research ideas

I have two concerns regarding to the information age. One is will competition between media benefit audiences? The other is how information technology influences media consumption.

My first research idea is to see the inter media competition between online video and MVPD (Multichannel video programming distributors). What benefit readers are that can viewers have more diversified content?  Or that can viewers enjoy cheaper price?  ”Viewers of online video are growing but the development of online video is not as promising as we thought. Previous study pointed out obstacles to online video’s future growth: competition from MVPDs, including advantage they have in large of scale aggregation of online content via TV Everywhere service, limited availability of high quality content, especially window programming. It seems that competition between online video and MVPD is rising but audience choice is the key. Therefore, my research question is how people choose the platform to watch video.

Concept: gratification-utility niche. the theory of niche, gratification opportunities. One of the obstacles for online video is window programming. Therefore, I want to see “media content as a niche dimension” to see the competition.

Data: For gratification-utility niche: data from survey. The unit of analysis: users.

For media content as a niche dimension: data from media content. The unit of analysis: content.

Question: Is the theory of the niche an outdated theory? Not many research applying this theory recently.

My second research idea is to see what can consumer benefit from information overload.

When “the wealth of information makes the poverty of attention,” it means what audience have is scarce resources. It is buyer’s market. Consumers’ should have more bargain power than being bombarded by information. It seems that audience should have more choices but the reality is abundant information limit people’s choice.

My research question 1: Within the overabundance of information, what factors influence people to make selection to consume news.

In addition, there is no valid measurement to measure information overload. We cannot talk about information overload without a solid measurement. My research question 2 is how to measure information overload.

Concept: Attention economy, information goods. Experience goods, infinity variety.

Data: online survey

The unit of analysis: users

 Question: How to use attention economy? There are no variables or a model in the concept….