| Roundtable: Using a Media Content Analysis to Evaluate the Impact of a Public Awareness Campaign |
| Roundtable Presentation 609 to be held in Conference Room 1 on Friday, Nov 4, 10:45 AM to 11:30 AM |
| Sponsored by the Advocacy and Policy Change TIG |
| Presenter(s): |
| Leslie Babinski, Duke University, lb107@duke.edu |
| Ashley Corra, Duke University, ashley.corra@duke.edu |
| Elizabeth Gifford, Duke University, beth.gifford@duke.edu |
| Abstract: A national non-profit organization, America's Promise Alliance, launched the Dropout Prevention Campaign in 2008 to 'bring awareness to the nation's alarming high school dropout rate.' One way to evaluate the impact of a public will campaign is to conduct a content analysis of the media coverage of the issue since the news media can be a powerful force in shaping the public's perception. In this paper, we will discuss our strategy for coding and analyzing over 1200 television news segments about the high school dropout issue in national news coverage as well as local news in 12 cities across the United States during 2009. We will discuss the pros and cons of conducting media analyses as part of an evaluation strategy for public health or social marketing campaigns intended to increase public awareness and mobilize public will. |