Master's Theses

Department

Communication Studies

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Abstract

The surge of mass communication through technological advancement has raised the question of people’s apprehension to receiving the information they desire via electronic communication. Receiver Apprehension lessens a person’s ability to process certain types of information (Schumacher, B.K., & Wheeless, L.R., 1997). A representative sample at a mid-sized, mid-Western university was asked to complete a 27-item questionnaire using a Likert-type scale; 375 questionnaires were distributed. A model of the Receiver Apprehension Test (RAT), developed by L.R. Wheeless in 1975, was used for the measurement. However, seven added questions dealt with the Internet. The researcher was testing the hypothesis that people with high RA believe citizens, especially children, should be restricted while accessing the Internet and people with low RA believe access should be granted without governmental or filtering restrictions. It was found that the majority of sample participants were low in apprehension and preferred not to have governmental or filtering restrictions.

Keywords

Communication

Advisor

Dr. Mahboub Hashem

Date of Award

Spring 2001

Document Type

Thesis - campus only access

Rights

© The Author(s)

Comments

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