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Apryl Awbrey, Ruben Bugter, Dax Montano, Alysha Webber
This study explored knowledge gap theory and its application over a wide array of components of modern culture. We explore the origin of the theory and how its creators came to form the hypothesis which evolved into the theory we still study today. We found that knowledge gap applies to cultures across the world, specifically the United States, Switzerland, Singapore, and Australia. Knowledge gap is foundational part of the sociological study of mass communication and is applicable throughout many facets of modern society.
- Tichenor, Donohue and Olien (1970)
-between higher and lower socioeconomic status
- Increase of information not evenly acquired
- Status determined by education level and knowledge of public affairs
- 5 factors that justify the knowledge gap:
- Communication skills
- Stored Information
- Relevant Social Contact
- Selective Exposure
- Media Market Targets
- Knowledge gap is observable in many cultures even today and has the same effects researchers found decades ago
-Tichenor had background in journalism and mass communications
-Donohue and Olien had backgrounds in sociology
- This theory first came about when the three wanted study the amount of people who read the newspaper in Minnesota communities in the 1960's
2 Succeeding Studies
The Knowledge Gap: An Analytical Review of Media Effects was a study done by Cecilie Gaziano in 1983 re-examining the original research on the knowledge gap and investigating the varying outside influences that could have affected their findings
-In 1999 a telephone survey was done on about 10,000 people all over Switzerland and some places in Germany....
Knowledge Gap in Action Across the World
...questions involved age, sex, income, education and what kind of internet access was available
the same study was done again in 2000 to ensure data.
it was found that well educated young males with a nice income had the most access to internet creating a knowledge gap and resource gap with less educated people and females.
- 2012 study done by Ho (Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2008) on the spread of awareness of Bird Flu in Singapore
- Found that people with higher income and social status were more likely to be aware of the threat of the disease than those lower on the scale
- Reaffirmed knowledge gap hypothesis
- Knowledge everywhere: so also United States
- Kent School District
- Less involvement in collaborative activities
- Southern Indiana
- Gap can arise at very early age
- Can lead to lots of problems: even getting less healthy
Strengths: By recognizing a gap in knowledge, it is easier to overcome it, help close the gap for those who don't have access to information, and prevent those in power from taking advantage of those in the gap
Weaknesses: So many aspects affect the development of a knowledge gap that it can be difficult to fully understand. These things include concrete ideas like money, but also abstract ideas like social status etc.
Conclusion
- the knowledge gap occurs when one group of society has less access to information than another