Applying an Attitude Change Theory and a Western Media Education Instrument in the Eastern Setting

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Chan, L. (2008). Applying an Attitude Change Theory and a Western Media Education Instrument in theEastern Setting. Media Psychology Review. Vol. 1(1)

Applying an Attitude Change Theory and a WesternMedia Education Instrument in the Eastern SettingLeo Chan , Ph.D. Communication Program/Digital Media StudiesUniversity of Houston - Clear Lake

http://mprcenter.org/mpr/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=182&Itemid=117

ABSTRACT:

Compared to the United States, there is a lack of media education in Asian countries(Shih, 1999). Hong Kong has no experience with media education projects forchildren, parents or teachers. The western critical viewing skills project, “TakingCharge of Your TV,” appears to have been a useful tool for parents searching to takecontrol of the family television and trying to talk to their children about television

violence in the United States. The purpose of this study was to carry this viewing skills project to HongKong, testing whether it might benefit families there as well. The broader objective was to examine how well a Western media education instrument, the critical viewing skills project, could be applied in theHong Kong media environment.

Introduction

H ong Kong is a meeting place for Eastern and Western cultures. On one hand, Hong Kong is a city thatabsorbs influences from the West and localizes foreign cultures; on the other hand, Hong Kong is aChinese community that has strong links with Chinese traditions and culture. This study attempts todetermine if it is possible to apply a Western media education instrument in the Hong Kong setting.Specifically, this study is a test of whether children in Hong Kong can be taught critical viewing skills fortelevision violence in the Western- style project “Taking Charge of Your TV.”

Over the years a special segment of the television audience has been a focus of research attention:children. Many studies have examined issues of both positive and negative learning outcomes from viewing television programs (Johnson, 2001). In the United States, children spend more time watchingtelevision than in the classroom, taking part in outdoor activities, or reading (Huston, Donnerstein,Fairchild, Feshback, Katz, Murray, Rubinstein, Wilcox, & Zuckerman, 1992). By the time an average American child finishes elementary school, he or she will have watched more than 8,000 murders andmore than 100,000 other acts of violence on network television (Huston et al., 1992).

In Hong Kong, television is dominant among all media in reaching the public on a regular basis. According to a survey conducted by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (Wong, 2000), almost 84percent of the respondents between 15 and 39 believe that there is too much violence on television.

Regarding the presence of violence in television programming, attitude change theory has been developed








in attempts to lower the harmful influence of television on viewers. Attitude change is said to occur whensubjects receive new information from other people or media through direct experience with the attitudeobject, and this forces the subjects to behave in a way different than they used to. Attitude is an ideacharged with emotion that predisposes an action to a particular social situation (Triandis, 1971).

The application of attitude change to media studies is the notion that parents change their attitudestoward television violence and protect children from potentially harmful television violence by beingeducated about and prepared for this influence in advance. Children then can resist the effects oftelevision violence after they learn how to recognize it and practice skills they learned from their parents.

Previous research has shown that teaching children critical TV viewing skills can make them aware of theharmful effects of TV violence in the United States (Singer & Singer, 1983; Watkins, Sprafkin, Gadow, &Sadetsky, 1988). Training parents to acquire critical TV viewing skills includes informing them of thenegative effects TV violence can have on their children and teaching them how to counteract thesepotential negative effects. Parents might then teach their children how to be critical TV viewers (Tangney& Feshback, 1988).

In the United States, the National Parent Teacher Association (National PTA) led to help educate parentsto take control of television within homes since 1994 and developed a critical viewing skills workshopcalled “Taking Charge of Your TV,” a imed at providing parents and teachers with a better understanding

of the effects of television on children.

Compared to the United States, there is a lack of media education in Asian countries (Shih, 1999). HongKong has no experience with media education projects for children, parents or teachers. The critical viewing skills project, “Taking Charge of Your TV,” appears to have been a useful tool for parentssearching to take control of the family television and trying to talk to their children about television violence in the United States. The purpose of this study was to carry this viewing skills project to HongKong, testing whether it might benefit families there as well. The broader objective was to examine how well a Western media education instrument, the critical viewing skills project, could be applied in theHong Kong media environment.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Studies on Media Violence in the WestThe relationship between television violence and real-life aggression has been a controversial topic. Manyresearchers argue that there is a strong association between viewing violence and behaving aggressively(Van Evra, 1998). Some research has shown a positive correlation between exposure to TV violence andaggressive behavior over many different kinds of measures and ages, and exposure seemed to increase violence (Donnerstein, Slaby, & Eron, 1994).

Children often do not have the capacity to distinguish between reality and fiction and they take for

granted what they see on television, thus stimulating their own aggression (Singer & Singer, 1990). If theyare repeatedly exposed to messages that promote the idea that violence is fun or is appropriate in solvingproblems and accords status, then the risk that they learn these attitudes and behavior patterns becomes very high (Groebel, 2001).

A study by the Annenberg School of Communication found that television violence reached up to 32 violent acts per ho ur in children’s programming. TV Guide found 1,845 violent acts in 18 hours of viewing,an average of 100 an hour or one every 36 seconds (Lamson, 1995).



In one study, randomly chosen children were shown either a violent or nonviolent short film, and thenthey were observed as they played with each other or with objects such as Bo-Bo dolls. The consistentfinding was that children who watched violent acts behaved more aggressively immediately afterward.The same effect occurred for all children regardless of their gender and ethnicity (Josephson, 1987).

Attitude Change: Theoretical Approach As the purpose of this study was to determine if the “Taking Charge of Your TV” workshop helped parentsminimize the negative influence of television violence on children, it was important to look at theparticipants’ attitudes toward the workshop and how the workshop changed their behavior after attendingthe workshop.

The attitude construct continues to be a key focus of theory and research in the social and behavioralsciences (Wood, 2000). Thurstone (1931) defined attitude as effect for or against a psychological object;early theorists used affect in the sense in which we now refer to attitude (Ajzen & Fishbein, 2000). Attitudes are defined as a mental predisposition to act that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity

with certain degree of favor or disfavor. Attitudes are comprised of four different components: cognitions,affect, behavioral intentions, and evaluation (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980).

Attitudes change when participants receive new information from other people or media through directexperience with the attitude object, and that force them to behave in a way different than they used to(Triandis, 1971).

This study aimed to study the effective ness of the “Taking Charge of Your TV” workshop in Hong Kong bylooking at the participants’ attitudes and behavior after attending the workshop. Participants wereintroduced to the key concepts with suggestions based on the material prepared by the National PTA. Thecognitive component was established when the concepts of “Taking Charge of Your TV” were presented tothe participants in Hong Kong. Participants showed their understanding of the concepts of the workshop

as representing the cognitive component.

Regarding the affective component of attitude theory, participants showed their positive or negativeperceptions of the concepts presented in the workshop. They responded to the workshop according totheir feelings, and they turned their feelings into personal belief. The participants then responded to the workshop by actually taking actions as representing the behavioral component. If the participantsstrongly believed in what they learned in the concept, the assumption was, they would be more likely topractice the concepts at home more frequently.

Co-viewing with ParentsThe critical viewing skills project, “Taking Charge of Your TV,” is based on the premise that parents watching television with their children is important. Parents are in the best position to discuss thepotentially harmful effects of television violence with their children at home (Bushman & Huesmann,2001).

According to Tangney and Feshback (1988), there was evidence to show that the effects of viewing violence could also be reduced by the parents' co-viewing with the child. Fred Rogers, the host of a famouschildren’s show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” believed that parents could help children distinguish



between fantasy and reality. They could help children identify and manage their feelings, and encouragechildren to talk about those feelings with the real-life adults they loved and trusted (Rogers, 2001).

Development of Media Education

Media education creates competent and critical users. The major stress should not be on how to getchildren to avoid television, but how to use television for entertainment and for constructive goals(Groebel, 2001). In the 1970s, a television curriculum was introduced into American schools in an effortto encourage and develop children’s critical v iewing skills and television literacy. Many media literacy andcritical viewing skills programs have been developed since then. (Van Evra, 1998).

By the late 1990s, some 15 states required some form of media study as part of the general curriculum forpublic schools (Hobbs, 1998). Over the decades, individual teachers, researchers, and academics as well asprivate organizations, have explored ways to help media users develop more thoughtful interaction withmedia (Brown, 2001).

Research results suggested that positive developments took place in young children’s use of television

after various kinds of training in critical viewing or media literacy, and development of cognitive skillsrelated to television use (Brown, 2001).

Critical Viewing Skills, “Taking Charge of Your TV” The “Taking Charge of Your TV” workshop project trains cable and PTA leaders nationwide in the keyelements of critical viewing, and how to present “Taking Charge of Your TV” workshops for parents,educators, and organizations in their communities. Since the launch of the project in 1994, training workshops have taken place in almost all 50 states. More than 4,000 PTA members and cable leadershave been trained; as a result, more than 1,800 workshops for thousands of parents, educators, andcommunity members have been offered throughout the United States.

The project was awarded the National Parents’ Day Clarion Award for using television to promoteresponsible parenting and the Entertainment Industries Council’s Prism Award (National PTA, 2001).

Background of Hong Kong Any discussion of Hong Kong must include references to the Handover of Hong Kong. Hong Kong was aBritish colony until the expiration in 1997 of a 99-year lease. The Handover of Hong Kong is a key event inrecent Chinese history. The Sino-British Joint Declaration signed in 1994 by Britain's Prime Minister,Margaret Thatcher, and China's Prime Minister, Zhao Ziyang, guaranteed that Hong Kong would retain ahigh degree of autonomy for the fifty years following 1997 (Buckley, 1997). It implies that China is not todetermine the political, economic, and social institutions and policies of Hong Kong. The people of Hong

Kong were promised that they would rule Hong Kong without interference from China, save in matters ofsecurity and diplomacy, and that they would continue to enjoy their former way of life in political,economic, and social affairs (Newman & Rabushka, 1998).

While Hong Kong was a colony under British rule, residents enjoyed Western-style personal freedoms,including freedom of expression, which were guaranteed by law. Under the British, diversified massmedia were permitted to flourish and represented the entire political spectrum, from newspapers on theleft, supported by China, to the newspapers on the right, supported by Taiwan. In the center, there weremass media run by Hong Kong (Davison, 1974).



Even though Hong Kong has been experiencing a transition since 1997, direct intervention from thegovernment is not likely to undermine freedom of expression in the mass media in Hong Kong(Hutcheon, 1998). For example, the television industry fits within the economic structure, favoringprivate enterprise and free trade without much restriction.

Hong Kong is a very family-oriented society with extended families that provide internal support for thefamily members. In other words, people in Hong Kong spend a lot of time with family and hold strongfamily ties. It is also Chinese tradition that people value the time they spend with their family.

Compared to the United States, outdoor activities are scarce in Hong Kong. Due to very limited space inHong Kong, not many people own property with yards. Some indoor activities are especially popular, suchas karaoke singing and watching television. On average, people spend about 3-4 hours per day watchingtelevision in Hong Kong (Hong Kong Annual Digest of Statistics, 2000). Hong Kong is a very fast-pacedand over-crowded modern society. About 50 percent of the total population lives in public housing (HongKong Annual Report, 2000). It is also an important tradition that the whole family comes home fordinner. One of the major activities at home in the evening is watching television together (Ma, 1999).

Media Study in Hong KongTelevision has been the dominant medium in Hong Kong since the 1970s. The high penetration oftelevision has snatched a major audience share from all other forms of media, including movie-going andnewspapers (Ma, 1999). People in Hong Kong rely on television as a central source of information andentertainment. On average, Hong Kong residents watch more than three hours of television every day,making it a more popular leisure activity than seeing movies, surfing the Internet, listening to radio, orsinging karaoke. It is not unusual that the television is on during the dinner time.

The television industry in Hong Kong is very competitive and fits within the economic structure of theterritory, favoring private enterprise and free trade. All of the television stations are commercial. There

are two commercial stations offering four free-to-air commercial channels funded by advertising. The twocommercial stations are Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) and Asia Television Limited (ATV). Theyare licensed to broadcast one Cantonese and one English language channel each. The most popularprograms are drama series, news, music shows, entertainment magazines, and game shows (Wilkins,2002).

There is also a satellite television station (Star TV), and a cable system (Wharf Cable Limited). However, both satellite television and cable television have not been as successful or popular as free televisionstations (Yan, 2001).

In one survey carried out in 2001, about 35 percent of respondents considered some programminginappropriate, such as violence and obscene language. About 28 percent of respondents had children aged

15 and below. Among them, 72 percent of those parents usually watch television with their children between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. (Broadcasting Authority Annual Report, 2001).

For children in Hong Kong, television viewing is one of the most popular after-school activities. Accordingto Chan and Lee (2000), Hong Kong children are so used to turning on the television once they get homefrom school that they are not concerned about the quality of programming and watch whatever is on. Onestudy showed that 33.6 percent of children watch television on regular basis as an after-school habit without parents’ supervision. Chan and Lee (2000) also mentioned that television is a very important partof chi ldren’s life in Hong Kong. The television is turned on when they do their homework or eat their



dinner. Unfortunately, many parents in Hong Kong also use television as a baby-sitter if they are nothome with their children, and they usually do not get to monitor what their children watch when they areout to work (Chan & Lee, 2000).

Violent acts are easily found in almost any television programming, including cartoons, primetimedramas, situation comedies, movies, commercials, game shows, and music videos.

A survey done by Breakthrough, a youth organization in Hong Kong, showed that viewers between 12 and16 watched television for about 3.7 hours on average weekdays and about six hours on weekends. Close to60 percent believed what they saw on television was real (Chan & Lee, 2000). According to another surveyconducted by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups (Wong, 2000), about 84 percent of therespondents between 15 and 39 years old believed that there was too much violence on television.

According to Mok (2000), Hong Kong parents and educators are concerned and searching for ways tolimit the negative impact of television. Mok suggested that parents should help children develop criticalthinking about what they see on television and its effects (Mok, 2000).

The critical viewing skills project developed by the National PTA in the United States seems to helpminimize the negative influence of television by teaching families how to make informed choices in thetelevision programs they watch and to improve the way they watch them. It was important to carry thisstructured critical viewing skills project, “Taking Charge of Your TV,” to Hong Kong to see if it would benefit families there as well. This is an experimental study. Both the control group and the experimentalgroup were randomly selected.

Research HypothesesThis was an experimental study testing the critical viewing skills project developed in the United States,“Taking Charge of Your TV,” to determine if its effectiveness in the Hong Kong cu lture at helping parentsminimize the negative influence of television violence on children.

Because no such structured critical viewing skills project had been undertaken in Hong Kong before, thefirst hypothesis was to examine how the participants responded to the workshop. Mean score of theparticipants’ responses to the workshop were calculated.

H1: The workshop participants’ mean assessment score will be greater than themidpoint after attending the workshop.

This study was to examine if the critical viewing skills project was effective withparents in Hong Kong. The second hypothesis was to examine if the participants perceived the threemajor concepts of the workshop to be more important after learning of them in the workshop.

H2: The workshop part icipants’ mean score will be greater in the post -test measurethan in the pretest measure.

Another way to study if the critical viewing skills project worked or not was by comparing the controlgroup participants’ responses to the experimental group participants’ responses.



H3: The workshop participants’ mean score will be greater in the post -test measurethan in the control group after attending the workshop.

Demographic information was important as it helped to analyze and identify who participated in the study

and assessed the potential for those attributes to affect the outcome of the findings. Therefore, the fourthhypothesis was to examine if the participants’ educational background, age, location of home, and numberof television sets at home would affect the responses. In addition, information on the amount of media useand participants’ opinion on effect of television violence on children was collected to determine if theyaffected the participants’ responses to the workshop.

H4: There will be a positive relationship between the participants’ responses and participants’demographic characteristics, such as their educational background, age, number of television sets athome, and amount of media use, and participants’ opinion on effect of televisio n violence on children.

METHODSThis was an experimental study to test a Western critical viewing skills project, “Taking Charge of YourTV” in the Hong Kong setting. The project aimed to help parents minimize the negative influence oftelevision violence on children. The workshop was presented to participants who were randomly assignedto an experimental group. The workshop presentation was based on the material designed by the NationalPTA in the United States. This study used a pretest, post-test, control group design. Questionnaires weredistributed to participants to measure changes in attitudes following participation in the “Taking Chargeof Your TV” workshop.

ParticipantsThe representative of the Federation of Parent Teacher Associations, Louisa Wong, indicated interest in

the study. After several meetings, the project director of the Happy Child Development Project indicatedinterest in the study as well.

This was an experimental study to test a Western critical viewing skills project, “Taking Cha rge of YourTV” in the Hong Kong setting; it did not need a large number of participants. While samples for surveysare relatively large, a few hundred and above, experimental samples are relatively small, usually about 15to 30 in each group. The reason for small samples is that the main issue is whether the treatment iseffective (Flora & Logan, 1996; Stone, Singletary, & Richmond, 1999). The participation in this study was voluntary.

ApparatusTo measure the first dependent variable, participants’ opinio ns about the workshop, an individual score on attitudinal questions was measured on a seven-point Likert scaleincluding “1,” “2,” “3,” “4,” “5,” “6” and “7.”

Responses were coded so that a “7” indicated a high level of the attitudinal measure, while a “1” reflected alow level of the attitudinal measure. Also, both positive and negative statements were included in order toavoid response sets.



To measure the dependent variable of the perception of the major concepts of the workshop, a Likert scale was applied by providing five response alternatives including “Very Important,” “Important,” “Neutral,”“Somewhat Important,” and “Not Important.”

Questions about the demographic characteristics were also included at the end of questionnaire.

DesignThis study was an experimental pretest, post-test, control group design as shown in Figure 1. In this study,there were three dependent variables. The first dependent variable was participants’ opinions about the workshop. The workshop “Taking Charge of Your TV” w as the treatment in the study; it was important tofirst find out how the participants responded to the workshop. The second dependent variable was theparticipants’ perception of the major concepts of the workshop. The researcher was interested in finding how many critical viewing skills concepts participants knew and understood. Statements based on the workshop concerning the knowledge in workshop concepts constructed the second dependent variable.

ProcedureThe researcher prepared for the study by first contacting the National Parent Teacher Association in theUnited States (PTA) and attended a one-day presenter training course in Chicago organized by theNational PTA, the National Cable Television Association, and Cable in the Classroom, to become aqualified workshop presenter. The research also received literature, videotapes, training material, and a brochure on the workshop. The goal of this study was to test the “Taking Charge of Your TV” workshop inHong Kong. It was therefore essential to present the workshop material in a way that people in HongKong could understand it. Therefore, it was necessary to have all the material translated into Chinese.

Participation in the workshop was voluntary. Parents associated with the Happy Child DevelopmentProject were randomly assigned as an experimental group and received the treatment. Thirty-sevenparticipants from the Happy Child Development showed up to take part. Before the workshop started, apre-test questionnaire was handed out to them regarding the concepts of the workshop that would bepresented in the workshop.

The workshop was administered based on the material and training supplied by the National PTA. Theaim of the workshop was to develop an understanding of three key points for modifying television viewing behavior and applying them to media violence. The first key point presented was that TV programs andtheir messages were constructed piece-by-piece by production crews and casts to achieve specific results. A video clip was played to stimulate discussion. After the discussion, a few techniques were suggested forparticipants to practice with their children at home.

The second key point was that different people interpreted TV programs and messages in different ways, based on age, gender, personal identity, and life experiences. This discussion after viewing another videoclip was intended to help parents understand the feelings children had at different age levels while watching certain television programs, and enable parents to talk with their children with understandingand good techniques that they learned in the workshop.

The third key point was that television violence could be portrayed in different forms. The video clip ofhumorous violence was shown after the participants are divided into two groups. Both groups had to



defend their viewpoints about humorous violence. Parents could use some techniques presented in this workshop to discuss this issue with their children.

After presenting the three key points, there was a 15-minute discussion session. The researcher madesome concluding remarks about the workshop material by saying: “Viewing television should be an activeform of entertainment. Talk back to your television. Talk to your children about what they are seeing.Participants were then asked to fill out two sets of questionnaires. The first was about their opinionsregarding the workshop. The second referred to their perception of major concepts presented in the workshop.

The control group participants also filled out the second set of questionnaire only as they did not attendthe workshop.

RESULTSThe first hypothesis suggested that the participants would respond to the workshop positively with anaverage score higher than the midpoint, which was 4. The hypothesis for each category was higher than

the midpoint, and the overall mean was 5.61. With the highest mean score of 6.1, participants found the workshop highly useful to them. Also, the participants expressed the view that the workshop was relevant, valuable, educational, clear, and informative. According to the results, the participants also felt that the workshop was objective, convincing, interesting, and lively. The first hypothesis was supported by thepositive response with the overall mean of 5.61.

Hypothesis 2 suggested that the workshop participants’ mean score would be greater in the post -testmeasure than in the pretest measure. A t-test was used to show if the mean score between the pretest andpost-test was significantly different.

In the study, the mean of the pretest was 3.99, and the mean of the post-test was 4.34. The p-value was0.0007. The result indicated that the mean of the post-test scores of the experimental group was

significantly higher than the mean of the pretest scores by 0.35 (Table2). The participants of theexperimental group perceived the concepts of the workshop to be significantly more important afterlearning of them in the workshop.

Table 2. Comparison of Pretest and Post-test Mean Scores on Perception of WorkshopConcepts

Hypothesis 3 suggested that the workshop participants’ mean score would be greater in the post -testmeasure than in the control group after attending the workshop. A t-test was used to show a significantdifference between the experimental group and the control group scores.

The mean score of the post-test for the experimental group was 4.34, and the mean score of the post-testfor the control group was 3.97. The p-value comparing the experimental group and control group was0.0002, which implied that the test was considered significant at the .05 level. The mean difference between the experimental group and control group was 0.37 (Table 3). Therefore, the result showed thatthe mean of the post-test scores of the experimental group was significantly higher than the mean score of



the control group. Therefore, hypothesis three was upheld.

Table 3. Measuring Experimental and Control Participants’ Perception of WorkshopConcepts

Hypothesis 4 suggested that a significant positive relationship would exist be tween the participants’perceptions of the importance of the workshop concepts and their demographic characteristics, such astheir educational background, age, number of television sets at home, and amount of television viewing,and participants’ opinion on effect of television violence on children. A multiple regression was used totest this hypothesis.

Table 4 showed that a significant relationship was found (F=3.975, p=.011), and the hypothesis was

supported. Fifty-eight percent of variance in the dependent variable of the perception of the concepts wasexplained by the equation. However, only one independent variable, educational level, was significant.Only one independent variable had a unique contribution to explaining the dependent variable. Theshared contributions were 34%, and the unique contributions were 6% for education. The test indicatedthat participants with higher education backgrounds in Hong Kong tended to perceive the concepts of the workshop as important. However, no significant relat ionship was found between the participants’perception of the concepts and the variables of the participants’ opinion of effect of television on childrenand participants’ amount of time watching television.

Table 4. Relationship between Participants’ Res ponses to the Concepts and DemographicsCharacteristics

Implications of the ResultsIn the study, the researcher found that participants in Hong Kong who participated in the “Taking Chargeof Your TV” workshop responded positively to the workshop. Accor ding to the idea of the affectivecomponent based on the attitude theory, participants strongly indicated their positive reactions to the workshop. Overall, the participants were actively involved in the workshop and felt satisfied with whatthey learned during the workshop. Their positive responses, however, might help promote future workshop presentations to different organizations, and elementary schools for future research.

The researcher also found that the “Taking Charge of Your TV” workshop positive ly changed theparticipants’ perceptions regarding the importance of the workshop concepts, supporting the cognitive



component of attitude theory (Wood, 2000). As violence on television is a growing concern in Hong Kong,the participants understood how important it was to be critical viewers and help their children modifytheir television viewing. In the post- test, the mean scores of participants’ perceptions of the workshop became even higher, which indicates that the workshop changed their views about violence on television,and they wanted to pay more attention to this issue at home.

The researcher also found that the experimental group perceived the major concepts presented in the workshop to be more important than did the control group, who had not been exposed to those concepts.This result suggested that the workshop did have some effects on participants regarding the concepts ofthe “Taking Charge of Your TV” as representing the affective component of the attitude theory (Wood,2000). In other words , the control group’s perceptions of the major concepts were not as important as theexperimental group because their attitude towards the concepts was not changed. It appeared that it wasimportant for parents to learn those concepts in Hong Kong.

Finally, the researcher would also like to see if the demographic distribution, opinion on effect of thetelevision violence, and amount of media use would affect the results. There was a significant relationship between the participants’ perception of the works hop concepts and the amount of education they hadreceived. According to the results from the multiple regression analysis, only educational backgroundinfluenced their perception of the workshop concepts. The results suggested that how much education theparticipants had affected how they responded to the concepts. This might not be surprising. The more

educated the participants were, the more receptive and open-minded they were to the concepts.

In short, the workshop of the “Taking Charge of Your TV” wa s well received in its first presentation inHong Kong. The concepts of the workshop helped participants understand how to view television violencemore critically and perhaps decrease the negative influence of television violence on their children in along run. This very same workshop has been widely presented in the United States. The researcher believes that the intention of the workshop is good, and it should be promoted to educators and parents inHong Kong for future research. If this workshop is broadly used in Hong Kong, parents will be perhapsmore sensitive to the content on television, and researchers can continue to test the effectiveness of the workshop in Hong Kong and share the findings in the future.

LimitationsScientific studies often face limitations, and this study is no exception.

The research was conducted in Hong Kong with the help from two organizations that mainly work withparents, the Happy Child Development Project and the Federation of Parent Teacher Associations. Thusthe participants were not randomly selected from the general population. The researcher not being inHong Kong was also a limitation Communication was extremely difficult, exacerbated by the lack offamiliarity of the organizations with the study and the researcher. The only way for the researcher torecruit participants was to contact the organizations that would be interested in the study and ask them torecruit. It would be preferable to select the participants not only from the organizations that work withparents, but also to give everyone else an equal opportunity to be selected, resulting in a morerepresentative sample.

In addition, there are potential problems in implementing the study. The data were collected throughquestionnaires with no additional interviews or means of identifying any discrepancies between reportedand actual behavior.

Suggestions for Future Studies



The participants for this study were selected from two organizations that work mainly with parents.Participants from other groups should be selected randomly to make the groups more representative. Alarger number of samples is always preferable in any study even though sample size is usually smaller inexperimental studies compared to surveys.

Instead of relying on questionnaires, the researcher would like to invite the participants to write a journalor a diary to keep track of their television viewing behavior, and the frequency of implementing theconcepts learned in the workshop at home. In addition, it would be desirable to interview the participantsregarding their television viewing behavior.

In conclusion, the “Taking Charge of Your TV” workshop was first introduced in the United States in 1994to focus on issues related to television and the influence of television violence. Learning the skillspresented in the “Taking Charge of Your TV” could be helpful to parents and children to become morecritical viewers when watching television. But learning the “Taking Charge of Your TV” workshop was notthe only solution to the problems of violent content on television. Parents, educators, and researchersshould work together to help our next generations to be smarter viewers. At the same time, researchersshould continue to test the effectiveness of the workshop in the United States first. If it is proven to beeffective, the workshop should be widely promoted in both the Western and Eastern nations.

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Applying an Attitude Change Theory and a Western Media Education Instrument in the Eastern Setting

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