Becker Flashcards
Aim
They wanted to see if people who were exposed to western media were influences in their eating behaviours
What was the sample in Becker?
63 & 65 17 year old girls from the island of Fiji
What design is Becker’s study
Independent measures
What years did the study take place in?
95 & 98
Why did they wait 3 years between legs of their study?
To see the effects before and after TV exposure
What measures were done on the girls?
EAT-26, BMI, questions about TV ownership
What was involved in the EAT-26 questionnaire?
26 questions including short answer and long answer qualitative data
What was considered a high score on EAT-26
20
What happened to the girls who scored highly on EAT-26?
They were given semi-structured interviews about things like self-induced vomitting
What were the results between EAT-26 scores between the two years?
Those scoring highly (over 20) increased from 12.7% to 29.2%
What happened to rates of self-induced vomitting?
They increased from 0% to 11.3%
What result did we see about those with a TV in 1998?
3 times as likely to have a score over 20
What % felt ‘too big’ or ‘too fat’?
74%
What % felt TV had influenced a change in body shape in themselves or a friend?
77%
What are weaknesses with the sample of Becker?
It is Ethnocentic and Gynocentric as it is all girls from Fiji
Is this study reliable?
Yes- because the procedure and questionnaire is largely standardised so you could repeat it with the same stimulus etc
Becker is high or low in ecological validity?
High in ecological validity because their exposure to TV and their lives were in the real world so this is like real life
What is a problem using questionnaires and semi-structured interviews?
Social desirability/Demand Characteristics as they might lie about their resposnes on such a sensitive topic/guess the purpose
Why is this study ethical?
The TV exposure is naturally occurring and therefore the researchers are not responsible, It got consent both from the teens and their parents
What is a problem with the validity of Becker’s study?
There are other EVs like consumerism that might have interfered not just TV
What is an issue with semistructured interviews in Becker?
The semi-structured interviews make the study less reliable as different girls could get asked different questions
What is an issue with the design of Becker?
This is an independent measures design so there could be differences between the groups of girls which could influence the results about eating behaviour
