The participants in this study were all generally users of mass media. Scholars have argued that time spent on different types of mass media would produce different results of citizenship learning outcomes; therefore, this section reports on how participants use specific type of mass media and identifies their perceived attitudes to media use.
Table 5. 22: Means and modes of time on different types of mass media
CCTV news Entertainment TV program movies The Internet Social networks newspaper Mean 2.06 2.51 1.85 2.75 3.12 1.81 Mode 1.00 2.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 1.00
The calculation of means and modes can give a direct map of how various types of mass media were consumed by the participants. When coding four levels of consumption time into numbers: 1=less than 1 hour and 4= more than 5 hours, Table 5.22 shows the means and modes of six types of mass media. Notably, the participants tended to spend more time on the Internet and social networks, with the modes of 3 and 4 respectively, indicating that they normally spent 3-5 hours on the internet, and even more time on the social network. Entertainment TV programs and movies were also comparatively popular among the
participant with the modes of 2. Particularly, the participants generally spent more time on the former, with the average time of 2.51 hours per day.
The modes of watching CCTV (Chinese Central Television) news and newspaper consumption were both 1, which means that most participants would spend less than an hour on serious news of this sort per day, thus indicating that these two types of mass media were the least popular among the participants. In addition, the mean of newspaper reading was the smallest, showing that the participants spent least time on this type of mass media. This research finding is consistent with the 2015 report by Shanghai Jiao Tong University that more than 50% of Chinese university students never spend time in reading newspapers.31
Participants’ specific attitudes towards three types of mass media are explored in this section with the intention to provide some further evidence and explanation. Several statements were constructed for each type of mass media, and each statement shows the distribution of participants’ responses into a 1-5 scale, where 1 signifies “strongly disagree” and 5 means “strongly agree”. The analysing technique of one sample T-test is used, and Table 5.23, Table 5.24 and Table 5.25 present a comparison of the means.
8 indices were constructed to represent participants’ attitudes towards serious TV news, for example CCTV news. Table 5.23 shows that all results are significant at p< .01, indicating that their response is significantly different from the middle level of 3. On the one hand, the mean values for the first four statements are above a midpoint of 3, which indicates participants’ positive attitudes towards particular characteristics of CCTV news. Specifically, the participants believed that the content itself in CCTV news “is reliable and useful”, and can “motivate school education” and “provide critical views”, thus they generally agreed that “they would like to understand citizenship issue through this program”. On the other hand, the mean values of the other 4 statements are below a
31 See 2015 Zhongguo daxuesheng meiti shiyong xiguan diaocha baogao. [The 2015 Report on Chinese University Students’ media use habits], published on July 19, 2015. Retrieved from
midpoint of 3, which indicates negative attitudes towards the modes of presentation of CCTV news. Specifically, the participants disagreed with the statements that “its content is closely connected with daily life”, “It is interesting and creative” and “it is entertaining”, thus they generally confessed that they were less likely to be influenced for civic purposes by CCTV news. In addition, the standard deviation for the statement of “it can provide critical views” is larger than 1, indicating the larger fluctuation in participants’ views of this statement.
Table 5. 23: One-Sample T test of participants’ attitudes towards CCTV news
N Mean Std. Deviation Sig. (2-tailed)
It can motivate school education 212 3.56 .983 .000
I would like to understand citizenship
issues through this program 212 3.54 .980 .000
The information is reliable and useful 212 3.49 .941 .000
It can provide critical views 212 3.34 1.003 .000
The content is closely connected with
daily life 212 2.37 .881 .000
I would be more easily influenced by
this program 212 2.32 .804 .000
It is interesting and creative 212 2.24 .744 .000
It is entertaining 212 1.83 .546 .000
These 8 indices in Table 5.24 were employed to understand participants’ attitudes towards entertainment TV programs. Table 5.24 shows that all results are significant at p< .01, indicating that their response is significantly different from the middle level of 3. Specifically, all mean values were above the midpoint of 3, indicating that the participants generally held a positive attitude towards this entertainment TV program. Among them, the mean value of the first statement “I would be more influenced by this program” is the largest, reflecting that participants generally acknowledged the direct influence they have experienced from entertainment programs. The statement of “it can provide critical view” in this part received the smallest value (3.05), close to the middle point, indicating that the participants held neutral attitudes towards this statement. It is interesting to note that the standard deviations of four statements are > 1, indicating more fluctuation in the
participants’ attitudes towards entertainment TV programs.
Table 5. 24: One-Sample T test of attitudes towards entertainment TV program
N Mean Std. Deviation Sig. (2-tailed) I would be more easily influenced by
this program 212 3.51 .964 .000
It can motivate school education 212 3.47 1.004 .000 I would like to understand citizenship
issues through this program 212 3.47 1.027 .000
It is entertaining 212 3.46 .980 .000
It is interesting and creative 212 3.40 1.009 .000
The content is closely connected with
daily life 212 3.30 1.010 .000
The information is reliable and useful 212 3.25 .958 .000
It can provide critical views 212 3.05 .921 .000
I constructed 5 indices to understand participants’ attitudes towards the social network, for example micro-blogging. Table 5.25 below in the following page shows that all results are significant at p< .01, thus indicating that their response is significantly different from the middle level of 3. Specifically, all mean values were above the midpoint of 3, indicating that the participants generally held a positive attitude towards social networks. In addition, all the standard deviations are < 1, indicating the steady and consistent positive attitudes towards social networks among the participants. Among them, the mean value of the first statement “it has provided a direct way for our voices to be heard, if we use it properly” is the largest, which reflects that the participants generally acknowledged the function of micro- blogging in expressing personal ideas and creating personal topics, thus indicating that the majority of respondents identified their personal motivation of using the social networks to express themselves and get connected with other people.