The Reliability and Stability of Television Exposure

A study was conducted to assess the reliability and stability of television exposure, and the relationship of various demographic variables to this, presumed hypothetical construct, when measurement error is removed. A secondary analysis of survey data collected from a sample of black adults over two points in time served as the basis for this investigation. Using a LISREL model. the results indicated that: (1) the indicators of television exposure are moderately reliable and any unreliability is almost entirely due to random error; (2) the construct is substantially unstable over the interval assessed and (3) education is inversely related to television exposure. it was concluded that more attention should be given to theoretically defining media exposure, a central concept in communication research, and to taking into account measurement error.

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