The New Age of TV: How different generations access television programsBy Hannah DenkerOklahoma State University

Research Question

Is there a difference in how people from different generations access

television programs?

Hypothesis

People from an older generation use their satellite or cable service to access television programs while people from a more recent generation use more online technologies to access television programs.

Variables

Independent Variable: The age groups of participants

Dependent Variables: Behaviors in accessing television programs.

Methods

Create a survey in Google Docs

Have survey peer-reviewed to test for validity

Send survey to at least 20 people of varying age groups.

18-23 (n=18)

24-28 (n=1)

29-35 (n=3)

36-44 (n=3)

46+ (n=2)

Methods Cont.

Download Google Docs spreadsheet into Microsoft Excel.

Assign numerical values to participant responses:

Strongly Agree = 5

Somewhat Agree = 4

Neutral = 3

Somewhat Disagree = 2

Strongly Disagree = 1

Age group Averages shown

Items of Interest

I had a high response of participants in the 18-23 age group, and only one participant in the 24-28 age group.

Compared to the number of participants in the 18-23 age group, there were fewer participants in all other age groups combined.

About 75% of the participants were female.

I chose to cluster participants ages 18-35 as the “more recent generation” and participants ages 36+ as the “older generation.”

Data Analysis

There were three trends that stood out to me in the data.

1. The older generation (36+) watched slightly more television programs regularly than the more recent generation (18-35).

2. The older generation uses their satellite or cable services to access their television programs more than the more recent generation.

3. The younger age groups used the Internet to access television programs more than people in the older age groups.

More recent generation

Older Generation

Cable/Satellite Usage V. Internet Usage

Older generationMore recent generation

More recent generation Older generation

Discussion

Although my sample was not the best, the results support part of my hypothesis. People in the older generation use satellite and cable services to access their television programs more than they use internet services to access television programs.

The data did not support that people in the younger generation regularly use Internet services to access television programs very strongly.

Final Thoughts

Overall, many people of all age groups and in both generations watch television regularly. As the Internet’s availability makes its content easily accessed 24/7, I believe that the number of people who choose to use it to watch television will increase. This study showed that using the Internet to access television may be limited to those who have grown up in its presence.