CITATION AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
Cite as: Dervin, B. & Song, M. (2005). Reaching for phenomenological depths in uses and gratifications research: A quantitative empirical investigation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the International Communication Association, New York City, May. [Available online] <http: communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/art/artabsdervinsong05icaUG.html>
© Brenda Dervin & Mei Song, 2005.

ABSTRACT:
The purpose of this study was to apply a set of explicitly qualitative assumptions to a quantitative empirical investigation of media/channel uses and gratifications using a research question (channels as predictors of gratifications) and approach (statistical analysis) normatively accepted in the research tradition. The intent was to go beyond the old-and-tired polarization of qualitative versus quantitative and to build a bridge in which borrowings from each approach remained true to their origins without homogenization. In shorthand, the purpose of the study was primarily one of methodological engagement. For this study, the qualitative borrowings involved a set of assumptions regarding the nature of in-depth phenomenologically-based interviewing and explicit attention to soliciting gratification namings in terms of phenomenological depths. The research question became, thus, how did the naming of seven gratifications (drawn from the literature) vary by channel and phenomenological depth. The interviews for the study were executed by students in an in-depth interviewing class at a large public university using interviews conducted on themselves and their friends and relatives. Sample size was 56 with each respondent coded for three gratification depths for each of five channels -- television, newspaper, radio, book, and interpersonal contact. A factorial analysis of variance tested was conducted to test for channel, depth, subject, and channel x depth interactions. Results both mirrored former uses and gratifications studies and opened up windows for examining the complex interplay of media/channels in everyday life. Conclusions pointed to a rich array of alternative entry points for advancing the uses and gratifications research tradition.

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