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= Knowledge Gap Theory =

By: Kristina Bindi, Jessica Bouchey, Annie Burrell, Tanner Cemper, Katelyn Darwin, and Sarah Davis

=Overview =

Although there is a constant increase of information in our society, it is not consistently learned by every member of society. As mass media continues to explode, members of the population with higher socioeconomic status, also known as SES, tend to be faster at acquiring this information than the rate of lower status members. The knowledge gap theory represents a gap between these people of higher socioeconomic status and lower socioeconomic status. In layman's terms, it is an increasing gap between the higher and lower educated people. So with each new medium of mass media, although one might think otherwise, the gap in knowledge that develops between these different members of the population grows larger and larger.



Therefore, the knowledge gap theory seems to be an essential justification for why there is failure from mass publicity to inform the public at large. The people reached by the campaigns usually already are the better educated. Knowledge gaps however are not obstinate. There are some conditions that could potentially reduce a knowledge gap. Some of these conditions are; content domains, channel influence, social conflict and community mobilization, the structure of communities, and so on.

**History and Dev﻿elopment**

In the 1970s at the University of Minnesota, the knowledge gap theory was first hypothesized by Tichenor, Donohue and Olien in their study "Mass Media Flow and Differential Growth in Knowledge." Tichenor, Donohue and Olien developed five reasons for justifying the knowledge gap:

1) People of higher socioeconomic status have better communication skills, education, reading, comprehending and remembering information. 2) People of higher socioeconomic status can store information more easily or remember the topic form background knowledge 3) People of higher socioeconomic status might have a more relevant social context. 4) People of higher socioeconomic status are better in selective exposure, acceptance and retention. 5) The nature of the mass media itself is that it is geared toward persons of higher socioeconomic status.



= Important Concepts =

Due to the rate of technological growth and the increased usage of the Internet as a media platform, it is important to consider all the different factors that affect each individual's access to the media, how they process their exposure and how media has changed over time. The following are the most important concepts of studies of the knowledge gap theory:
 * Research on the knowledge gap hypothesis has lead to one common theory: As the saturation of media within society increases, populations associated with a higher socioeconomic status are able to acquire information at a more efficient rate than those with lower socioeconomic status.
 * Different information processing capacities among people of high and low education are a key factor in explaining the knowledge gap
 * There is proven to be no significant difference between conditions of high and low media publicity in terms of the size of the knowledge gap.
 * Television seems to be the medium that people of low education process information best from, perhaps because reading is a learned skill that higher education can bolster. In turn, people of high education process information best from print and web channels
 * Motivation does not seem to have much of an effect on people's capacity to process information; whether they are interested in the news stories or bored with them, people of higher education processed them better
 * People of higher socioeconomic are more likely to use the Internet and thus have access to the massive amounts of information available.

=Article Summaries =

1.) Informing Citizens: How People with Different Levels of Education Process Television, Newspapers, and Web News.
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By: Grabe, Kamhawi, & Yegiyan <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Summary by: Sarah Davis

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This study examined the relationship between media channels, education level, and the ability to process, store, and retrieve information. It attempts to explain why people�s education level correlates with their ability to obtain knowledge from various media. Their goal �is to contribute to further experimental work on the knowledge gap and to broaden the investigation to include news channels other than television� (2).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Research done prior to this study had tested knowledge gap theory using primarily TV and also focused more on the encoding part of information processing rather than storage and retrieval factors. In addition, there are two prominent views on the true reason knowledge gaps exist. Some theories point to the differences in cognitive processing levels due to different exposures to education. However, other theories suggest that the difference comes because public affairs issues are more important to higher socioeconomic people than to lower socioeconomic people; it is a motivational issue. Thus, this study proposed a number of various hypotheses based on prior research as well as two research questions of their own.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H1: Subjects of higher education will outperform subjects of lower education on encoding, storage, and retrieval of information. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H2: Print versions of stories will be encoded, stored, and retrieved best, followed by web stories and finally television stories. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H3: If you control for motivational factors (understandability, informativeness, and <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">interest) there should no longer be differences between education levels. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H4: If you control for motivational factors there will still be differences among education levels, perhaps even enhanced. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H5: How people evaluate news stories will explain the difference in effects of channel on storage and retrieval more than for encoding. (If this is the case, motivation to attend to the news stories might be the cause) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">RQ1: Are there differences between channel type and education level for encoding, storage, and retrieval? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">RQ 2: Are those differences between channel type and education level for encoding, storage, and retrieval consistent across time?

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Method // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Forty-one subjects participated in this study. �The experiment employed a mixed 3 (Channel) X 2 (Education) X 2 (Time) X 4 (Message) X 3 (Order of presentation) factorial design� (9). The three channels tested were print newspapers, TV, and web. The low education subjects had no more than a high school degree whereas the high education subjects had at least one advanced college degree (at least an MA). The time delayed measured was either immediately after reading/viewing the story and then two days later. There were four different messages for each of the channels, which was an attempt to control confounding variables (such as the type of message) that might influence results. There were three presentation orders for the three channels.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Each subject eventually viewed twelve news stories in various versions on different channels. Recognition memory was used to test encoding, cued recall was used to test storage, and free recall was used to test retrieval. They measured motivation based on eight evaluative questions.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Results // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The results found that people of higher education do perform better than people of lower education in encoding, storage, and retrieval of news information (confirming Hypothesis 1). However, Hypothesis 2 was not supported as there was no major difference across channels for encoding and TV in fact had the best cued recall (storage) scores among channels. Hypothesis 3 was not supported whereas Hypothesis 4 was, as �understandability, informativeness, and interest in the news stories did not impact the main effect of the education factor on encoding, <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">storage and retrieval� (14). Hypothesis 5 was supported and found that reported understandability, informativeness and interest in the stories explained a large amount of difference in the effects of channel on the storage and retrieval aspects of information processing.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The first research question wanted to know what effects the specific interaction among channel and education had on encoding, storage, and retrieval.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Encoding � while there was no significant difference among education levels with TV, the high education group encoded better than the low education group with print and web sources.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Storage � again, while there was no significant difference among education levels with regards to TV, the low education group was less able to store information from print and web sources than the high education group.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Retrieval - similar to encoding and storage, there was no difference between the groups with TV. Print and web sources increased the high education group�s ability to retrieve information whereas it led to a drop in retrieval capabilities in the low education group.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The second research question asked whether these results would be the same across time (T1 immediately after viewing/reading the story and T2 two days after viewing/reading the story).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Encoding � there was no significant difference among the two groups for any channel at T1. However, at T2 the low education group did better at encoding TV sources than print or web, whereas the high education group did worse encoding for TV than for print or web. In fact, the low education group showed a drop in encoding from T1 to T2 (in print and web ads) whereas the high education group actually did better at encoding print and web ads at T2 than T1.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Storage � the high education group showed no variance in their ability to store information from any channel at either T1 or T2. The low education group showed no variance in their ability to store information from any channel at T1, however at T2 they were better able to store information from TV stories than print or web (which decreased slightly at T2).
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Retrieval � similar to encoding, there was no significant difference among the two groups for any channel at T1. However, at T2 the low education group recalled TV stories better than print or web. There was also a drop in retrieval for print and web from T1 to T2 in this group. In the high education group recalled less from TV than from print or web, and yet recalled better print and web ads at T2 than T1.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Implications for Real Life // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This study demonstrates how different information processing capacities among people of high and low education are a key factor in explaining the knowledge gap. It explains how motivation does not seem to have much of an effect; whether they are interested in the news stories or bored with them, people of higher education processed them better. Also, TV seems to be the medium that people of low education process information best from, perhaps because reading is a learned skill that higher education can bolster. In turn, people of high education process information best from print and web channels. Interestingly, science tells us that our brains were not meant for reading when humans first surfaced but for processing visual images. This explains why people of higher education have higher reading abilities, because they have learned and practiced it longer than people of low education.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Based on this evidence, and the rate of technological growth, the future of the knowledge gap is uncertain. If web channels become the dominant form from which people get their news, people of low education will become more information poor whole people of high education will become more information rich. Even if a good portion of the news stories online come in visual video format, it will still not enable people of low education to become as informed about things as people of high education. The real changes needed are in that of education standards and the way news is produced. If people learned better reading and critical thinking skills early on, it might help decrease the difference in processing capabilities that college seems to bring. Also, TV news formats aim to give people as much information as possible in as little time possible. 30-60 second news stories aren�t enough for people to get all the facts about relevant stories. Stories should be modeled in ways that enhance retention, perhaps by using other communication models such as primacy and recency. The authors of this study believe that the increase in dependency on the Internet will widen the knowledge gap in coming years. So perhaps the best remedy for this gap is if people of low education not only have access to the Internet, but gain the necessary skills to use and navigate the web at a level equal of their high education counterparts.

Grabe, M., Kamhawi, R., & Yegiyan, N. (2007). Informing Citizens: How People With Different Levels of Education Process Television, Newspaper and Web News. Conference Papers -- International Communication Association, 1. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. [|Article 1]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">2.) Minority Communities and Health Information Knowledge Gaps on Obesity Related Risk Factors
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By: Joyee Chatterjee <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Summary By: Jessica Bouchey

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In this study, author Joyee Chatterjee attempted through the knowledge gap theory, to explore the well known knowledge or lack of such knowledge gaps on obesity in minorities. The overall point was to research how/if socioeconomic status plays a role in the lack of obesity related information in a population. In addition to socioeconomic status, personal relevance, community ties and community boundedness were used as variables.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The knowledge Gap theory �identifies differences in knowledge as a function of socioeconomic status� and was first proposed by Phillip J. Tichenor, George A. Donohue and Clarice N. Olien (pg. 1). In other words, as information is given, those with a higher socioeconomic status (SES) will obtain that information faster than those of a lower SES; therefore, producing a knowledge gap.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">A previous hypothesis studied the knowledge gap theory with context of risk factors associated with cardio vascular disease. The results indicated that the �knowledge gap existed not between the more and less educated but rather between those more and less motivated to acquire information� (pg.2). In this study, Chatterjee drew resources from Rucinski 2004, Viswanath, Kosicki, Fredin, and Park, 2000 as their works were similar and were used as a guideline for her research. Chatterjee attempted to replicate Rusinskis� on the interdependence of various community relationships and a health issue that disproportionately affects minorities.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Chatterjee had four hypotheses and sought to find answers about obesity and its relationship to community boundedness (race and ethnicity), personal relevance and knowledge gap in the context of health information ( pg. 8). Hypothesis 1 stated that those with a higher socioeconomic status will have a higher knowledge about obesity. Awareness levels of obesity will be higher among those for whom obesity is relevant to was summarized by Hypothesis 2 and individuals with high community ties are likely to have more health knowledge about obesity than those with less ties (disregarding of socioeconomic status and personal relevance) sums up Hypothesis 3. Lastly, Hypothesis 4 stated how knowledge gaps are less likely in groups where obesity is of more consequence or risk for disease.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Data from the Annenberg National Health Communications Survey (ANHCS) 2005-06 was used to test the four hypotheses (pg. 9). A nationwide monthly online survey was administered to adults in the US by Knowledge Networks. Of the study, 52% were women, 48% were men and White, Hispanic and African American populations were represented. Respondents were identified and contacted by Knowledge Networks with a random digit dial system. Multivariate analysis was then used to test the four hypotheses because it allowed for the examination of each independent variable on the depended variable while controlling other variables (pg. 12). Overall, the survey recorded a range regarding people�s attitudes, behaviors, beliefs and preferences regarding health related knowledge, health related media exposure, social support, and community participations. Background demographics and characteristics were also addressed. As discussed earlier, the variables used were socioeconomic status (education and income), personal relevance, community ties and community boundedness.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The first hypothesis results indicated that both income and education were significant predictors of knowledge. Education was more prevalent and suggested that each additional formal educational degree was correlated with an increase of knowledge. Hypothesis 2 was partially supported. Being obese wasn�t a significant predictor for knowledge; however, attempting to lose weight in the past was significant. Therefore, motivation was a key attribute to obtain obesity related knowledge. The third hypothesis was supported completely and found that separate from personal relevance, socioeconomic status, gender, age, and media exposure, being more involved in community organizations led to increased knowledge. The final hypothesis found the regression coefficients between SES and obesity health risk knowledge were significant across groups; therefore, not supporting hypothesis 3. In African American minorities, SES was the only predictor of obesity knowledge thus creating the knowledge gap. For Hispanics, SES was also an important factor along with media attention on the news regarding obesity issues. Most shocking result of hypothesis 4 showed that being obese was a significant predictor of lower obesity health risk knowledge.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This study helped to confirm the theory of knowledge gap and how it is extremely relevant and present in our lives. It also helped to identify the most alarming factors contributing to the knowledge gap theory and health related issues: income and education. By studying this theory with obesity illustrates how common knowledge, medical expertise and media is not enough and those in need of health education are not effectively being reached. Chatterjee notes that her study had limitations and that further studies can look at more than just race/ethnicity and use a more reasonable sample.

Chatterjee, J. (2008). Minority Communities and Health Information Knowledge Gaps On Obesity-Related Risk Factors. Conference Papers -- International Communication Association, 1-27. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. [|Article 2]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">3.) Newspaper Coverage of Cancer Prevention: Multilevel Evidence for Knowledge-Gap Effects
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By: Slater, Hayes, Reineke, Long, & Bettinghaus <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Summary by: Annie Burrell

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Research has suggested there are three things that predict greater knowledge in regards to the causes of cancer; greater education, attention to health news, and individuals with higher socioeconomic status. We can also count people who are more health conscious to have greater knowledge on cancer as well. Two previously conducted studies yielded results that led to a third study, which is the premise of this article. "In this study, we use a unique, nationally representative data set of news coverage to identify regional differences in the amount of news coverage regarding cancer prevention and to assess the knowledge-gap effect-that is, whether a relationship between news coverage and health knowledge is contingent on people's level of education" (Viswanath & Finnegan, 1996).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">For a little bit of background on the previous studies referenced, the following is what was concluded and their limitations, which led to the main study of the article. The first study determined that increased coverage of cancer prevention could impact cancer prevention knowledge. The major limitation was that survey and content analytic findings were related to one another descriptively, instead of through inferential statistical tests (Slater et al., 2008). The second study determined that individuals having higher socioeconomic status were more likely to seek cancer information after seeing a media report of a celebrity cancer occurrence than the individuals having lower socioeconomic status. Two major limitations from this theory however were; media reports of celebrity diagnoses are only one of several common types of cancer news stories and the study focused on information-seeking behavior, instead of actual differences in knowledge (Niederdeppe 2008). This is what led to the current newspaper study.

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<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What the difference is about this study from the ones mentioned above is the emphasis on testing knowledge gaps using regional data on news content, specifically in newspapers. The predications for this study were as follows. The first prediction was, "People who live in regions with greater concentrations of cancer prevention information in cancer news stories will possess greater knowledge about cancer prevention than people who live in regions with lesser concentrations of cancer prevention information in cancer news stories"(Stryker et al., 2008). The second prediction was, "The relationship between the proportion of cancer prevention news content in a given region and cancer prevention knowledge will increase contingent on respondent education" (Viswanath et al. 2006). Lastly, "It seems plausible that attention might also moderate the relationship between news coverage and health knowledge. When news reports on cancer prevention are rare, more attentive readers may be more likely than less attentive readers to gain knowledge. However, when these news stories are more common, the effect of attention may be smaller because less attention is required to find the news stories" (Kwak, 1999). These predictions brought about the research question, "Is the relationship between attention to health news and knowledge of cancer prevention moderated by the relative amount of cancer prevention news content, and if so, in what way?" ======

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">To test these hypothesis' they had to come up with a method. In this article, newspapers are believed to be the most nationally representative form of media gathered to date. Therefore, this study combined the data from a content analysis of local U.S. newspaper coverage and a national, random-sample U.S. survey of cancer-related media use, information behavior, and caner knowledge.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Through this method, the results of the predictions were verified right or wrong. For the first hypothesis, in regions where cancer prevention coverage was greater, so was knowledge of how cancer can be prevented. For the second hypothesis, greater knowledge of cancer prevention was associated with higher education, thus imitating the knowledge-gap phenomenon. It was also found that this was not however representative of age, and females had higher knowledge of cancer prevention methods than males did. This study found that education predicts cancer knowledge based on both regional and market size differences in education as well as at the individual level (Viswanath et al.'s 2006). They found that differential cancer prevention content seems to have no differential effect among the least educated, or most educated. Therefore, the gap in knowledge in regards to education is somewhat greater in higher content communities in comparison with lower content communities. For the third hypothesis, the relationship between attention and knowledge varied across regions that differed in cancer prevention content. So although greater attention to heath news did relate to greater knowledge of cancer prevention, the relationship between the two was still positive, but smaller, in societies that had a greater share of its cancer stories focused on cancer prevention.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This study was not conducted without its fair share of limitations. The main ones being, we cannot be 100 % confident that all alternate explanations for differences between both regional and market size groups that might co-vary with difference in cancer prevention coverage were eliminated. Also, it is assumed that the percentages of the cancer prevention stories were just as informative as the actual amount of coverage. It demonstrated that absolute amounts of coverage could be misleading because in larger papers much of this coverage is likely to be missed by most readers. In conclusion, the research conducted regarding knowledge gap effects, at both the regional and market levels, indicates that knowledge differences in news content, should be given greater attention from both a hypothetical and practical perspective.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The results from the study relate to the knowledge gap theory in many ways. A specific effort to communicate about health issues in campaigns is usually the focus of knowledge gap research in the health domain. These results do not merely imply that these knowledge gap effects in health arise from these specific efforts, but are a pervasive function of news use and availability in the United States. Therefore, efforts to reduce knowledge-related health inequalities need to address differences in access to, and use of information available through the news as well as through access to health providers. In particular the evidence suggests that differences in the amount of news coverage of a topic predict knowledge differences in the absence of topic-specific attention. When topic-specific attention is high, relative differences in the amounts of cancer prevention coverage have little or no impact on knowledge, perhaps because readers attentive to health news notice whatever stories appear, or, maybe because they are generally already more knowledgeable about cancer prevention and the additional news stories have little incremental influence. Therefore, it seems believable that, in the case of a not so covered topic such as cancer prevention, attention is particularly relevant in that it leads to such coverage being noticed, an essential precondition to affecting prevention knowledge. This result suggests that efforts to raise the salience of health topics might help reduce knowledge inequalities.

<span style="color: #808080; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Slater, M. D., Hayes, A. F., Reineke, J. B., Long, M., & Bettinghaus, E. P. (2009). Newspaper Coverage of Cancer Prevention: Multilevel Evidence for Knowledge-Gap Effects. Journal of Communication, 59(3), 514-533. doi:10.1111/j.1460-2466.2009.01433.x [|Article 3]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">4.) Online Health Communication: Source or Eliminator of Health Myths
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By: Ralucca Cozma <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Summary by: Katelyn Darwin

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This article addresses the Internet as a newest form of media to create knowledge gaps. The Internet is just as powerful as newspapers in dispersing information and creating a knowledge gap between less educated people and those who are more highly educated. In addition, people of higher socioeconomic are more likely to use the Internet and thus have access to the massive amounts of information available.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This study is specific to health myths. The problem is that health myths that have been disapproved by scientific evidence are still believed by members of the population. The purpose of the study is to see the effect of the Internet on changing these false beliefs. They surveyed college students and tested a number of different sources that would effect their health myth beliefs. The sources included: their demographics, three different websites with health content, and the credibility of these sites. The implications of this study are to see what members of the population are not getting accurate health information so they can be better targeted.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">People are influence by three different spheres: public, personal and technical. The three sites included in the study were a health organization site (technical), a news site (public) and a blog (personal). <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">First students took a questionnaire about their sources of health information and advice. Then it asked them to agree or disagree with 17 different statements of both health myths and health claims with scientific support. After the questionnaire they were randomly assigned to view one of the websites. They were also asked to judge the credibility of the website.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Results // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What factors predict a knowledge gap in beliefs in myths and unconventional treatments? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Whites are significantly less likely to believe in health myths than African Americans. Men are more likely that women to believe in health myths. The age of respondents and the source of health information did not make a difference in their beliefs.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Will participants� belief in health myths will decrease after reading online content debunking them? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">After reading the story online disapproving one of the health myths in the first questionnaire, respondents were more likely to disagree with that health myth.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What type of site will contribute most to changes in erroneous beliefs? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The news website changed the most erroneous beliefs. The blog readers were the least influenced. The news website and the health organization website were determined to be more interesting and credible than the blog site. Beliefs changed as a result of their perceived credibility.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Conclusion // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Health myths are obviously still prevalent in society. There is a knowledge gap between genders and race in the beliefs of health myths. Men and African Americans were most likely to believe in these myths. As a result these two groups should be targeted for health communications in order to reduce false and potentially harmful beliefs. In addition, news and health organization websites have the greatest chance of changing these false beliefs.

Cozma, R. (2009). Online Health Communication: Source or Eliminator of Health Myths?. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, 25(1), 69-80. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. [|Article 4]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">5.) Experimental Evidence of the Knowledge Gap: Message Arousal, Motivation, and Time Delay
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By: Grabe, Kamhawi, and Yegiyan <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Summary By: Tanner Cemper

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The study pertaining to this experiment analyzes the knowledge gap from an information processing perspective. This experiment is similar to previous studies of the kind, but focuses more on the nature of the media portrayed rather than the channel itself. The objective is to prove that different levels of media message arousal within media channels have an effect on knowledge acquisition. Previous research in the areas of social and neuroscience has produced sufficient evidence to show that a person�s education level has a direct relation to information gain. Research pertaining to the knowledge gap theory has led to one common theory: As the saturation of media within society increases, populations associated with a higher socioeconomic status are able to acquire information at a more efficient rate than those with lower socioeconomic status. Pursuing verification of the knowledge gap theory, researchers of this study formulated the following hypotheses and research questions:

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H1: There will be a main effect for education such that the higher education group will acquire more information than the lower education group. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H2: There will be a main effect for message arousal such that medium levels of message arousal will be associated with higher recognition memory and free recall scores than messages with lower levels of arousal. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H3: Memory for moderately arousing messages will decrease less over time than memory for lower arousing messages. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">RQ1: Will the information gain gap between higher and lower education groups be smaller for messages with moderate levels of arousal compared to messages with lower levels of arousal? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">RQ2: If there are effects, do motivational factors account for them? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">RQ3: Over time, will recognition memory and free recall scores vary across the two education groups at each level of arousing content? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">RQ4: Do covariates account for potential three-way interactions between education, message arousal, and time delay?

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Study Details // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This study utilized a 2 (education) X 2 (message arousal) X 3 (order) X 6 (message repetition) model to assess the test subjects. To better understand the model the education variable consisted of subjects from both ends of socioeconomic status. Forty-one participants were randomly selected to participate in the study. The first segment of the group representing the lower socioeconomic class included subjects with high school as their highest level of education. The second segment representing higher socioeconomic class included subjects who completed or at least or were enrolled in a graduate program. The test subjects were exposed to 6 news stories varying in arousal levels (low and medium) on three different media channels, TV, newspaper, and Internet. On two separate occasions subjects were tested on their ability to retain information with a time variable, � a within-subjects variable consisted of two levels representing immediate and delayed memory measures� (555).

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Results // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The results show that subjects with a higher level of education do acquire more information than those with a lower level of education, thus confirming H1. H2 was partially confirmed for free recall but not for recognition memory due to the fact, �arousing content did not have a main effect on recognition memory but there was a main effect for free recall, Scores for medium arousing stories were higher than those for lower arousing stories� (560). H3 was not supported as, �The interaction between message arousal and time was not significant for either recognition memory or free recall� (560).

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Result RQ1: Will the information gain gap between higher and lower education groups be smaller for messages with moderate levels of arousal compared to messages with lower levels of arousal? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">-It was concluded for free recall that the gap is smaller for moderately arousing stories, because subjects with a lower education level scored better on the moderately arousing stories. However, the information gain gap between the two education groups was not eliminated for moderately arousing news stories.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Result RQ2: If there are effects, do motivational factors account for them? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">-The effects did not explain the variability in arousing media for the recognition and free recall memory tasks.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Result RQ3: Over time, will recognition memory and free recall scores vary across the two education groups at each level of arousing content? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">-There is significant evidence that shows there was a significant decrease in recognition scores for the lower-educated group, wile the higher educated group saw an increase in scores.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Result RQ4: Do covariates account for potential three-way interactions between education, message arousal, and time delay? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">-The conclusion for RQ4 states, �the arousing content, education, and time factors are driving the effect on recognition memory� (565).

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Development of the Theory // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The study described here provides evidence that there is indeed relationship between acquiring information from media and the knowledge gap caused by social hierarchy. The results confirm that the people with lower education levels acquire information less efficiently than those of with higher education. For this reason, it is important for us as a society to become fully educated so as to improve our way of life, and the world around us.

Grabe, M., Yegiyan, N., & Kamhawi, R. (2008). Experimental Evidence of the Knowledge Gap: Message Arousal, Motivation, and Time Delay. Human Communication Research, 34(4), 550-571. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. [|Article 5]

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">6) Revisiting the Knowledge Gap Hypothesis: A Meta-Analysis of Thirty-Five Years of Research
<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">By: Yoori Hwang and Se-Hoon Jeong <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Summary By: Kristina Bindi

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Georgia,serif;">This meta-analysis of thirty-five years of research examines three different aspects of the knowledge gap hypothesis with the following goals in mind: to obtain an average size for the knowledge gap, to examine the impact of media publicity on the knowledge gap, and to identify conditions (e.g. topic, knowledge measurement, country, and publicity status) under which the gap increases or decreases. It is predicted that media has the ability to increase the gaps in knowledge, �As the infusion of mass media information into a social system increases, segments of the population with higher socioeconomic status tend to acquire this information at a faster rate than the lower status segments so that the gap in knowledge between these segments tends to increase rather than decrease�

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Out of over one hundred studies of the knowledge gap, few have synthesized the knowledge gap literature, which is the main idea of this meta-analysis. Previous narrative works can be deceiving due to the fact that they combine results of significant test without consistent decision rules and processes. �A meta-analytic review attempts to avoid this problem by addressing effect sizes rather than statistically significant results.� Almost every single previous study found a positive relationship between socioeconomic status and knowledge. The meta-analysis� first goal is to define the strength of the relationship between the two and to acquire a representative effect size. Previous tests reported a smaller knowledge gap for highly publicized issues. They needed to conduct further studies by summarizing two lines of work: changes in the knowledge gap over time (i.e. multiple points in time) and differences in knowledge gap across issues with varying levels of publicity.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Hypotheses and Research Question //
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H1: Based on the knowledge gap hypothesis, there will be a positive relationship between socioeconomic status and level of knowledge
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H2: The gap in knowledge between high and low socioeconomic status individuals will increase over time
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">H3: The gap in knowledge between high and low socioeconomic status individuals varies as a function of media publicity. There will be a greater gap in knowledge when media publicity is high than low.
 * <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">RQ1: Does the knowledge gap vary as a function of topic, type of knowledge measure, sample characteristics, study design, country, setting, and publication status?

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Method // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">In order to be used in the analysis, there are three conditions that studies needed to meet. �First, they had to report the relationship between socioeconomic status (measured as education) and knowledge level. Second, studies must have reported necessary statistical information required for meta-analysis. Finally, studies that were not written in English were excluded. Based on the criteria, forty-six primary studies were included in this meta-analysis. These studies were than divided into four categories based on how they measured knowledge: factual knowledge, awareness, belief knowledge, and a combination of two or more. Two different methods were recommended to test these hypotheses: comparison of the knowledge gap over time, and the comparison of the knowledge gap for different issues (for which media publicity is different) at a given point in time. The first method is tested by comparing the size of the gap over several different time periods. The second method allows researchers to test the knowledge gap effect at a single point in time by comparing the correlations between socioeconomic status and knowledge for highly publicized topics and less publicized topics.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Results //
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The results of hypothesis one reveals that the mean correlation coefficient for the knowledge gap effect weighted by sample size was .28 (p < .001), with a 95% confidence interval ranging from .24 to .33. Therefore, the hypothesis that that there is a positive relationship between education and level of knowledge, was supported.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The results of hypothesis two indicated that �the mean correlation of Time 1 was .23 and that of Time 2 was .26, and this different was not statistically significant.� Therefore, the hypothesis that the gap in knowledge between high and low socioeconomic status individuals will increase over time, was not supported
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">The results of the third hypothesis showed that �there were no significant differences in knowledge gaps between conditions of high and low media publicity. The average socioeconomic status-knowledge correlation was .24 when publicity was low, whereas it was .28 when publicity was high.� Therefore, it was not supported that the gap in knowledge between high and low socioeconomic status individuals varies as a function of media publicity.

//<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Implications for the Future // <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Different from previous reviews, this meta-analysis showed that �the gap in knowledge did not change either over time or with varying levels of media publicity.� Therefore this review did not offer very strong support for the knowledge gap hypothesis. Even though the constant gap may have some important implications, it implies that �low socioeconomic status individuals are capable of obtaining information and knowledge at a rate comparable to high socioeconomic individuals.� Also in the following finding, this study was not in agreement with previous studies: A smaller gap in knowledge was found among studies that used belief-type knowledge measures, compared to awareness type and factual measures. This study has limitations because it excluded some studies that lacked sufficient statistical information. It also was not able to test the impact of variable on knowledge gap that were of importance. �Future meta-analytic researchers are strongly encourages to obtain the required information directly from the authors so that they can include more primary studies in the meta-analysis and can investigate the impact of some important variables, including the effects of media, on the knowledge gap.� Regardless of these limitations, this meta-analysis provides a systematic summary of research on the knowledge-gap hypothesis.

<span style="color: #808080; font-family: Georgia,serif;">Yoori, H., & Se-Hoon, J. (2009). REVISING THE KNOWLEDGE GAP HYPOTHESIS: A META-ANALYSIS OF THIRTY-FIVE YEARS OF RESEARCH. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 86(3), 513-532. Retrieved from EBSCOhost. [|Article 6]

=<span style="color: #ca1c1c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Assessment of the Studies = <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Scientific research and theoretical analysis are essential in gaining a better understanding of our society. In regards to the studies presented above, each comes to the similar conclusion that there is indeed a relationship between an individuals socioeconomic status and the way in which media is consumed. The studies done over the years have provided us with evidence that the knowledge gap theory is in fact true, and we must look carefully into how media influences us as a society.The proliferation of media channels is only widening the gap between the information rich and poor. As information processing is one of the main things learned through education, education is a key consideration when attempting to fix this gap.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Higher education is not right nor possible for everyone, and thus primary and secondary education must do a better job at developing the information processing and technology skills of all students. Reading, which these studies show aids retention of information better, is a //learned// skill. We were not born with the inherent ability to read and make sense of language, and thus this should be the most important aspect of our educational system. The studies show that when it comes to health information, people of higher education are certainly more aware. This may be due to the fact that in this modern age, most health information is now online, and people of high education process web channels better. News is certainly important for all people to have equal access to, but health information is perhaps the most important. Thus, the knowledge gap not only inhibits people of low education from being more informed about news and events, but also taking charge of their health. This is why it is so important for measures to be taken to close the gap.

=<span style="color: #ca1c1c; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 130%;">Knowledge Gap Theory: Today and Tomorrow = <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">As discussed in the studies, there were several contributing factors hypothesized to a knowledge gap being present. However, at the core of them, was education. It is clearly shown how the educational level of people is a significant determinant on the amount of information they receive. Common knowledge is not enough and experts in each respective field and media related institutions are not effectively reaching the populations in need. Similarities were also found regarding age, race and gender. Age was found in a few of the studies to not be a factor in the amount of knowledge people acquire. However, race and gender were found to be a factor. Minority groups were observed to be less educated and when at risk to the knowledge gap, still had a lack of information.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">We suggest that there is still a lot of research that can be conducted to further develop the understanding of the knowledge gap theory. Some of the studies addressed looked at information gaps at an undifferentiated snapshot of time. Conducting similar studies done over a variety of time points would provide interesting results. Groups that are negatively affected with a lack of information due to the knowledge gap need to be targeted and better systems of awareness need to be put in place. As mentioned before, reading and technology are critical skills that should be emphasized in classrooms from an early age. Hopefully, as the existence of this knowledge gap becomes more aware to the public and our officials, more steps will be taken to help level the playing field for people of both high and low socioeconomic status.