CHAPTER 9
TEST ITEMS
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Multiple-Choice Questions
1. Television ratings in all local markets take place
2. Ratings reports for syndicated television shows are provided by
d. Gallup.
e. SRI.
3. Data used in compiling “sweeps” information for most markets are obtained from
a. aided recall interviews.
b. passive meters.
4. Nielsen’s regular broadcast network television ratings are based on
d. a combination of television diaries and passive-metered homes.
e. overnight diaries in the top fifty markets.
5. The only service that provides ratings for network radio is
a. Arbitron.
b. Nielsen.
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6. Which of the following statements reflects the networks’ initial response to people meters?
a. Very favorable because network ratings showed a large increase.
7. Viewer diaries for daily ratings
a. provide a problem-free method of data collection.
8. In the future, researchers may replace people meters with
a. diaries.
b. Audimeters.
d. error, probability, and response rate.
e. opinions, demographics, and number of people.
10. Regardless of method, audience measurement is based on
d. amended computations.
e. sampling effects.
11. The concept of diminishing returns is used to explain
d. sampling error.
e. market definition.
12. To draw a random sample for a local market survey, researchers often begin with
d. auto license records.
e. voter registration lists.
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13. Sampling error refers to
a. mistakes made in gathering data.
14. Which of the following would not describe Designated Market Areas?
a. A DMA is comprised of one or more counties in which the stations are most viewed.
15. Which of the following best explains the relationship between ratings and share figures?
d. Ratings and shares vary inversely to each other.
e. No relationship exists because you cannot predict shares based on ratings.
16. If a prime-time network program has a 30 rating and a 40 share, and there are 100 million U.S.
households, in approximately how many of those households was there at least one person watching
the program?
d. 60 million
e. 70 million
17. If a television programmer wants to know how he or she is doing against the competition, he or she
would assess the program’s
a. HUT.
18. Which measurement unit is widely used in radio to measure how many different listeners tuned to a
radio station?
d. Daypart share figures
e. Drive-time ratings
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19. The greatest abusers of the current ratings system are
a. advertisers, who insist on quantitative rather than qualitative data.
b. audience members who, when chosen to be part of a ratings sample, alter their viewing and
20. The term “hyping,” when applied to broadcast ratings, means that
a. someone deliberately manipulates ratings data.
21. Former CBS programming chief Paul Klein developed a theory he calls __________ to explain why
people may stay tuned even if they don’t like any programs on the air.
a. audience passivity syndrome
22. In the late 1990s, broadcast television network viewing share during prime time was down to
__________ percent.
a. 40
23. Local cable audiences
a. are easier to measure than national audiences because of the Nielsen Cable Audience Reports.
24. VCRs give viewers more control over their time in all of the following ways except ability to
a. timeshift.
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24. This company collects data from panels of web users who have installed software that track their
Internet use.
a. traffic Analytics
25. Audience research that relies on focus groups for data collection is concerned primarily with
participants’
e. physiological reactions to stimuli.
True/False Questions
3. In random digit dialing, researchers use computer generated telephone numbers, not phone books.
7. Cable television determines its potential audience on the basis of number of homes passed by cable.
9. Internet site providers and their advertisers want to know both how many people access these sites
10. Most television and radio stations take phone calls and letters from viewers more seriously than
Essay Questions
1. How do Arbitron and Nielsen collect and use data on audiences for local, network, and syndicated
clients?
2. Describe the advantages and disadvantages for four of the following six different methods of
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