Hypothesis Operationalization and Initial Support
The knowledge gap hypothesis can be operationalized both for cross-sectional and time-series appropriate research. For cross-sectional research, the knowledge gap hypothesis expects that “at any given time, there should be a higher correlation between acquisition of knowledge and education for topics highly publicized in the media than for topics less highly publicized. Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien (1970) tested this hypothesis using an experiment in which participants were asked to read and discuss two news stories of varying publicity. The results of the experiment support the hypothesis because correlations between education and understanding were significant for high publicity stories but not significant for low publicity stories.
For time-series research, the knowledge gap hypothesis expects that “over time, acquisition of knowledge of a heavily publicized topic will proceed at a slower rate among better educated persons than among those with less education.” Tichenor, Donohue, and Olien (1970) tested this hypothesis using public opinion surveys gathered between 1949 and 1965 measuring whether participants believed humans would reach the Moon in the foreseeable future. During the 15-year span, belief among grade-school educated people increased only about 25 percentage points while belief among college educated people increased more than 60 percentage points, a trend consistent with the hypothesis.
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