Families on TV¶
Many significant shifts have occurred over the last fifty years in how we think of the family. These include changes in marital and living patterns, marriage and divorce rates, the gendered nature of housework, and labor force participation. There are many theories to explain the factors. In this application, you will focus on the potential role of culture in creating new norms about the family. Alternatively, culture may merely reflect other shifts in society. In this application, you will classify tv shows from four different decades to examine which changed first: changes in depictions of families on television or changes in families in society.
To Do¶
You will explore two hypotheses on the relationship between popular culture and the deinstitutionalization of the family. The first is provided below.
Hypothesis 1: TV shows began increasingly focusing on non-conjugal families prior to shifts in the larger society.
Develop one or more additional hypotheses about the household shows. This could be related to any other aspect of changes in the family that happened over the last fifty years and whether or not it is reflected on television. For example, you might want to look for presence or absence of marriage; whether or not a central character is divorced or widowed; whether adult children live in the home; or whether the couple is interracial.
Select a random sample of years between 1960 and 2020.
Use a listing of the 20 most popular TV shows those years. For the early time period, use this list. For the 21st century, use Wikipedia pages for each year, such as Top-rated United States television programs of 2006-2007.
For each of those top 20 shows in your years, calculate the % of shows for a year that were “household” centered (e.g. “Friends” or “The Simpsons”) as opposed to focused on the workplace (e.g. “The Office” or “CSI”) or something else. Note: You don’t have to watch the show, but can figure this out from wikipedia. You should also note whether a show is scripted, such as a sitcom or drama, or unscripted, such as reality, variety or sports programming. Additionally, collect the relevant data necessary to test your additional hypotheses.
Calculates if scripted television has become less or more household-centered over time. Test your second hypothesis with your data.
Produce a research report that details your study.
Rubric¶
These are guidelines, but feel free to try new things and stretch your creativity for a high pass. In your submission text, please clearly state which set of requirements you are attempting to fulfill.
Note: Please submit these all on the same document for easier grading. For instance, if you make a table in Excel, you should copy paste it into Word alongside your reflection. PDF submissions are encouraged.
Pass
Research
Tests Hypothesis 1 and two of your own hypotheses.
Randomly samples one year from every other decade (i.e., the 1950s, 1970s, 1990s, 2010s).
Selects 20 shows from each sample year.
Correctly categorizes shows and analyzes trends over time.
Report
Written in the form of a research report, including an introduction, description of research and analysis.
Explains clearly what your additional hypotheses are and cites a specific source that suggests it might be true (i.e. in the textbook on page x it talks about y trend, so I anticipate that will be reflected in TV)
Integrates a visual representation to show trends.
Includes a table showing the coding for each program.
Describes whether or not the hypotheses were supported.
Explains if the results were surprising or not
500 Word minimum
High Pass
Research
Tests Hypothesis 1 and two of your own hypotheses.
Randomly samples one year from every decade (i.e., the 1950s, 1960s, etc.).
Selects 20 shows from each sample year.
Correctly categorizes shows and analyzes trends over time.
Report
Written in the form of a research report, including an introduction, description of research and analysis.
Explains clearly what your additional hypotheses are and cites a specific sources that suggests it might be true (i.e. in the textbook on page x it talks about y trend, so I anticipate that will be reflected in TV). References should include both the textbook and outside sources.
Integrates a visual representation to show trends.
Includes a table showing the coding for each program.
Describes whether or not the hypotheses were supported.
Explains if the results were surprising or not
Analyzes why this outcome may have occurred (what is the process by which culture and TV are linked?)
750 word minimum
Low Pass
Research
Tests Hypothesis 1 and one hypothesis of your own.
Randomly samples one year from every other decade (i.e., the 1950s, 1970s, 1990s, 2010s).
Selects 20 shows from each sample year.
Correctly categorizes shows and analyzes trends over time.
Report
Written in the form of a research report, including an introduction, description of research and analysis.
Explains clearly what your additional hypotheses are and cites a specific source that suggests it might be true (i.e. in the textbook on page x it talks about y trend, so I anticipate that will be reflected in TV)
Includes a table showing the coding for each program.
Describes whether or not the hypotheses were supported.
250 Word minimum