"Classification of Educational Radio Research" (January 1, 1941)

interest in certain science activities. Transcriptions of science school broad¬ casts that fitted their school work were played for these children. They were then given tests to determine whether or not the programs and their utiliza¬ tion in the classrooms had stimulated them to find out more about the subjects presented. It was found that the groups hearing these programs did in fact do more reading, discussing and information-getting than comparable groups of students not hearing the programs. Similar research is urgently needed both on the stimulating effect of in-school and out-of-school radio listening. (8) Educational radio may be expected to change some of the attitudes of those who listen regularly. Research is urgently needed to determine what types of attitudes are most easily changed and what groups of adults and young people are most susceptible to this influence. The Evaluation of School Broadcasts group is working on this problem with attitude tests and opinion scales given to comparable groups of school children before and after radio series. The Office of Radio Research at Columbia University, working with listener panels and repeated interviews, will shortly provide some information on these points. Preliminary studies already completed by the latter group imply that persons of neutral attitude shift more often toward one side or the other than do persons who state beforehand that they are certain of their attitudes. (9) Teachers concerned with developing the ability of their pupils to think will be quick to see the value of research designed to test the effect of educational radio on thinking. The Evaluation of School Broadcasts group has some work in progress in this area. For example, they are testing the relative ability of high school listeners and non-listeners to "America’s Town Meeting of the Air" to give good reasons for their opinions. If significant differences are found between the listening and non-listening groups, a strong case will be made for the value of this program to high school students, and teachers will know that students can be helped in their thinking by programs of this type. Research of Particular Value to Civic and Administrative Groups (l) Many civic groups, particularly Parent-Teacher Associations, are concerned about the large amount of time that youngsters spend listening to "trashy" radio programs. Judgments of the time spent in this way are made all too often on the experience of a few individual parents. It is a subject for objective research to determine the actual listening habits of youngsters all over the country. Furthermore, until more definite results have been obtained from research on effects , of the types discussed below, it will be premature to stigmatize programs as trashy. Studies reported on at the Eleventh Annual Institute for Education by Radio at Ohio State University, May 19^-0 (especially those by Ethel Shanas and by John P McKay) show that it is not difficult to get reliable information, at least for a single community, concerning favorite programs and total time spent. Such information should be a sine qua non for Parent-Teachers Associations and other civic groups who wish to be influential in determining the radio diet and habits of children. Other civic groups engaged in safety, health, consumer education, or other campaigns, will need to know when they can reach the particular audience they have in mind. Research will be required to determine the best times to reach women, adolescents, children, working-men, or professional people. -9-