Audience Attitude and Impact of TV Reality Shows

This paper aims at evaluating the attitude of the audience towards reality TV shows and the subsequent impact; these shows have on the society based on authenticity aspect. The paper evaluates this by analyzing qualitative data from an online transcript and quantitative data of 300 participants done using an SPSS program.

Running head: MARKET RESEARCH ON REALITY TV SHOWS
1
Audience Attitude and Impact of TV Reality Shows
Student’s name
Institution affiliation

MARKET RESEARCH ON REALITY TV SHOWS 2
Audience Attitude and Impact of TV Reality Shows
This paper aims at evaluating the attitude of the audience towards reality TV shows and
the subsequent impact; these shows have on the society based on authenticity aspect. The paper
evaluates this by analyzing qualitative data from an online transcript and quantitative data of 300
participants done using an SPSS program.
1. Qualitative data analysis
There are two factors to be analyzed from the transcript which include;
a. The attitude of audience towards reality TV shows
b. The impact of reality TV shows on society
1.1 Attitude of audience
From the transcript it is clear that most of the participants in the online transcript brought
about the aspect of attitude as a factor towards the reality TV shows. Many of the participants in
the online discussion express different levels of doubt concerning whether the reality shows are
mere scripts, a product of manipulation or are not authentic. To most of them, these shows
appear as having been selected carefully or as a set up just from the word go and thus cannot be
termed as being authentic (Evans, 2011). As is common knowledge, reality shows are supposed
to involve the real life of the participants, however, based on the outlook of these shows, the
producers design the scripts with the idea in mind that they should be as interesting to the
audience as possible. In this case, they include a lot of manipulation towards achieving this
outcome.
The best example is the aspect of the pretty faces of the participants whose level of
prettiness is too good to be real. The manipulation seems to take away the aspect of real life from

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the much make up they put that makes them look extraordinary beings. This process makes the
whole thing appear as mere acting and not the show it is meant to be. On the other hand, besides
this aspect of manipulation and inauthenticity, the transcript shows that the audience sometimes
gets attracted to view the shows as a way of recognizing the design skills, and techniques applied
to make them awesome (Godlewski, & Perse, 2010). They accept the fact that these shows do
not have to have high levels of truthfulness or seriousness but have to be entertaining, enjoyable
and attracting to the eyes of the audience. In this case they seem to accept this fact that no matter
the level of authenticity, what matters is the level of adventure the audience finds in these shows.
1.2 Impact of reality TV shows
Besides the aspect of attitude noted from the transcript and depicted from the data, reality
shows have in them another element of negative effect on people and society. From the analysis
it is quite clear that people are concerned with the negative impact the shows have which comes
out in two ways. The shows negatively influence the audience and also the have negative impact
on the people participating. From the discussion in the transcript, the impact is depicted
differently on people based on demographic factor of age (Callanan, & Rosenberger, 2011).
Sometimes minors watch these shows and they learn various things which cannot be deemed
healthy on their lives based on the fact that their minds cannot determine good and bad content.
This ends up affecting them emotionally, socially and in terms of behavior. According to them,
shows such as Temptation Island contain more negative values when compared to the positive
ones. From this point, people and especially the young minds get confused regarding what life
really is and what they see from the shows since the shows tend to show the ugly and bad side of
nature (Hill, 2014). The shows seem to intrude more on the privacy part of the participants with
the aim of creating pleasure and enjoyment to the onlookers. The end result is violation on the

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privacy of the participants especially when immature people try making contacts with them
based on the shows. According to study of impact of reality shows, they have a negative
influence on the participants and audience in general based on behavior that is against the ethics
and morals the society puts forth for its people. The young minds get influenced negatively since
people tend to copy the negative elements they learn from the content (Hill, 2014). As is the case
with any shows on TVs, the young people get early exposure to the content and by the time
parents realize on this the impact cannot be reversed. In this case the shows need to be deemed
authentic and healthy to all people before they get aired regardless of age so that morals and
ethics can be upheld among people
Structural framework model

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2. Quantitative data analysis
2.1 The sample
From the quantitative data, the participants in the study were 300 with 29.7% being males
and 70.3% being female. These translates to N=89.1 and N=211.1 for the male and female
participants. Most of these participants lie between 18 to 25 years, followed by 26 to 35, below
i8 years and then 36 years and above. The percentages and n-values include 38.3% and 211,
29.3% and 86, 21.3% and 64 and then 11% and 33. Again, 95 or 31.7% of the 300 participants
confirmed that they get enjoyment from watching reality TV shows while 85 or 28.3% had a
neutral attitude towards the shows and watching. 21.3% of them agree strongly towards getting
some enjoyment from the watching, 10.7% of them, disagree to the aspect of enjoyment while
only 8% disagree strongly to having any form of enjoyment when watching the shows.
Table for sample representation
Frequency
under 18 18-25 26-35 36+
0
50
100
150
Chart Title
Series1
Age

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Table for frequency against age
2.2 Hypothetical analysis
Six hypotheses were tested using various testing methodologies and the results were as follows;
2.2.1 Hypothesis 1
This hypothesis tested the connection level between the idea of participating in the reality
TV show and getting enjoyment from the act. The testing was done using the nonparametric test
involving the spearman’s correlation to examine this relationship. The reason for this choice is
on the abnormal distribution of the variables while the testing uses an ordinal or a nominal scale.
From the analysis, there was a weak relationship based on the value of correlation coefficient
which was obtained as 0.102. Any value that lies between 0.01 and 0.02 is taken to have a weak
strength of association. Again, there was a p-value of 0.077 which is greater than the value of
significance for null hypothesis of p > 0.05. In this case, the null hypothesis could not be rejected
at H0 at a significance of 5%. Thus the result is H0: there exists no relationship between the
connection of enjoyment of watching the shows and participating in the shows.
2.2.2 Hypothesis 2
This tested the difference in levels of enjoyment between gender; i.e. males and females.
The Mann-Whitney U test was carried out based on the fact that the variables have an abnormal
distribution and the testing involves samples that are independent. From the analysis, the p-value
was 0.000 which indicates that the null hypothesis can be rejected since the value is less than the
significance value of 0.05%. However, from the mean ranking of the test, the males scored 83.71
while the females scored 178.69. This means that the females enjoyed the shows more than the
males. Thus, the result is H1: A difference exists between the enjoyment levels of males and
females from watching reality TV shows.

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2.2.3 Hypothesis 3
This hypothesis tests the relationship between preferred TV show and age of participants.
The test involved the use of chi-square for nonparametric test to determine the relationship. The
method is applied to give the relationship strength level involving data in tables with two rows or
columns and above. The P-value was 0.000 lower than the significant value of 0.5%. A rejection
of null hypothesis can be done. Additionally, the chi-square outcome was a value of 76.26 and a
Cramer’s value of 0.36. Thus, H2: shows that a relationship exists between the preferred TV
show and age of the participant.
2.2.4 Hypothesis 4
Spearman’s correlation was applied to test the hypothesis for connection between
enjoying a reality show and its depiction of real life since the samples were nominal or ordinal.
The coefficient value was 0.037 which is a weak value coming between 0.01 and 0.2. The p-
value was 0.513 meaning that the null hypothesis cannot be rejected. Thus H4: is that there is no
association between what a show depicts and enjoyment levels.
2.2.5 Hypothesis 5
The hypothesis involved getting the difference between participant attraction and
depiction of real behaviors. The test applied the Wilcoxon signed test of rank which is
nonparametric. The P-value was 0.000 and the null hypothesis could be rejected. Again the mean
rank values for real life depiction and attractiveness of participants were 97.41 and 94.97. Thus
the H6: is that there is a slight difference in the depiction of real behavior and attractive levels of
participants.
2.2.6 Hypothesis 6

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The hypothesis tested the need for having attractive participants among people with fewer
than 18 years, between 18 and 25, 26 and 35 and above 36 years. The p-value was 0.000 hence
null hypothesis was rejected the mean rank for the groups were 177.61, 155.92, 153.79 and 70.21
respectively. Thus H3: is that there is difference between having attractive people for the age
groups.
3. Discussion
From the report, it could be noted that the qualitative and quantitative analysis lacked any
level of similarity in outcome. According to the factor on attitude concerning the authenticity
levels of reality shows, people showed that these shows involve a lot of acting and what is seen
within them is not necessarily what life is all about. To them these shows are just meant for
enjoyment and entertainment. To them they watch them aiming at these elements and not to learn
about what life is about (Stefanone, Lackaff, & Rosen, 2010). In this case, their attitude is
supported by the hypotheses that showed that there exists no relationship between the depiction
of real life in the shows and the level of enjoyment and also the fact that having participants that
attract the audience is more vital as compared to what the reality shows depict about behavior. If
the shows depicted real life, it would mean that these shows were authentic and this brings about
a relationship in the qualitative and quantitative analysis (Sender, 2012).
As the transcript says that the participants, of reality show need to be the ones who are
interesting, this supports the aspect of attitude and hypotheses 4 and 5. From the second factor on
the impact from these shows the transcription shows that there could be negative influence on the
audience and the participants as well (Williams, Petrosky, Hernandez, & Page 2011). The focus
group shows that the rights of participants are affected, while their private lives get intruded.
This outcome could be related to hypotheses 1, 4 and 5. From the quantitative data analysis it is

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clear that there is no connection between the participants in reality shows and their enjoyment in
watching the show and what the shows depict about real life. From the similarity in the factor of
impact and the hypothesis, it is clear that a relationship exists between the two types of data
analysis (Morgan, Shanahan, & Signorielli, 2009). The two analysis methods have some aspect
of similarity from the qualitative side could not be justified based on the fact that the control
group participants were only 5. This number reduces the element of the outcome to be spread all
over the entire group of 300 people. In conclusion, the data analysis from the quantitative side
has more significance since its sample was greater and could be spread to the population (Fu, Ye,
& Xiang, 2016). The larger the sample the higher the significance of outcome
4. Recommendation
The research was meant to find out the attitude of different consumers towards reality TV
shows and from that give a recommendation to the NBN Company on whether they can
introduce such a show. From the study, it has been confirmed that reality TV shows can have
negative influence on people. It is however worth noting that the attitude of consumers may not
be directly affected by the impact of the reality shows. From the study, it has been confirmed that
people can have negative attitude towards the show when they consider the negative influence of
these shows, but still have some level of attractiveness towards them (Patino, Kaltcheva, &
Smith, 2011). Different people get attracted to the shows by varied reasons which range from the
excitement, the adventure they get in the unpredictable plots and the overall value of
entertainment that come from within. However, no matter the level of entertainment a reality TV
show has, it is important to consider the aspect of impact on society. Thus, the NBN Company
should come up with a show that portrays positive life issues about people and whose impact is
not negative. Any new show needs to evaluate the effect the show would have on the audience

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regarding their attitude. It is noted that most reality TV shows intrude more on to the negative
sides of the participants stirring varied perceptions among the audience (Morris, 2009). Since
reality TV shows may not be avoided in totality, companies such as the NBN should bear in
mind this fact and design a show that would not only end up giving the same elements of
adventure, entertainment and enjoyment on the audience but also having a positive attitude on
the audience (Morgan, & Shanahan, 2010). In this case, such a show would be classified as
health program involving real life. NBN company should ensure the that the following factors
are achieved in their new reality TV shows including;
 That the new TV show is healthy based on the impact it would have on the society
 That it would be enjoyable, entertaining and adventurous so that they attract more
audience
 That would be respectful towards the positive side of real life of participants
 The shows should serve the purpose of instilling a real life teaching, experience or a
lesson on the audience rather than influencing them negatively.

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Appendices
Appendix 1: age gender and TV preference

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Appendix 2: H1

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Appendix 3:H2

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Appendix 4: H3
Appendix 5: H4

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Appendix 6: H5
Appendix 7: H6