ABSTRACT
Theoretical approaches to entertainment-education (E-E) and actual communication strategies using E-E interventions have, in recent years, experienced substantial developments in how scholars and practitioners conceive, design, monitor, and assess E-E (Singhal & Rogers, 2002). The present chapter addresses a particular issue that requires further reflection and conceptual clarification, which is how best to assess E-E interventions. How can we improve our understanding of the audience’s sense-making processes? Sense-making is the production of meaning which is articulated by the audience on the basis of their viewing of a specific television program or genre, in this case the viewing of soap operas. How do we identify which social and cultural processes an E-E intervention articulates? How can we improve our measurement of the social and cultural impacts of E-E interventions? A theoretical-methodological approach to the analysis of audience sense-making is proposed, suggesting new ways of evaluating how E-E interventions influence their audiences.
