Eestlaste meediatarbimisharjumuste analüüs Meediapäeva uuringu tulemuste põhjal 2004–2006
Date
2006
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Abstract
Description
The present bachelor’s thesis “The Analysis of Estonian Media Consumption Habits on
the Basis of the Media Day Survey Results 2004-2006” has been written with the
objective of studying the duration and structure of the media day in Estonia from 2004
to 2006 in order to gain insight into Estonians’ habits in the use of media. The thesis is
based on the quantitative analysis of the media diaries completed as part of the Media
day study conducted from 2004 to 2006 by the department of media and communication
at the University of Tartu. One of the aspects that is of interest for the author of the
present study, is the length of the media day during the years under scrutiny; the other
aspect looked into is the structure of the average media day.
In the beginning of the thesis an empirical overview of the studies conducted in the
preceding years is given. Thereafter the results of the study of the Media day are
summarized and presented in the analysis, the first chapter of which deals with
exploring the average span of the use of various media in 2004, 2005 and 2006. The
biggest differences are pointed out and attention is paid to whether the use of media
increased, decreased or vacillated over the period of the three years under observation.
Additionally, the length of the media day is analyzed separately for each medium in
three different age groups (12-19; 20-49; 50-74). The second chapter presents the
portion of the respondents who spent time on the use of various media – which channels
the respondents spent most time on and which differences could be perceived in the
preferences by age groups. In the chapter dealing with discussion and conclusions the
main results of the Media day project are summarized and linked with the empirical
premises of the thesis.
The subject merited study as the practice of reading newspapers and magazines and that
of the use of the Internet had not been measured temporally i.e. with the accuracy of
minutes in Estonia. Studies of the use of time in relation to media had been conducted
during the preceding years, but different researchers have adopted different
methodologies. In general, the length of the media day has thus far only been estimated relying on the results of studies in other countries. The empirical data obtained from the
results of the Media day has proved valuable as it enables to point out the use of various
media with the accuracy of minutes among the sample under consideration. Even if no
claims have been made for the sample to be representative and the study can be
considered explorative in nature, it has enabled to identify relevant tendencies in the use
of media by different age groups.
The results of Media day indicate that those among the sample of Media day spent more
time on average on reading newspapers and magazines and on using the Internet than
had been estimated about Estonians in the previous years, notwithstanding the fact that
reading newspapers decreased during the three years. Similar tendencies could be
observed in listening to the radio and to a lesser degree also in watching television, the
decline of which could be seen in earlier studies and was confirmed by the Media day
study. When comparing the time allotted to listening to the radio and watching
television in 2003 (both as primary and secondary activities), it became evident that the
use of both media had decreased. The decline was particularly notable in the case of the
radio that during the last three years was on average listened to 2 hours and 19 minutes
less than in 2003. Watching television has gone through an average drop of 13 minutes,
a relatively minor decrease compared to listening to the radio.
For the years 2004, 2005 and 2006 the average duration of the media day was 11 hours
and 35 minutes. Thus the findings of the Media day study indicate the media day to last
over two hours longer than the media day (of 2003-2004) estimated to last 9 hours and
30 minutes by Peeter Vihalemm. At the same time it must be borne in mind that reading
books, watching DVD-s/videos and listening to music were reflected in the results of
the years 2004 to 2006, unlike in those of 2003. If the time spent on the aforementioned
media were to be deducted from the media day of the Media day study, the media day
would last 9 hours and 48 minutes instead of lasting 11 hours and 35 minutes. Thus on
the basis of the Media day study it should be possible to claim that the media day has
lengthened 18 minutes, from 9 hours and 30 minutes to 9 hours and 48 minutes during
the past years, if only the use of the media such as newspapers, magazines, radio,
television and Internet is taken into account.
Keywords
H Social Sciences (General), bakalaureusetööd