Communication Strategies

Research Theme and Conceptualisation
Most social issues are influenced by gender either directly or indirectly. Educational attainment, distribution of wealthy, epidemiology, violence and sexual abuse are some social issues that are influenced by gender. By creating awareness on the influence of gender on social issues, it is possible to determine some of the underlying causes for instance discrimination and maternal responsibilities. In a nutshell, understanding gender representation provides an avenue to addressing some of the social challenges associated with gender based responsibilities and even discrimination.

Gender issues are increasingly gaining audience due to the emphasis placed on empowering women and addressing the challenges that they face. The mass media plays a central role in creating awareness on the challenges facing women and highlighting some of the social events and even incidents that are influenced by gender. The theme of this study is gender representation. The study will determine the representation of males, the representation of female issues and comparison between males and females in the mass media. Evidently, the study will seek to determine if the mass media addresses gender issue and the frequency of addressing gender related issues. The study will therefore highlight if there is a difference in representation of either gender. Findings from the study are important in highlighting corrective strategies that should be instigated by the mass media to ensure that both male and female genders are equally represented. Equal representation is vital in addressing the challenges facing either gender and ensuring equity in addressing problems in the society.

Operationalization
The study will focus mainly on print media with special emphasis on newspapers that have a readership of over half a million in a day. All three variables will be measured using the same unit of measurement. Mention of words relating to males, females or gender will be considered to be instance of one of the variables. The words that will be searched in the newspaper editions include man, male, female, woman, gender, girl and boy. In capturing the attributes of the variables it is important to note that every instance of a variable will be considered to have a single numeric value that corresponds to the number of appearance. For instance the occurrence of the word man twice in an edition will result in award of the numeric value two to the associated variable. Direct comparison between males and females will be considered as instances of the third variable and will not be considered in the variables corresponding to either male or female gender. This is a measure that is aimed at reducing the risk of double entry and therefore improving the accuracy of the findings. Evidently, every instance of occurrence of comparison between male and females earns a unit point or value to the corresponding variable. It is noteworthy that news or information on specified or named persons will not be considered as instances of the variables. For instance the phase Tom said that will not be considered as an instance for the variable associated with the male gender.

Sampling
Though the study aims at determining gender representation in the mass media, it will focus mainly on print media. Newspapers and information on print media is more comprehensive than that in TV content. Moreover, the use of print media makes it easy to confirm if there is any comparison between male and female gender. This capability is vital in minimising the risk of erroneous entry which is a threat to the validity of data. The sampling approach that will be adopted in the study is convenience sampling. Under this approach to sampling, the sample is chosen with the aim of improving the validity of the findings and improving data collection (Creswell, 2009). The non-probabilistic convenience sampling approach will allow the researcher to formulate a criterion that will be used in determining the elements that will be considered in the sample (Punch, 2005). The criterion that will be used emphasises on review of newspapers with over half a million people readerships in a day use of at least five editions of the newspaper and use of at least three different newspapers. Use of at least three different newspapers is aimed at ensuring that the data collection strategy leads to reliable results. Moreover, the use of at least five editions of the newspapers is aimed at improving the reliability and validity of the results over time. This is important because newspapers tend to address current issues thus a local conference on violence could result in mention of gender issues above normal rates. Collecting data over the five editions ensures that such events do not adversely affect the validity and reliability of the findings.

Measurement
Data collection will be carried out using a data collection form that has been designed to capture the frequency of observations of the attributes associated with the variables. Data measurements will require the researcher to read five different editions of three newspapers and fill the data collection form. A data collection form will be filled for every session of data collection that must involve collection of data from all the three newspapers. Data collection forms that were used to facilitate measurement of the variable are presented below

Data Collection form

Day  16th May 2010

Variable
Frequency
Total Frequency
Paper 1
Paper 2
Paper 3

Representation of male issues
3
4
2
9

Representation of female  issues
4
6
2
12

Comparisons of males and females
2
2
3
7

Day  17th May 2010

Variable
Frequency
Total Frequency

Paper 1
Paper 2
Paper 3

Representation of male issues
1
4
2
7

Representation of female  issues
4
3
1
8

Comparison of males and females
2
1
3
6

Day  18th May 2010

Variable
Frequency
Total Frequency


Paper 1
Paper 2
Paper 3

Representation of male issues
4
5
0
9

Representation of female  issues
2
4
1
7

Comparisons of males and females
5
8
3
16

Day  19th May 2010

Variable
Frequency
Total Frequency

Paper 1
Paper 2
Paper 3

Representation of male issues
3
3
2
8

Representation of female  issues
2
1
3
6

Comparisons of males and females
4
5
3
12

Day  20th May 2010

Variable
Frequency
Total Frequency

Paper 1
Paper 2
Paper 3

Representation of male issues
6
0
4
10

Representation of female  issues
2
3
3
8

Comparisons of males and females
2
3
4
9

Data Construction and Analysis
The following data set will facilitate quantitative analysis of the collected data
ObservationDateRepresentation of male issuesRepresentation of female  issuesComparisons of males and females
116th May9127217th May786318th May97164
19th May8612
520th May1089
Total434150
Average8.68.210

The findings show that the representation of female issues (41) is slightly lower than the representation of male issues (43). It is however noteworthy that though there is a slight difference in the average representation of male and female issues, the rates are comparable. This may be a result of increased awareness on gender issues which is supported by the findings that the newspapers report on average ten instances of comparison between males and issues. The relatively high rate of comparisons of gender issues (average 10) compared to address of male and female issues (8.6 and 8.2 respectively) may be depictive of an increase in awareness on gender equality. The findings clearly show that mainstream media is increasingly addressing both female and male dimension to issues though it is evident that female issues are relatively lowly represented relative to male issues.