Five challenges for the future of media-effects research

Abstract

The past several decades have witnessed thousands of studies into the effects of media on children and adults. The effects sizes that are found in these studies are typically small to moderate, at best. In this article, we first compare the effect sizes found in media-effects research to those found in other social and behavioral sciences, and demonstrate that small effect sizes are just as common in these other disciplines. Then, we discuss why, in contradiction to these other disciplines, small media effects often lead to opposing, or even polarized views among communication scholars. Finally, we present five challenges for future media-effects research that may increase the explanatory power of current media-effects models: 1) improved media exposure measures; 2) more programmatic research on conditional media effects; 3) more targeted, cumulative theory testing; 4) a broader recognition of transactional media effects; and 5) a reconsideration of the media-effects paradigm in the context of new media.

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