. What were conditions under which the enrollees viewed "Shakespeare on T.V."? I - ' 1. Did the students watch the program in j groups ? j 2. Did high school students watch the ; program regularly? 3. Did the enrollees watch the program regularly? B. What were evaluations of the course by the enrollees? 1. Why were they taking the course? 2. Of what value was the course to the enrollees? 3. Would they enroll in another semester of "Shakespeare on T.V."? C. What was the most effective means of promotion in first reaching these enrollees? 6 i Importance of the problem. Although the importance ' of audience research was well established in the field of commercial television, there had been little research on ; the audiences of educational television programs. ! I Dallas Smythe wrote a recent article concerning the j neglected state of audience research in the field of edu- " 1 ! cational television.’ ^ John R, Morton, who directed one of I the latest surveys of university extension systems in this I country, recently wrote: ' Up to the present time there is and has been little i effective two-way communication between universities i and the adults who are the consumers, and potential I consumers, or their services. These relationships ; have been inadequate in every sphere of university i extension service, but are conspicuously so with I respect to university broadcasting services. Not nearly enough is yet known about the motivation of either the individual or the group user of university extension services. There is little doubt that effec tive use of university resources by adults will require the devising and skillful use of ways in which consum ers of adult education services may participate, to a far greater extent than they have been able to do in the past, in shaping and maintaining their relations with universities.* ^Dallas Smythe, "The Challenge of Research, the Neglected Frontier," NAEB News Letter, (April, 1953), 6-7. ^John R. Morton, University Extension in the United States (Birmingham, Alabama: University of Alabama Press, p. 141. : 7| I i ! In light of the previous research (see Review of theI i Literature, p. lo), the problem had a double Importance of ,Its,own. First, the description was limited to that part I I of the television audience wiilch was taking the course for i i ! college credit. This present study attempted to examine | i ■ ' ' I more thoroughly a smaller area of the total educational ' ! I television audience than had been Investigated previously. | j Second, this Investigation sought out not only the primary ! i characteristics of the respondents and the respondents* direct relationship to the program, but also some of their ; ; other communication habits. I : I I Basic assumptions. Certain assiamptlons were Inher- , I ent In the purposes and the problem of this study. Regar ding primary and secondary purposes of the study, six assumptions were made. In reference to the primary pur pose that the generalizations from the data of the survey might serve the promotion of the kinescopes of the program, there were four assumptions. First, It was assumed that the kinescopes of the program would continue to be released over television sta tions throughout the country. Before the survey was undertaken, the kinescopes of the fall semester’s course had been televised over other stations. 8 I Second, It was assumed that the audience research j might yield information which would he useful In promoting I other telecomrses. Charles E. Swanson wrote, "The more i research Is applied to a series of television programs I before It goes on the air, the more successful It will ^ be."^ Third, It was assumed that the findings of this study would be useful In promoting the kinescopes of the fall semester because of the likelihood of similarity between the fall semester groups and spring semester Fourth, It was assumed that If the Information warranted attention, the educational producers throughout the country who released the kinescopes would wish to make use of the study. Two assumptions were made In relation to the secon dary purpose. First was the assumption that there was a future for credit programs via television. John F. White, Chairman of the Broadcasting Council of Western Reserve University, where credit programs had been telecast since 1951f wrote that television courses which carry credit ^Charles E. Swanson, "Guides to Success In Educa tional Television, a reprint from Adult Education, III (March, 1953)* p. 6. à ‘ towards a degree show a promising future. This statement ; was made after three successive years of credit program ' series. Second was the assumption that the information about this particular credit group, together with the I ; I results of past and future studies In the same field, might! i help to define the general audience of viewers who become ' I ■ , i ! Interested in educational television. ^ j ' - ■ ■ i ! Two assumptions were basic to the statement of the I ■■■ ■ . . . . . . ^ ' . . . . . . . . ; ; problem. First, It was assumed that the viewers who , ; enrolled for college credit were important to a television | ; program granting such credit for participation. There were: three levels of viewers in the audience of "Shakespeare on ; 1 T, V,": (1) There was the group who had enrolled for ' credit; (2) there was the group which participated as auditors; (3) there was the vast audience of spectators who had not enrolled. This thesis was concerned with the first group--viewers who were taking the course for credit during the spring semester, 1954. The choice of limiting the study to the credit group was not meant to imply that the audit and groups not enrolled were less significant; all three segments of the 4 John F. White, "Teleeourses at Western Reserve," Adult Education. Ill (March, 1953), 116. I 10 i . ■ , I telecourse audience merit research, John White wrote that ; ' ' . I ' educational telecourses fulfilled the needs of those who enrolled for college credit, of the auditors, and of the ^ r - I many more viewers who were not enrolled. Certainly the I measure of influence which is exerted by a program such as , "Shakespeare on T. V." is not to be found completely in I ■ the credit group. The main audience of any accredited ; program is made up of students who have enrolled for col lege credit, and possibilities of offering college credit is one of the main arguments for educational institutions to produce television programs. For these reasons, when ( i i it was found necessary to limit the study, the credit group! ; ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ . i ! ; was chosen as the subject, ; The second assumption was that that part of the i group which was enrolled for credit and came to the final examination was sufficiently large to provide a reliable picture of the characteristics of the credit group as a whole. A description and history of the program. "Shakes peare on T. V," was a series of weekly college-level lec tures which was delivered via television by Dr. Frank C. ^White, op. cit., II6-II7. 11 : Baxter, Professor of English In the University of Southern I California* This series was the first accredited tele- ; vision course In the Los Angeles area* The program ! attracted attention both on the local and the national ' 6 I scenes. I I Initially each series was televised over a commer- I clal outlet, KMXT, Los Angeles. At that time kinescopes Î were made of the programs. These films have since been exhibited elsewhere In the United States and Its terrltor- j ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ - i ■ lal possessions. Televised on Saturday mornings at 11:15 . ' ' - ' ! I a.m., each lecture was forty-five minutes In length. The ; ! ; setting was a simulated class room In the KNXT studios. ; ! Dr. Baxter stood at a podium before a class of ten or I twelve students. The series consisted of two semesters, ' fall and spring of the school year 1955-5^> each eighteen lectures In length. One semester of study amounted to reading four plays; some supplementary materials, such as "How to Read,"! and "The Life of William Shakespeare," and various works on the conventions of the Elizabethan theater. The University of Southern California scheduled the ^See Appendix, p. 195. I 12 I ; course as English 356a and English 536h: for each semes- ■' i ; ter*s work It offered one unit of regular college credit | ! ! : to any viewer who registered, paid twelve dollars, and I passed a written final examination which was taken on the i ‘ : campus at the end of the semester. If a viewer desired, j i he might enroll as an auditor for a fee of five dollars; i ! I this would entitle him to receive the stu about one month previous to the first lecture of the fall series, the promotional efforts were begun. At • that time the University of Southern California televised the first of a five-program series entitled "S. G. Summer Session." This was a program of panel discussions by lea ding educators on Sunday evenings from 8:30 to 9:00 p.m. On each of these five shows, from August 2 through August 30, the plans for the coming "Shakespeare on T. " ! series were announced. “S. G. Summer Session” was tele cast over the same commercial outlet (KHXT) as the Shakes peare programs. (All television facilities mentioned in this survey, unless otherwise noted, are KNXT, Los Angeles.) ; On Sunday, September 6, the first of three weekly I lectures at 8:50 to 9:00 p.m. was begun by Dr. Baxter. ! These introductory lectures, "Shakespeare Today," "Shakes- I peare's Poetry," and "Shakespeare’s Theater," were i designed to motivate Interest In, and provide a background I for, the ccanlng series, I Two other promotional activities were made via I . " ' ' ! television. First, besides his Introductory series. Dr. i Baxter was a party to three Informal television Interviews I during which the succeeding program plans were discussed. I ; Second, the station provided television announcements con- I tlnuously throughout the promotional campaign, from ; August through the first semester and Into the second sem ester. Brochures were an Important part of the promotional campaign. Because "Shakespeare on T. V." was the first accredited telecourse to be offered by the University of Southern California, there was no mailing list of people who might be Interested in such a course. A tentative list was made. Brochures were mailed to libraries, tele vision stations other than KNXT, newspapers In the area. Parent-Teachers’ Associations, and English teachers of the Los Angeles city school system. As these printed announce ments and television announcements were made, prospective 14 viewers who had seen and heard of the course made inqui- ! ries by telephone and letter for literature explaining the | j Promotional activities In the newspapers and peri- I odlcals consisted of news releases and television program i listings. There was little or no paid advertising In the ; dally newspapers. I On October 6 the lectures began. Brochures con- I tlnued to be requested by mall and by telephone. A total ; of 8500 brochures were mailed before and during the first ; semester. Television announcements and the program Itself ( ! continued to publicize the series. Publicity In the printed media was continued. In November the program began to receive awards (see appendix, p. 195, for a list ■ of the awards), and these helped to generate more publi- In the printed media, one of the most widely cir culated articles was that in Life of December 7, 1953. In ; television. Dr. Baxter’s guest appearance on "Omnibus” was also very importsint to the promotional campaign. It Is Interesting to note that Life was one of the periodicals : most regularly read by the enrollees, and "Omnibus” was the television program which had the largest following . among the enrollees. (See pp. 100 and 111) 13; i The first semester terminated January 16, and the I I second semester commenced January 5^. The promotion for i ' I I the second semester was conducted In a manner similar to I that of the campaign In the fall. Brochures were mailed to those who had enrolled In : . I the first semester and to those who Inquired about explan- ! V i atory literature by telephone or by letter. Television ; i ! announcements were made at various times before and during , ! the second semester. The numerous awards which the show : had received by the time of the second semester generated ! additional publicity In newspapers and magazines. | I I The following are the data showing the enrollment I ' and rate at which students completed each semester of "Shakespeare on T. V." I Audit Credit Credit Students Rate of Croup Croup Completing Course Completion ; . . . . . Fall semester 886 544 215 .62 Spring semester 1268 244 179 .73 The Increase in the number of students who enrolled as auditors for the spring semester can be partly ex plained by the publicity which the program received during ; the winter months through such channels as Life magazine and "Omnibus." 16: The increase in proportion of those who came for i I the final test the spring semester is partly explained by I the large number of students, sixty-four, who had com pleted the first semester for credit and were enrolled once again. I i A description of the credit group. Students who i were enrolled for credit in the spring semester numbered | 244. Eight of these attended regularly in the television studio; a few others attended in the studio once or twice during the semester. Most students viewed and partici- | ; pated In their homes. The enrolled credit viewers lived j ! . ■ i , in the many regions of Southern California which were | : within the range of KNXT’s signal. I Approximately .14, or thirty-three, of the total group were male.* About .05 of the total group had not finished high school, .55 had not completed college, and I .45 had received at least a four-year degree. , I IX. DEFINITION OF TERMS Te le G ourse was taken to mean any educational pi?ogram which offered television viewers the opportunity to • 7 ’This information is approximate because many regls-i tration cards were not complete. 17 participate by direct enrollment, Educational television program (Many of the enrol lees did not agree; see p. 111.) was taken to mean any organized succession of programs which was intended to create or fulfill a desire for more learning, or to do both. Primary characteristics were taken to mean those characteristics defined as primacy characteristics by Lazarsfeld— sex, age, education, occupation, and other 8 An accredited telecourse was taken to mean any telecourse which offered college credit to viewers who wished to enroll and complete the course requirements. A homemaker was taken to mean any woman who had the responsibilities of managing a household which was occu pied by minors but not by a husband. A housewife was taken to mean any woman who had the responsibilities of managing a household which was occu pied by a husband and some minors or no minors. p Paul P. Lazarsfeld, "Communications Research," Reader in Public Opinion and Comm^lcation, Bernard Berel- son andHbrris Janowltz, editors (èlencoe, Illinois? The Free Press, 1950), p. 538. 18; : III. REVIEW OP THE LITERATURE i There was no other survey of students who had ■ enrolled in a telecourse on Shakespeare or one on litera- * I I Q ; ture for college credit;^ hut the findings of three sur- | i I i veys of different telecourse audiences afforded limited I : 1 comparisons of the audience of the telecourse on Shakes- s j peare to audiences of telecourses of Western Reserve Uni versity and of the University of Toledo. These three sur- ; veys, along with other pertinent sources, were reviewed, j The comparison of the respondents of the present i i I study with the enrolled participants In other teleeourses was not a part of the problem of this paper. Because, however, there seemed to be some possibly significant relationships between these findings and those of the other telecourses, the latter were Included In this review. The first related study was completed at Western Reserve University in June, 1953. John U. Halpem of Wes tern Reserve University, one of the first Institutions to offer college credit for teleeourses, made a survey to determine characteristics of viewers and to get viewers’ %n the Halpem study credit students of a course In literature at Western Reserve were only a part of the total sample. i reactions to the Western Reserve teleeourses. This study I I was based upon interviews of seventy-one randomly-picked I j registered viewers who lived in the immediate area of I ■ I Cleveland, The respondents were picked frcm university ; I lists of both credit and non-credit students who had been | enrolled in any of the teleeourses which had been offered 1 > j I from the fall of 1951 through the spring of 1953* Topics I , ' which had been offered during this time were literature, I ^ I psychology, geography, economics, music, dramatic arts, 11 . speech, biology, and history. Because the Halpern survey was based on a sample of I I credit and non-credit students, the results of that study ! were comparable In a limited manner to the present study. Some of the results which Halpern obtained from the credit group have been kept separate from those of the non-credit group. Some of the results which were based upon a com bined sample of both a credit group and non-credit group have appeared relevant to the present study. Both kinds of samples of the Halpem study will be defined clearly 1© Norman d. Halpem, "The Western Reserve University Te le course Audience. " (Cleveland; Western Reserve Uni versity, June, 1953)$ P* 1. (Mimeographed.) ^^’ ’ Teleeourses at Western Reserve University, A Summary Report of the First Three Years, 1951-1954 (Cleve land: Western Reserve University, 1954), pp. 9$ 10. (Mimeographed,) 20 I and msed with caution when they are compared with the 12 ! sample of the present study. Some of the charaeterls- I ; tics which Halpem recorded were sex, age, education, and i i economic status. He tried also to detemlne what motivated I the viewers to watch the course, how the viewers first j learned of the telecourse, the viewers* reactions to the i ! i ! course syllabus, and their reactions to the time of the ; telecast. Besides the Halpem study, a telephone survey was made of the audit students and the credit students of a ; sociology telecourse In 1954 at Western Reserve. Richard ; I A. Schermerhom directed the study to determine the vlew- ! - ■ ; ; ers* characteristics, and to obtain reaction to and opin ions about the course.^^ Because the Schermerhom study I was concerned with a credit sample of Just twelve respon dents from a total of fifteen students, the results were l4 viewed with extreme caution. 12 It Is Interesting to note that Halpem found that i there were no significant differences In the characteris tics of those who watched the telecourse for credit and those who watched without taking credit, op. clt., p. 9. ^^Rlchard A. Schermerhom, "A Sampling of Student Reactions to the Western Reserve University Teleeourses In ’Principles of Sociology *" (Cleveland: Western Reserve ' University Spring Session, 1954), p. 1 (Mimeographed.) • ‘ ■^"Teleeourses at Western Reserve University, A Sum mary Report of the First Three Years, 1951-1954,” op. cit., p . 1 2 . _ _ _ . . . . ' 21 Other literature on Western Reserve teleeourses Is , I . . . I I related Indirectly to this study. "Teleeourses at Western ; I Reserve University, a Stammary Report of the First Three I I Years, 1951-1954”^^ was a valuable source of information I about the respondents who enrolled for credit in tele- I I courses. I I I In October, 1953$ the University of Toledo made a ! ■ ' survey of their te le course viewers who were enrolled for college credit and their viewers who were enrolled as , auditors. The survey was made to determine the character istics of the students and their attitudes toward the tele- courses.^^ Only that part of the survey which dealt with students who were enrolled for credit was related to this present study. The size of the sample was not indicated ^^"Teleeourses at Western Reserve University, A Sum- cit., p. 1. 'Other surveys have been based upon the Western Reserve te le course audiences. A survey which was com pleted in 1952 atte#>ted to determine the popularity of the programs and the relationship of the general viewing public to the programs. Surveys to determine the size of the total viewing audience of the teleeourses have also been conduc ted from time to time. 17»^. Telestudy Questionnaire" (Toledo, Ohio: University of Toledo, October, 1953), P. 3* (Mimeographed.) I 22! i ; i ! directly; however, from some of the data it appeared that ! { I there were 22 respondents who had taken teleeourses for ' 18 i I No description was given of the teleeomrse or tele- ; courses of which the respondents were students. In "Pro- I ' » ; grams Presented by Educational and Cultural Institutions I I in Commercial Television Stations Including Courses for : Credit," August, 1954,^^ however, two courses which had been offered by Toledo prior to the survey were mentioned. In the fall of 1952 Toledo University presented "Ohio His- ; tory" for two units of college credit, and in the spring ■ of 1953 they presented a one-unit course, "Modern Home- making." The respondents of the above study were probably students of either of these teleeourses or both of them. Because there was little discussion of methods, techniques, or the sample, the results of this study were regarded with caution. 1 â "T. U. Telestudy Questionnaire," op. cit., p. 2. ^^‘ •^Programs Presented by Educational and Cultural Institutions in Commercial Television Stations Including Courses for Credit" (Washington, B. C.: Joint Committee on Educational Television, August, 1954), p. 15. graphed.) , 25' In two areas— students' ages and their educational i backgrounds— the results of the Toledo University study ; seemed to be ccmparable to the findings of this present I study. I A valuable source of information on educational I television audiences was Television in School, College, I Community, a report on the various activities of pro- i ducers of educational television programs which was com- ' 20 I piled by Jennie Callahan. Relevant to the present study ; is a chapter which summarizes adult education teleeourses that have been offered in this country. Many institutions , of higher learning have sponsored accredited teleeourses. The following universities and colleges were listed ; by Callahan or by the Joint Committee on Educational Tele- I . . . 21 : vision, or by both sources, as schools having produced accredited teleeourses: University of Bridgeport, Univer sity of Florida (Extension Division), Quincy College, But ler University, University of Michigan, Western Reserve Jennie Waugh Callahan, Television in School, Col lege, and Community (Hew York: McUraw-Hill Book Company, W5TtWpp . Schools and Colleges" (Washington, D. G.:. Joint Committee on Educational Television, January, 1954)$ PP. 1-12. University, Washington University, Creighton University, University of Omaha, Toledo University, and Marquette ! In order to review research which might have been I I : I done by these institutions, letters were sent to them i I requesting information. Only Western Reserve and Toledo j I i ! Universities had conducted surveys similar to the present , 1 study. The University of Michigan did not give college ' credit for their programs, but they had made a survey of : i ; their participants. Washington University, University of ! Omaha, and University of Florida had not offered courses i : 1 for credit. The other schools did not reply. Letters , I were also sent to the Educational Television and Radio Center at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and to the National Associa- I tion of Educational Broadcasters at Urbana, Illinois. Another study related indirectly to the present sur vey was "A Preview of Public Opinion on Educational Tele vision in Metropolitan Los Angeles, directed by T. E. Lass- well of Pepperdlne College. The purpose of Lasswell*s study was to discover what the general public thought of educational television. Because the sample of Lasswell’s study was taken from the total population of Los Angeles, and because the sample of this present study was restric ted to the students who enrolled for credit in "Shakes peare on T. V.," the two groups could be compared in only i 2 5 i ! one area: the number of years which the general population i had owned television sets was comparable to the number of ! years which the respondents of this study had had regular I access to television sets. The respondents of this study I had owned their television sets or had had access to tele- ■vision for slightly less time than the general public of 22 : Los Angeles. i In summary, little research had been conducted on the audiences of educational television. Several univer- .sities and colleges have offered accredited teleeourses; however, in response to letters of inquiry, only two of ! these institutions replied that they had conducted surveys ; on the characteristics of the viewers who were taking tele- 1 1 courses for credit. The surveys from these two universities— Western Reserve and Toledo— were comparable to this present survey ’ in a limited manner. Some of the primary characteristics of the respondents of this study, particularly age and edu cational background, were like those of the people who were examined by Western Reserve University and Toledo Univer sity. 22 T. E. Lasswell, Director, "A Preview of Public Opinion on Educational Television in Metropolitan Los Angel es” (unpublished Research project. Social Research,Labora tory, George Pepperdlne College, June, 1953)$ 16 pp. (pittoed.) _.. ..... ....... . Summary ©f Chapter This was a survey of viewers who had enrolled for credit In the telecourse "Shakes peare on T. V." In the spring semester of 1954. The pur pose of this study was to seek out certain characteristics of the enrolled viewers which might furnish a basis for speculations about how best to promote the kinescopes of "Shakespeare on T. V. " It was assuzmd that the kinescopes of the program would continue to be released over tele vision stations throughout the country. The immediate problem was to determine some primary characteristics of the viewers, their attention to mass media, how and with whom the viewer watched the program, the value of the program to the viewer, and finally, the most effective means of promotion in first reaching these this investigation sought not only primary characteris tics of tele course students and the students' direct rela tionship with the program, but also the extent of their attention to some other media of mass communication. "Shakespeare on T. V." was an accredited te le course which was televised originally over KNXT, Los Angeles. Kinescopes were made of the series. They have since been released by the Educational Television and Radio Center at 27 Ann Arbor to various educational television stations, and educational groups throughout the country. "Shakespeare on T. V. " was offered for two semes ters, the fall and spring semesters of the school year of 1953-1954• Each semester was eighteen lectures in length. One unit of regular college credit was offered to any viewer who was over I8 years of age, or a high school graduate, and wished to pay the fee and to complete a semester's requirements. Auditing privileges were also extended to the viewers. Although many universities and colleges had pre sented courses to the viewers of television, few schools had at the time of this study, presented courses which offered college credit. Only three surveys, two conducted at Western Reserve University and one at Toledo Univer sity, were related to this study. None of the three related surveys was conducted on a group of literature students alone. Because each of these surveys was based on a study of students of many different kinds of academic subjects, a comparison between the findings of these surveys and this present survey was unreliable. It should be noted, however, that there did seem to be a similarity between the ages and educational backgrounds of the respondents of the surveys which had I been made at Western Reserve University and Toledo Univer- I sity and the respondents of this present study. I I I Organization of the remainder of the thesis. The I remainder of the thesis is divided into Chapter II, ; "Methods, Techniques, and Procedures”; Chapter III, "Fre- : sentation and Interpretation of the Data"; and Chapter IV, "Summary, Conclusions, Speculations, and Recommendations I for Further Research"; a bibliography; and an appendix. I Chapter II, "Methods, Techniques, and Procedures," I is divided into sections on the preparation of materials i (including the pilot study), gathering the data, and Chapter III presents the data and the interpreta tion of the data question by question. Meaningful combi nations of questions are then considered. Wherever the data were pertinent, the findings of other studies were discussed in the interpretations. Chapter IV includes a summary, a conclusion (that is, summary of findings with interpretations), specula tions (which go beyond the data) about future promotion of the Shakespeare program and other teleeourses, and sugges tions for future research. CHAPTER II METHOD, TECHNIQUES, AMD PROCEDURES Method. The method of this study, a survey, was descriptive; this was am orderly attempt to gather and evaluate the status of a group at a single given moment in time. The purpose of this study was to seek out informa tion about the respondents upon which speculations might be based for the guidance of television promotion prac tices in the immediate future. ^ The success of a descriptive survey is directly dependent upon having a pre-determined objective in gather ing any data. This objective can be the measuring stick against which all questions which are to be asked of the respondents may be tested for usefulness. The words, "data for what?" avoid questions asked for their own sake ; and help the investigator to analyze and to interpret the data beyond the clerical level. ' Frederick Damson Whitney, The Elements of Research (Mew York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1942 ), p. 155. 2 Paul P. Lazarsfeld, Radio and the Printed Page (Duell Sloan, and Pearce, 1946)$ P. xiv. I The survey was not the only descriptive method by 1 which this study might have been conducted. Certain as- j . _ I pects of the problem might have been more fully revealed I by a continuity study. For example, the effect which an I enrollee *8 study in this te le course had upon his reading j habits could well be studied by the continuity technique. I I The limitations of time and finances prevented time I I lapse study. Perhaps too, the problem did not warrant the i i effort in refining and checking the exact effects which I ' active participation had upon the enrolled viewer. To this writer, the problem paramount in educational televi- j Sion was the promotion and development of educational In summary, this was an attempt to give a cautious and systematic description of a group and to give adequate interpretation of the data which were gathered.^ Techniques. The 244 students who enrolled for credit in "Shakespeare on T. V. " and were prospective respondents for this present survey lived in widely separ ated locations in Southern California. In order to obtain the maximum number of students for this survey, it was decided that a questionnaire would be passed out to those ^Lazarsfeld, cit., p. 176. 31 ! students who came to the campus for the final examination (see the questionnaire on p. 197). The questipnnaire ! would be filled out under the same conditions as the final I examination for the course. The final examination was to 1 be given at the end of the lecture series, from two until i four p.m. on June 5$ 1954, at Bovard Auditorium, The Uni- I versity of Southern California. I Limitations of techniques. Although this single i : mass interview provided for the largest sample which time I and effort allowed, there were variables which this pro- I cedure introduced. They were as follows: i 1. This would restrict the sample group for those who came for the final examination. I 2. Because the group was gathered for an examina tion, there was certain to be some tension in the respon- 3. There would be a limited amount of time avail able for the interview. 4. The principal control of the group was in the hands of persons other than the writer. Bearing these factors in mind, the writer made final preparations for the survey. 52 j Procedures. There were three malm steps In this ! descriptive survey: (1) preparing a suitable question- ; naire by which to obtain data, (2) gathering the data, ; I and (5) analyzing and interpreting the data. i i ' ' I ! . Preparation of the questionnaire. There were two j j steps in preparing a suitable questionnaire: j I ' i I ,1. Choosing questions pertinent to the objective ! : of the survey, 2. Developing the sequence and spatial layout of I In order to develop pertinent questions various sources were consulted, including periodicals and books of studies in mass communications. Advice of the produc- tion staff of "Shakespeare on T. V.” both at the univer sity and at the television station was sought. Registra tion records of the enrollees and the correspondence received from both the enrollees and viewers of the first semester of "Shakespeare on T. V." were investigated to learn the characteristics of those persons. It was felt their characteristics might provide an indication of some I of the characteristics of the viewers of the second sem ester. The resulting questionnaire was twenty-five ques tions long. I 5 5 ; : The gmestlons were placed on two sheets of paper, ! i one of which was 8 1/2” X 11" and the other 8 1/2" X 14". 1 ; . . . . . - i ! These two sheets had a combined area which afforded ample i space for the questions and answers. The different sized i I . i I papers, stapled together, clearly indicated to the respon- j dents that there were two sheets of questions for them to | I answer. This questionnaire was subjected to a pilot I : study. I I I ! Pilot study. There were five reasons for making i this pilot study. First, the pilot study would allow the 1 spatial layout, question sequence, and length of time for completion of the questionnaire to be appraised. Second, the questions could be checked for clarity and comprehen sibility . Third, the procedure and techniques which were to be used to administer the questionnaire could be re fined. Fourth, the findings of the pilot study might be a preview of some of the final results, and fifth, the per sonal interviews might provide information which would help in the final revision of the questionnaire. Techniques of the pilot study. The students of "Shakespeare on T. V." were scheduled to meet as a group only once, at the final examination. For that reason the pilot study could not be administered as a single mass i 5 4 ; Interview. Instead an investigator interviewed the respon- I dents in their homes, person by person. The conditions I I . I : under which the pilot questionnaire was filled out varied i j with each respondent. I ; I From the registration cards seventeen names were ! ! selected. Criteria for their being selected were: (1) I I I that they lived in the West Central area of Los Angeles I : County (an area accessible to the interviewer) and (2) i that they had different educational backgrounds. Ten of * the seventeen respondents were finally interviewed. I The respondents were questioned during a period of ! I I five days. Roughly, the characteristics of the pilot I ; I sample were similar to those of the whole credit group, ! Some of the characteristics of this pilot sample were as < follows : the group was predominantly female ; five of the group had not completed college, four had college degrees, and one had not graduated from high school. Administering the pilot study questionnaire. Work- ing on a weekend or during evening hours, without making appointments, the interviewer drove to the respondents' addresses. When the respondent was at home, the inter viewer would introduce himself and his project as briefly , as possible. The interviewer would then ask the respon dent to fill out the questionnaire. In order to prejudice 35 the answers as little as possible, the questionnaire and the course were not discussed until after the respondent had completed the questionnaire. The interviewer then checked the questiommire. Questions which were incor rectly answered, misunderstood, or left unanswered were noted by the investigator. Then in an informal discussion, the interviewer attempted to leam more about the rela tionship of the respondent to the teleeourse. Results of the pilot study. The findings of the pilot study revealed these things: 1. The length of the questionnaire did not seem to | be overly great. None of the respondents became bored during the interview. Time necessary for completion of the questionnaire varied with each respondent; each respon dent normally required about twelve minutes, 2. The spatial layout of the questionnaire seemed adequate. A few minor changes were made to allow for better legibility. Wherever possible, questions were begun on the left margin because some respondents had overlooked some questions which began in the centers of the pages. Other changes can be noted by comparing the pilot study questionnaire with the final questionnaire. (see pp. 197-201) 5. Some changes in the grammatical forms were neee&i- ■ I I sary to make the questions more comprehensible. 4. Two questions^ numbers 14 and 1$, attempted to I ascertain the relationship of the respondents * television I . 1 I viewing activities to their reading activities. This I i ■ ' i relationship seemed distant from the purpose of this sur- i I I vey. For that reason, these questions, 14 and 15^ were ; : I replaced in the final questionnaire by questions 15> 17, I 23, 26, and 27, which were more pertinent to the purpose 5. The personal infoimal interview seemed to indi cate that the respondents were enthusiastic about the In summary, for the most part the length and form of the questionnaire seemed acceptable. The final questionnaire. Six criteria governed the final choice of, sequence of, and spatial layout of 1. Each question should be clear. 2. Each question should serve the objective of the survey. 3. As many qf the questions as possible should require yes or no answers. 4. Studying Shakespeare's works seemed to be i 57! I socially desirable and to offer cultural self-improvement I i I to certain people. Because of this some persons would ; probably be inclined to answer questions of this study in j a way that would evidence their cultural development. To : I ■ I I avoid as many "prestige” answers as possible, questions j i should be designed to cross-check other questions. ; ! i I 5. Questions should be coded and there should be i ! i ' as few open-end questions as possible. Open-end questions ; ! . . i I are difficult to classify. Coded answers make tabulation ' \ much easier. 6. The questions should be phrased so that they i ' might be asked of the students who were enrolled for i ! auditing privileges as well as those who enrolled for credit. This writer hoped that a comparison of the two groups might be made later. I I gathering the data. The data were gathered at the I ■ final examination. There were four interacting forces I which produced the final results, namely: (1) techniques directed upon (2) respondents to complete (3) the ques tionnaire in (4) a certain environment. Respondents. On June 5, 1954, 179 of the 244 stu dents who had enrolled for credit appeared for the final examination. Of that number 177 filled out the 38 questionnaire for this survey. The only criterion for their being included in the survey was that they were registered for credit in the course. The 177 students came from many places in Southern California. In Los Angeles County alone, the commercial 6 outlet, KRXT, reached 1,851,8IQ television families. The students came from as far away as San Diego, one hundred miles south, and Victorville, seventy-eight miles east of Los Angeles. One hundred and sixty-six respondents had observed the program exclusively on television. Eleven of the to tal, however, had observed the program one or more times in the television studio class room where they acted as a live studio audience. Environment. The examination was given in Bovard Auditorium on the campus. At Dr. Baxter's direction, the students occupied alternate seats in the center and side sections of the main floor. The students were situated within easy distance for hearing the verbal instructions. Procedure and techniques. This writer, acting as head monitor, obtained three reliable persons— two ^"Description of Area,” Broadcasting-Telecastingj XLVII (July 5, 1954), 95. i 39, I graduate students and a college Instructor— as assistant I j monitors. By 1:30 p.m. (the examination was to begin at 1 - ! 2:00 p.m.) the monitors had arrived at Bovard Auditorium. • I The head monitor gave them instructions, and each monitor , ! familiarized himself with the questionnaire. Each monitor I I : also received a list of instructions which prepared him I for questions which the students might ask. * j At approximately 1:30 p.m. groups of respondents , j began to enter the auditorium. Dr. Baxter directed that, ■ I . . . : as soon as about thirty persons had arrived, the ques- , , tionnaire should be passed out and explained to that i : : I group; as other groups were seated the same procedure ; would be repeated. ; At approximately 1:45 p.m. the first group of respondents received the questionnaire. Dr. Baxter intro duced this writer to the group, and the writer delivered the verbal instructions. Any questions which the respon- : dents asked were answered by the monitors who were sta tioned in various parts of the hall. By this time two of the monitors were passing out questionnaires to respon dents as they entered the auditorium. Bespondents were ^See general instructions, p. I96. seated In groups. By addressing each group in a voice of sufficient volume to be heard throughout all of the audi torium, the head monitor was heard giving the instructions many times by all the respondents. At 1:59 p.m. Dr. Baxter warned the students to com plete their questionnaires; soon after, the question naires were picked up. If the respondent had not comple ted his questionnaire, he was directed to keep it and to complete it after he had completed his examination. At this time Dr. Baxter directed that no more questionnaires be passed out to the enrollees who were still entering the auditorium. These late-comers were seated in a separate j section, in the front of the auditorium, so that they would not be overlooked. The first person to complete the examination turned it in at 3:00 p.m. A short time later this writer and Dr. ! Baxter passed out the questionnaires to the late-comers; there were about twenty-five in this group. At 3:45 p.m. two of the monitors were dismissed because their help was no longer needed. As students left the auditorium they were asked if they had completed the questionnaire; if they had not, they were given a questionnaire with instructions. Only two of the respondents did not return their questionnaires. 1 41 One lady took her questionnaire to the ladles' room, whence ; I i neither lady nor questionnaire returned. A second respon- : j dent, one of the group who had arrived after the examina- I tion had begun, refused to fill out her questionnaire at ' I the end of the examination period, but she offered to mail | I it to the university. It was never received. I ! ! Between 3:00 and 4:0© p.m. a few respondents left I ; the examination; after 4:00 p.m. increasing numbers of ! students began to finish and leave. At 4:12 Dr. Baxter i : gave a final warning, and at 4:15 the rest of the examina- I tions were collected. At this time the remainder of the I late questionnaires were completed; by 4:3© all of the papers had been collected and the building was deserted. No major problems hampered the proceedings* The group was cooperative* One supremely loyal student of Dr. I Baxter took offense at the question which asked for addi tional suggestions for subjects to be presented on tele vision. She accused the head monitor of deviously attemp ting to supplant "Shakespeare on T. V." with new programs. Processing and evaluating the data. After collect- ; ing that data, this writer's immediate aim was to organize ; ' it into meaningful relationships which might supply a ba sis for speculations about this group and educational 42 8 audiences in general* The questionnaires were sorted into those which were complete and those which were incomplete. If the respon dent of an incomplete questionnaire had not answered cer tain questions of fact— date of birth, educational years completed, degree held, or past educational relationships with the University of Southern California— and if that questionnaire had a name on it, the course registration card for that respondent was searched for the missing information* When information from the registration cards was used with the results of the questionnaire, that use was noted in the affected part of the study. It had been the hope of this writer that the ques tionnaire might be administered to the complete group before the examination began, in order that all of the answers might be subjected to the same conditions. This was not deemed possible by those who were in control of the examination group. Because some of the questionnaires had been completed before and some after the examination had begun, the following analyses were made in an attempt to leam whether or not this variation had prejudiced any Û Whitney, op* cit., p 43 of the answers. Nimber of incomplete of Incomplete Late group (31) .45 14 On time group (146) .40 Froportioimlly more of the respondents who filled out the questionnaires late failed to complete them fully than did the other respondents. One question was checked very carefully as an index ; to any prejudice which a disgruntled respondent might have exhibited when he filled out the questionnaire after he had completed the examination. Question 19, "Would you enroll in another session of 'Shakespeare on T. V., '"was answered as follows: Yes No Don't know Late group (31) .90 0 On time group (146) .81 .08 .11 Proportionally slightly more of the late question naires were incomplete than were the questionnaires which had been handed in on time. However, a few more of the late comers had indicated that they would enroll in another semester of the course than had examinees who had #: completed the questionnaires before the examination. ! While it was impossible to gauge fully the effect | i which completing the questionnaire after the examination ,had begun had upon the answers, nevertheless, the complete- I ness of the questionnaires and the results of question 19 i Î i ; seemed to indicate that there was not much difference I I between the late and the on-time questionnaires. | Also, if there were any great prejudice in the ' later questionnaires, their effect on the results of the survey was limited because the late questionnaires consti tuted only slightly more than one fifth of the total I number of questionnaires. The group of eleven questionnaires which was com pleted by those respondents who had viewed the program from the television studio class room was included with the other 166. The difference in conditions under which these respondents viewed the program directly influenced their response to only one question— Number 3, which requested the student to indicate the size and nature of the group with which he regularly viewed Dr. Baxter. The answers of the studio audience to question 3 were kept separate from the responses of the other students and were excluded from the tabulation because they were produced by students who did not view from a normal place. 45: Of the 7© imcomplete questionnaire8, most had only one or two of the 4© possible answers left blank. All 177 ■ I questionnaires were included in the results of the study. | One question in particular was left blank by a large num ber of respondents, namely, question 21, "Would you please | list any extension or correspondence college courses taken?" While there might have been some other reason for the respondents' overlooking this question, this writer ; felt that the question was badly written. The question probably would have gotten a better response as a yes-or- I • no question. The respondents were asked to complete all i j ' I the answers, but were given the option of including or not i ’ ■ Q ^ ; including their names.^ Of the 177 respondents 167 included their names. Summary. The method of this survey was descrip tive. There were three main steps in this study: (1) the preparation of a suitable questionnaire by which to obtain , data; (2) the gathering of the data; (3) the analyzing and interpretation of the data. To reach a maximum number of the students who had enrolled for credit, the survey was based upon %ee general instructions, p. 196. questionnaires which would he administered to the enrollees I who came to the campus for the final examination. I i I A pilot study was conducted to refine the question- | i naire and to leam more about the respondents and their I ! j relationship to the program. The final refined question- j j " i naire was 27 questions in length. • I : ! ©n June 5, 1954, 179 of the 244 students who had enrolled for credit appeared for the final examination. ' The questionnaires were passed out to the students as they | entered the auditorium where the examination was to take j I place. Some of the questionnaires were completed before i I ! I and some after the examination had begun, ©f the 179 stu- 1 . dents 177 filled out and turned in the questionnaires. The results of questionnaires completed before were ' compared with the results of questionnaires completed after ; the examination. There seemed to be no significant differ ence between the two sets of results. All of the 177 questionnaires were usable. The results of the questionnaires were studied and CHAPTER III PRESENTATION AND INTERPRETATION OF THE DATA Presentation of the data is made for each question and series of questions; then meaningful combinations are listed and discussed. I. WHAT WERE SOME RELATIONSHIPS OF SOME PRIMARY CHARACTERISTICS OF THE STUDENTS TO THEIR ENROLLMENT IN THE COURSE? Was a_ sex and a marital status predominant among the enrollees? Eighty-five hundredths of the respondents were female, and fifty-eight hundredths of the total group were married females. Sex Berried Single Previously Married Totals No. Propor. No.Propor. No. Proper. No. Propor. Male 22 (.12) 4 (.02) 1 (.01) 27 (.15) Female 102 (.58) 20 (.11) 28 (.16) 150 (.85) 177 (1.00) ' The proportion of males to females who came to the campus for the final examination and who completed the ques tionnaire differed little from the proportion of males to I females who enrolled for credit at the beginning of the i course.^ In the beginning group .14 were male, whereas ! in the sample of this survey .15 were male. ! i I Interpretation. The similarity between the pro- I portion of males to females who began the course and the proportion of males to females who completed the course might indicate the following: (l) Men were as likely to dos^lete the course requirements as women, and (2) the sample of this survey is representative of the beginning group in so far as the sex factor is concerned. As was the beginning group who enrolled for credit in "Shakespeare on T. V.," the beginning groups who enrolled for credit in Western Reserve University tele courses were predominantly females. The range of propor tion of males participating in te le courses was from ,4 to 0 per course. The mean proportion for the 289 students who were enrolled in fifteen telecourses was .15 males 2 per class. See description of the total credit group, p. 16. 2 "Telecourses at Western Reserve University, A Sum mary Report of the First Three Years, 1951-1954,"(Cleve land: Western Reserve University, 1954), pp. 16-1%. ■ . ) I I I : the proportions of women to men in the literature ' courses offered by Western Reserve were very similar to the : 1 I I proportion of women to men in this study. Of the 41 stu- I i dents who enrolled in "Comparative Literature," .15 were I % I male and .85 were female students.^ Of the 11 students j who enrolled in "Introduction to Literature, " .2 were h ' I male. Compared with either the .14 of men who enrolled in "Shakespeare on T.V. or the .15 men who enrolled in and ' ' ■ I completed all of the requirements of "Shakespeare on T.V. the Western Reserve figures are strikingly similar.^ The literature courses at Western Reserve Univer sity were offered two or three mornings a week, Monday through Saturday. These telecourses attracted a predomi- | I nantly female audience; "Shakespeare on T.V. " was pre- 1 I I sented on Saturday morning, at a time when people who | I 7 1 worked the standard 40 hour week could participate. ' ^"Telecourses at Western Reserve University," op. Git., p. 16. 4 Ibid., p. 17. %ee p. 16. 6 The enrollment of the Western Reserve telecourses did not show how many of the males or females completed the course requirements. ^See the varied occupations of the men enrolled in course, _on p. o4..---- — — - — - — _ i This program also attracted a predominantly female amdi- j ence. One might assume that "Shakespeare on T. V.," as iwell as other literature courses, will attract more women I I than men no matter when they are offered. ! In University Teaching by Mail, Walton S. Bittner land Hervey F. Mallory note that vocational courses usually ( ; show a predominance of men and that most educational 8 I courses show a predominance of women. Because "Shakes peare on T. " was educational subject matter, the pre dominance of women enrollees agreed with the findings of i Bittner and fcllory. I I were the ages of the enrollees? ; Six respondents did not answer this question; ages of four of these six respondents were obtained from uni versity records, ©f the 177 respondents, the ages of 175 were obtained. The approximate median age of the group was 40 years, and the mean was just over 40.5 years. The total age range of the group was 18 through 64 years.^ The 8 Walton S. Bittner, and Hervey F. Mallory, diver sity Teaching by Mail (New York: The %ee Figure 1 on p. 52. ; iquartlle deviation was 6*5 years* Of the 177 respondents, ! I .70 were aged 3I through 50 years. ' Figure 1 shows that the distribution of the ages I was reasonably mesokui»tic. The distribution tended to be I I bimodal, with the modes appearing at ages 43 and 37 years, i The distribution was slightly negatively skewed. I The male respondents were younger than the females; j the approximate median age of men was 35 years, and of ! women 41 years. The mean age of men was 35.7 years and of women 40.8 years. Interpretation. The central tendencies of ages of I these respondents were similar to those of the credit stu- ^ dents and audit students of the Halpem study, those of ,the respondents of the Schermerhom study, and those of the respondents of the Toledo University survey. The median age of the respondents who took "Shakespeare on T. V." was approximately 40 years, the mean was slightly more than 40.5 years. The mean age in the Halpem study 10 was slightly less than 41.0 years* The Schermerhom telephone survey indicated that of the 15 students who took sociology course Number 112 for credit, 12 had a 1 o ^ cit., p. 5. r 6 C G e g e g e e e e e e e e e e e 52 I V) I Sn o .§, R & * I «NIO o-oor^ ^lA'^rooi-r-fO ch ( \ f ( V ^ v4 ^ V S v4 ^ VS Aouand-dA-J 53i 11 ' median age of 38 years. The median age of the Toledo i University te le course students was roughly the same: 45 12 per cent of the students were 41 years or older. The ■ I central tendency of the ages of the "Shakespeare on T. V." ; ! - enrollees and of the three other groups was approximately i 4© years. ! The findings indicate also that the majority of stu-; I ; dents in telecourses may be in their thirties and forties. 1 This indication is affirmed by observation that (1) .70 ! I of the respondents in this study were from 3I through 50 | I years of age, and (2) .81 of students in the Toledo Uni- I i ' 1 * S t .. - i I versity study were within the same age grouping. The I distribution of the ages of Western Reserve University telecourse students was not included in the Western Reserve I University surveys. It might be assumed from this that accredited art, social science, and humanities telecourses most often attract enrollees who are between thirty and fifty years i of age. llii ► . 1 12» it 15 'Telecourses at Western Reserve University," op. cit., p. 12* 'T. U. Telestudy Questionnaire" (Toledo, Ohio: University of Toledo, October, 1 9 5 5 ) , p. 1 . (Mimeographed.) XjOc . cit. 54: ^ Were these enrollees free of parental responsibilities? I I Of the 177 respondents in this sample 24 (.13) had ' never married and 153 (.87) were married or had previously j been married. One hundred ten (.62) of the respondents I were parents. Of these parents 28 (.16) had children who I ; were eighteen years of age or older; 82 (.46) had children who were seventeen years of age or younger. Nineteen enrollees were parents of children who were fourteen : through eighteen years of age. Over one fifth of the respondents, 37 or .21, had children who were less than six years old. Because they were able to participate in the course at home, two pregnant women enrolled. Of the 110 viewers (.62) who were parents, the number of children per parent ranged from 1 to 6. The ' approximate median number of children per parent was 2. Interpretation. Both people who had parental responsibilities and people who did not have them enrolled . in the course and completed the course for credit. Nearly one half (.46) of the enrollees had children less than eighteen years of age; more than one fifth (.21) had chil dren who were less than six years of age. How much influence parental responsibilities had on the viewers who enrolled in the course could not be 55; I ascertained. The presence of young children In the house hold, however, did not deter .21 of the respondents from , enrolling. Perhaps the presence of young children In the I household did not discourage many parents from enrolling ! ' I in such a course for credit. I : I I i I ^Ûrnt were the educational backgrounds of the enrollees? I How many years of formal education had they com pleted? The students were placed into five categories ! ; according to the number of years of education which they ! had completed (see Table I): Group I included students | ! ^ . I j who had not completed high school; Group II included stu- i dents who had completed high school, but who had not been i to college; Group III included students who had not com pleted college; Group IV included students who had taken ; i college degrees; and Group ¥ included students who had taken graduate college degrees. The median year of schooling completed by the total group was in the fifteenth year. Because of the tendency of some of the respondents to circle their present educa tional year instead of the number of years of education ■ completed, the number of years reported completed for the total group may be too high and the true median probably 56 HIGH SCHOOL SOME C O LLE G E ^* LESS^ THAN HIGHSCH00‘ . 2 3 BHCHELORS DEGREES Firnm 2 EDUCATIONAL BACK0ROUNDS OP THE RESPONDENTS Some of the students had taken other courses for college ^ credit. Students In this group had completed at least 1 but no more than 3 years of college* E4 E - i > * Ç Q a ë o o H i H a g g E4 § M * ' ( : O * . ( # b- • o 6 0 0- rH 4> î 3 rH n # rH > P A " w* ' A ‘ w < e 6 3 •= t ï > - rH rH 3 k * 4 iH eu ♦ O W 0 ) U 1 Q ) & •p >> 0 3 O l > - É 3 U r4 £> 0 > 6 3 M m 0 $ Q, rH ® vo l f \ rH eu 0 rH K\ ^ • O O % ovo C Î 3 rH 0 3 U q S e ® » ( . M &0tn VO lA rH H ' 0 rH r\ H ' rH rH J S j * 01 0^4* ^ lA Æ t * # O rH eu eu • O U 0 C Î J i f c \ j s J - VO p o rH rH eu 03 rH H O 0 M Jg U o 0 Q, CO 0 & X eu t — o s VO O CM eu rH $ 4 WO! • O fH rH P3 rH O .C 0 H O 0 0 Ou 0 m 0 ÆS >& rH b— 00 o O W • •H rH o . , J S * rH 1 0 o \ 0 8 tH O 0 0 H S, 0 0 Pu 57 t xt i §■ S ê 0 3 s s I m I 0 a iH 0 â 0 © < i H •P 1 •d 0 s 0 o 0 rH Æ â o Æ3 S •p 0 o > A u «§ • O ^ 0 «P 0 .p P O P _ 0 0 0"© 0 S I 8 0 0 0 •P 0 vH 0 bûXS 0 -P rH U 0 rH A 8 0 A 0 C0 4H * - ( * ■ «O * ( 1 1 1 il lies In the fourteenth year. Educational backgrounds of the male and female ; groups. The median number of years of education of both ; I the female respondents and the male respondents was approx-1 I I Iimately fifteen. Proportionally, however, there were, as : I ■ ' I ; Table I indicates, more women than men with less educa- ! I tion who enrolled and completed this telecourse. Twenty- i ■ I ; three hundredths of the women and only .1 of the men had ,only a high-school education or less than a high-school Interpretation. The educational attainments of the respondents were considerably higher than the average educational attainments of the general population of T l l sizes of Groups IV and V are reliable; the respondents * answers, which placed them in these categor ies, could be cross-checked with the kinds of degrees which they had listed. A respondent who listed only a bachelor*s degree, but who had circled the 17th year, was considered to have finished only the l6th year. A respon dent who circled the 17th year and listed a master*s degree was considered to have completed his 17th year. The size of Group I is reliable. The size of Group II and the size of Group III are not reliable. Probably some fresh men students circled the IJth year instead of the 12th. Group II probably included too few of the respondents, whereas Group III included too many of the respondents. metropolitan Los Angeles. The median number of school years I I completed by persons 25 or more years old in the standard 16 ' metropolitan area of Los Angeles was twelve. ^ The median ■number of school years completed by the respondents of ithis survey was fifteen. On the basis of educational back- ! ! ground of enrollees, "Shakespeare on T. ¥.*’ did not attract ! ' Î a cross-section of the general population of Los Angeles. ■ I The majority of the enrollees had completed some college. Perhaps the enrollees of any accredited telecourse might ;be expected to have completed some college. ' The educational backgrounds of the respondents of j ■the Halpem study, of the respondents of the Toledo Univer sity Telestudy, and of the "Shakespeare on T. V. " respon dents compare as follows : United States Census of Population, 1950, Cali fornia, General Characteristics, reprint of Volume 11, Part 3s Chapter B (Washington: United States Government ', p. 51. Less than Completed 1-4 yrs. Completed Size of ________High School High School College Grad.School Sample ; V.R.V. ,®7 .27 .59 ,07 71 .©3 .42 .55 (1-3 y PS.) ! pear® ! on ; T.V. .©5 .16 .67 .12 177 The majority of students in all three surveys had already co^leted at least one year of college. The small proportion of students having less than high school educa tion was similar in each survey. It would appear that in any group of students enrolled for college credit in a telecourse, there would be few with less than a high-school education. The students who appeared to be most inter ested in earning a degree were those who had already begun their college educations. It is this writer’s belief that the "Shaikespeare on T. V." respondents and Western Reserve teleeourse respon dents who had completed high school and one through four years of college were more evenly matched than the figures > 2E* Git., p. ^^**T. U. Tele study Questionnaire," op. cit., p. 1. 6 1 1 indicate. Some respondents of this present survey probably erred In Indicating the number of years of education which I i I they had completed, and .16 Is probably a low proportion | 18 of the group which had completed only high school. Another factor which might account for the low pro- ' portion of Western Reserve telecourse students who had completed graduate school was the time of presentation. At Western Reserve Wnlverslty courses were telecast on a schedule when they were Inconvenient to those persons who worked Monday through Friday. Approximately one third of the "Shakespeare on T. V." respondents were working full IQ time for educational Institutions. This particular group was able to participate In the week-end program, and such ability would account for some of the difference between the two groups. What were the predominant kinds of college degrees. and what fields of study were represented? Thirty-five hundredths, or 62, of the respondents had completed four 18 See footnote 14. ^%ee p. 86. years of college, as shown in Table I, As presented on Table II, forty-one of the respondents had taken a bachel or '8 degree. Twenty-one of the respondents had taken a master * s degree. A few students held degrees which had been granted by professional schools and two-year colleges. Mo students had a doctoral degree. What fields were represented? Most of the respon- II ■.. ........... I mmmmmmmmmK i im.', iilkil in ...... . . , dents who held degrees had either majored or minored In I the field of education. Fourteen respondents held a jbachelor’s degree and eleven held a master’s degree In j Education. There were only two students who held bachel or’s degrees In the field of natural science, and one stu dent who held a master’s degree In an abstract science; the vast majority of graduates had studied In fields kin dred to literature* Interpretatlon. Two Important facts seemed evi dent about those respondents who held college degrees. First, the greatest number of degrees had been taken In some field of education. Of the 62 people who had at least a four-year degree, 51 were employed by edu cational Institutions as teachers, librarians, or school nurses. See occupations, p_^ TABLE II DEGREES AMD FIELDS Number Degree an ( à Field! 65 B.S. In Education 3 to Education only 1 In Social Studies 1 In Art Education 1 In B.E. 1 In Education only 1 In 1 In Art Education 1 In Chemical Engineering; B.A. In Education 2 no specialization listed I 1 Health, and Physical Education 1 Physics-Chemical 13 B,A. 5 no field mentioned 1 Social Science 1 Speech, Sociology, 1 Political Science 1 History 2 Art 1 Pre-legal 1 3 B.A. In English 1 Literature 2 English 1 History-English 1 Speech, English, Drama 2 B.A. Language 1 1 1 Bachelor of Music 3 B.S. 1 no field mentioned 1 1 Public Health 1 A.A. Architecture 1 B.A. Geography 1 Bachelor’s (no other Information given) ¥1 respondents with bachelors* degrees 64 TABLE II (eontlHued) Number Degree and Field 1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 M.A, Education M.S. In Education M.A. In English M.A. Comparative M.A. M.A. Speech M.A. History M.A. Library M.A. Art History L. L.B. M.A. (no other In- 1 1 2 3 1 B.A. Nursing A.A. Math A. A. R.N. Jr. College In degree 1 B.S. In same field 1 B.A. and B.S. In same field 2 no other degree given 2 B.S. In same field 1 no other degree given 2 B.A. same field (one A.A. ) 1 B.A..Sociology 1 no other degree given 2 no other degrees given 1 B.A. same field 1 B.A. same field 2 B.S. same field 1 none other given 1 B. of 1 no other given 21 respondents with masters' degrees less than 4 year degree less than 4 year degree less than 4 year degree less than 4 year degree less than 4 year degree 65 Second, few respondents had taken degrees in the fields of natural or abstract sciences. One might Infer that prospective students of this course who hold degrees would probably have studied courses In a similar academic area. ; two primary factors, which are shown In Table III, educa tional background and age, some Interesting relationships appeared. The classifications In Table I were numbered according to educational background. Group I had the smallest number of years of schooling, and Gro%# V, which Included graduate degrees, the greatest. However, when these groups were arranged according to Increasing median age, they took the following order: Group III, Group II, Group IV, Group I, and Group V. Group III, .43^^ of the total, represented the stu dents who had completed one to three years of college. The median age of the group, 34 years, was considerably lower than that of the next oldest group, II, which a median age of 4# years. 21 not available, the here Is .01 lower than ' ages In Group III were of Group III as reported III as reported In Table I. H I ë <c Q i I cÿ /§ •§ o • (U o \ € V i ON S 4 # # 01 0 VO H M 0 , W K \ ■ s t * & S I I i I Q ) I tn b - tn o in # * » vo # " vo tn K \ KN S> • s j ” • s t •V % • » g é R VO i r4 J s 4 * tn H in o O G Q « r x o : < 0 ) X i U 0 ) -P o O bO < D CO iH 0 ( D rH 0 0 rH Q iX i A U r— 1 U bO O bO 8 o «H O ÏC S & * # M M H w-p H vo V0 <S5|- C M m vo Æ j* ON C M V© VO tn t n 1 1 1 i 1 O 00 tn b — K \ C M rH C V I m KN cvi Ch «H ON I C Q S 0 0 ) ■ § Ë . g X w boS I ■oqr <^eopto è I S +> I 0) • & 0H W •H n J Ë4 +> *H O %) A < D Q ) -P ^ U I +> i G Q Ci ■ O •H fl n hb bOO A m •H 5 0) G I I I g I m 5 > § ; ....... " ' " 67 ; Group II, .16 of the total, represented those per- ' sons who had completed only high school. The median age of this group was approximately 40 years. Only three I respondents of Group II were under 3© yoârs of age. I Group IV, .23 of the total, represented those per- i I sons who had completed four years of college. The median age of this group was approximately 4l years. Group I, .05 of the total, represented those stu dents who had not finished high school. Their median age was 41.5 years. The oldest group was Group V, .12 of the total; It ; was composed of students who had completed graduate work. The approximate median age of this group was 46 years. Those respondents. Group III, who had completed some college were younger than any other group, whereas those respondents who had the least education. Group I, were the next-to-oldest group. In addition to the arrange ment according to size of median age, the presence or absence of certain ages above and below 35 might Indicate differences In the ages of the groups. Half of the students In Group III were under 35 years. None of Group I was under this age. One tenth of Group V and .1 of Group II were under 35 years of age. Three tenths of Group IV, however, were under this age. A great gap existed between the time when formal schooling stopped and when It commenced again. The years which were not represented In the varl- I oms groups might be significant. In Group I were no ^respondents who were younger than 37 years of age. Al- , though years 17 and 18 would represent the last years of i formal high school education, all of the respondents In I ! this group were 18 years older than when they normally I I could be expected to have finished their last formal year of education. Does this Indicate that those who do not graduate I from high school will not resume their formal education ,for at least several years— If ever? I By combining Groups II and III, one found but four I students to be under twenty-three years of age. If the * ages of eighteen through twenty-two are representative of j college age, those ages were poorly represented In this , group. Only .02 of the respondents of this survey were I of normal— eighteen through twenty-two— college age. Group XV comprised respondents who had completed four years of college. Most college students graduate at twenty-two years of age; however, the youngest student In Group IV was twenty-five. No student was twenty-two through twenty-four years of age. 69 Group V was the oldest group. Most of these stu- ' dents held masters’ degrees. If a master’s degree normally requires but two years or less of study beyond the bach- I elor’s degree, some age irregularity appears In Group V, ! because the youngest graduate enrollee was thirty-three : years old. Most of those who enrolled In this course were not : regular students. Their full-time formal education had ended long ago. The Interim between their last formal schooling and participation In "Shakespeare on T. V. " varied with Individuals. However, the length of that ; Interim seemed to be governed by the extent of their pre vious formal education. Were the enrollees former University of Southern California students? About one third of the respondents, .37, had attended classes at the University of Southern California before they took this telecourse. Of the total 22 group .63 had not attended this school before. Interpretation. The majority of the enrollees had not attended classes at the University. This fact Indi cates that prior attendance at the University can be 22 The registration cards of some of the respondents were the source of some of the answers to this question. discounted as having been a major motivating factor In enrollment In this telecourse. these enrollees taken other college correspon dence or extension courses before the spring or fall ses- I8Ions of "Shakespeare on T. V. Reply Number None before 87 .49 Had taken such courses 69 .39 No reply 2© .11 Error 1 .01 177 1. that this te le course drew, primarily, students who had not previously taken part-time college courses. This educa tional telecourse Introduced nearly one half of the enrol lees to part-time college study for the first time. The question which elicited this Information was not answered by several persons. A query which was similar In phrasing to that used for the same purpose by Halpem In his study might have been more successful In drawing response. Halpem learned whether and In what manner the respondent had furthered his education since the end of 71 his school days. Had such an open-end question been I used in this study of "Shakespeare on T. V.,” the previous I part-time educational activities of respondents could have ; been ascertained with more certainty than they were. I I Because part-time educational activities bear different I names— night school, adult education, and extension— an i open-end question might have eliminated the possible con- ! fusion In terminology. One of the latest surveys of extension students was University Extension In the United States, a survey which : was conducted under the auspices of the National Unlver- I slty Extension Association by John R, Morton In 1953* Mor ton divided the country Into various areas, one of which was the Pacific Coast, He described some of the charac- i plL terlstlcs of those persons who used extension services. Characteristics of extension users as found by Morton are compared with the respondents of this present study. All of the findings of Morton which paralleled the findings of op. Git., p. ^^Johm R. Morton, Director, University Extension In the United States (Birmingham, Alabama : University of Ala bama Press, 1953)> 144 pp. 72 the present study were Included In Table IV. Table IV has in It many uncontrolled variables. ; Principal among them are: (1) although Morton’s Pacific I area Included Southern California, particular schools I I from which his data were obtained were not specified; (2) I the curricula of these Pacific area classes and curricula I of national extension classes were not mentioned. Whether ! I any subjects taught In these extension classes were liter- I ature or humanities courses Is not known. 1 I If the respondents of "Shakespeare on T. V.” were I roughly representative of the audience that an accredited I telecourse might attract, the comparisons In Table IV may j be considered valid. The group of telecourse students group who had participated In extension services In the Pacific area. The telecourse group was composed of proportionally more females who were older and had fewer years of formal education than the group who had used extension services on the Pacific Coast. Fewer professional educators were found In the "Shakespeare on T. V." group. Only two fifths of the "Shakespeare on T. V." enrollees, while over three fifths of the users of exten sion services In the United States, had used extension 73 TABLE IV SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF EXTENSION USERS COMPARED TO CHARACTERISTICS OF THE ENROLLEES Area Extenslon^^ Users Enrollees Sex Females 40 years or older 53^ .85 (approx.y 4 a o a 1 Age Median ages 28 yrsJ (Resi dent Center Service Users) 38 yrs. (Exten sion Class Users) 40 years 0 •H 0 W C M Edu ca Less than a high school education College graduates z.vp .05 .35 tion Professional Educators .29 0 3 T ) 0 0 +> Previous Users of Extension Services 5 61$ (in three year period) .39 (In total experience Extension Services were defined as extension classes, resident center services, correspondence courses, extension library and conference participants. , 02# cit., p. ^Ibld., p. Ibid., p. 91. -^These users did not Include extension library users and conference participants. ; 74 I services before. ! What were the enrollees ’ backgrounds In the study of plays of William Shakespeare? 1, What proportion of these enrollees had studied Although .77 of the respondents Indicated they had studied the plays of Shakespeare before they enrolled In : "Shakespeare on T. V." In either the fall or spring sem ester (as Table V Indicates), less than one third of the respondents had studied the plays In college. (Me hundred I I twenty-two, .69, of the enrollees, first studied the plays ' of Shakespeare at college level via this television pro- ; giam. In te rpre ta tl on. The enrollees* backgrounds In the study of the plays of Shakespeare seemed to Indicate two First, most of the respondents (.77) Indicated they had studied the plays of Shakespeare before; .46 had studied them In high school only, .©7 lu college only, and .24 In both. They were,thus, somewhat familiar with the subject matter of this course before they enrolled In It. Second, although most of the respondents were famil iar with the subject matter, .69 of the respondents were 75: TABLE V i I EXPERIENCE THAT THE RESPONDENTS HAD IN THE PLAYS OF ' SHAKESPEARE PREVIOUS TO ENROLLING IN "SHAKESPEARE ON T.V." (FALL AND SPRING SEMESTERS)______ .23 (40) respondents had not studied the plays before. ■ (16 of these respondents studied In "Shakes peare on T.V., fall semester.) (1) respondent had studied the plays at home. j .77 ; (136) respondents had studied the plays before. .46 (81) had studied at high school only. (31 had studied In "Shakespeare on T.V.," fall semester.) .07 (12) had studied the plays at college only. , .24 (43) had studied the plays at both college and high school. Of the 55 respondents who had studied the plays at college, or college and high school: 6 studied with Dr. Baxter In a regular class. 2 studied with Dr. Baxter In a regular class and on "Shakespeare on T.V.," fall semes ter. 1 studied with Dr. Baxter In a regular class and on "Shakespeare on T.V.," fall semes ter and.In another college course. 31 studied Shakespeare In college courses (other than with Dr. Baxter). 14 studied Shakespeare on "Shakespeare on T.V.j" fall semester and another college course. 1.00 (177) 1 studied Shakespeare In a dramatic class. ; Introduced to college-level study of the plays through '"Shakespeare on T. V." This telecourse definitely reached a portion of the public which had not studied Shakespeare's | iplays at college level before. ! 2, Were these enrollees favorably disposed towards the plays of Shakespeare before they enrolled i for this course? . Of the 177 students In this survey, 153» or .77» had I studied Shakespeare’s plays previously. As Table VI shows, , ' 1 ' ■ ■ i of the 153 students only 14 had not liked their first academic experience with the subject. These 14 had first | I ■ > studied Shakespeare In high school. There were two main reasons for their dislike of the subject: (1) they them selves had not been sufficiently mature to understand the 'subject matter, and (2) their high school Instructors had not made the course Interesting. Although these 14 had not liked their first ei^erl- ence la studying the plays of Shakespeare, 5 of them sub sequently had taken additional courses In the subject. One hundred thirty-three viewers who had studied the subject previously In one or more courses had liked their first experience. One hundred five of these had first studied the subject In high school. Twenty-eight had first studied It In a college course. Including 16 77 TABIfî VI WHERE THE STUDENTS HAD THEIR ACADEMIC INTRODUCTION TO SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS AND WHETHER THEY ENJOYED THIS INTRODUCTION Pro por tion No. (14) of the respondents did not enjoy their first academic contact with Shakespeare* All of this group had first taken the subject In (3) of the respondents made errors answering the (1) of the respondents made no reply to the question; . ... I (l) of the respondents didn’t know. (l) of the respondents was taught at home. (105) of the respondents enjoyed Shakespeare first In .75 (28) of the respondents enjoyed Shakespeare first In a college course. (2) had first studied with Dr. Baxter In a regular class. (10) had first studied In another college course. (16) had first studied on "Shakespeare on T.V.," fall semester. .14 (24) of the respondents ejqjerlenced their first aca demic contact with Shakespeare In “Shakespeare on T.V.," spring semester. (23) enjoyed this first contact with Shakes peare . (1) made no reply to the question. ( 177 ) enrollees in the first semester of "Shakespeare on T. V." Of the remaining six students who had studied the plays of Shakespeare previously, three made errors, one made no reply, one answered that she did not know, and one had studied “at home." Interpretation. Significantly, 133 of 153 students who had previously studied Shakespeare In an academic situation stated they had enjoyed their first study of Shakespeare’s plays. Some of these students had had other academic contact with the subject since that first experi ence. If one can assume that these students who had liked their first experience could not have disliked the subject because they continued to study It, It would seem that these 133 students liked to study Shakespeare’s plays before they enrolled In “Shakespeare on T. V.“ Furthermore, excluding those 5 students of the 14 who definitely stated that they had not liked their first study of Shakespeare’s plays but had taken courses In the subject since that time, there were only 9 respondents In the 177 who definitely had disliked the study of Shakes peare ’ s plays Immediately before they enrolled In this course. Most of those students who had studied Shakes peare ’ s plays before they enrolled In this course liked the subject matter. 79 Most of the respondents who had studied Shakespeare’s plays in high school had enjoyed them at that time, but had not studied them since. This telecourse served to reawaken their interest In studying the works of Shakes- ; Because this program reached viewers who had not * previously taken any extension or correspondence courses ! for college credit,one might assume that these people would not have resumed such study had there been no oppor- i tunlty provided by television. iWhat were the occupational backgrounds of the students? j I I I Were they full-time college students? The majority— about .92— of the respondents were occupied In activities other than full-time education. Only .OS (I3) were full time college students, as Table VII Indicates. Taking a college course for credit was but a part of their total activity. The full-time college students who did enroll were not of the usual college ages. The median age of the male full-time college students was 29 years, and the median See p. TABIE VII RESPONDENTS' FULL-TIME ACTIVITIES AND SOME OF THEIR PART-TIME ACTIVITIES* Pro por tion No. No. of Parents with Children under 18 Classification .29 51 38 A. HOUSEWIVES AND HOMEMAKERS (Including one woman who had neither husband nor children) .28 50 21 B. HOUSEWIVES AND HOMEMAKERS WITH FULL- : TIME OUTSIDE OCCUPATIONS AND DUTIES (including one regular college stu dent ) .05 9 5 C. HOUSEWIVES WITH PART-TIME OUTSIDE OCCUPATIONS .01 2 1 D. HOUSEWIVES WITH PART-TIME OUTSIDE OCCUPATIONS AND PART-TIME REGULAR COLLEGE ACTIVITIES • 17 31 0 E. FEMALES WITH FULL-TIME OCCUPATIONS • 12 21 13 P. MAXES WITH FULL-TIME OCCUPATIONS (19 were married; 2 were single) .03 6 4 0. MALES, FULL-TIME COLLEGE STUDENTS (3 were presently married, 2 were single^ 1 previously married) .04 7 0 H. FEMALES, FULL-TIME COLLEGE STUDENTS (1 was working part-time outside) T77 * Part-time activities were mot asked for. Some stm- dents volimtarlly supplied the InforE^tlon, Because this information was Indicative of the many activities with which the viewers seemed to be concerned. It was Included In this report. : 811 age ©f the female full-time college students was 23 years. | : i i I Interpretation. Although “Shakespeare on T. V.” was a television program which offered participants one unit of i ’ I undergraduate college credit for twelve dollars Instead of , ithe usual University of Southern California rate of nine teen dollars, and although the program was broadcast at a 1 : I I time usually considered convenient for the regularly enrolled college students, only .08 of the respondents came from that source. Perhaps this Indicates that, given the ■ choice of taking a course either by television or by con ventional classroom means, the college student prefers the What were the enrollees * occupations? Most of the 26 enrollees were housewives or homemakers. Nearly two thirds of the 177 students In this survey were engaged In these activities.Besides keeping house, most of these housewives and homemakers had other full-time or part-time activities. Among enrollees were housewives and homemakers (.29), See definition of terms, p. I7. ^7see Groups A, B, C, and D of Table VII. I housewives and homemakers who had full-time occupations ; (.28), housewives who had part-time occupations (.05)» and ! housewives who had both part-time occupations and part- I time regular college academic responsibilities (.01). ! The remaining occupational groups were as follows: I Group E (.17) were single or previously married women who i had full-time occupations; Group F ( .12) were men, other than full-time students, all engaged In full-time occupa- 1 tlons; Groups G and H, thirteen full-time male and female ,college students, comprised only .08 of the total sample. I The various groups In Table VII were engaged In the ! following occupations: Group A, housewives and homemakers. Is self-explanatory; of the fifty housewives and home makers who had full-time occupations (Group B), thirty were teachers who were placed In the professional classifica tions In Table VIII; four were nurses who were placed In the professional classifications; three were artists and were also classified as professional; one had a wholesale button business and was placed In the proprietor classi fication; one was In Insurance sales and was placed In the sales classification; six who were secretaries and four who were clerks were classified as clerks; and one was a full-time college music student who was classified as a 85 TABLE VIII FULL-TIME OCCUPATIONS OF THE RESPONDENTS* BY BUREAU OF CENSUS CLASSIFICATIONS !Mo. ;Men Mo. Womez Proportion of 1 Total Group Classification ;i5 57 .41 I Professional, Technical, and ! Kindred ; 2 3 .02 II,III Managers, Officials, and Pro prietors (Including farm) 0 18 .1© IV Clerical and Kindred Workers © 2 .01 V Sales Workers ; 1 © .01 VI Craftsmen and Kindred Workers 1 0 .01 VII Operatives and Kindred Workers - ! 0 0 0 VIII Private Household Workers 1 i 2 © .01 IX Service Workers (except house- hold) © © © X,XI All Laborers and Foremen (including farm) 0 63 .36 Housewives and Homemakers (Including those attending school, working part-time) 6 27 7 150 .08 1.01 Full-time Students Including housewives with occupations outside the home. Of the nine housewives who had part-time occupa- I I tlons (Group C In Table VII) five were teachers, two were farmers, one was a french reweaver, and one was a waitress. I These nine students were classified In Table VIII as • 1 i I housewives. Both the two housewives In Group D were part-time I I teachers, and one was a full-time college student and the other a part-time student. These women were classified : as housewives In Table VIII. Of the thirty-one single or previously married women with full-time occupations In Group E, fifteen were •teachers; one librarian, a school nurse, a social ease worker, a Christian Science practitioner, and an artist were persons who were placed on the professional classi fication on Table VIII. Two women who were In businesses were placed In the proprietors classification, ©ne sales lady was placed In the sales classification. Five secre taries, a stenographer, a bookkeeper, and a budget assis tant were persons who were placed In the clerk elasslfl- Of the twenty-one men who were In full-time occupa tions (Group F), seven teachers, a high school librarian, an attorney, two aircraft engineers, two writers, a cost accountant, and an Incubator technician— over one half had ! jobs of a professional nature. A bag dealer and a farmer : were considered to be In the managers, officials, and I proprietors classification. A tooling leadmam was classl- I fled as a craftsman; a warehouseman was classified as an I operative; a fireman and a policeman were classified as I service workers. Six male full-time college students were In Group * i ■ i G. They were studying In the fields of English, accounting,! ■ ■ i dentistry, religion, and architecture. One student did j not state his field. ^ Group H lists seven unmarried women who were attend-1 IIng college full time. One of these was studying In the i f field of French, one In sociology, one In marketing, and ' two In television. Two did not state their study pro- Bureau of Census classification. The varied occu pations of the respondents were classified further accord ing to the system of the United States Bureau of Census, as shown In Table VIII, All of the respondents who worked full time. Including housewives and homemakers. United States Bureau of Census, 195© Census of Population: Classified Index oTHpopupations and Industries (Washington, D. C.: Ü. S. Government Printing éfflce, 1-xvlll. 86 were classified In this table according to that fmll-tlme j occupation. The classifications of housewives and of stu- \ I dents have been added to the Bureau of Census classlflca- ; tlons In order to make the breakdown more complete. : Seventy-seven hundredths of the respondents were placed In the professional and housewife-homemaker das- ; slflcations. Occupations associated with educational institu tions . Sixty-five respondents were associated with an educational institution in their full or part-time occu- i patlons. Of this group fifty-nine were teachers, two I were librarians, and four were school nurses. The teachers taught at the following levels: twenty-one women were elementary-school teachers; seven respondents were junior hlgh-school teachers; eleven were high-school teachers; four were teaching specialists; one was a college Instruc tor; and fifteen did not specify what they taught. Besides the great number of respondents who worked for education Institutions, others had been associated with an educational Institution and still others planned to become teachers. Seventy-one persons, .40 of the total group (excluding the full-time college students), were educational workers at the time of this survey, or had been educational workers or Intended to become educational workers. Halpern also noted that many of the respondents of Western Reserve telecourses were either active or ! retired teachers. Interpretation. Most respondents were either house i wives, homemakers, or professional part-time or full-time i Few respondents were managers, salesmen, craftsmen, operatives, or service workers. What bearing did particular occupations have on the students * being enrolled? The occupations of some students seemed to have influenced their enrolling In the course. Of the 65 (•57) respondents who were employed by educational institutions either full-time or part-time, 51 held bachelor or gradu ate degrees. These 51 were some of the 62 respondents who held bachelor degrees, as shown on page 56. Most of these were not studying for a degree; rather, they desired to complete the course because the credit would Increase their professional worth. Completion of the course would Increase the salary of most. cit., p.21. Only 11 respondents who had bachelor or graduate degrees were not employed by an educational Institution. Interpretation. Excepting the professional educa tors, few students who had four year college degrees took “Shakespeare on T. V.“ for credit. Was there evidence that these enrollees had much leisure time? Table VII Indicates some of the activities : In which these respondents engaged. Excluding the few full-time college students. Group A, housewives and home- I makers, were the only respondents who did not have either I full-time or part-time occupations outside the home. j Thirty-eight of the fifty-one respondents In Group A had one or more children under eighteen years of age. Twelve of the respondents In Group A who did not have children had the responsibilities of keeping house for their hus bands. Only one respondent In this group had neither chil dren under eighteen nor a husband. No respondent indica ted that he was retired. Interpretation. The enrollees were not persons who ^^See p. 155 for a discussion of why the viewers took this course. ' "51 had much leisure tlme."^ Most of them were from 30 through 49 years of age, at a very busy time of their lives; they were busy persons who had full-time economic and social It Is likely that the kinescopes of this series and of other accredited telecourses would attract enrollees for college credit who had similar characteristics* What were the social statuses of the students, as measured by their occupations? The enrollees were asked to list In detail their occupations and their spouses* occupations* They were also asked to Indicate whether the income from these occupations was received In the form of salary or wages, or by contract.It was hoped that the social statuses of the respondents might be gauged from the answers to these questions about occupation*This was not possible, however, because most did not answer ^ This writer would expect that retired and semi retired persons will be found In the auditing groups of accredited telecourses. ^^See Question 6 on p. 197. ^^Alfred Charles Klnsey, Sexual Behavior In the Human Male (Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders ùomnanv. 1940). p T T T . "---- I either of the questions In detail. For example, 15 of the full-time teachers did not specify the level at which they were teaching. Most respondents did not Indicate whether they were paid by salary, contract, or wages From the information which was given by the respon dents it was possible to ascertain the general occupations upon which the respondents depended for their livelihoods. In Table IX the full-time occupations are listed. If the respondent, such as a housewife, did not list a full-time occupation from which Income was derived, the occupation of the spouse was considered to be that occupation upon which the household depended for support. If a respondent listed two full-time occupations— one for himself and one for his spouse— only the occupation of the respondent was listed in Table IX. Beneath each classification Is the number of house wives and homemakers whose spouses' occupations were included In that classification. Interpretation. Table IX would seem to Indicate that most respondents came from households which were ^^See Question 6 on p. 197* 91 TABIE IX CENSUS CLASSIFICATION OP ENROLIEES' OR THEIR SPOUSES' FULL-TIME OCCUPATIONS UPON WHICH THEY DEPENDED FOR THEIR LIVELIHOOD Proportion Enrollees plus Spouses Classification *59 72 55 I Professional .08 4 10 II and III Managers and Officials *11 19 1 IV Clerical and Kindred .05 2 6 V Sales Workers .05 1 8 VI Craftsmen, Foremen, and Kindred .01 1 - VII Operatives .02 2 1 IX Service Workers (except private householders) .07 15 Students (no depen dent occupation given) .01 1 — Occupations not classifiable *02 5 — Mo reply 1.01 118 59 dependent upon professional occupations for support. Besides having more years of formal education than the average resident of metropolitan Los Angeles,the respon dents or their husbands worked at occupations of a higher social status than those of the average resident. The husbands of thirty-three housewives worked at occupations In the professional occupations, as listed In Table IX. Because most of these women did not have college degrees, whereas their husbands did, these women may have been taking the course In order to raise their educational level to that of their husbands.However, not maxjy of these housewives Indicated that they wished to have a degree for this reason or similar ones.^*^ ^^See p. 59. ^^Halpem found that the mates of te le course students were better educated than the students them selves. ^^See p. 136 93 II. WHAT WERE SOME RELATIONSHIPS OF THE HSHAL READING PREFERENCES AND TELEVISION VIEWING PREFERENCES OF THE STHDENTS TO THEIR ENROLLMENT IN THE COURSE? What were their reading habits? To what extent were these enrollees book readers? The majority of the respondents, 128 or .72 of them, as shown In Figure 3^ had read books^^ in the four weeks pre ceding June 5, 1954. Lazarsfeld and others designate four weeks as the time span by which to mark the regular book reader from the occasional book reader and the non-book reader.The respondents who had not read any books dur ing this four week period numbered 46; 2 made no reply to the question; and 1 made an error In answering the ques tion. Of the 128 who had read books, 6 did not Indicate how many they had read; 122 Indicated that they had read a median of 2 books per person. The number of books read per person ranged from 1 book to 40 books during the Not plays or books of plays. ^^Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Radio and the Printed Page York: Duell, Sloan, and Pierce7^940), p. 94 previous month. The distribution of books read per person tended to be bimodal with the modes appearing at 1 book and: 2 books per person. Forty persons had read 1 book, and i 36 persons had read 2 books during the previous month. One lady answered that she had read only one book in the previous four weeks; but It was, after all. War and Peace. Did these enrollees have library cards? One hundred fifty-eight (.89) of the respondents held library cards. Of these II6/158 or three fourths of the respondents had read at least one book In the previous four weeks. Nine teen (.11) of the respondents had no library card; how ever, 12 of the 19 had read at least one book In the pre vious four weeks. Had these enrollees ever belonged to a book club? One hundred twenty-one (.68) of the respondents had belonged to a book club. One made no reply. One hundred eight (.61) of the respondents had library cards and had belonged to a book club. To what extent were these enrollees readers of periodicals? One hundred sixty-two (.92) enrollees read one or more periodicals regularly. Thirteen did not read such literature regularly. Two enrollees made no reply 95: to this question. laterpretatIon. Because book reading Is a socially I it© desirable avocation la this country, and particularly because Dr. Baxter had urged the respondents to read more j books during the course of his lectures on “Shakespeare on | T. V.,“ the respondents* ainswers to the most Important | question concerning literary habits, “Did you read any i 4l ’ I books during the last four weeks?** might have been unduly ' Influenced. For that reason the respondents were also asked If they had a library card and If they had ever belonged to a book club. I The proportion of library card holders was high— .89. Holding a library card does not necessarily Indicate that the card holder uses his privilege. Berelson reported that, whereas 25 per cent of the adult population in this country had library cards, only I8 per cent used these cards once a year or more, and only 1© per cent used these iip cards once a month. Nevertheless, as Figure 3 shows. Wilbur Schramm, Mass Communications (Urbana: The University of Illinois Press, 1949), p. 426. 41 See Question 12 on p. 198. ^^Bernard Berelson, The Library's Public (New York: Columbia University Press, 1949), p. 10. _ 00 I Ï I- 4 I ro ^ I ù; v$ i â o, eg. V —I — ~ r ~ o o B ^ r \ . sa ? ^ n ^ S^USt^LtoJ^^y J-O ZLOi:f_ÀOC:/OA^ 97 three fourths of the library card holders had read at least one book in the last four weeks. One would assume that many of the .89 of respondents who held library cards used the library frequently. Berelson, in his book about library users, described them as follows: Even more than do book readers in general, public library users as a class represent a kind of "Commu nications Elite"— people who spend a good deal of time in seeing, reading and listening to communica tions of various kinds.^3 Incidentally, Berelson mentioned that the American l i l t library was patronized chiefly by the "middle class." Sixty-eight hundredths of the respondents (121) had belonged to a book club. It was not ascertained whether these club members read their mail-order selec tions. However, the fact that many of the enrollees had participated in such plans indicated that these people had strong interests in reading. Because many respondents had library cards and also belonged to a book club, the high proportion of respondents -^Berelson, op. cit., p. 15. . p. 38. j ( .72) who answered that they had read at least one book in the previous four weeks seemed reliable * Most of the ! respondents read books regularly* The fact that these - enrollees were book readers tended to isolate them from ! the general public* I Some scholars have described the book reader as a distinct type— a type which it has been possible to iso late— because, as Schramm wrote, book reading is not an activity of the majority of Americans *^^ Only 26 per cent of the total population read at least one book a month in 1948, and only 6l per cent of the total population read at least one magazine regularly. Berelson wrote that book readers were culturally alert. In the use of every major medium of commxmieation except radio,book readers listened, saw, and read more than those who did not read books* They were prominent members of a group which was interested in communications 48 ^^Schramm, op* clt*, p. Paul P. Lazarsfeld and Patricia L. Kendall, Radio Listening in America (New York: Prentice Hall, Inc*, FTT "^Television was not widespread at that time, f oPe cit., pp. 8, 9. 99; Which periodicals did the enrollees read regnlarly? ■ I To check the validity of the viewers* answers as to whether^ or not they read periodicals regularly, the viewers were asked to recall the names— up to three in number— of peri- j odicals which they read regularly.©f the l62 respon- ! dents who read such literature regularly, 155 named perl- i odicals which they read as follows : 12 read only one periodical regularly. ! 42 read only two periodicals regularly. 101 read at least three periodicals regularly.! The 155 respondents named 60 different periodicals that they read regularly. Some read a large variety of i periodicals; these varied in type from The Kiplinger Report to Fogo. As Table X indicates, however, three peri odicals, Time, Life, and the Reader * s Digest, were the most frequently mentioned. Nearly two fifths of the 399 ^%ee Question 14, p. 198. 5%îvidence indicated that perhaps the respondents had more favorite magazines than favorite television pro grams. When the respondents were asked to list up to three other-than-educational television programs which they watched regularly, most respondents named just one program. When the respondents were asked to list up to three periodicals which they read regularly, most of the respondents named three periodicals. 100 TABLE X MOST-fBEQOENTLY READ PERIODIOALS* Frequency Periodical i 55 Time 55 Reader’s Digest 43 Life 21 The Saturday Evening Post 19 Newsweek 14 The Ladies Home Journal ! 12 i Saturday^ Review 12 The New Yorker 12 The National Geographic Magazine 10 Colliers 10 Harper’s Magazine 8 The Atlantic 8 IT. S. News and World Report 6 American 6 Sunset 4 Fortune 4 Holiday 4 McCall’s 4 Better Homes and Gardens Some sixty different periodicals were mentioned, Table X represents 305 of 399 preferences. listed preferences were for these three magazines. the respondents read many different combinations of periodicals, but the majority (103) of the group read at least one news periodical. Thirty-one respondents read at least one quality periodical such as Saturday Review, The Atlantic, Harper’s Magazine, or The New Yorker. Int e rpre tat ion. Although .85 of the group were women, women’s periodicals (i.e.. The Ladies Home Journal, McCall’s, et cetera) were not the most regularly read peri odicals. Though the enrollees were studying literature, only thirty-one respondents read quality periodicals. Reader’s Digest was the most popular periodical outside of news periodicals. Twice as many respondents read the Reader * s Digest as the next most popular peri odical, The Saturday Evening Post. The popularity of the Reader’s Digest may reflect the fact that the enrollees were busy people; it may also reflect their interest in magazines of middle quality content. One hundred three of the respondents read at least one news periodical, indicating their interest in current events. Perhaps most of these students could be described as a group of readers who had a primary interest in political and social changes in the world about them. What were these enrollees’ preferences in television How long had the enrollees had regular access to television viewing? One hundred sixty-three respondents stated that they had regular access to viewing; ten said that they did not have regular access to television. Some of this latter group included enrollees who witnessed the programs in the television studio. Pour did not reply. The approximate median number of years during which .92 of the enrollees had had regular access to television viewing was 2.5. These respondents had viewed television regularly from a maximum of 7 years to a minimum of a few weeks. Twenty-three hundredths of the respondents had had access to television viewing for 1 year or less. The dis tribution tended to be bimodal, the modes appearing at 3 and 4 years of access to regular viewing. Interpretation. In June, 1953, T. E. Las swell found that 2 years was the modal point for the length of time for which the sample of the general population of Los Angeles had owned sets.^^ If one year were added to ^^Lasswell, op. cit., p. 7 . 103 his findings, the modal point of the general population would he about 3 years. The viewers of this course had owned sets about one half year less than the general popu- the enrollees regularly watch other-than- : educational television programs? The following were the : findings of this question: i Proportion Number .28 49 ‘ did not watch such programs regularly. .59 104 watched at least one such program regu larly. .13 23 made no reply. .01 1 replied erroneously. In Question 26 the respondents were requested to include in order of preference three other-than-educational programs which they watched regularly. One hundred four respondents watched one or more programs regularly. In Table XI the first choices are listed in the first column, and all the choices, totalling 245 preferences, are included in the second column. Table XII shows the eleven favorite programs of the respondents. These eleven shows accounted for 124 of the 245 stated preferences. CLASSIFICATIONS WHICH THE 104 TABLE XI OP OTHER-THAN-EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS* RESPONDENTS VIEWED REGULARLY First All** *** choice choices Classification 44 116 20 Crime 57 Comedy , , Drama: 30 Drama Anthologies 6 Classics 3 Other 13 27 Quiz, Stunts, and Contests 11 23 Public Issues 6 16 Variety 7 14 Personalities 13 "Omnibus," not classified for it covered 6 different classifi cations 5 11 Music 4 7 Information 3 5 Religion 4 4 Public Events 1 4 News 1 4 Sports 1 1 Pine Arts 104 245 * None of the respondents noted homemaklng, ehll- dren’s, dance. Institutional, or weather programs. Respondents were asked to list three programs in order of their preference. *** These classifications are based upon those of Dallas W. Smythe, "An Analysis of Television Programs," Scientific American, GLXXXIV (June, 1951), 15-17. THE ELEVEN MOST SHOWS WHIC 105 TABLE XII POPULAR ÔTHER-THAN-EDUGATIONAL TELEVISION :H THE RESPONDENTS VIEWED REGULARLY Frequency 18 "Dragnet" 17 Groucho Marx, "You Bet Your Life" 13 "Omnibus" 13 "See It Now"* 10 "studio One" 10 "I Love Lucy" 9 "Mr. Peepers" 9 "Our Miss Brooks" 9 "What’s My Line?" 8 "Person to Person" 8 "Burns and Allen" * Edward Marrow received nine votes. The nine votes were divided thus: five votes to "See It Now," and four votes to "Person to Person." Interpretation. More than one fourth (,2o) of the respondents indicated that they did not watch other-than- educational programs regularly; .13 did not reply to the question. The size of these proportions may have been caused by two factors: first, the word "regularly" was not defined; and second, perhaps under the stress of being questioned at a final examination the respondents did not want to admit that they watched other-than-educational programs. Nevertheless, the fact that such a large pro portion, .86 (153), of the students in the group indicated | I that they watched none or no more than one other-than- I i I I educational program regularly gave evidence that the I enrollees were little interested in entertainment programs.| Did the other-than-educational program which the enrollees regularly watched suggest any characteristics of the enrollees? Table XI shows the program preferences as they would appear when they were classified according to the listing method which was used by Dallas Smythe in his research for the National Association of Educational Broadcasters. Placing programs into classifications was subject to error. It was sometimes difficult to decide between one classification and the next. One program, "Omnibus," a weekly program which had a vailing format, exhibited 107 elements of six of the classifications: drama, variety, fine arts, dance, information, and personalities* Inte rpre tation. Whereas it was difficult to class ify some programs, there could be little doubt of the respondents’ overwhelming preference for one kind of pro- I gram— drama. j In the drama classification two kinds of program ' predominated. The most preferences, 57, favored comedy Iprograms such as "I Love Lucy" and "Mr Peepers." The kind I of drama which was second most preferred was anthology I series such as "Studio One" and the "Philco Playhouse." Perhaps it was logical that the enrollees who were study- jing Shakespeare’s plays would so greatly prefer dramatic programs as their entertainment. j A second characteristic of these enrollees’ prefer ences was that many of the preferred programs were based on current events and problems— programs in the classifica- [tions of Public Issues, Public Events, News, and Informa tion were well liked, "Omnibus" presented much documentary material on current non-political issues. Significantly, I the only two crime dramas mentioned, "Dragnet" and "I Led IThree Lives," were supposedly based on fact. Other favorite programs were "You Are There" and "Hallmark Hall I . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . . . . . ' of Pgrnie," both of which were based on historical incidents. 108 The enrollees regularly viewed programs which explored the problems of the world. I j The respondents did not regularly watch certain pro- I gram classifications which occupied a great part of the I television programming during that time. In the drama I class, no westerns, soap operas, or musicals, and only two crime shows were mentioned. No homemaking or children’s programs were mentioned. Table XII shows the 11 favorite programs of the group. Some of these programs,."Dragnet,” Groucho Marx’s "You Bet Your Life," and "I Love Lucy," were also favor ites of the general population. These three shows were listed in A. G. Nielsen Company ratings of nationally most-popular television network evening once-a-week shows from January 3I through June I3, 1954.^^ Perhaps the observation which Lazarsfeld made about radio holds true for television— that attending to certain programs, such as comedy, news, sports, popular music, and mystery stories cut across socio-economic lines.^ "Pacts and Figures," Broadcasting-Telecasting, Vol. 46, 47 (Nteirch 15, 29; April 2bj May I©, 24; june 14, ; July 12, 1954). ^^Lazarsfeld, Kendall, op. cit., p. 2 5. The other eight programs, none of which appeared in the A* G. Nielsen Company ratings during the semester, were "Omnibus," "See It Mow," "Person to Person," "Mr. Peepers, " "Our Miss Brooks" (the last two concerned the teaching profession), "What’s My Line?" "Studio One," and "The George Bums and Gracie Allen Show." Although Jackie Gleason, Milton Berle, and Arthur Godfrey bad programs which were usually listed among the top ten in the A. 0. Nielsen Company ratings during the semester, these shows were viewed by few of the enrollees. | j Did the enrollees regularly watch other educational j ! television programs for adults? This question was asked i in conjunction with the previous question for the purpose of learning the enrollees’ total viewing experiences. The respondents were asked to name three educational^programs other than "Shakespeare on T. V." _______Proportion Number_________________________________ 89 answered "none." 70 watched one or more regularly 17 did not reply. .01 1 made an error. 1.00 177 ^^Broadcasting-Telecasting, op. cit., 1954. Seventy of the respondents watched one or more such programsregularly, 37 watched two or more regularly, and 20 watched at least three regularly. One hundred two (.53) enrollees watched none or no more than one adult educa tional program regularly. Interpretation. Only .40 of the group regularly watched other adult educational television programs. Three factors may have affected the answers to this ques tion. First, no definition of "educational" was made; this may have confused the reader. Second, there was no definition of the word "regularly." Third, the method of j questioning was total recall. Although these three factors might have dissuaded many of the respondents from answer ing the question, the fact that half of the respondents indicated they did not watch other adult television pro grams of an educational nature would seem to indicate that "Shakespeare on T. V." was a unique experience— the only educational program which these respondents regularly Which of the programs they watched regularly did the enrollees consider educational? The various programs listed by the viewers were classified in Table XIII. Pla cing television programs in any rigid classification is Ill TABI*E XIII OF SOME PROGRAMS WHICH THE ENROUEES EDUCATIONAL AND WATCHED REGULARLY Preferences Classifications* Programs and Preferences 25 Drama "You Are There," 14; "Cavalcade of America," 5; "Hallmark Playhouse,"5; "studio One," 1; "U. S, Steel Hour," 1; plays, 1. 24 "Omnibus" (not classified) 25 Information "Adventure," 10; "Halls of Science," 6; "Cavalcade of Books." 4; "Know Commu nism," 1; "Open Road," 1; "City at Night," 1. 17 Public Issues "See It Now,"** 7; "Tele- forum," 5; "Paul Coates," 2; "Eric Sevareid," 1; Forums, 1; "Meet the PressJ 1. 15 Fine Arts "Art Appreciation, 5a" 7 Personalitie s "Success Story," 1: "Person to Person, ** 6, 7 Q;uiz "What in the World,"7. 5 News 5 Children Programs "Playcrafters," 1; "Mr, Wizard," 1; "Quiz Kids," 1, 2 Public Events "Army -Mo Car thy Hearings," 1; "Victory at Sea," 1, * Sniy the, op, cit,, pp, 15- 17. Edward Murrow received 5 preferences which were split two to "See It Now," and three to "Person to Person," 112 subject to error and misunderstanding. For that reason the individual programs were listed to help explain the classification. Once again "Omnibus" was not classified because the format of the program tended to place it in any or in all of the six classifications. Because the choices were few in number, the totals of first, second, and third choices were added together. Drama, with 25 preferences; "Omnibus," with 24 preferences; Informational Programs, with 25 preferences; Public Issues, with 17 preferences; and Fine Arts, with 15 preferences, were the first five groups in greatest frequency. Interpretation. The preferred kinds of educational programs which the enrollees watched regularly were pro grams of a dramatic nature. Although the enrollees also preferred dramatic programs in general for entertain ment,^^ they considered a special group of dramatic pro grams to be educational. For entertainment the enrollees preferred comedy and anthology series; for educational viewing the enrollees preferred dramas which were based on historical fact such as "You are There" and "Cavalcade of 5 5 See p. 107. I 113 I America." I "Omnibus," the third most popular othcr-than- I I educational television program, was the favorite education-? I al program of the enrollees. "Omnibus" was watched regu- I j . . . . . ! I larly by two and one half times as many respondents as I any other program in the educational list. (A total of " ^ 6 I persons watched it regularly, whether or not they con sidered it to be educational.) The preferred position which "Omnibus" held over such popular programs as "Dragnet" and Groucho Marx was made even more pronounced I by the fact that at the time when the enrollees were I I ^ I asked to recall programs which they regularly watched, | I I I "Omnibus" had been off the air for over two months. I i It was also interesting to note that "Omnibus" | exhibited the same characteristics— drama, information, and fine arts— as three of the four preferred educational classifications in Table XIII. The third largest classification. Information, included such programs as "Adventure," which was spon sored by the American Museum of Natural History, and "Halls of Science," a locally telecast lecture-demonstra tion series which was sponsored by the University of southern California. liï i The fourth classification. Public Issues, consisted ' of documentary programs such as "See It Now, " and programs ; I of discussion, opinion, and debate. i I - . ■ The fifth classification. Fine Arts, was repre- ! ( ■ . . . . ' sented by a single program, "Art Appreciation 5a," which ; I was an accredited lecture series sponsored by the Univer- ! sity of California at Los Angeles. Because of their occu- i j I ' pational commitment^ most of the respondents could not i I I watch this weekday program regularly whether they wished , I to or not. ' I ' ' ! None of the enrollees— nearly two thirds were j housewives and homemakers— listed homeroaking programs as i educational programs which they watched regularly. I The technique by which information was conveyed, ■ ■ ■■ . . . . . I i whether it was quiz, drama, or straight lecture, did not j j seem to have much bearing on the program*s being eduea- I tional. Nor was an educational program necessarily a i I part of an organized succession of programs. | j The many different shows which were considered to ’ be educational did have two characteristics in common. First, the sources of information upon which the programs i I I were based were or appeared to be reliable. Often these ' sources were academic. This reliability was either I implied or explicitly stated: the drama was based upon 115 "historical Incidents," the quiz was a discussion by specialists from universities or colleges, the documentary film was visible proof of the facts, the panel discussion was between noted authorities, and the informational dis cussion concerned itself with the latest scientific dis- The second characteristic which educational pro grams possessed was what might be called an attitude of questioning— an attitude of inquiry. See Table XIII for a list of these programs. Did the enrollees watch television regularly? Whether the enrollees regularly watched either programs of an educational nature or other-than-educational programs, or both, are shown on Table XIV. Interpretation. The majority of the respondents did not watch any television programs regularly. Only .29 (52) of the respondents watched both types of pro grams, educational and other than educational, regularly. The same proportion, .29 (52), of respondents regularly watched other-than-educational programs. Just .1© (18) of the respondents regularly watched only prograuas of an educational nature, and ,20 (56) of the respondents did not watch either type of television program , 116 56 regularly. If Lazarsfeld’s statement that people do not listen I indiscriminately to every kind of radio program^^ be I ! applicable to television viewers, it would seem correct to I assume that because most of the television viewers of this ■ study did not watch any particular television programs regularly, most of these viewers did not watch television regularly. Did the enrollees participate in the only other accredited telecourse which was offered locally at that time? "Introduction to Art," an art appreciation course which was offered by the Extension Division of the Uni versity of California at Los Angeles, was the only other accredited telecourse which was offered in this vicinity during the spring semester of 1954. This course was tele cast from 10:50 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., Monday through Friday, ^ The fact that 10 of the 5^ respondents did not have access to television viewing (see p. 102) seems to strengthen the argument that most of these people did not watch any television programs regularly. These 10 had to make the effort of going either to the television studio or to a television set to which they did not have regular access. ^^Lazarsfeld, and Kendall, op. cit., p. 50. 117 ENROULEES' TEIEVISION VIEWING ACTIVITIES No. Proportion Watched Non-edmca tional Watched Educational 52 .29; yes yes 46 .26 yes no 6 .05 yes no reply 10 .06 no yea 8 .05 no reply yea 56 .20 no no 8 .05 no reply no reply 7 .04 no reply no 5 .02 no no reply 1 .01 error error 177 01 TOTAIE over the same commercial outlet as "Shakespeare on T. V. " Two units of college credit or auditing privileges were offered to viewers who wished to enroll. The respondents of this survey were asked whether they had watched the art program, and, if so, whether they had watched as students. The following are the results: .66 ( 116) had not watched the art program. ♦35 (59) had watched the program. .01 (2) made an error or made no reply. Of the 59 ( .35) respondents who had watched the program or did not reply to the previous questions, 51 (.29) were not enrolled in this art course and only 9 (.05) were enrolled for credit or auditing privileges. Sixteen^^ of the respondents (.09) indicated that they watched "introduction to Art" regularly Interpretation. Pew of the enrollees had partici pated in the "Art 5a" course on television. Only one third of the enrollees had watched the program regularly. eg A few more respondents, no more than nine, might have watched the program regularly but did not have space to include the program in their list of programs regularly watched. 59see Tables XI and XIII, 119 and bmt .©5 of the group were enrolled for credit or audit privileges in the art program. The principal reason that but one third of the respondents had ever watched the progx^am probably was that most were active outside of their homes in full- or part- time activities during the hour of the weekday telecast. Only .29, Group A on Table VII, of the respondents were likely to be at home for the telecast on weekday mornings. Perhaps, too, the respondents were not interested in work ing in two telecourses simultaneously. The fact that only fifteen of the respondents in- dicated that they watched the program regularly might help to explain why only .05^ or nine of the respondents had enrolled in the program. If the enrollees, who, from all indications, led a busy life, could not regularly watch the program, they would probably not enroll in the telecourse. Regardless of why so few respondents of "Shakes peare on T. V.” were enrolled in the "Introduction to Art" telecourse, one fact was definite2 two distinct groups were studying for college credit via telecourses in Los Angeles during the spring of 195^. See Table XIII, p. 111. 120 Did the enrollees have regular access to viewing the programs of the educational station KTHE. which used » the only channel in the vicinity? In November of 1955^ KTNE began televising educational programs. This was the first U.H.P. station in the Los Angeles area, and few television sets were equipped to receive KTHE*s signal. The respondents of "Shakespeare on T. V." were asked whether they had regular access to viewing KTHE. The findings of the question were the following: .09 (16) of the respondents had regular access to the educational channel. .89 (157) of the respondents did not have access. .01 (2) of the respondents did not reply. .01 (2) of the respondents did not know. 1.00 177 Total Interpretation. In June, 1954, when this survey was made, few of the respondents watched the educational channel. The fact that most of these people— people who were interested enough in educational television to be enrolled in a telecourse— did not watch or could not watch jKTHE, indicated that the educational station probably did I not have many viewers among the general populace. I What other subjects did the enrollees wish to view on television? One hundred fifty-six students suggested 121 ; subjects, 20 did not reply, and 1 respondent made no sug- ■ gestion. Each respondent was asked to suggest 3 subjects. | The 156 respondents made over 400 choices. These subjects were categorized in the groups of Table XV. Although some of the preferences may have been arbitrarily interpreted, i I the table can be generally relied upon. | I Interpretation. The first choice of all the respon-j dents was subjects from the field of literature; second I choice was subjects from the field of history. Next in ^ ' I popularity were art, music, and psychology in that order. , Apparently the group chose sub jects with which they | were already familiar. Literature, and especially Shakespearean literature, was the most popular subject I that the group wished to study. ! At Western Reserve University, Halpem found that j the respondents wished to study psychology more than any | other subject.^^ The most popular class by total enroll- ! ment was a psychology class. If Halpem*s sample was representative of the students who had taken telecourses c , op. olt.. p. 20. ! \ 62h ^ Telecourses at Western Reserve, pp. cit., pp. 113-114. . ----- 122 TABLE XV ENROLIEES WOULD WISH TO VIEW ON TELEVISION All Choices 176 57 51 History Art Music 25 61 Literature 19 Wm. Shakespeare 15 Drama (Greek,Modern,Classic^ 14 English, grammar i 13 English Literature 10 Poetry 8 American Literature , Subjects taught by Baxter | G.B.Shaw, Hendrik Ibsen Milton, Classics ’ Creative Writing ! Great Books 1 Remedial Reading ' Bible ; Mythology 6 6 6 6 5 5 1 1 2 47 History 9 Ancient,current, and American 1 Elizabethan 27 Art 2 Art History and Apprecia tion 1 Art crafts 1 Interior Decoration Music Music 8 1 1 Vocal 22 Psychology 1 Psychiatry 1 Child Study 1 11 4 2 1 1 1 Appreciation and Science Science Physical Science Mathematics Astronomy Bio-chemistry 123 TABLE XV (continued) ENROUEES WOULD WISH TO VIEW ON TELEVISION All Choices 15 5 1 1 1 Education Better Chil dren's programs Mental world No reply No suggestion 423 replies 9 I 5 5 4 2 6 1 1 2 1 Philosophy Geography and travel Political Science and World Trade Anthropology and Archeology Law, Business, and Real _ Estate Economics and Accounting Universal language Radio Public Speaking In e^cpressing their preferences the respondents were often vague and confusing, and for that reason the categor ies in the table may be misleading. There may be overlap ping of general fields, but the listed e^qpressiondescribes as accurately as practicable that of the respondents. r " ' “ " ' ■ ' ' ' ' 'Î24 I I at Western Reserve University, more of his respondents had I taken the psychology course than any other telecourse. I I This would seem to bear out the inference that viewers I were most interested in studying subjects with which they j were already familiar. I The "Shakespeare on T. V." enrollees made some I interesting requests for telecourse subjects. One student j wanted a universal language telecourse; one wanted some- I thing on the "Mental World" ; but perhaps the most unusual I I request was to study the subject of radio by television. I In summary, the group was interested in many dif- I ferent subjects, but mostly in subjects with which they I were already familiar. What days and hours were the most convenient for enrollees * viewing of educational telecourses? Results of this question were these: 161 respondents expressed a preference or prefer ences. 7 respondents had no preference. 9 respondents did not reply. The preferences were placed in Table XVI. The day was divided into three segments: morning, afternoon, and evening. The morning segment included the hours from 8:00 a.m. until noon, the afternoon was from 12:01 p.m. H Preferences CQ I m €0 i I I g I D Q e S I CQ 0 > I OJ OJ s • < y S k • u S 2 Pi rH r4 r4 r4 CVI r4 r4 r4 of 161 re în s •o I « I m « P i VO ^ 4 & À S < I -J. in J S t KO i r \ GO iH o\ § 125 -P 1 «P 1 B a { - # •H ( 8 0 4a d S -P O •H 0 a m e 0 g +a c S 0 P 4a c d o 0 <u> •p c d g p < D o 4a <w 0 0 m Æ gS â # 44 Ml 4a CQ • c @ •H U • « %4 a P i iA k 00 0 5 g g » - Q 1 § 3: CQ I until 6:00 p.m., the evening was from 6:01 p.m. through I 11:30 p.m. The latest starting time requested was 10:30 I p.m. I If a respondent requested Saturday or Sunday, the I nine appropriate squares were marked. If a respondent i wrote 7:00-10:00 p.m., the appropriate seven squares were I marked. If a respondent requested 4:00-10:00 p.m. on I I week days, fourteen squares were marked, and so forth. I I The most popular morning of the week was Saturday I morning, which in total response compared favorably with I I any of the evenings. The morning hour most acceptable to the group was 11:00 a.m., the same hour at which the group had watched "Shakespeare on T. ¥.** during the semester. The most convenient afternoon was Saturday after noon. This afternoon was preferred almost two-to-one over Sunday afternoon. Mo single weekday afternoon was more popular than any other. The most-mentioned weekday after noon hours were 4:00-6:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday evenings were the most popular evenings. The most frequently mentioned hour was | 8:00 p.m. j I Interpretation. The popularity of the Saturday morning hour was probably due to the fact that the respon-j dents were in the habit of watching the program at that ; 127 time. The respondents had been able to adjust their sched ules to that period for the previous eighteen weeks; and many of them, .36 of the enrollees, had viewed the program at 11:00 a.m. Saturday since the beginning of the fall semester for over eight months. Although Saturday afternoon was preferred to Sunday afternoon for viewing educational telecourses, telecasting I a program of an educational nature on Sunday afternoon does i I not necessarily mean that the respondents would not watch I it. "Omnibus," which was considered educational by some i I ' ' I and watched regularly by memy of the respondents, was | 1 I telecast on Sunday afternoon. Perhaps this indicates that j unless it is physically impossible, these respondents will | I watch a popular program no matter when it is telecast. III. WHAT WERE SOME CHARACTERISTICS OF CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH THE ENROLLEES VIEWED "SHAKESPEARE ON T.V." AND SOME EVALUATIONS OF THE COURSE BY THE ENROLLEES; AND WHAT WAS THE MOST EFFECTIVE MEANS OF PROMOTION IN FIRST REACHING THE ENROLLEES? What were conditions under which the enrollees viewed ----- Did the students watch the program in groups? One hundred sixty-six students indicated they watched in groups which ranged in size from 1 person (the enrollee) to 10 persons plus the one woman who wrote that she was 1 # of a group of 25 who watched the program. The median size of groups was 2 persons, the crude mode was 1; 69 (.39) of the enrollees usually watched the program I ' The number of enrollees and unenrolled viewers who j , ' I watched the program before television sets was 368. This number and the 11 enrollees who viewed the program at the I television studio made a total of 379 persons who regu- I larly watched "Shakespeare on T. V." I Of the 388 viewers, 184 were enrolled in this course. Of these l84, I66 were respondents of this sur vey; the other 18 persons were either students who were I enrolled for credit and did not complete this question- I . . .... ,' ; naire, or they were students who audited the course. Interpre tation. Very few of the enrollees watched the program with other enrollees. The respondents either watched the program alone, or with other persons who were not enrolled in the course. I ^The question was answered by the 11 enrollees who | : were a part of the studio classroom audience ; answers to it, were excluded from this discussion. The studio classroom ' was not a normal viewing situation. 129 Halpern found that .60 of the Western Reserve University Telecourse students watched the telecourse 64 alone. Along with this fact, however, Halpern noted that many of the respondents wrote that they would like to meet with the professor and that they would like to know other enrollees. Halpem suggested that perhaps the stu dents and the professor assemble at the beginning of the semester. The questionnaire for this present survey did not offer the respondents opportunity to express any opinions about meeting with one another and with the professor during a semester. However, it would seem logical to assume that if some of the respondents of Halpern *s sur vey expressed a desire for more social contact with other members of a telecourse, the enrollees of "Shakespeare on T.V. " would also welcome such intercourse. Did high school students watch the program regularly^ Table XVII shows how many high school students watched the program regularly with the enrollees. Nineteen enrollees ^ 2EL" olt.s p. 5. Ibid.. p. 18. 150 TABLE XVII HUMBER OP HIGH SCHOOL* STUDENTS WHO WATCHED THE PROGRAM REGULARLY WITH THE ENROLLEES of Enrollees High School i Students i j | > e r Group Total j at studio * * 1 1 154 normal viewing at home Ô 1 0 1 1 1 no reply 1 error 1 1 enrollee was also a high school student 0 • • 1 0 7 normal viewing at home had 1 7 1 normal viewing at home had 5 5 1 normal viewing at home had 4 4 1 177 TOTAL ( 14 The studio was not a normal viewing place 131 were parents of children who were of normal high school age, 14 through l8 years.Five of the 19 enrollees reported that they usually watched the program with high Interpretation. Of the 184 un-enrolled spectators who usually watched "Shakespeare on T. V.** with the 166 enrollee8,^^ only 14 were attending high school. Although they were usually introduced to Shakespeare's plays, few high school students watched the program with the enrol lees. Whether this indicates that high school students of the Los Angeles area did not watch this program is not certain. Because they were not viewing with enrollees does not mean that they were not viewing the program somewhere else. Although the results of this question are incon clusive, this writer was inclined to believe that most high school students were not attracted to "Shakespeare on T.V. " The main supports of this belief were that little See p. 54. o^see p . 128. 152 or no correspondence was received from this groupand of the 19 enrollees who had high school age children only 5 reported that high school students watched the course. Did the enrollees watch the program regularly? Table XVIII and Table XIX show how regularly the respon dents watched the program and which of the lectures they missed. Inte rpre tation. Most of the enrollees indicated I that they watched the program regularly. Fifty-four, or I I .51^ of the respondents missed no lecture; 52, or .29, I missed only one lecture; and 25, or .15, missed only two I lectures. Three fourths of the respondents missed fewer than three of the eighteen lectures. The median number of lectures missed by the enrollees was one. Four of the five lectures which were most fre quently missed, as shown in Table XIX, were lectures one, two, three, and thirteen. These were lectures on mater ials which were supplementary to the plays. Some of this introductory material had been covered in the fall semes ter course and, since sixty-four enrollees had taken the first semester, it seemed probable that some enrollees See p. 52. 133 TABIE XVIII HUMBER OP LECTURES MISSED Proportion Number of Enrollees Number of Lectures Missed out of Id .51 54 none *29 52 1 .15 26 2 .09 16 5 .07 15 4 .05 6 5 .02 5 6 .01 2 7 .02 4 (made no reply) .01 1 (made an error) 1.00 TOTAL 177 154 ! TABLE XIX * ABSENCES DimiNG THE SEMESTER* . 1 ... .. I I . . . . Subject Lecture Number Number AbaeLea Titles of Lectures Introduction 1 2 5 20 20 23 Life of ¥m.Shakes peare Printing of the Flays Conventions of the Old Theater (Last chance (to register (for credit: Lecture 4 j 4 12 5 6 12 5 Henry V 7 15 Much Ado About 8 15 Nothing 9 6 10 23 Othello 11 6 Vacation 12 15 15 20 Spring and the Poets The Uses of Poetry 14 î i 17 11 15 Hamlet la 9 Summary No absences 54 * This table represented the records of only 170 respon- ! dents. Four respondents made no reply to the question; 1 ! respondent erred in answering the question; 2 respondents I knew how many lectures they had missed, but they did not know which particular lectures they had missed. 135 ] were already familiar with the Information in these par ticular lectures. Also the respondents who had previously studied Shakespeare's works might have been familiar with such supplementary information. What were evaluations of the course by the enrollees? Why were they taking the course? Mine respondents did not reply, and 168 respondents answered the question. j The results were categorized in Table XX. I Interpretation. The most frequent answer to this I open-end question was that the respondent was taking the I I course for credit. Seventy-four replied, and many others implied that they desired the college credit. However, the reasons for wanting this undergraduate unit of credit varied. It was possible to group the enrollees * reasons into four broad classifications. First were respondents who wanted the unit of credit to help improve their pro fessional status in the teaching profession; second were respondents who wanted the credit to help fulfill require ments for a bachelor's degree; and third were respondents who took the course for credit to fulfill some other per sonal desire. A fourth classification are reasons which cross-cut the above three general classifications. 136 TABLE XX REASONS FOR THE ENROLLEES' TAKING "SHAKESPEARE ON T.V." Frequency Reason 55 Interest and personal pleasure 48 Credit 51 To study with Dr. Baxter 26 To improve their professional status 20 Liked Shakespeare*s plays 11 To gain general education 10 For a tonic, stimulant, to enrich their lives 9 No reply 8 Liked literature and poetry 8 To improve themselves culturally 6 To support telecourse3 5 To supplement education 5 Were habitual students 5 As a matter of discipline 5 To find knowledge 4 Curious about Shakespeare’s plays 4 Were writers and poets studying Shake speare * s methods 4 Through convenience of television were able to study 2 Teaching methods 1 To build self-confidence 1 To study drama 1 To study history 157 Respondents who wanted to Improve their profession al status. Sixty-five respondents (♦57) were associated I j full or part-time with an educational institution. I Twenty-six of these sixty-five respondents men tioned that they needed the credit for (1) renewing a credential, (2) hurdle credits, or (3) salary points. Two respondents answered that the program provided an oppor tunity for them to observe Dr. Baxter’s teaching methods. Respondents who wanted the credit to apply towards a degree. One hundred and fifteen enrollees did not have a college degree. Eleven respondents mentioned that they were using this telecourse to gain a general education. Forty-eight enrollees— most of them not college graduates— mentioned credit as the primary reason they were taking the course. Respondents fulfilling a^ personal desire. Eight students were in pursuit of culture and were trying to improve themselves. Ten wrote that the course was enrich ing and stimulating. Five answered that the course helped them to broaden their experience. One woman wrote, "It helped me peek over the edge of my rut." Five of the respondents were taking the course to supplement their education. 138 Taking the course was a matter of discipline to four students; two wanted to renovate their study habits, and one woman wrote, "I like testing my intelligence." Five respondents noted that they were habitual students. One student liked the directed study that the telecourse gave. I I Two of the respondents were authors who were inter ested in professional writing. One respondent was a poet building her vocabulary; one respondent wanted to learn more of this great writer; one respondent wanted to build her self-confidence. Reasons for taking the course which were common to the three previous categories. Fifty-five of the respon dents answered that they were taking the course for plea sure and out of interest. Thirty-one mentioned Dr. Baxter as a reason for taking the course, twenty liked Shakes peare's works, and four were curious about the plays of Shakespeare. Eight noted that they liked literature and In less-frequent answers four wanted to support such television experiments, two said that they wished to be part of such a hi story -making experiment, and two men tioned that the convenience of telecourses to television set owners was a factor in their taking the course. 15# Of what value was the course to the enrollees? Fifteen respondents made no reply to the question; 162 of the respondents answered the question. In Table XXI are the most frequent responses; these have been classi- Interpretation. The results of this question should be considered in the light of the exact phrasing of the question, "Of what value was the course 'Shakespeare on T.V.* to you?The question asked, "What positive good did the program do for you?" In a way, the respondents were asked to say something good about the program. Values of this program fell into three broad cate gories: first, there were answers which seemed to indi cate that the program had been of practical value; second, there were values which seemed to indicate that the pro gram fulfilled personal desires for aesthetic experience, prestige, reenforcement, and respite; third were miscel laneous values which seemed to fit into neither of the first two categories. Immediate values. Six teachers answered that See question 29, p. 199 257* TABLE XXI PERSONAL EVALUATIONS OP THE COURSE 6 Renew acquaintance of . . 49 Shakespeare 6 Introduced to . , . 16 An understanding of . . . 21 Greater understanding of Baxter (ability, methods, and personality) Enrichment, stimulation, inspiration 19 Convenience of television 18 Credit program offered 18 Knowledge program imparted: how to live, ; % broader scope, etc. 17 Pleasure, entertainment 15 Human nature : more understanding of, better "judgment of 11 Respite from daily activities 10 Background and history of Elizabethan England 9 Literature; better understanding of, greater appreciation for ' 8 Supervised study at home 8 Personal and seIf-Improvement * 7 Reading: enriched, rediscovered; induced more 5 Education renewed 4 Poetry:'Shakespeare's, introduced to' 4 Challenge, evaluate capacity 2 ' Association with literary group Many of the 162 respondents who answered the question mentioned more thdn one reason. observing Dr. Baxter's teaching methods was helpful; eighteen enrollees who were studying for a degree answered that the credit was of value. One of the students an swered that she was regaining her vocabulary and that it was valuable to her to hear language used well. Another respondent wrote that this program helped her to renew her study habits. Thirteen of the group wrote that they better under stood character and human nature. One said, **I feel I've gained in mature judgment of people.** Another had received **a greater depth of understanding of others.** Three noted that the course had widened their outlook on life. Another answered that she seemed to "know a little more of life. * * Three wrote that this was a course in the making of the modern mind. One woman wrote that this course was a * * stabilizing influence,** while four others mentioned that this course was a lesson in how to live and enjoy life. ; The course seemed to have had an immediate effect I on reading activities. One student wrote that he learned | I how to read; three wrote that they had learned to read j again; two had found new enrichment and value in reading; I three had a new desire to read. Nine wrote that the = course had increased their appreciation of all literature ! IkB or had reawakened their interest in literature. Pour had found an appreciation of poetry. Besides literature and poetry, the history, back- j ground, and information on the times of Elizabeth I were j valuable to nine of the respondents. ; Aesthetic values. Ten of the respondents noted that there were emotional, cultural, and spiritual values in the course. One wrote of the "feeling of something worthwhile.** Four described the experience as enriching, nine as stimulating, and eight as inspiring. One lady I "purred while watching it." I ■ Reenforcement values. Four respondents replied this was an opportunity "to take Shakespeare," six others stated that they were introduced "to Shakespeare." Six were re-introduced" to Shakespeare," or the course per mitted them "to take Shakespeare" again. Thirteen wrote that they learned "to like Shakes peare ," while twenty-one wrote that they gained a greater understanding of "Shakespeare." The program provided a "refreshed view,** and a greater depth of understanding. Seventeen indicated that the program was enjoyable and entertaining. Some of the group described the course as interesting, entertaining, and extremely worth while. 143 Prestige values. Three respondents noted personal self-improvement, one noted Intellectual Improvement, two wrote “good for me," and one answered, “I know 1 have j a talking point." One felt that this course offered j • something "worthwhile," and four answered that this pro gram was good entertainment for people of intelligence. One regarded the program as a challenge— a chance to evaluate her capacity. Perhaps the most striking answer was this one : "Pun— and has puffed me up no end— I got an A on the first semester, and that has effectively shut up my husband about my intelligence I " Another woman wrote : It has awakened in me a little rennaissance of my own; caused me to find an interesting new occu pation, and to learn to drive an automobile. I'll never be a basal metabolizer again! There were general feelings that the program offered wisdom and knowledge. One respondent wrote, " . . . light of learning breaking through . . . ."; another, "... makes you think." Another answered that it enriched thinking; another answered it added to learn ing; yet another said that it was a liberal education in itself. Respite values. To nine of the respondents the program provided a respite, a new hobby or interest. To some this program was "an interest outside my home and children," "something to look forward to," or a "lift to an otherwise humdrum life." Two of the group noted that "Shakespeare on T.V." offered a respite from the usual television programming. Miscellaneous values. In addition to his method ology, Dr. Baxter himself was a value to twenty-three respondents. Some of the answers were: Dr. Baxter was "a dam good lecturer," they enjoyed the "contact" with him, they liked his "wit and personality," One respon dent noted, "It gave us an acquaintance with an outstand ing teacher who is able to range far beyond his subject into life itself." One of the more laconic answers to this question was, "Baxter said it all." A large part of the group commented on the fact that the program was a television course. Nineteen enrol lees noted that the convenience of the telecourse made it possible for them to enroll. Some of their comments were: "Chance to attend and participate in adult college-level program while . . . at home," “often difficult to get to campus," and "... impossible for me otherwise." The supervised study which the telecourse provided was mentioned by seven respondents. Two comments were that the program " ♦ . . provides the Impetus for us In an 'at home* rut to study and broaden our education" and gives " . . • need[ed] instruction along the way." Two respondents wrote that they were supporting educational television programs and this new use of the medium. I Two of the group noted that this program gave them I I a social satisfaction of belonging to a special group. It provided satisfaction "... [to be] linked with j those who also love books and readers." j One person answered that the examination was too ! difficult. Another wrote she now realized many sayings came from William Shakespeare. Would they enroll in another semester of "Shakes peare on T.V."? The following are the results of the .82 (i45) would reenroll .03 (5) would not .12 (21) did not know .03 (6) made no reply Interare tation. The fact that .82 of the respon dents answered that they would enroll in another session of "Shakespeare on T.V." would seem to indicate two I 146 things: (1) the majority of the respondents were satis- I fied with the program, and (2) the majority of the respon dents were favorably disposed towards taking accredited college courses via television. I ! ! The favorable answers to this question also helped ' to substantiate the favorable response to the previous question, which asked for values the program had given to the enrollees. What was the most effective means of promotion in first reaching these enrollees? The students learned first of the "Shakespeare on T.V." program by: T.V. Advertising^^ .57 Friends .20 Hewspaper^^ .17 U.S.G. Brochure .08 Chance .08 No reply .01 Don't know .06 Other .03 Included three sample preview guides. 7%his ^^This included television listing and program The University of Southern California promoted this program mainly through three channels: (l) a brochure which was mailed to lists of prospective students; (2) publicity releases to newspapers and television periodical listings; and (3) television advertising which included both announcements and three half hour programs in the summer of 1955#^^ Interprétât ion. Television publicity and adver tising seemed to be most effective in first reaching these respondents. Forty-five hundredths of the group indicated that television was the means by which they first learned of the program, .37 by spot television an nouncements, and .08 by chance tuning. This should not be taken to imply that the first means by which the students learned of the program necessarily induced the student to enroll in the course. The normal procedure for the pros pective student was first to learn of the program by tele- ' vision or newspaper and then to write or telephone the i University for a brochure. The fact that .46, nearly half, of the students, first learned of the program through television would seem 7^or a full description of the promotion, see p. IgJ 148 to Imply that television, upon which most of the publicity emphasis had been placed, was the most effective means by which to reach prospective students. The second most effective means by which enrollees learned of the program was word-of -mouth. Asking viewers to tell others of the telecourse is an effective means of Summary. Married wcaaen comprised the largest I . ^ i special group of enrollees. Statistics show .85 of the respondents to have been females. Of the total group I .58 of the respondents were married females, .16 had been j previously married, and .11 were single. The approximate median age of the group was 40 I years. Seventy hundredths of the respondents were between i I the ages of 3I and 50 years. I ' People who had parental responsibilities and those who had none enrolled in and completed the course. Nearly one half (.46) of the enrollees had children who were less than eighteen years of age. ( Most of the enrollees had studied in college. The I approximate median number of school years which had been completed by the group was fifteen.Thirty-five ^The median number may have been fourteen years See p, 58.__________________ _ 149 hundredths of the respondents had finished four or more years of college; most respondents who held degrees had | either majored or minored in education. I Approximately two thirds of the enrollees had not I ; attended any University of Southern California class I t ^ Î before they enrolled in the telecourse. Prior attendance | at the University could be discounted as having been a I ! '■ ! I major motivation to enrollment in the course. I : I ! This telecourse introduced nearly one half of the i enrollees to part-time college study for the first time. I The majority of the enrollees liked aind were famil iar with Shakespeare's plays but had not taken a college course in the subject before. | Over nine tenths of the enrollees were not full- i time college students but were engaged in other activities, j The length of the interim between their last formal school- ; ing and participation in "Shakespeare on T.V. " seemed to be : I governed by the extent of their previous formal educa- | 74 i tion,* I Nearly two thirds of the students were housewives or homemakers, and more than half of these women had full- time or part-time occupations outside the home. Nearly three fifths of the respondents came from | 74 See p. 65. households which were dependent upon professional occupa tions for support. Two fifths of the respondents worked at full-time professional occupations. The occupations of some enrollees seemed to have influenced their enrolling in the course. Thirty-seven hundredths of the respondents were working full- or part- time as educational workers. They improved their pro fessional status by completing college courses. The respondents were busy; perhaps the convenience which the telecourse afforded had enabled many of the respondents to enroll in this part-time educational I activity. I j Most of the enrollees had regularly read books and I magazines. Nearly three fourths of the enrollees had read at least one book^^ in the four weeks previous to the survey, and more than nine tenths read at least one peri odical regularly. Nearly nine tenths of the enrollees held library cards, and nearly seven tenths had belonged to book clubs. Although .85 of the group were women and .63 of the group were housewives or homemakers, women's magazines such as the Ladies Home Journal and McCall's were not 75^7^4^ plays or books of plays. 151 the most frequently mentioned periodicals. And although the enrollees were studying literature, only about one sixth of them read quality periodicals such as Harper’s, Atlantic, and so forth. The most regularly read periodi cals were news sources; these busy persons were primarily interested in current events. ‘ Nearly all of the respondents had regular access to viewing television programs— they had owned their sets for slightly less time than the general population of Los Angeles— but they did not watch many television programs regularly. Eighty-six hundredths of the enrollees indi cated that they watched none or no more than one other- than-educational program regularly; .58 indicated that they watched none or no more than one adult educational program regularly. Although the enrollees preferred dramatic programs both as entertainment and educational fare, most of the dramatic programs of entertainment were comedies and i anthologies, whereas many of the dramatic educational pro- : 1 grams were based on fact. | One program, "Omnibus," was unique. It was the I third most frequently mentioned entertainment program, and as an educational program it was mentioned two and ' ' ' i one half times as frequently as any other program. 15S None of the enrollees. In spite of the fact that nearly two thirds of them were housewives or homemakers listed homemaking programs as educational programs. The techniques by which information was conveyed— whether quiz, drama, or lecture— did not seem to have much bearing on whether the enrollees considered a program to be educational; nor was the educational program neces sarily a part of an organized progressive series. ! Few of the enrollees participated in the only other ; I accredited telecourse which was offered during the spring j of 1954 in the Los Angeles area, "Introduction to Art, I 5a." Most of the respondents had activities which proba- • bly kept them away from a television set when this tele- | course was given. Few of the enrollees watched the U.H.F. educational' The enrollees indicated that they wished future telecourses on the subjects of literature (roughly one half of all the preferences were for this subject), his tory, art, music, and psychology, in that order. The times which were most convenient for future te le courses were Monday through Thursday evenings, Saturday mornings at the usual time, and Saturday afternoons. Very few of the enrollees watched the program with 1 I other enrollees. For every enrollee, proportionally there was one unenrolled viewer who watched regularly with the enrollee. Very few high school students watched the | I program in these groups; the unenrolled viewer was proha- ! hly a mature adult. j The enrollees watched the program regularly; the median number of lectures missed was one per person. Lectures on supplementary materials at the beginning of j the series and in its middle had the most absentees. j Queries as to why they were taking the course pr(mpted many respondents to answer that they wished to get the college credit. Some wanted this credit to help | improve their professional status, and others wanted the ' credit to apply towards a degree. Many respondents gave personal reasons for taking the course. Asked to name values of the program, the enrollees listed immediate practical values, and values of aesthetic,| reenforcement, prestige, and respite. The enthusiastic j and favorable response to this question, the great number I of respondents who stated that they would take more tele- 1 courses which were to be based on Shakespeare's works, and! the good attendance record would seem to show that the respondents were satisfied with the series. ' 15^ Television promotion had been the most effective means by which the largest number of viewers first heard about the program. Word-of-mouth was also an effective method of informing the respondents about the course. One fifth of the enrollees first heard of the program from friends or acquaintances. CHAPTER IV SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, SPECULATIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS This thesis is concerned with a problem which con fronts all producers of educational television programs— how to attract and develop audiences. To aid in the solu tion of this problem, this survey attempted to describe some of the television viewers who took an English tele- course , "Shakespeare on T. V.,” for college credit. "Shakespeare on T. V." was a televised series of weekly Saturday morning lectures which were delivered by Dr. Prank C. Baxter of the University of Southern Califor nia. The program offered one unit of undergraduate col- ? lege credit or auditing privileges to those viewers who wished to participate. There were two consecutive semes ters of this program: fall semester, 1955, and spring semester, 1954. This study was based upon responses of 177 persons who were enrolled for credit the spring semes ter teleseries. One hundred seventy-seven was roughly | three fourths of the total number of students who enrolled j for credit at the start of the course and 99 por cent of j the enrollees who took the final examination of the course1 ! The purpose of this study was to seek out certain characteristics of the enrolled viewers which might I 1 5 6 ! furnish a basis for speculations to help determine future i I educational program practices— specifically, speculations I which might help to promote the "Shakespeare on T. V. " j kinescopes wherever the series may be televised* The prob« j lem was defined as an audience survey. I The organization of the remainder of this chapter 1 I is: summary of the findings, conclusions, speculations for future promotion based upon the characteristics of this audience, and, finally, suggestions for future research. I. SUMMARY What were some re la t ionship s of primary characteristics of the students to their enrollment in the course? Age and marital status. The enrollees were predom inantly, .85, female; most were married. The median age of the total group was about 40 years, and .70 of these respondents were aged from 3I through 50 years. Parental responsibilities. Persons who had paren tal responsibilities and those who had none were enrolled in the course: .87 of the group were married or had been previously married, and .62 of the total group were parents. Forty-six hundredths of the respondents had children I7 years and under, and .21 had children who were under 6 years of age. 157] Educational background. Most of the respondents— approximate ly four fifths--had completed at least one year of college before enrolling in this course. Their | i median year of formal education completed was the fif- ' ' 1 ■ ' , teenth. Those students who had completed only high I ! school or less were roughly as old as those people who I I I held college degrees. ! One third of the respondents held college degrees. ; The majority of the bachelor’s and master’s degrees— ' I there were no doctorates— were wholly or in some part i j earned in the field of education. Most of the respon- i I ■ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I ; dents who held degrees were employed full time or part , . ■ ■■ I time in educational institutions. Very few enrollees held degrees in the natural sciences or in the abstract i sciences; rather, most of the respondents had concentrated : ! ' ' I : their study in fields more kindred to literature. i ! "Shakespeare on T. V." attracted students new to | both the University of Southern California and the study ' of extension or correspondence college courses. Nearly I two thirds of the respondents had never been enrolled in ^The median number may have been fourteen years. See p. 55; also, p. 58, footnote 14. 156” any class offered by the University before. Almost one | half of the respondents had not taken extension or corre- I 2 I spondence college courses before. | Althougli .77 of the respondents answered that they j had studied, in some measure, the plays of Shakespeare before they had enrolled in the course, .69,of the respon dents were introduced by Dr. Baxter to Shakespeare in college-level instruction. Only fourteen of the respondents e^qpressed dislike for Shakespeare's works in their first academic contact. Most of the enrollees either had liked their previous academic experience with the plays or they had not had any academic es^erience with Shakespeare which might have prejudiced th^, favorably or unfavorably, before enroll ing in the teleseries. More than one third of the enrol lees had taken the first semester and the second semester of the course. Occupation. Most (.92) of the respondents were busy in activities other than going full time to college. Nearly two thirds of the respondents were either house wives or homemakers, and .17 of the group were single 2 A few of the respondents may have misunderstood the question upon which these results are based. See p . 70. women who were In full-time occupations. The largest single Bureau of Census classification of the full time occupations was the professional classi fication in which .41 of the respondents were engaged. This included the housewives who worked full time outside of the home. The many respondents who worked for educa tional institutions made this classification dominant. The respondents who took this course seemed to lead I busy lives. Most of the housewives had full-time or part- I time occupations besides their household duties, and those I housewives or homemakers who did not work outside the home,! 1 I i with few exceptions, had children of minor age for which l I to care. None of the respondents indicated that he was j retired. | It was not possible to gauge the social statuses of j the respondents by the information they supplied concerning their or their husbands * full-time occupations. However, nearly three fifths of the respondents came from house holds which depended upon professional occupations for What were some re la ti onship s of the usual reading prefer ences and television viewing preferences of the students to their enrollment in the course? Reading preferences. Besides having full time or J part time occupations, household duties and responsihili- I I ties, or both, the group had many avocational interests. I They read books and periodicals regularly, and to a lesser I degree some watched television regularly. ! The group had strong reading activities. Roughly i I seven tenths had read a median of about 2 books per per- I son in the 4 weeks before this survey. Furthermore, the I facts that many, *68, had belonged to book clubs and that .89 had library cards would seem to corroborate the great proportion, .72, who stated that they read books regularly j Nearly all (.92) read periodicals regularly. The j news periodical was most popular. j I Television preferences* Although most of the | " I respondents (.92) had regular access to television view- j ing, nearly one third of them had not had regular access | to television for more than one year. They had owned sets | ! for less time than the average Los Angeles resident. Although most of the respondents watched one or | more programs regularly, responses showed that the group ; were not avid television viewers. Eighty-six hundredths I indicated that they watched none or no more than one | i other-than-educational program regularly, and .58 j r Indicated that they watched none or no more than one adult education program regularly. The respondents preferred dramatic television pro grams for both entertainment and educational viewing; an “educational” dramatic program, such as "You Are There,” however, was based on historical incident* "Omnibus" was I the most popular educational program and had twice as many I regular viewers as did "Dragnet," the most popular enter tainment program. Other programs which were considered j educational by the enrollees included the accredited tele- I course, "Introduction to Art," and programs such as l I "Adventure," I i Educational programs, as classified by the respon- ; I : I I dents, used varying techniques such as a quiz or dramatic ; presentation, besides lecture-demonstrations, to convey information. Not many of the enrollees of "Shakespeare on T. V." had participated in the only other accredited telecourse, "Introduction to Art," which was offered In the Los Angeles area. But .09 of the "Shakespeare on T, V." enrollees watched the art appreciation series, and only .05 of the "Shakespeai% on T. V." respondents were en rolled in it. One of the principal reasons that more of the respondents did not participate was that most of them ' 1 I were engaged In activities outside the home at the time of I the art te le course presentation. Whatever the reason that I more respondents did not take both courses, one fact I seemed definite: two distinct audiences were enrolled in I telecourses for credit in the Los Angeles area in the I spring of 1954. Although the students of "Shakespeare on T. V." were interested in educational television, as evidenced by their participation in the teleseries, very few (.09) I had regular access to the ultra-high frequency educational I television channel in the area. I For future accredited telecourses, the respondents I wished to have more courses in literature, history, art, and music. They wished to have the telecourses presented at the time when "Shakespeare on T. V." had been tele cast, Saturday mornings, or during evening hours of Tues day, Monday, Wednesday, or Thursday, in that order of What were some characteristics under which the enrollees viewed "Shakespeare on T. V., ” and some evaluations of the course by the enrollees; and what was the most effective means of promotion in first reaching the enrollees? Promotional efforts. The promotion which was most effective in reaching the respondents was television advertising and publicity. Forty-five hundredths of the group had first learned of the program by that means. I Most of the emphasis in the promotional campaign had been I I conducted through television. One fifth of the enrollees I had heard of the program through friends; thus word-of- I mouth advertising was quite important. Viewing conditions. Although .39 of the respon dents watched the program alone, most of the group regu- _ larly watched the program with 1 or more other persons. I The median size group was 2. Very few of the enrollees I watched with other enrollees; usually the enrollees I watched with viewers who were not registered in the course I These unenrolled members of the watching group were usu ally adults. Few high school students regularly observed the program with the enrollees. The respondents of this survey watched the program regularly; .75 of the group missed from 2 to 0 lectures throughout the 18 sessions. Lectures which the largest number of respondents missed were discussions on materials supplementary to the plays themselves. Personal evaluations. Most of the respondents i enjoyed the course. Answers to the question, "Why are you taking the course?” were varied. Many students answered I that they simply wanted college credit. The reasons for I I which they desired credit varied: Most of the profes- I sional educators wanted credit to increase their profes- I sional worth; most of the respondents who had no degree I wanted the credit to apply towards a degree; some wanted I the credit for either of the two preceding reasons and I were also fulfilling a personal desire by taking the I course. I For a few persons who took the course for personal j reasons, the credit did not seem to be a primary attrac-. Many students, no matter what their educational objective, mentioned that they were taking the course for pleasure. Some mentioned that the methods and personality of Dr. Baxter himself were factors which prompted them to take the course. Asked to name values that they found in partici pating in "Shakespeare on T. V.," the enrollees gave answers which seemed to indicate that they had found immediate aesthetic, prestige, reenforcement, or respite values. The enrollees also mentioned as a value the advan tages that the television machine itself affords for convenient home study. 165 A more Indirect question than the previous two, concerning the respondents* feelings about the course, also seemed to indicate that the enrollees liked their participation; .82 noted tliat they would enroll in a future session of "Shakespeare on T. V.” II. CONCLUSIONS What were some re la t ionship s of some primary characteris tics of the students to their enrollment in the course? Sex. "Shakespeare on T. V.” attracted a predomi nantly female audience. This literature course would likely attract a largely female audience, no matter the day or the hour when the kinescopes were televised. This series was offered at a time (Saturday morning) that was available to everyone who worked a hour work week, Monday through Friday, and its enrollees were mainly women. If the kinescopes were released at a time (evenings and weekends) that was available to those people who worked a normal 40 hour work week, it would seem likely that the te le series would attract the same kind of regular viewers that it did in the Los Angeles area. If the kinescopes were released at a time (morn ings or afternoons) of the week that was not available to 166 I I those people who worked a 40 hour week, the series would j i still probably attract a predominantly female audience. I i ; Supports of this fact are that (1) the daytime weekday j ' . ' j I viewing audience is mostly female, and (2) Western Reserve i I ■■ ■■ ■ I 1 University literature telecourses, which were offered i j I I during the weekday mornings, attracted female enrollees | I i for credit in approximately the same ratio as did the j "Shakespeare on T. V.” course, which was offered on the I ' j weekends. Although female viewers will probably be the main I source of support for this teleseries, the preferred show- ; i ' i ' - ing time would be the week day evening hours or weekend : i « I hours. It should be noted that a great many of the women | ! I ; enrollees were employed outside their homes during the j I week. ! Age. The respondents had a median age of roughly 40 years, and .70 of them were from 31 through 50 years of age. ! j The kinescopes of this literature course would ! likely attract students of an approximate median age of I 40 years. The reasons for this are as follows: (1) « . . Shakespeare on T. V. ” had been available to the popula- i • ' ' - ; tion which worked a normal 40 hour week and the program ! attracted a group whose median age was approximately I 40 years; (2) there were Indications that the accredited ! teleeourse students of the social sciences, humanities, I ! and arts everywhere might he people of these same age I characteristics. Other accredited telecourses which had I I been offered during week day mornings at Western Reserve I University^ attracted enrollees of a median age of roughly I u 40 years; this was also true of Toledo University, i I Parental responsibilities. Forty-six hundredths of I the enrollees had children who were under l8 years of age and .21 had children who were under 5 years of age. I The fact that many of the enrollees, .21, had young I children might not be an indication that the presence of i ' I children had a definite bearing on whether a parent ! . ' ' I enrolled in a telecourse, but it would indicate that the I i presence of young children was not a deterrent to enroll ment of at least .21 of the respondents. It would seem that if a father or mother wished to enroll in the tele course 8, one did. Education. Four fifths of the respondents had com pleted at least one year of college and only ,05 of all the Lpem, op_. cit., p. 5. ^”T. U. Telestudy Questionnaire," op. cit., p. 1. respondents had less than a high school education. Most of the college graduates had degrees from the fields of I I arts, humanities, or social sciences— few had studied I abstract or natural sciences. j The prospective student of the kinescopes of this i I program would almost certainly have finished high school and probably would have completed at least one year of college. The prospective students of this course who held college degrees would probably have had a background in academic areas which are kindred to literature. "Shakespeare on T. V." reached a body of students which was new to the University of Southern California j and a group which was new to extension and correspondence ; i college courses. The kinescope series might be expected j to reach an audience that might otherwise never have par- i ticlpated in part-time educational activities on the college level. Forty-six hundredths of the respondents had studied Shakespeare * s plays only in high school, and .23 had not | studied the subject under any formal academic conditions I ; before enrolling in this course. "Shakespeare on T. V." j I kinescopes may be expected to reach students who have not I i I i before studied the subject of Shakespeare*s plays at col- j ! I I lege level. The majority of students had liked their first j academic encounter with Shakespeare or had not had any ! such encounter before they enrolled in the series. In | either ease most of the students seemed to have been I i favorably disposed towards the subject matter before they i I enrolled in the course. This telecourse served to awaken, | in several individuals, a dormant interest in the works of Shakespeare. Occupation. Ninety-two hundredths of the respon- I dents were occupied in regular activities other than i going full time to college. Although they had an oppor- i j tunity to receive one unit of college credit at reduced I prices, the regular University of Southern California ! I students, for the most part, preferred the conventional | classroom presentation of Shakespeare^s literature. Per- | haps this indicates that given a choice of taking a | course either by television or by conventional classroom j means, the student prefers the classroom. I Most of the respondents came from households which | depended upon the professional class of occupation for j i full time support. Many of the housewives in these house- I ; I I holds did not have college degrees. Their husbands, work-| ing at professional tasks, had college degrees. It is j this writer’s opinion that at least a part of the reason j that these housewives were taking the course was to raise their educational level to that of their husbands•♦ Mem bers of households who have less formal education than their spouses or children are probably persons who would be interested in taking telecourses. Most of the respondents were housewives who had either young children or occupations outside the home, and the rest of the respondents worked full time or atten ded college full time. The enrollees led active lives; they may not have been able to take part-time educational I courses except via television. Many enrollees were people j taking advantage of the convenience of home study which j this telecourse offered. I What were some relationships of the usual reading prefer ences and the television viewing preferences of the stu dents to their enrollment in the course? Reading. Most of the respondents read books regu larly and nearly all of the respondents read magazines regularly. It would seem likely that the respondents* interest in reading may have been an important factor in ^Halpem found that the mates of te le course stu dents were better educated than the students themselves. • cit. , p. 5• their being enrolled in this literature series. Most of the enrollees had library cards. Judging by their reading activities, it would seem that the re spondents were library users. These people could there fore be considered to be a part of a distinct middle-class group which, according to Berelson, was a ” . . . Commu nications Elite, persons who spend a good deal of time in seeing, reading and listening to communications of various kinds. The great majority of respondents read a news peri odical regularly. The enrollees exhibited an interest in current events. Television preferences. Some of the respondents indicated that they regularly watched television programs of an educational nature. It would seem that to many of the respondents a program does not have to be accredited or be offered by a college or a university, or be a part of a progressive series of programs to be educational; I nor does a television program have to employ any parti- I cular technique, such as lecture demonstration, to convey information. Programs werp considered to be educational ! ^Berelson, o£. cit., p. 15 i , ! I 172 I whether they used drama, quiz, or documentary narrative | , te clinique s. j I j I One requirement for a program to be considered edu- j i I ! eational would seem to be that the sources of information | I I ■ upon which the program is based should be or appear to be i I reliable. (The sources of programs of the aforementioned ’ ! ■ ■ j I type were often academic.) This fact was either implied I I or explicitly stated: the drama was based upon "historical j I incidents," the quiz was a discussion by specialists from ! i - ' ! universities, the documentary film was visible proof of ! I I ! the facts as they really were, the panel discussion was | j between noted authorities, and the informational discus- j i sion concerned itself with the latest scientific discovery.| I I I Another observation was that the educational pro- I gram seemed to have a common attitude toward its subject matter; this attitude might be called an attitude of I * 7 inquiry. j The viewer who regularly watched other-than- | educational programs preferred some programs which were j favorites and some which were not favorites of the general | population. The programs which seemed to differentiate the tastes of this group from those of the general 7 I 'For a list of the educational programs see Table p. 111. 173 population were "Studio One," "Omnibus," "See It Now," and "Person to Person." Respondents* viewing of other pro- grsims, such as "Dragnet, " might serve to indicate that certain television programs, as do certain radio programs, cut across socio-economic lines and are viewed by almost o anyone. Not many of the respondents participated in the only other accredited telecourse which was offered in the same locality during the spring semester of "Shakespeare on T. V." Most of the respondents worked outside of their homes, and so they could not watch the art appreciation telecourse which was offered on weekday mornings. Perhaps, too, the respondents were not interested in working in two tele course 8 simultaneously. The viewers did not have regular access to the XJ.H.F. educational channel in the area. The fact that nearly all of these people who were interested in educa tional television, as evidenced by their being enrolled in this course and desiring^ additional telecourse subjects, did not have access' to the educational channel was an indication that the educational channel was not reaching o ^Lazarsfeld, Kendall, op. cit., p. 25. 17* many people, i I A great many viewers wished to take more tele- j courses in the fields of literature and, specifically, I more Shakespearean study and other subjects taught by I Dr. Baxter, This indicated that these students had been I satisfied with their participation in the course, i The respondents preferred telecourses which were offered at the regular time of Saturday morning and on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. i I Although these were preferred times, it was this writer’s I opinion that most of the respondents would probably have I enrolled in the program had it been offered at any rea- I sonable evening hour of the weekend. j Reading and television activities. Most of the j respondents read periodicals and books regularly, but fewer respondents watched television programs as regularly as they read. It would seem that reading was more deeply ingrained than television viewing in the activities of the respondents. What were some characteristics of conditions under which the enrollees viewed “Shakespeare on T^. V., " and some evaluations of the course by the enrollees; and what was the most effective means of promotion in first reaching 175 ! 1 I the enrollees? I I j Viewing conditions. The students either watched j j the program with other adults who were not enrolled in the I ! program or they watched the program alone. Pew students ! I - ■ I I watched with other students. If the enrollees wished to talk over class topics and discussions with other stu dents, as some attitudes seemed to indicate, most did not have the opportunity to do so. Although nearly all high school students were introduced to Shakespeare’s works, there were indications j that few high school students took an interest in the pro- j gram. This might mean that the subject is not attractive to many high school students. Personal evaluations, The group as a whole seemed to have enjoyed their participation in the course. The respondents watched the program regularly, and many men tioned that they were taking the course for interest and pleasure; most of them wished to take more courses from Dr, Baxter, and many requested a continuation of the Shakespeare series. Over one third of the respondents had enrolled in the fall series and continued their study in the course for credit* Eighty-two hundredths of the group noted that they would enroll in any future semester of the series* I The enrollees and the promotional effort which pre- I ceded the program* The most effective means of publicity I and advertising by which the respondents of this course were first notified was television, and the next most effective means was via talking with friends. Most of the emphasis on promotion was made through television, rather than newspapers, brochures, circulars, or posters* The fact that friends accounted for one fifth of the I respondents* first hearing of the program might serve to j emphasize the importance of word-of-mouth promotion. I While the promotional efforts which preceded I "Shakespeare on T. V." were mostly directed to the public I at large, there were characteristics of the enrollees which indicated that more concentrated promotional tech niques might be employed to help increase the number of enrollees in the "Shakespeare on T. V." kinescoped series and perhaps in other educational telecourse audiences. Ill, SPECULATIONS ON HOW TO PROMOTE "SHAKESPEARE ON T.V." AND OTHER TELECOURSES Telecourse8 are a new educational tool, and need r' ' 177 i 9 ! promotion^ to make them successful. Because they are a ' recent Innovation, many people are probably unaware of the i opportunity to earn college credit in this manner. Until the public can depend upon seme kind of long range curri culum being offered over television, each telecourse should be regarded as an experiment and should be advertised and Promotion is necessary in order to let the public ! know of the deadline for credit participation. Concentra ted promotional efforts should be made well before the | start of the course and during the few critical days be- | tween the beginning lecture and the lecture which is the i deadline for enrolling. If the many activities of the re-i spondents are any indication, viewers who are likely to take "Shakespeare on T.V." are busy people and are there fore forced to make plans many weeks in advance. If other, prospective telecourse enrollees are like the respondents > I of this present survey, they should be first notified sev-j eral weeks before the actual start of the telecourse. Telecourses cannot be regarded as completely effec tive promotional agents for themselves. Most telecourses > have been presented at an hour of the day when ^Promotion should not, of course, give the public the impression that telecourses are not rigorous. I 178 i relatively few persons watch television. Without learning I I of the telecourse by other means, such as television ! announcement, newspaper listings, word-of-mouth, or other ! I means of promotion, most television set Owners would not ! know that the program existed. ■ Need for the promotion of educational programs was i i I succinctly stated by a member of the Canadian Broadcasting I I Corporation in a speech to a meeting of educators in 1952: : , . . the good television program needs as much promotion as the light entertainment program. Its effect, its reception will be doubled or tripled 1 if you can work up interest and excitement about , ; it, before and around it.^^ 1 I ! I Promotion through occupational status. Two general : occupational categories were in the group. One third of I the group were engaged professionally in some part of the I school system; most of these people had at least a bachelor’s degree and desired credit for the purpose of i ! ! I increasing their professional worth. The other two thirds | I were persons who were in many different occupations; the 1 majority of these people were housewives who were working towards a degree. ^^Carroll V. Newsom (ed.), A Television Policy for Education (Washington, D. C. : American Ôouncil on Iduca- tiônrr552), p. 72. 1791 Because one third of the group were connected with the school system, that vast organization would seem to be * an important source of students. For that reason in a i : I i publicity and advertising campaign all channels of infor- | mation which might reach this group— news releases to ! tions, and brochures for bulletin boards— should be used. The second group, roughly two thirds of the stu dents, did not have a four-year college degree. Mailing ! lists of students (and professional educators) who have ■ participated in other part-time educational courses would ' have reached many of these students who signed up for “Shakespeare on T. V.“ Undergraduate liberal arts stu dents who attend college part-time would also be prospec tive students for this telecourse. Television preview programs. Many educational programs, particularly those released over commercial out lets are not televised when the viewing audience is large. A preview program cam help overcome this time handicap. In the summer previous to the fall series, three sample I programs were televised at an evening hour when the normal I viewing audience was large. These sample shows served to reach viewers who might not have had the television set I I turned on at the regular Saturday morning hour. j Television announcements. There seem to be special kinds of programs which the prospective student of “Shakespeare on T. V. “ might watch if he views any tele vision programs. Announcements promoting the series could be concentrated around this rather limited selec tion of programs. For a list of favored programs and 1 I I program classifications, see Tables XII and XIII. Pisadvantages of television promotion. Although ' television would probably be the most important means by I I which to reach prospective students for telecourses, there I I were indications that television could not be expected to I reach every prospective student. I First, many of the respondents of this course were ! busy people who did not watch television regularly. If [ the prospective student of an accredited telecourse is t I busy and does not watch television programs often, tele- I ! vision promotion is not likely to be an effective manner I by which to reach him. I Second, some respondents did not own their own * television sets or have regular access to the television j set. Television promotion could not be expected to reach 1 them. fact that television may not reach all of the f ) • prospective students would strengthen the argument for employing other promotional techniques to supplement television promotion* Word-of-mouth. Because friends had been the second ' most important means by which the respondents had first } heard of the course, special efforts might be made to use I I word-of-mouth promotion. Outright requests for viewers I to tell their acquaintances of the program could be effec- ! tive and economical. This technique should not be over- I looked. ! I Promotion through reading activities. The acti vity in which all of the respondents participated, no i matter what their personal characteristics or viewing i I preferences, was reading. Prom the usual reading acti vities of the respondents of "Shakespeare on T. V.," it would seem that any prospective student would likely read much literature regularly. This characteristic can assist = the educational producer to contact the prospective stu- | dent of "Shakespeare on T. V." and probably prospective | students of other telecourses. ! Posters, notices, and circulars advertising the program should be placed in book stalls, stores, and particularly libraries— wherever the public has access to I books. Any book club, literary society, or book festival should be an excellent medium through which to promote the program. Of these avenues the library appeared to be the most important. Promotion through libraries. There were indica tions that the enrollees had close ties with their public libraries. Nearly all of the respondents had library cards; because most of those who had library cards regu larly read at least one book a month, they probably fre quented the libraries. The libraries in Los Angeles were I I directly affected by any discussion of books on this tele- I course. There were numerous and immediate requests for books which Dr. Baxter mentioned. The viewers of the Western Reserve University tele courses in Cleveland also seemed to use the public library. There was such a demand for books following their mention on the telecourses that Western Reserve University had to forewarn the libraries as to which books would be men- 11 tioned on the telecourse programs. It would seem likely, therefore, that not only prospective students of literature courses but also pros pective students of any accredited telecourse would be ^^“Telecourses at Western Reserve U.,“ op. cit., p.9L 183 library users. The public library as a telecourse meeting place. In a large metropolitan area the library could serve as a meeting place for the enrollees of a telecourse. Halpem found that many of the respondents of the telecourses which were offered at Western Reserve wished to meet and ' 12 to talk with other respondents about the lectures. Many of the enrollees in Cleveland wished a degree of sociality which the telecourse did not provide. Unfor tunately, the questionnaire for this present survey gave no opportunity for the respondents to express any desire for social intercourse. The data concerning the condi tions under which the respondents watched the course did indicate, however, that if telecourse students did wish to meet with one another, they weren’t yet doing so. Very few of the enrollees watched the program with other enrollees. The library as a meeting place could help to strengthen the respondents * ties with one another, the instructor, and the course. The libraries could help to overcome a principal hindrance to study at home; they could provide a — . Pit., p. 18. 18# j face-t©-faee meeting between the professor and his student*! The telecourse professor could visit libraries at appointed I i times throughout the semester* Meeting occasionally with 1 a group for an informal discussion, the professor might learn the effect which his telecourse presentation has made upon the students* Because most enrollees use public libraries, meetings at libraries would help to give en- I rollees a central, familiar, and convenient gathering I place* Such meetings would also enable a professor to ' reduce the amount of his correspondence by direct dis- [ eussion of most frequent questions of students* Another Important aid to promoting the telecourse I I would be public television viewing of such programs at I the libraries* Six hundredths of the respondents who j took "Shakespeare on T*V.” did not have regular access to a television set* Besides enrollees, this writer believes, there may be others in the area who do not have a tele vision set and would be prospective viewers of a tele- course* Public viewing would also aid those set owners who might wish to watch the program in groups* Summary* Educational telecourse promotion should I not in the main be directed to the general public, but to I those people whose educational background, television ' viewing preferences, and reading preferences set them 185 apart from the public and Incline them to participate in telecourses. By concentrating the promotional effort upon these persons, promotion can be made much more effec-j t tive. ! 1 It would seem to this writer that accredited tele- i courses may not be a tool by which great numbers of per sons will receive a college education. Perhaps the group ' who take college courses via television will always re main relatively small in size, but the number of students who participate for credit is not a complete measure of I the influence that these programs exert upon a community, i The enrolled auditing students and those unenrolled I viewers who watch regularly also benefit from seeing the college-level program. For some persons the telecourse will be a conven ient means of obtaining credits toward a degree or toward professional advancement. For others accredited telecourses will renew and strengthen interests in I learning which otherwise might waste away. For many ' I I others the accredited telecourse will be a sole contact | with higher education. I IV. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH I There Is a need for the study of all aspects of edu-^ {cational telecourses and the viewers of such courses. Hot I I only can new studies be helpful to educators and to broad- I I casters, but studies can be repeated to enlarge and clarify I the findings which have been made thus far. More descriptive studies can be made upon the view ers of telecourses. All three levels of an accredited j telecourse audience— the viewers enrolled for college I credit, those enrolled for auditing purposes, and those Iunenrolled spectators— are worthy of research to help the jproducers of educational programs attract and develop The following are some suggested areas for future study: One might attempt a descriptive study to seek out techniques of promotion which could be used by television producers. In what specific ways can an educational tele- serles best be advertized and publicized? How many weeks before the start of the telecourse should promotion begin? How concentrated should promotion be? How can various civic organizations be encouraged to assist In the task? A survey might compare the accredited telecourse with the non-aecredited telecourse. Which subjects can best be offered for college credit sind which for non- credit purposes? Are courses which offer college credit less attractive to viewers than those which offer none? Are audiences of accredited telecourses similar to audi ences of telecourses which do not offer college credit Some descriptive studies might be similar In pur pose to this present study. Research of an audience's primary characteristics, communication activities, and social activities might help to Isolate the prospective telecourse viewer from the rest of the television public. Which subjects attract which sex and age groups? Are the enrollee8 of telecourses mostly middle-class by social and economic backgrounds? Do these persons have strong read- I Ing activities? Do the viewers of telecourses have com mon social activities? A study might attempt to draw together the find ings of various descriptive studies of telecourses. What are the relationships between persons taking a telecourse for college credit, persons enrolled for auditing privil eges, and the unenrolled spectator? Can certain subjects be expected to draw the same age and sex groups through out the country? Are there particular telecourse subjects 188 which have greater enrollment than others? Summary. Many different areas of educational I telecourses remain to be probed. This writer would sug- I gest, however, that there might be a common purpose for future studies: to strengthen the crucial audience- telecourse relationship. A. BOOKS Berelson, Bernard. The Library * g Public. Hew York: Columbia University Press, 194$. , and Morris Janowltz (eds.). Reader In Public Opinion and Communication. Glencoe, Illinois: free Press, 1$B0. Seville, Hugh M., Jr. Social Stratification of the Radio Audience. A Study made for the Princeton“l?adlb Research Project. Hew York: [n.p.] Bittner, Walton S., and Hervey P. Mallory. University Teaching by Mall. Hew York: The Macmillan Company, 1935. j Callahan, Jennie Waugh* Television In School, College, and ; Community ♦ Hew York : McGraw-HlllTBook Company, Inc. , .. 'piesch, Rudolf. The ^ t of Plain Talk. New York: Harper and Brothers IhablisHers, 1$46. ; Kinsey, Alfred Charles, Wardell B. Pomeroy, and Clyde E. Martin. Sexual Behavior In the Human Male. Phlla- j delphla: #. B. Saunders Company, T$4B. i Lazarsfeld, Paul F* Radio and the Printed Page $ New York: Due 11, Sloan, and Pearce, 10%. , et al. The People's Choice. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 154Ô. , and Harry Field. The People Look at Radio. Shape1 Hill: UniversItyTof North Carolina Press, 19^6. , and Patricia L. Kendall. Radio Listening In America. New York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 194b7 , and Prank N. Stanton, Radio Research. New York: Duell, Sloan, and Pearce, 19^4. Morton, John R. (dir.). University Extension In the United States . Birmingham, Alabama : University Alabama Press, 1953. Newsom, Carroll (ed.). ^ Television Policy for Education. Washlngton : American Council on Education, l95S. Rose, Oscar (ed. ). Radio Broadcastli^ and Television; An Annotated Bibliography. hew Ÿork: Phe H. W. 1 Schramm, Wilbur, tess Communications. Urbana: The Uni- ! verslty of Illinois Press, 1949. : Slepmann, Charles, A. Television and Education In the United States. UNESCO New York: Columbia University ; Press, 19$^. , Smith, George B. Purposes and Conditions Affecting the Nature and Extent of ParhTcIpailon of Adults in Courses In the home Study Department”ot CoiumBTa UhlverslW— 19#S-193^. New York: Ùolimbia university, Smith, G. Milton. ^ Simplified Guide to Statistics. New Thompson, Clem 0. University Extension In Adult Education. The National University Extension Association, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 19^3. Whitney, Frederick Lamson. The Elements of Research. York: Prentice-Hall, Inc., B. PUBLICATIONS OF THE GOVERNMENT AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS Broderick, Gertrude G. Radio and Television Bibliography. Federal Security Agency, Office of Education Bulletin No. l8. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1952. Educational Television Programs Produced by Schools and Dollegesl Washington: Joint Committee on Èducational Television, January 1954. (Mimeographed.) List of Surveys Conducted by Educational and Civic Groups. Washington: Joint Committee on Educational Television. December, 1953 (Mimeographed.) Paulm, Burton, A Radio and T* V. Bibliography. Urbana, Illinois: N m B r W S ^ ------ Programs Presented by Educational and Cultural Instl- butions in Co&ierclal Television Stations Including Courses for Credit. Washington: Joint Committee on Educational Television, August, 1954. (Mimeographed.) United States Bureau of the Census. telted States Census of Population: 1950. Characteristics of the Popula tion. Vol. II, Part 5, California, chapter B. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1952* _. 1950. Census of Population: Classified Index of Occwatlons and Industries. ¥ashlngton: Government Printing Office, 1900. C. PERIODICALS "Description of Area," Broadcastlng-Telecasting, XLVII:95 I (July 5> 1954).---- ---------- ---------- I Fearing, Franklin, and Genevieve Rogge. A Selected Blbll* I ography In Communications Research," Q.uarterly of I Film, Radio, and Television (Spring, 1952), 285-3T5. I I Nielsen, A. C. Company Ratings, "Facts and Figures," I Broadcasting-Telecasting, XLVI and XLVII (March.15, '7 April May 10, &4, June 14, 28, July 12, 1954)< Smythe, Dallas W. "An Analysis of Television Programs," Scientific American, CDCXXXIV (June, 1951), 15-17. . "The Challenge of Research, the Neglected Frontier," NAEB Newsletter (April, 1953), 6-7. Swanson, Charles E. "Guides to Educational T.V.," a reprint from Adult Education III (March, 1953), 6. White", John P. "Telecourses at Western Reserve, " Adult Education III (March, 1953), 116. , " . "T.V. or Not T.V., " National Education Asso- cia-tlon Journal (January, 1953), 34. 193 D. UNPUBLISHED MATERIALS D1 Pietro, Harriet Louise. "Bibliography [for Telecommu nications! ♦" Los Angeles: Telecommunications Depart ment at the University of Southern California, 1954. ( Mlmeographe d.) Halpem, Norman G. "The Western Reserve University Tele course Audience." Cleveland: Bureau of Business Research, Western Reserve Unlverstly, June, 1953* (Mimeographed.) Lasswell, T. E. "A Preview of Public Opinion on Educa tional Television In Metropolitan Los Angeles." Social Research Bureau, Los Angeles: George Pepperdlne Col lege, June, 1953* (Dittoed.) Schermerhom, Richard A. "A Sampling of Student Reactions to the Western Reserve Uni verity Telecourse ‘Prln- ! clples of Sociology.*" Cleveland: Western Reserve University, Spring Session, 1954. (Mimeographed.) "Telecourses at Western Reserve University, A Summary I Report of the First Three Years, 1951-1954." ' Cleveland: Western Reserve University, 1954. (Mlmeo- I graphed.) i "T.U. Telestudy Questionnaire." Toledo: University of j Toledo, October, 1953* (Mimeographed.) Wells, Earl W. "What Education Is Doing with Television, with Special-Emphasis on Higher Education." Corvallis, j Oregon: Department of Speech of Oregon State College, I April 12, 1954. (Hectographed.) L _ _ _ _ _ APPENDIX 195 AWARDS I I "SHAKESPEARE ON T.V." FALL AND SPRING SEMESTERS 1953-1954 ! i Sylvania Award for the Nation’s Best Local Educational 1 Television Program An "Emmie" for the Best Local Public Service Program from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences j An "Emmie" for the Best Local Male Performer from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences T.V*-News Magazine Award I I T.V.-Radio Life Distinguished Achievement Award ! Adult Education Association of Los Angeles Award for Out standing Contribution to Adult Education California Federation of Women’s Clubs Commendation Ohio State Award for Telecourses Optimist International Commendation Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce Certificate of Nominee for the Peabody Radio-Television Award ^ ~ ' 196 GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS - . - ! 1 1. What you write has no hearing or connection with your ! I grade. The Information you supply will aid the | ! University In planning more programs such as ^ "Shakespeare on T.V." ! I 2. Please fill out the questionnaire completely. If you i feel you can’t be frank by signing your name, do not | sign your name; but please answer all the questions. ' i Your questlonnalre Is worthless If It Is not filled out completely. 3. How many of you attended the lectures at the television studio? Please not "studio" at the top of your 4. If yuu have any questions please raise your hand and a monitor will come to aid you. 5. The test will not begin until you finish your ques- THANK YOU 197 PLEASE HELP US TO DETERMINE FUTURE PROGRAM POLICY. TIME 5 i. (circle one) Mr. Mrs. Miss _____________ _____ (Your name will be kept confidential) : 2. HOW DID YOU FIRST IEÂ1M OF "SHAKESPEARE ON. TV"? 1 (Check one) a. friends b. newspaper c. USC I Brochure - d. TV advertising e. chance____ j f. other____ j 3 . PLEASE INDICATE THE SIZE OF THE GROUP, INCLUDING YOUR- SEIF, WHICH USUALLY WATCHED DR. BAXTER:^_____ ^ _______ b. Of this group, how many were not enrolled?^_______ c. Of this group, how many were attending hlgH 4. HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD REGULAR ACCESS TO TELEVISION VIEWING? ) )_______ (within 1/2 years ) 5. OUT OF THE COURSE LECTURES, CHECK THOSE YOU HAVE MISSED: , . . Henry V Much Ado Othello , ^ n, Hamlet 1 - T T T 3 6 - TB"— "9 lO'll ^^14 15 Ih 17 18 none 6. WHAT IS YOUR OCCUPATION? (Note specialties: teachers list grade and subject, officers note rank, attorneys note field, etc.)__________________ ________________ (check one) Wages Salary Contract b. If married, what Is spouse’s occupation?___________ Wage s Salary Contract c. If retired, what was occupation? Wages Salary Contract^ d. If a full-time student give fleld,year,uzilv.______ ] --------I e. If you are a housewife, what was your occupation before marriage?_________________Wages___Salary Contract__! 7. WHAT OTHER KINDS OF SUBJECTS WOULD YOU WISH TO VIEW ON TV? ( In order of preference ) ... l._l___ 2._______ 3.__________ ; 198 8. HATE YOU STUDIED THE PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE BEFORE? No Yes If yes, where? b. High School_________- College_________. If at college, was It 1. First Semester, "Shakespeare on TV" 2. Dr. Baxter, regular session (not 3. Another University course_______ 9. DID YOU ENJOY YOUR FIRST ACADEMIC CONTACT WITH SHAKESPEARE? Yes No If no, why? 10. DO YOU HAVE A LIBRARY CARD? Yes No 11. HAVE YOU EVER BELONGED TO A BOOK CLUB? Yes No ,12. DID YOU READ ANY BOOKS (not plays) DURING THE LAST FOUR ; WEEKS? No_______ Yes______ How many_________ . 13. HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED U.C.L.A.'S "INTRODUCTION TO ART" ! WITH MARY HOMES? a. No Yes b. If yes, ARE . YOU ENROLIED IN THE COURSE? Yes______ No________ , 14. DO YOU READ ANY MAGAZINES OR PERI0DICAI5 REGULARLY? Yes No (If yes, please list your favorite# 1 2 3 ;. 15. WHAT DAYS AND HOURS WOULD BE YOUR BEST FOR TAKING EDUCATIONAL T.V. COURSES? 16. PLEASE CIRCIE THE NUMBER WHICH CORRESPONDS TO YOUR LAST EDUCATIONAL YEAR COMPLETED: Elementary High School College Post-Graduate 1 2 -3 -rt-5 ~ 7 8 ~9 T O i r 13 r i IB i6 — r r ----------- PLEASE NOTE ANY DEGREES AND IN WHAT FIELD 17. have you ever attended the U. OF SO. CALIF.? (Conventional classes) Yes_____ _No_____ - 18. WHY ARE YOU TAKING THIS TELEVISION COURSE? (additional space on back)______ . _______ 19. WOULD YOU ENROLL IN ANOTHER SESSION OF "SHAKESPEARE T.V. "? Yes No Don’t know 20. DO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO VIEWING KTHE, 28, THE EDUCATIONAL CHANNEL? Yes No______ 21. WOULD YOU PLEASE LIST ANY EXTENSION OR CORRESPONDENCE COLLEGE COURSES TAKEN: None Before If yes, what and where______________ 22. MARITAL STATUS: Single Married Previously Married (widowed, divorced, separated) 23. DO YOU HAVE ANY CHILDREN? No Yes Ages________ 24. DATE OF YOUR BIRTH__________________________ 25. WHAT OTHER ADULT TELEVISION PROGRAMS, OF AN EDUCATIONAL NATURE THAT YOU HAVE SEEN DURING THIS SEMESTER, DID YOU WATCH REGULARLY? (If none, write None) (Order of preference) 1.________2. 3._________ 26. WHAT OTHER TELEVISION PROGRAMS DO YOU WATCH REGULARLY? (If none, write None) (Order of preference) 1._______ 2.________3.__________ 27. WHAT TO YOU IS THE VALUE OF THIS COURSE? As an enrolled student of "Shakespeare on T.V." you have been a party to an important educational experiment. Please help us determine our future program policy by completing the following questionnaire. NONE OP YOUR ANSWERS WILL BE PUBLISHED IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR NAME. The data you supply will be kept confi dential and will be used collectively. Please answer all the questions. Be as accurate as 1. __________________ 2. HOW DID YOU FIRST lEARN OF "SHAKESPEARE ON T.V."? (check one) a. friends b. newspaper______c. U.8.C. d. t.v. advertising e. chance f. other 3. PLEASE INDICATE THE SIZE OF THE GROUP, INCLUDING YOURSELF, WHICH USUALLY WATCHES DR. BAXTER b. Of this group, how many are not enrolled? c. Of this group, how many are high school students____ 4. HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD ACCESS TO TELEVISION VIEWING? _______(years) 5. OUT OF THE COURSE LECTURES, CHECK THOSE YOU HAVE MISSED: Henry V Much Ado... Othello Hamlet 1 2 3 4 5 O 9 1© 11 12 13 i4~I5TF 17 18 None 6. a. WHAT IS YOUR OCCUPATION? (please be specific) b. IF MARRIED, WHAT IS YOUR SPOUSE’S OCCUPATION?^ c. IF RETIRED, WHAT WAS YOUR OCCUPATION? _____ d. IF A STUDENT, GIVE FIELD/TR/UNIVERSITY 7. WHAT OTHER KINDS OF SUBJECTS WOULD YOU WISH TO VIEW ON TELEVISION? (If needed space on back) 8. HAVE you STUDIED THE PLAYS OP SHAKESPEARE BEFORE? No______ Yes______ If yes, where? b. High School^_____ c. College If at college, was It; 1. First Semester, "Shakespeare on T.V. " 2, Dr. Baxter, regular session (non-t.v.) 3. Another University_____________________ 9. DID YOU ENJOY YOUR FIRST ACADEMIC CONTACT WITH SHAKES PEARE? Yes ______No______ (If no, please elaborate; room on back . ) 10. DO YOU HOLD A LIBRARY CARD? Yes No 11. HAVE YOU EVER BELONGED TO A BOOK CLUB? Yes no_____ 12. DID YOU READ ANY BOOKS DURING THE LAST FOUR WEEKS? N©_ I Yes (number)________ 13. HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED MARY HOLMES ON UCLA’S "INTRODUC TION TO ART"? a.No_____Yes_____b. Are you enrolled In the program? Yes No______ 14. DO YOU READ ANY MAGAZINES OR PERIODICALS REGULARLY? Yes No_______ (If yes, please list your favorite three.) 1______ ________2. 3.________ 15. SINCE VIEWING T.V. DO YOU READ (Check one) a. the same number of magazines as you used tO| b. more magazines than you used to c. fewer magazines than you used to 16. SINCE VIEWING T.V. DO YOU READ #check one) a. the same number of books as you used to b. more books than you used to c. fewer books than you used to 17. PIEASE CIRCLE THE NUMBER WHICH CORRESPONDS TO YOUR LAST EDUCATIONAL YEAR COMPLETED 1 7 8 Please note degree/field 18. WHY ARE YOU TAKING THIS TELEVISION COURSE? (more space on back) _______________________________ 19. WOULD YOU ENROLL IN ANOTHER SESSION OP "SHAKESPEARE T.V. "? No Yes Don’t know DO YOU HAVE ACCESS TO CHANNEL 28, KTHE, THE EDUCATIONAL STATION? Yes no_______ 21. WOULD YOU PLEASE LIST ANY EVENING OR COLLEGE EXTENSION COURSES YOU HAVE TAKEN; None______If yes, what/when/ where___________ MARITAL STATUS; SINGLE MARRIED PREVIOUSLY MARRIED % Number of children Number of grandchildren Any children In your household? Yes No 23. WHAT OTHER ADULT EDUCATIONAL T.V. PROGRAMS, THAT YOU HAVE SEEN SOMETIME DURING THIS SEMESTER, DO YOU LIKE BEST? (Please note any In order of preference.) 1 2. 3. _________ 24. DATE OP BIRTH 25. ANY COMMENTS ON THE COURSE ("Shakespeare on T.V.") (Please use the back of this sheet.) dnH/OfSKy of Southern California Library</u>

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Asset Metadata

Creator Scothorn, Robert Atwood (author)

Core Title A description of some of the viewers who enrolled for credit in the telecourse "Shakespeare on T.V.," Spring Semester, 1954

School Graduate School

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Telecommunications

Degree Conferral Date 1955-06

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag communication and the arts,education,OAI-PMH Harvest

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c39-240807

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Document Type Thesis

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Rights Scothorn, Robert Atwood

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Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

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