ABSTRACT
Let me summarize the most innovative aspects of the research project from which this book has emerged.
We combined survey research and ethnography across a range of Brazilian communities. We used a detailed questionnaire to gather comparable quantitative data, which we analyzed statistically. In each community, we also gathered qualitative data through participant observation. Each researcher did an ethnographic study of local social life and of the thoughts, opinions, and actions of people in the community setting.
Our cross-cultural approach expanded perspectives derived from U.S.-based research with an appropriate cross-national case.
We were able to consider and to distinguish between two key TV variables. First was current viewing level, which is routinely used in American correlational research. Second and more important was length of home TV exposure. We were able to study groups of people of the same age exposed to television for different times for reasons beyond their (or their family's) control.
