Research Questions and Hypotheses

The Study’s Goal

The study’s goal was to understand how young people interpret and use the news that is available in digital places (Knight Foundation, 2017). Therefore, it was important to comprehend the impact of mobile devices, social media, and messaging apps. The researchers also needed to know whether the proliferation of media institutions has an effect on young people’s behavior. On a similar line, researchers needed to determine how young people respond to current initiatives to inform and engage them. The questions that were asked include:

• How do you define news in the digital age? (Knight Foundation, 2017)
• What makes you have a great trust for some form of information as compared to the other?
• Where do you share or encounter news?
• Which platforms do you consider to be better as compared to others?

Independent and Dependent Variables

The independent variables in the study include news, watching news, age, gender, and location.

The dependent variables are the bias and accuracy of the news.

Overall Design of the Study

The exploratory study uses focus groups as a way of gathering data (Rodriquez, 2017). As such, 6 groups are used and the transcripts analyzed. The participants were 52 teens and young adults who were randomly selected across the United States. These participants were needed to assist in understanding the conceptualized and consumed news that exists in the digital spaces. The recruitment focused on having the small sample size, which reflected the perception of individuals from three cities to enhance quick and effective data collection. Hence, the researcher had the control of how data collection would take place in the study.

In each focus group, there was a professional facilitator who moderated the entire process, which lasted for approximately 90 minutes. Three cities were selected as Chicago, Philadelphia and Charlotte (Knight Foundation, 2017). The selection of these cities was based on their unique characteristic of regional diversity. The focus groups were recruited broadly to ensure that there was an ethical and racial diversity. The age of the participants was between 14 and 24. This included a mixture of college and non-college students, as well as college graduates.

Summary of the Conclusion

The researchers come to a conclusion that several young adults and teens in the focus groups indicated that they do not trust the level of news media accuracy. Thus, they need to focus on the system where distributed trust exists among people and different sources, so that they develop confidence on specific stories (Knight Foundation, 2017). Further, the study finds that it is important to rely on trusted sources for the kinds of news, which relate to political issues since these can easily be manipulated and biased.

The form of news encountered by the young people is multidimensional and varied (Rodriquez, 2017). As such, individuals can notice a story in the media, but not trust it. The participants also indicated that it is easier to encounter news accidently while interacting with platforms that include Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and apps instead of seeking it out. The study population also does not always trust the information because of perceived inaccuracies and bias. There are several news platforms available indicating that coherence on what is reported on these sources is vital to improve the reliability level of news and eliminate the associated bias with the same in society.

The conclusions are accurate and based on the answers gained from the focus groups. As such, these conclusions help in answering the research questions of the study and providing insights on the perception of the youth on news landscape. Further, the authors indicate what has been happening on the sphere of news in society by linking the current findings of the study with previous inferences. It is evident that privacy-related concerns are highly amplified in the conclusion of the author. In addition, there is an indication of the patterns involved in the consumption of news among the young people. Moreover, the researchers make a recommendation for the use of a combined quantitative and qualitative approach as a way of comprehending the portrait of attitudes and behaviors of people in relation to news and the sources.

Pertinent Information

I agree with the article in terms of representing the report on the study findings. This is because the article indicates the purpose of the study, how it was conducted, the involved participants, who was in charge, the findings, and then a discussion on the findings. Moreover, there is a good organization of the article into different sections of the study report. However, it could be improved by adding the research questions to the article. These questions would act as guidance to the reader to glimpse what is expected at the end. In addition, the article should indicate the contribution of the research, which was conducted to society. This includes the indication of the essence of research and how individuals can benefit from it successfully.

References

Knight Foundation. (2017). How youth navigate the news landscape. Retrieved on July 17, 2017 from https://knightfoundation.org/reports/how-youth-navigate-the-news-landscape

Rodriquez, A. (2017). Young Americans don’t trust any single news report on its own - and they

think everything is biased. Retrieved on July 17, 2017 from https://qz.com/922094/how-young-people-consume-news-many-dont-trust-any-single-news-report-from-places-like-cnn-and-facebook-on-its-own-and-they-think-everything-is-biased/