A STUDY OF GRATIFICATION SOUGHT AND GRATIFICATION OBTAINED IN MEDIA USE

Annie S.Y. Tse

A Project Report

Submitted

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Arts in Communication

School of Communication Hong Kong Baptist University

Hong Kong August 1998

Abstract

Communication researchers have studied the relationship between media and audience for a long period of time. In the past, many of these researches studied the media effects on audience. Later on, when the idea of active audience emerged, many studies started to investigate the part of audience plays in the communication process. There are numerous approaches in the study of audience participation, and one of those is called the uses and gratifications approach. In this paper, I will review previous studies using this approach and adopt one of the core ideas, namely the relationship between gratifications sought (GS) and gratifications obtained (GO), as the theme of this study. Using a qualitative approach to analyse the results from 16 interviews, the findings reveal that there is a relation between GS and GO in the use of media, especially for the function of surveillance. The non-correspondence between GS and GO in some need items may be attributed to the ability of media to serve those needs. This study to a certain extent projects a phenomenon, that media use is driven by intention of users to gratify their needs. Therefore, people purposefully and actively use media for need gratifications.

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Table of Contents

Abstract …………………………………………………………. 1 Introduction …………………………………………………….. 3 Literature Review ………………………………………………. 4 Research Questions ……………………………………………… 16 Methods ………………………………………………………….. 17

Subjects……………………………………………………….. 18 Procedures ……………………………………………………. 19

Results …………………………………………………………….. 21 Discussion …………………………………………………………. 28 Conclusion ………………………………………………………… 39 References …………………………………………………………. 41 Appendix A………………………………………………………… 43

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Introduction

In traditional studies of the mass communication process, researchers

looked for the media effects on audience. They thought that audience is

inactive and they could not control what the all-powerful media do on them.

These studies therefore mainly focused on the effects that are intended by the

communicators of media sources to be imposed on audience members.

After the overwhelming dominance by the effects study for a long period

of time, a number of researchers started investigating the communication

process from the other end of the process, that is, the audience instead of the

media source. This brought forward the uses and gratification approach, which

studies the relationship between the motives of media use and the gratification

of needs. An active audience is the most important assumption and element of

this approach. It is therefore interesting to look at other aspects of the

communication process, for instance, the motives for media use and the ability

of media to gratify human needs.

This application project will be built on the above basis. A number of

previous studies were conducted to investigate the role of audience in the

communication process. Taking reference of the research findings in these

studies, this project will look for the relationship of the motives of media use,

that is, the gratifications sought and the results of such kind of purposive and

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goal-oriented consumption of media materials, that is, the gratifications

obtained. The results got from this study will be compared to the general

findings of Palmgreen, Wenner and Rayburn (1980) in their research of the

relations between gratifications sought and gratifications obtained by studying

the use of television news by audience.

Qualitative analysis of the results of a small sample with 16 people is

adopted in this study. The purpose of including only 16 people is to extract

more meanings and elaboration behind the choice of media for fulfilling

different media-related needs. Face to face interviews with the 16 people have

been conducted. The purpose for such method is to know more about the

reasons of media choice for fulfiling different needs. From the analysis of their

intentions of media use, it would help to find the relationship between

gratifications sought and gratifications obtained, and understand why they use

and not use particular medium/media for particular needs.

Literature Review

Since Katz, Blumler and Gurevitch’s landmark volume of The Uses of

Mass Communications in 1974, the relationship between audience and media

was put forward again for discussion. Katz et al. stated in this fruitful volume

that in the communication process, audience takes an active role in selecting

and using the media in order to satisfy their own needs. It is contrary to the

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proposition of the traditional media effects study that the all-powerful media

will impose effects on the audience who use the media materials. Audience in

this research tradition is groups of inactive subjects who do not have their own

will to participate in the whole communication process. Contrary to traditional

media effects study, the uses and gratifications approach presumes that we need

first to understand audience needs and motives for media behaviour, instead of

only investigating the media effects. People, not the media, are most influential

in the communication relationship (Rubin, 1986, p.281). The propositions of

Katz et al. had undeniably contributed to the foundations for the uses and

gratifications theory.

Katz et al. (1974) stated that the uses and gratifications approach concerns

the following questions: (1) the social and psychological origins of (2) needs,

which generate (3) expectations of (4) the mass media or other sources, which

lead to (5) differential patterns of media exposure (or engagement in other

activities), resulting in (6) need gratifications and (7) other consequences,

perhaps mostly unintended ones (p.20). These questions had generally laid

down the research areas for uses and gratifications approach. The most

prominent feature of all of these research categories is the shift of research

focuses from the media content and media effects on the audience to the part of

the audience themselves. Rosengren (1973) had also tried to lay out a paradigm

of the uses and gratifications approach. In his opinion, Rosengren mentioned

few elements in the approach. They include (1) basic needs, (2) media structure

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in society, (3) individual characteristics of media users, (4) perceived problems,

(5) perceived solutions, (6) motives, (7) media behaviour and (8) gratifications

or non-gratifications. Uses and gratifications approach starts from the audience

side to look for their gratifications of needs through the use of media materials.

This feature is like what Klapper (1963) stated, that uses and gratifications

approach focuses on “what people do with the mass media instead of what the

mass media do to people.”

This shift of research focus inevitably entailed a number of assumptions

particularly on the part of the audience. The assumptions include the following

suppositions (Katz et al. 1974, p.21-22):

(1) The audience is conceived of as active, that is, an important part of mass media use is assumed to be goal directed.

(2) In the mass communication process much initiative in linking need

gratification and media choice lies with the audience member. (2) The media compete with other sources of need satisfaction. It competes

with other functional alternatives of fulfilling human needs. (4) Methodologically, the goals of mass media can be derived from data

supplied by individual audience members themselves, such as through self-report of their media behaviour and needs gratification.

(5) Value judgements about the actual significance of mass communication

should be suspended while audience orientations are explored on their own terms. From the above five assumptions, uses and gratifications researchers

looked for the motives of individuals in using media to gratify their own needs.

They assumed that media consumption, or generally speaking, media behaviour

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of individuals is goal-oriented and purposeful, in order to gratify their media-

related needs. It shares with the claim of Rosengren that uses and gratification

research is a purposive approach based on a voluntaristic perspective, as

opposed to media effects research, which is more causal and deterministic in

nature (Rosengren, 1984). Klapper in 1960 had stated the differences between

media effects study and uses and gratifications approach. For effects study, the

concern is if there is any effects resulting from the use of media materials by

the audience. It focuses on the media content and media consumption to

evaluate the effectiveness of media effects. Such kind of media effects are

mainly induced by the communicators or media producers, and effects are

measurable and observable. On the other hand, for the uses and gratifications

approach, it starts the research from the other end of the communication

process and looks for the functions that media serve for the audience. The focus

of any media research, which uses this approach, will be the individual and

audience. Studies will be conducted to evaluate if media could help consumers

solve their problems.

These five assumptions had also put forward a number of theoretical issues

for developing the theoretical basis of uses and gratifications approach. Katz et

al. suggested that the priority list as follows (Katz et al., 1974, p.22-29):

(1) Typologies of audience gratification: this concerns the types of media

functions. For instance, Lasswell in 1948 had postulated the four main functions that the media serve a society. They include surveillance, correlation, entertainment and cultural transmission.

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(2) Gratification and needs: the media-related needs of human social and

psychological origins.

(3) Sources of media gratification: gratification obtained from three distinct sources, including media content, exposure to the media and the social context that typifies the situation of exposure to different needs.

(4) Gratification and media attributes: the specific attributes of the media

that could satisfy they needs of audience.

(5) Media attributes as perceived or intrinsic: the public perceptions of various media.

(6) Social origins of audience needs and their gratification: social factors

that generate the media-related needs of audience.

(7) The versatility of sources of needs satisfaction: the ability of media materials to serve various functions to audience.

(8) Gratification and effects: to treat audience as an important intervening

variable in the communication process.

In short, the uses and gratifications approach proposes an audience

oriented research of the communication process and media consumption. It is

different from the traditional effect study, which stresses on the media effects

on audience members.

Lin (1996) stated that the strength of the uses and gratifications approach

was its ability to allow the study of needs, motives, communication channels

and gratifications in the communication process.

However, the uses and gratifications approach was not without criticism.

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Elliott (1974) was most critical to this approach. Elliott saw the idea of an

active audience as an ambiguous and unstable concept because the audience

seldom really knows its own needs and real motives for using media materials.

It was also criticised as atheoretical and had a conceptual problem in

differentiating gratifications sought and gratifications obtained. What is more,

the reliance of audience’s self-report of their motives, needs and gratification

from media was also seen as unreliable and atheoretical.

After the landmark volume of Katz et al. in 1974 and noticing the criticism

like those raised by Elliott, a number of researchers continued to develop the

uses and gratifications approach by clarifying, integrating, conceptualising and

exploring the theory. Palmgreen (1984) refined the research categories of Katz

et al. into six more concrete areas of uses and gratifications approach:

(1) Social and psychological origins of media gratification (2) Expectancy-value approach (3) Audience activity (4) Gratification sought and obtained (5) Gratification and media consumption (6) Gratification and media effects

Blumler in 1979 had stated three major social origins of media

gratifications. First, normative influences, which posit certain kinds of

expectations for different audience. Second, socially distributed life

chances, which influence the activeness and involvement in media choice

and consumption. Third, the subjective reaction or adjustment of the

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individual to his or her social situation (Palmgreen 1984, p.25-26).

Blumler also stated that gratifications sought and obtained will be

influenced by social variables like age, education, sex, income, family

communication patterns, membership in organisations, etc. (Palmgreen

1984, p.27).

For the study of gratification and media consumption, Rubin in 1984

investigated the different aims of people in television viewing. From his

research, he found that there were two kinds of purposes. The first type was a

ritualised television viewing, which means the habitual use of television for

various reasons. The reasons may be consuming time, companionship and

relaxation. The second type was an instrumental television viewing, which

means a more goal-oriented use of television content to gratify the needs and

motives of people in searching information (Rubin 1984, p.69).

Rayburn and Palmgreen (1984) further explored the expectancy-value

approach to gratification research. The expectancy-value model entails two

elements. First, the expectancy (belief), which denotes the probability that an

attitude possesses the attribute on which a behaviour will have a particular

consequence. Second, evaluation, which means the degree of affect, positive or

negative, toward an attitude or hehavioural outcome (Palmgreen and Rayburn,

1984, p.562-563). They referred the expectation as the gratifications sought

while the evaluation as the gratifications obtained. Rayburn and Palmgreen

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(1984) conducted a study to investigate uses and gratifications based on the

expectancy-value approach. The results of their study supported the proposition

that gratifications obtained are strongly related to the beliefs about media

attributes. Such beliefs will then influence the gratifications sought.

Lometti, Reeves and Bybee (1977) conducted a study to test if individuals

could select their preferred medium based on their perceived gratifications. The

results showed there is a close relationship between gratifications sought and

obtained.

Since the notion of an active audience is an important and essential

element of uses and gratifications approach, Levy and Windahl (1984)

explored the part of audience activity. In their proposition, they formulated a

typology of audience activity based on two dimensions:

(1) Audience: with three levels of activities including selectivity, involvement

and use.

(2) Temporal: with three phrases of before, during and after exposure to media.

This extends to become three kinds of activities, which include preactivity,

duractivity and postactivity.

From these two dimensions with three levels or phrases of each, Levy and

Windahl developed a nine-fold typology of audience activity. They got he

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research data by mailing questionnaires to 390 adults. The respondents were

asked their television news habits. The three categories of audience activity,

namely preactivity, duractivity and postactivity were operationalised

respectively as the intentions of using media, attention to the program during

the process, and utility of the program information after the process (Levy and

Windahl 1984, p.62-64). The results they got revealed that the audience did

exhibit different activeness during the communication process.

The Levy and Windahl study not only tested the audience activity

typology they proposed to find out the activeness of audience in the

communication process, they also distinguished between gratification sought

and gratification obtained. From their study of Swedish television users, they

searched for the activity condition of audience and the gratification sought and

obtained from viewing television. The result findings suggested that

gratifications sought and gratifications obtained are positively related, that is,

when people have strong motivation to obtain certain gratification of needs,

they will pay much more attention and be more active in selecting and using

media. The positive relation was also consistent across the three levels of

preactivity, duractivity and postactivity. As a result, they could get more

gratification from such active participation in the communication process. In

addition, the relatively higher correlation between gratifications sought and

gratifications obtained also influences the audience activity in the

communication process.

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The purpose of Palmgreen et al. research (1980) was to investigate the

relationship between gratifications sought from television news and

gratifications obtained from network evening news programs. The study of

television news originated from Lasswell in 1948 in which he conceptualised

the functions of communication. Palmgreen in his study adopted five

gratifications dimensions, namely (1) general information seeking (for the

surveillance of environment), (2) decisional utility (for the personal use of

information to make decisions about personal or public issues), (3)

entertainment (for excitement or relaxation), (4) interpersonal utility (for

getting information so as to discuss with others and facilitate social

transmission), and (5) parasocial interaction (for people to imagine maintaining

relationships with media personalities as if they were real people) (Palmgreen

et al. 1980, p. 169-170). The methodology they adopted was telephone

interviews from 327 heads of household in Lexington, Kentucky. The pre-

condition of the respondents was that they should watch at least one network

evening newscast per week (Palmgreen et al. 1980, p.170). Palmgreen

measured gratifications sought from TV news by asking the respondents to

decide if the listed reasons for watching TV news were their reasons to watch

TV news or not. While gratifications obtained was measured by asking the

respondents if they could receive the gratifications they intended to get from

the activity of watching TV.

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The results of their study revealed two important ideas of the relationship

between gratifications sought and gratifications obtained. Firstly, each

gratification sought was correlated with its respective gratifications obtained

measure for the respondents‘ “most-watched” program. Therefore, it showed a

high correlation between gratifications sought and gratifications obtained.

Secondly, correlation between gratifications sought and gratifications obtained

was also higher than that of a non-corresponding one. That means if the

respondents found their gratifications sought and gratifications obtained could

be found in a particular medium, their dependence on that medium would be

enhanced (Palmgreen et. al. 1980, p. 173-176). Similar research had been also

attempted by McLeod, Bybee and Durall (1982).

In short, Palmgreen et al. in their study (1980) found that gratifications

sought and gratifications obtained are positively related. The results showed

each gratifications sought correlated moderately to strongly with its

corresponding gratifications obtained for the respondent’s most-watched

program. They described gratifications sought and gratifications obtained are

mutually influencing and concluded that media use could be driven by

intention to gratify media-related needs. By referring to the results and

conclusions made by Palmgreen et al. in their study, this paper will adopt a

qualitative approach to find out if I could seek out the similar results by

interviewing a small sample of respondents and find out the deeper meanings

of their intentions to use different media.

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Lichtenstein and Rosengren (1983) studied the perceived gratifications of

eight media. The results showed that the perceived attributes of media would

influence the audience’s selection of different media for their different media-

related needs.

Last but not least, the criticism of uses and gratifications approach being

atheoretical was attacked by Blumler in 1979 who claimed “there may be no

such thing as a or the uses and gratifications theory; there are plenty of theories

about uses and gratifications phenomena, which may well differ with each

other over many issues.” (Palmgreen et al. 1980, p. 162). Therefore, there have

been many approaches to study the media use of audience. Some studied and

found out the needs typologies of different media, some researched the

relationship between intention of media use and the satisfaction from such use,

some drew out the media attributes from gratifications, and some also studied

the audience activity in-depth before, during and after the process of media

consumption. There are also some related issues concerning gratifications

research which are needed to have further study. They include the nature and

substance of media gratifications, gratifications and media use, and

gratifications and media effects, etc. (McQuail, 1984, p.163-164).

Research Questions

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The research questions of this project will include the following:

(1) Which medium/media fulfil most in what the interviewees intends to use

and receive? What is the relationship between gratifications sought and

gratifications obtained? For a particular need, why the interviewees use

and not use a particular medium?

(3) Which medium/media have higher inclination by the interviewees for

meeting either cognitive or affective needs?

Method

This application project will research the relationship between

gratifications sought and gratifications obtained in the use of different media.

The study will focus on television, newspaper, magazine and radio. Due to the

limitation of resources, a survey questionnaire was not used. Instead, the

method of in-depth interviews of a small sample of people for the purpose of

exploring deeper meanings of why the interviewees choose different media to

fulfil their different needs. Indeed, there are some advantages of using

qualitative mode of research. The interviewees could describe their media

consumption activities in some detail and the meanings for them. It would be

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similar to the narrative account of the audience activity. Explanatory

description, instead of generalisability, could be obtained (Massey, 1995,

p.331). The use of the guiding questionnaire attached in Appendix I forms a

quantitative element of the study. The interviewees were asked to choose their

most frequently used media for their different motives of media use

(gratification sought) and if they could achieve what they expect (gratification

obtained).

The design of the guiding interview questions contain listings of common

motives (gratification sought) for the above four mentioned media and the

audience members were asked to select their motive of their most frequently

used media (Please refer to Appendix I for the guiding interview questions).

Basically, the needs and gratifications items are consolidated from previous

studies which had included the reasons of media consumption and the

gratifications received for the purpose of researches and studies (Furno-

Lamude and Andenne, 1992).

Subjects 16 people of the age group between 25-35 were interviewed face to face

individually. All of them are university graduates and their professions cover

executive-administration, technical and teaching. Among these 16 interviewees,

8 are male and 8 are female. The selection process of these 16 interviewees was

based on the features they possess. First, it was the factor of gender. In order to

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spread even the results from two sexes, 8 males and 8 females were selected.

All of these 16 interviewees were the people I have known for some time and

therefore they felt comfortable in talking to me. Second, it was the factor of age

group. All of the 16 interviewees were within the age group between 25 to 35.

Third, it was the factor of education background. All the interviewees have

university educational background. Therefore, the 16 interviewees were

intentionally chosen based on these three criteria. Owing to the limitation of

resources, I use the qualitative mode of analysis of interview results to find out

if I could explore more details behind the use of different media. The reason for

the 16 people sample size is that the limitation of resources could only allow a

small sample size. The solution for the problem is to conduct in-depth analysis

of interview results. The intentionally selected interviewees were chosen by the

criteria that they have higher elaboration ability for the reasons why they use

different media. Besides, I also intend to find out similar patterns between

gratifications sought and gratifications obtained as those found out by various

researchers who used mainly the quantitative approach to analyse large samples

of respondents.

Procedures The guiding interview questions in Appendix I contain the items that were

asked of the interviewees. Each was interviewed individually to avoid the

influence of others‘ opinions. Gratifications sought for the four media, namely

television, newspaper, magazine and radio, were operationalised as 10

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statements, which are the common motives of people to use these media.

These 10 need items were also employed by taking reference of the literature

that study has been included. Therefore, the three most important functions, or

the gratifications sought, of media use, namely, surveillance, entertainment and

interpersonal were included in the 10 needs items.

In each interview, each interviewee was asked to choose the medium that

they would mostly adopt to fulfil different media-related needs. Each time, they

could only answer one medium, for the purpose of finding out which medium

is mostly used for gratifying different needs. After answering the 10 statements,

two follow-up questions were posed to the interviewees. For question 1, they

were asked “Why do you choose the particular medium for different kinds of

needs?” and “What are the major reasons for choosing different media?”. The

purpose of asking these questions is to find out descriptive information of why

people use and not use particular medium for gratifying different needs. For

question 2, they were asked “According to your experience, are there other

common needs of media use that have not been mentioned here?” This question

is used to see if there are any more needs items in media use so as to fill out the

gratifications sought table that had been designed.

After asking questions in section B, the interviewees were asked of the

gratifications obtained in section C. As stated in Appendix I, the gratifications

items are basically the same as those of needs items. The purpose is to find out

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if different media could satisfy what people suppose to gratify for different

needs. Therefore, the interviewees were asked in this section “For each type of

need, which medium has most often helped you to satisfy and fulfil?”. The list

of gratifications items were changed a little bit but were basically kept with the

same meaning as the need items. It was by asking the gratifications obtained

section that it could help find out if the interviewees could fulfil their media-

related needs from different media. This is a main question of uses and

gratifications approach that whether there is any difference between what

people want to fulfil and what they actually procure from using media.

During the interview with each interviewee, each time was conducted as a

casual conversation so that the interviewee could freely flow their ideas and

give as much information as they can. Since this study tries to work out a

qualitative analysis, descriptions of the interviewees during the interviews will

be quoted in order to illustrate the result findings.

After finishing each interview, the frequency of choice by the interviewees

for each need and gratification item was counted. Although this is a simple

counting of choices, the total number of choices plus the descriptions and

explanations given by the interviewees would help to make a tentative analysis

and find out two results, namely the mostly-adopted medium for each needs

item, and the relationship between gratifications sought and gratifications

obtained.

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Results

After finishing all 16 personal interviews with the small sample of

purposive interviewees, all the responses were counted first to make an overall

picture of answers. The frequencies of choice by the interviewees for each need

item are as the following table:

Needs Items Medium

Television Newspaper Magazine Radio

1. To keep up with current issues & events

10 6 0 0

2. To obtain information about daily life

7 9 0 0

3. To get things to talk about 3 10 3 0 4. To learn about yourself 1 6 6 3 5. To kill time 5 2 5 4 6. To overcome loneliness 5 0 6 5 7. To entertain 8 0 6 2 8. To release tension & relax 3 0 5 8 9. To get away from usual problems

6 0 4 6

10. To spend time with others 16 0 0 0 One thing should be mentioned here is that since this study limits to media

use, each interviewee was requested to choose only one medium for fulfilling

each need item. Although it is understandable that in reality people may have

more than one option to fulfil their needs, the choice by asking them was only

restricted to choose one medium. That is why they were asked in this way, “If

you have to fulfil these needs, which medium you would mostly choose?”. In

addition, the media in this study only include television, newspaper, magazine

and radio. The media in this study are traditional media. They are ‘traditional’

in the sense that these electronic and print media are increasingly replaced by

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other electronic media such as internet, VCD and diskman. However, these

modern technologies were excluded in this study for the purpose that it could

know more about the uses and gratifications of the traditional media. By

restricting the options of media to fulfil media-related needs, it could also to a

certain extent reflect the common features of the traditional media and how

people utilise these media if only they are available for satisfying needs.

The first follow-up questions of this section is “Why do you choose the

particular medium for different kinds of needs?” and “For television /

newspaper / magazine / radio, what are the major reasons?”. Each interviewee

was asked in this part the medium that they would choose to fulfil their

gratifications sought. Therefore, by asking them the above-mentioned follow-

up question, it could know more about the intention of media use and the major

reasons for them to choose different media. Generally, this study formulated

the needs items table by taking reference of the functions mentioned by

Lasswell in 1948. The four main functions that the media serve a society

include surveillance, entertainment, correlation and cultural transmission. In

this study, it investigated the intentions of media use for the first three

functions. Among the 10 need item statements, ‘To keep up with current issues

and events’ and ‘To obtain information about daily life’ are the surveillance

functions of media. Functions of media for entertainment include ‘To kill time’,

‘To overcome loneliness’, ‘To entertain’ and ‘To release tension and relax’.

The remaining four need statements of ‘To get things about yourself’, ‘To learn

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about yourself’, ‘To get away from usual problems’ and ‘To spend time with

others’ are the functions of interpersonal relationship. Simply state, function of

surveillance is to keep up with what is going on in a society and grasp the

information of general development of the society. Function of entertainment is

to spend leisure time and release from the burden of daily works and pressure.

The media use intention of interpersonal relationship is to use the media

materials for building us up for better relationship with others.

Going back to this follow-up question, each interviewee was asked why

they choose their selected medium for each need item. In the results summary

table, it can be noticed that for the need items of ‘To keep up with current

issues and events’ and ‘To obtain information about daily life’, most of the

interviewees chose television and newspaper for fulfilment. The majority told

that they choose television and newspaper because these two media seem to be

faster than magazine and radio in providing updated and prompt information of

what is happening in the society. It is especially true for getting the ‘current

issues and events’. Television and newspaper also give the interviewees a

strong impression of being informative. Therefore, in order to procure

informative materials like news and facts, they would incline to choose

television and newspaper.

For the need statements of entertainment, namely ‘To kill time’, ‘To

overcome loneliness’, ‘To entertain’ and ‘To release tension and relax’, the

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selections were not only restricted to television and newspaper. Some of the

interviewees would choose magazine and radio. The main reasons they

explained were that magazine and radio could also provide entertainment to

them, and also because television and newspaper may not provide relaxation to

them. In addition, some interviewees also said that they would incline to

choose the media that seem not too serious to them for entertainment and

relaxation. Here, it should be mentioned here that magazine in this study

includes both news and current affairs, and general entertainment magazines. It

is because the interviewees chose magazine for the purpose of entertainment

for the sake of only knowing simply non-work and non-current affairs related

information while the interviewees also spend their leisure by reading current

affairs related magazines.

The function of interpersonal relationship that media serve implies that by

using media materials, people could build up themselves for better relationship

with others. While the intention for entertainment in media use concerns

mainly the personal self, the intention for interpersonal relationship to a certain

extent concerns the existence of others. Therefore, the needs of ‘To learn about

yourself’ and ‘To get away from usual problems’ imply the solving of our

personal problems in order to have a better communication and relationship

with others. The intention is more explicit in the needs of ‘To get things to talk

about’ and ‘To spend time with others’. People use media for these purposes

mostly intend to foster a better relationship with others. Here, it is to find out

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that when the interviewees want to fulfil these needs, they show a wider range

of choices. The choices spread over the four media. Many of them told that

they would consider the quality and nature of interpersonal relationship that

they would like to foster in order to choose the medium for fulfiling such

purpose.

The second follow-up question of this gratifications sought section is

“According to your experience, are there other common needs of media use

that have not been mentioned here?”. The purpose of this question is to find out

if people today have other gratifications that they would like to seek from

media use. From the 16 interviews, the needs are ‘To monitor the government’,

‘To make ourselves being involved’, ‘To set up models to strive for’ and ‘To

project for the future’, etc. Generally, the 10 need items cover the major

intentions of media use.

After asking all questions of media choice for fulfilling gratifications

sought, the interviewees were asked in the last section “For each type of

gratification, which medium has most often helped you to satisfy and fulfil?”.

This part used again the gratifications sought items as the gratifications

obtained items in order to find out the relationship between gratifications

sought and obtained. The need items were only phased a little bit to become

gratification items so as to correspond with each other. The following table

summarises the results:

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Gratifications Items Medium

Television Newspaper Magazine Radio

1. Kept up with current issues & events

10 6 0 0

2. Obtained information about daily life

7 9 0 0

3. Got things to talk about 2 13 1 0 4. Learning about myself 0 9 7 0 5. Helped me to kill time 7 0 5 4 6. Overcame my loneliness 4 0 5 7 7. Being entertained 8 0 6 2 8. Released my tension & has myself relaxed

5 0 3 8

9. Escaped from my usual problems

8 0 2 6

10. Spent time with others 16 0 0 0

It is clear that several gratifications sought and obtained correspond with

each other. They include the needs and gratifications obtained of ‘To keep up

with current issues and events’, ‘To obtain information about daily life’, ‘To

entertain’ and ‘To spend time with others’. The frequencies of choice were the

same in both needs and gratifications items. For the other items, there were a

little bit difference of frequency of choice across the four media. Some

interviewees told that although they would choose a particular medium for

fulfiling a particular need, some may not help them to fulfil that need most of

the time. From the differences between gratifications sought and obtained, it

reveals that what people intend to gratify may not necessarily be the same as

26

they actually procure from media use. The results of the gratifications sought

and obtained in this study will be elaborated in the following discussion section.

Discussion

The purpose of this study is to investigate the intentions of people to use

media and to find out the relationship between gratifications sought and

obtained. This study included the functions of surveillance, entertainment and

interpersonal relationship in the needs and gratifications items. Although the

sample was small, the interviews still gave a general picture of which media

people would mostly choose for fulfiling the above mentioned three media-

related needs.

In the results obtained from the 16 interviews, it can be found out there are

inclination of people to choose particular media in order to fulfil particular

needs. For instance, in the surveillance needs of ‘To keep up with current

issues and events’ and ‘To obtain information about daily life’, nearly all the

interviewees chose television and newspaper as the main media they will use to

satisfy these needs. From their explanation of the reasons, they said that they

chose television and newspaper to know about current issues and get daily

information because these two media have the attributes of being informative

and have a proven ability to provide necessary information of current news and

events of a society. Therefore, it can be noticed that among the four media in

this study, television and newspaper serve a strong function of surveillance to a

27

society. Most of the interviewees selected television and newspaper ‘to keep up

with current issues and events’ and ‘to obtain information about daily life’.

Some of them said, “Television/newspaper is the most effective channel for me

to know the news and developments of the society. I can also get the

information of daily life from these media because there are a lot of informative

programs.”; “By watching television and reading newspaper, I could know

what is going on in the society. For first-hand news, I would choose television;

for daily information, I think newspaper is sufficient and better than

television.” Indeed, from the results of these two surveillance functions of

media, it can be noticed that television is perceived to be better than newspaper

in providing news of current issues and events while newspaper is better than

television in providing daily information and in-depth analysis of current issues.

Therefore, the needs of surveillance are better fulfilled by newspaper and

television owing to their unique attributes of providing information of current

development of a society.

Regarding to the entertainment needs, ‘To kill time’, ‘To overcome

loneliness’, ‘To entertain’ and ‘To release tension & relax’ are obviously for

the purpose of solving personal problems and spending leisure time. Therefore,

when television and newspaper have a proven ability to provide information of

current events and issues to the audience, magazine and radio gain grounds in

the use for entertainment. For instance, some interviewees told me that

“Magazines not only contain ‘hard issues’ of the society, but it also contain

28

‘soft issues’ such as the news of super-stars, celebrities and fashion trend, etc. I

can take magazines with me when I am not at home. So I find magazines are

convenient for me to spend time.”; “When I am not seeking the daily news, I

prefer to turn on the radio because I could listen to music and have a chance to

relax.” The interview results show that television, magazine and radio have a

place in the need for entertainment. However, it seems that the interviewees

rarely use newspaper to serve the purpose of entertainment. As some

interviewees said “I read newspaper only for the purpose of seeing what is

going on in our society. If I want entertainment, I hardly read newspaper

because I will not have fun.” The results of media choice also reveal that

newspaper does have an image of providing the function of surveillance of

society while television provides both the functions of surveillance and

entertainment to people. This also concerns the perception of people of each

medium’s functions to fulfil their needs. If people think that they could satisfy

their needs by a particular medium, they will actively use that medium.

The interviewees have a wider choice of media for the third function of

gratification sought in this study, interpersonal relationship. The gratification of

interpersonal relationship means that people use media materials to build up

themselves for better relationship with others. Except for the need of ‘To spend

time with others’, the interviewees have a wider choice of media for fulfiling

the other three needs of interpersonal relationship of ‘To get things to talk

about’, ‘To learn about yourself’ and ‘To get away form usual problems’. The

29

interviewees interpreted the need of interpersonal relationship as the looking

for information to talk with others on the one hand, and utilise media to spend

time with others on the other hand. The need of ‘To spend time with others’

obviously have the meaning of activity of more than one people, therefore,

given the four media choice in the present study, all the 16 interviewees chose

television as the media for gratifying this need.

Finally, for the results of the second follow-up question of the section of

gratification sought, the answers of ‘To monitor the government’, ‘To make

ourselves being involved’, ‘To set up models to strive for’ and ‘To project for

the future’. Indeed, since the study only allowed the interviewees to choose

from the four traditional media in this study, they told me that the 10 needs

items generally cover the basic gratifications sought from media.

In the last section, the interviewees were asked, “For each type of

gratification, which medium has most often helped you to satisfy and fulfil?”.

The purpose of this question is to see if the interviewees could satisfy from

what they suppose to receive from media use. Four out of the 10 gratifications

items, namely ‘Kept up with current issues and events’, ‘Obtained information

about daily life’, ‘Being entertained’ and ‘Spent time with others’ have the

same results from those in the gratifications sought section. This reveals a

correspondence between gratifications sought and obtained for these four items.

For the other gratifications, slightly differences occurred. For instance, the need

30

of ‘To kill time’ originally covers the choice of newspaper. But the results in

gratifications obtained reveal that the interviewees to kill time rarely adopt

newspaper. Instead, the features of audio-visual elements of television provide

more pleasure for the interviewees to spend their leisure time. Besides,

television programming is also attractive for the dual purposes of information

searching and entertainment. We could look for local news, international news,

business news, overseas movies, documentary, international sport, comedies

and much much more from television. It could be said that the difference

between gratifications sought and obtained of the interviewees show the

discrepancies between what they suppose to receive and what they actually

procure from media use.

Besides the difference between some gratifications sought and obtained, it

is found out that for the surveillance functions of media, namely ‘To keep up

with current issues and events’ and ‘To obtain information about daily life’ in

this study, they have a correspondence between gratifications sought and

obtained. From the conversation with the interviewees, they said “If I want to

know the news and facts of current issues, I will watch television/reading

newspaper and most likely I could get the information I want.” During the

interviews, they have a very clear mind of what they want and so will go direct

to the right medium. News and current affairs programs on television are able

to provide prompt information of what is happening in the society whereas

newspaper is better able to offer in-depth analysis of current affairs and other

31

information about our daily life. Therefore, when the interviewees were asked

the choice of media in order to fulfil these two needs, they told me that they

could receive what they want to receive from a particular medium. This also

reflects that there is a relationship between gratifications sought and

gratifications obtained when the needs are matched by the attributes of media.

This study will take the results of this small sample interview study

comparing with the results obtained by Palmgreen, Wenner and Rayburn

(1980). Palmgreen et al. studied the relations between gratifications sought and

obtained by studying the use of television news by audience. They had two

major findings. First, gratifications sought correlated moderately to strongly

with its corresponding gratifications obtained for the respondent‘s most-

watched program. Second, the degree of dependence on a particular program

was positively related to the strength of the gratifications sought versus

gratifications obtained relationship (Palmgreen et. al. 1980, p.161). Both of

these two findings reveal that media use can be driven by the people’s intention

to gratify their needs. If the audience actively uses or has active involvement in

media consumption, they would probably get what they want from their chosen

media. Palmgreen et al. concluded that there is indeed a feedback model

relating gratifications sought and obtained (Palmgreen et. al. 1980, p. 183).

This feedback model implies that when people have a mind of what they would

like to receive from the use of media, they will probably receive those kinds of

things. Concerning the degree of dependence on a particular medium,

32

Palmgreen concluded that it is positively related to the strength of gratifications

sought versus gratifications obtained relationship. If gratifications sought and

obtained correspond with each other, then the probability for people to utilise

the same medium/media to satisfy needs will be higher. In the present study,

for the surveillance functions of media like ‘To keep up with current issues and

events’ and ‘To obtain information about daily life’, gratifications sought and

obtained correspond with each other. It means that given the choice of the four

media in the present study, the interviewees would choose television and

newspaper to gratify those two needs.

Referring back to the research questions, this study is to find out some

answers and implications. The first set of questions are “Which medium/media

fulfil most in what people intends to use and receive?”, “What is the

relationship between gratifications sought and gratifications obtained?” and

“For a particular need, why people use and not use a particular medium?”. By

comparing the results of media selection in gratifications sought and obtained

sections, television and newspaper seem to be better able to fulfil what the

interviewees want to receive. Although the gratifications sought and obtained

for the entertainment need item of ‘To entertain’ and the interpersonal

relationship need item of ‘To spend time with others’ correspond with each

other, there are still some slight difference in the other need items. Therefore,

the interviewees have a stronger mind of what they would like to receive and

from which they could satisfy their needs of surveillance from media.

33

Based on the above observation in the present study, it seems that to a

certain extent gratifications sought and gratifications obtained have a

correlation. It means that when people have a clear mind of what they would

like to receive from using media, they would search for the right media to fulfil

their needs. This implies the importance of active participation and intentional

use in media consumption. For the need of surveillance, people would search

for the information about social development. Since television and newspaper

have the attributes of being informative and timely delivery of social issues and

events, the interviewees will choose them for that need. For the needs of

entertainment and interpersonal relationship, since different media provide

different degrees of fulfilment, the results told that the choice of the

interviewees covered four media. It also implies the relationship between

gratifications sought and gratifications obtained does influence the choice of

media.

From the results of media choice of the 16 interviewees, it also helps to

answer the question of “For a particular need, why people use and not use a

particular medium?”. This question could be explained by the attributes of

different media and the relationship between gratifications sought and

gratifications obtained. The attributes of media are the characteristics and

functions that the media could provide. For instance, newspaper is able to

provide information and in-depth analysis of the news about current issues and

events; television provides both prompt deliveries of news and entertainment;

34

the functions of magazine and radio are various and therefore could fulfil

different needs. Therefore, the functions of media affect the interviewees’

selection to gratify media-related needs.

The second research question is “which medium/media have higher

inclination by the interviewees for meeting either cognitive or affective needs?”

In general, the 16 interviews in this study told that for fulfilment of cognitive

needs, which mainly mean the search for information, the interviewees would

tend to have a clear mind about where they could find out the information.

Therefore, they would choose television and newspaper to fulfill their cognitive

needs (knowledge and information). On the other hand, for the fulfilment of

affective needs, which mean the search for entertainment from media use, the

interviewees will tend to have a wider range of choices in media. Therefore,

they would choose magazine, radio or television to fulfill their affective needs

(passion and relaxation).

The present study is a small sample interview of 16 people. The interview

results of their choices of media to fulfil the 10 need items to a certain extent

tell something about the audience participation in media consumption. When

the study compares the findings with those of Palmgreen, Wenner and Rayburn

(1980), some similar observations are found out. The core concepts of

gratifications sought and gratifications obtained are crucial in the study of

audience use of media. It is especially obvious for the function of surveillance

35

in media. The 16 interviewees generally thought that when a particular

medium/media have the obvious attributes of serving their particular needs,

they would be inclined to use that medium/media to fulfil these needs. As a

result, the dependence on that medium/media would be enhanced.

It should be admitted that the present study is not a representative one due

to the small sample size. It should be emphasised that the study is not supposed

to reach some generalisation. What I want to achieve is to apply media use

concepts, especially the relationship between gratifications sought and

gratifications obtained, provided by Palmgreen et al. (1980), in daily life.

Although it is a small sample study, the results still share some similarities with

those observed by Palmgreen et al. Simply state, the correlation between

gratifications sought and obtained implies an active use of media by people.

Besides the small sample size, it is also admitted that the media choices

may be not sufficient. In the present study, it only includes television,

newspaper, magazine and radio for the 16 interviewees to choose for fulfiling

the designated 10 need items. During the process of interviews, it sometimes

came across the ideas of insufficient modern communication technologies for

the interviewees to choose. Some of them suggested that the study could

include modern communication technologies such as internet, VDC and cable

television for them to select. Today, it could be observed that many people

have wider range of choices for fulfiling their media-related needs. A wider

36

range of choices means that people could use not only one medium, but maybe

more than two media to fulfil the same need. For instance, internet today is

well-connected to the global super-highway. It complements with traditional

media like television and newspaper to provide information about current news

and events in the world. Those news cover social and global developments,

news service, financial information and much much more. Internet can also

provide wide varieties of entertainment to users. However, it should be stated

that the purpose for the study to limit the choice to four media is to see which

one the interviewees would choose if only these four media are available. This

indicates the influence of functional alternatives to the dependence on media.

Although we can use other non-media means to fulfil our needs, it is found that

people today will inevitably use media to achieve their fulfilment.

Due to the limitations of small sample size and limited options of media

choice, more research could be done to cover a larger sample size with

qualitative analysis, and to study the uses and gratifications of modern

communication technologies. Previous studies on uses and gratifications

approach mainly utilised the quantitative study of a large sample of audience.

The use of qualitative analysis on this approach is very few and there will be a

potential for further exploration. Besides, the uses and gratifications study of

modern communication technologies is still rare and there is also a potential for

future investigation (Williams, Phillips and Lum, 1984). Directions for future

research could include the role of gratification seeking in exposure to mass

37

communication, and linking gratifications to the content of mass media

(Swanson, 1987, p.237). Cross-cultural comparisons and the use of textual

messages would be interesting to study (Blumler, Gurevitch and Katz, 1984).

Ethnographic research method has also a high potential to provide the

substance of the audience’s active use of media content (Morley, 1993).

Conclusion

Although this research cannot reveal the audience activity of using

different media, like what Levy and Windahl (1984) had done in their study of

Swedish television users, the results will somehow reveal the motives of

audience in media consumption and if their motives could help them gratify

their expectation and needs. This study is not supposed to reach some

generalisation. However, since the previous researches used the quantitative

approach to study the relationship between gratifications sought and obtained,

the use of qualitative method to look at other aspects would be useful.

Uses and gratifications approach says that the mass media is a functional

alternative to need gratifications (Rosengren 1973). There is indeed a wide

range of areas that future researches could be conducted to study audience use

of media. It is thought that the value of this approach is therefore based on this

richness of studying the phenomenon of gratification of human needs by using

the mass media.

38

References

Blumler, J. G., Gurevitch, M. and Katz, E. (1984). Reaching out: a future for gratifications research. In K. E. Rosengren, L. A. Wenner, and P. Palmgreen (Eds.), Media gratification research: current perspectives (pp. 255-273). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Elliott, P. (1974). Uses and gratifications research: a critique and a sociological alternative. In J. G. Blumler and E. Katz (Eds.), The uses of mass communications: current perspectives on gratifications research (pp. 249-265). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Furno-Lamude, D. and Andenne, J. (1992). The Uses and Gratifications of Rerun Viewer. Journalism Quarterly, 69 (2), 362-372. Katz, E., Blumler, J. and Gurevitch M. (1974). Utilisation of mass communication by the individual. In J. G. Blumler and E. Katz (Eds.), The uses of mass communications: current perspectives on gratifications research (pp. 19-31). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Levy, M. (1983). Conceptualizing and measuring aspects of audience ‘activity’. Journalism Quarterly, 60, 109-114. Levy, M. and Windahl, S. (1984). Audience activity and gratifications: a conceptual clarification and exploration. Communication Research, 11 (1), 51-78. Levy, M. and Windahl, S. (1985). The concept of audience activity. In K.E. Rosengren, L. A. Wenner, and P. Palmgreen (Eds.), Media gratification research: current perspectives (pp. 109-122). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Lichtenstein, A. and Rosenfeld, L. B. (1983). Uses and misuses of gratifications research: an explication of media functions. Communication Research, 10 (1), 97-109. Lin, C. A. (1996). Looking Back: The Contribution of Blumler and Katz’s Uses of Mass Communication To Communication Research. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 40, 574-581. Lometti, G. E., Reeves, B. and Bybee, C. R. (1977). Investigating the assumptions of uses and gratifications research. Communication Research, 4 (3), 321-338. Massey, K. B. (1995). Analyzing the Uses and Gratifications Concept of Audience Activity with a Qualitative Approach: Media Encounters During the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake Disaster. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 39, 328-349. McLeod, J. M., Bybee, C. R. and Durall, J. A. (1982). Evaluating media performance by gratifications sought and received. Journalism Quarterly, 59, 3-12. McQuail, D. (1984). Gratifications research and media theory: many models or one?

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In K. E. Rosengren, L. A. Wenner, and P. Palmgreen (Eds.), Media gratification research: current perspectives (pp. 149-167). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Morley, D. (1993). Active Audience Theory: Pendulums and Pitfalls. Journal of Communication, 43 (4), 13-19. Palmgreen, P. (1984). Uses & gratifications: a theoretical perspective. In R.N. Bostrom (Ed.), Communication Yearbook 8, 20-55. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Palmgreen, P., Wenner, L. A. and Rayburn, J. (1980). Relations between gratifications sought and obtained: a study of television news. Communication Research, 7 (2), 161-192. Palmgreen, P., Wenner, L. A. and Rosengren, K. E. (1985). Uses and gratification research: the past ten years. In K. E. Rosengren, L. A. Wenner, and P. Palmgreen (Eds.), Media gratification research: current perspectives (pp. 11-37). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Rayburn, J. D. and Palmgreen, P. (1984). Merging uses and gratifications and expectancy-value theory. Communication Research, 11 (4), 537-562. Rosengren, K. E. (1973). Uses and gratifications: a paradigm outlined. In J. G. Blumler and E. Katz (Eds.), The uses of mass communications: current perspectives on gratifications research (pp. 269-285). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Rosengren, K. E. (1984). Growth of a research tradition: some concluding remarks. In K. E. Rosengren, L. A. Wenner, and P. Palmgreen (Eds.), Media gratification research: current perspectives (pp. 275-284). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Rubin, A. M. (1986). Uses, gratifications, and media effects research. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Perspectives on media effects (pp. 281-301). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Swanson, D. L. (1987). Gratification Seeking, Media Exposure, and Audience Interpretations: Some Directions for Research, Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 31 (3), 237-254. Williams, F., Phillips, A. F. and Lum, P. (1984). Gratifications associated with new communication technologies. In K. E. Rosengren, L. A. Wenner, and P. Palmgreen (Eds.), Media gratification research: current perspectives (pp. 241-252). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

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Appendix A

Hong Kong Baptist University Master of Arts in Communication

Application Project

A Study of Gratifications Sought and Gratifications Obtained in Media Use

By Interview Results Analysis

Section A 1. Your gender: _____ Male _____ Female 2. Your age (purposive 25-35): ___________ 3. Your occupation: Executive / Technical / Clerical / Others __________ 4. Your education: Form 7 or below / Higher Diploma or Certificate / Bachelor

Degree / Master or Doctoral Degree

Section B The following are the common needs for people using the media of: television, newspaper, magazine and radio. If you have to fulfil these needs, which medium you would mostly choose? Needs Items Medium

Television Newspaper Magazine Radio

1. To keep up with current issues & events

2. To obtain information about daily life

3. To get things to talk about 4. To learn about yourself 5. To kill time 6. To overcome loneliness 7. To entertain 8. To release tension & relax 9. To get away from usual problems

10. To spend time with others

Follow-up question one: Why do you choose the particular medium for different kinds of needs? For television/newspaper/magazine/radio, what are the major reasons? Follow-up question two: According to your experience, are there other common needs of media use that have not been mentioned here? Section C

41

The following are the gratifications of the above-mentioned needs in our common use of media. For each type of need, which medium has most often helped you to satisfy and fulfil? Gratifications Items Medium

Television Newspaper Magazine Radio

1. Kept up with current issues & events

2. Obtained information about daily life

3. Got things to talk about 4. Learning about myself 5. Helped me to kill time 6. Overcame my loneliness 7. Being entertained 8. Released my tension & has myself relaxed

9. Escaped from my usual problems

10. Spent time with others

42