The use of film in opinion measurement

Summary

The virtual absence of the use of film in measurement of opinion is surprising in view of the efficiency, control, and flexibility afforded by the use of motion pictures. The present article reports one usage of films in measurement of opinion about India.

The motion picture material used in the study consisted of 69 individual items comprising an instrument referred to as a film-questionnaire. Each item consisted of a scene and a narrated question, and the items were of two types; (a) the depictive item, in which the scene showed some aspect of the subject matter dealt with in the questions, and (b) the interpretive item, in which the scene was presented for interpretation by the respondent.

This film-questionnaire was presented to 252 college students. A factor analysis of the items revealed 10 major factors. An evaluation of the content of the items within each factor indicated that eight of these factors were composed essentially of depictive items, and that these factors represented relatively independent opinions with respect to specific topics. The remaining two factors were comprised mainly of interpretive items pertaining to various topics, suggesting that these two factors reflected more general social perceptions.

The discussion included a consideration of opinion-measurement situations in which the film-questionnaire may have advantages over the conventional paper-questionnaire.