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Lights, Cameras, and Agricultural Documentaries: Understanding viewers’ interpretation of source credibility in food documentary films

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2017, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, Agricultural and Extension Education.
The purpose of this research project was to analyze food documentaries further. This study sought to analyze opinion change of participants when exposed to a pro-agriculture based documentary film and also intended to help agricultural communicators better understand how the production of documentary films could assist or be detrimental to how viewers interpret source credibility of the narrator. Furthermore, this study analyzed how previous agricultural experiences and entertainment-viewing practices of participants influenced responses and opinions toward the experimental condition. There were four objectives of this study: Objective 1: To describe the relationship of attitudes toward modern agriculture as a function of previous background knowledge among Millennials. Objective 2: To describe Millennials’ opinion change toward the agricultural industry as a function of exposure to a documentary portrayal of farming. Objective 3: To explain how Millennials’ attitudes differ toward documentary filmmakers based on their relationship to agriculture. Objective 4: To explain how Millennials’ attitudes toward the content of agricultural documentary films differ as a function of viewership of food documentaries. This research project utilized Campbell and Stanley’s pretest-posttest control group design. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two 15-minute documentary films as the treatment variables. These films were Cornutopia and King Corn. The sample for this research project was obtained by a double-blind, online Qualtrics panel. Qualtrics was provided a list of criteria established by the United States Census Bureau for the participants to be as close as possible to a nationally representative sample of the Millennial generation. As this research utilized qualitative data, the findings of this study were only generalizable to the studied participants. Results showed the majority of participants were from metro areas and had no agricultural background. Nearly 60 percent of the participants had viewed a food documentary previously, with the majority of those participants having viewed more than one film. Overall, family farms were viewed positively. Participants described farms similarly to representations of the agrarian myth and in technical agricultural terms. Results indicated food documentaries had the potential to change viewer’s opinions on agricultural topics. The participants perceived farmers as the most credible sources in both treatment variables. Gender was not a factor that was mentioned by any participants in their explanations of source credibility. It was concluded that food documentaries are a viable topic for further inquiry within agricultural communication research. Agricultural communicators should be proactive and develop food documentaries to use in future research projects and also for educational purposes. Farmers were found to be the most credible sources in this research project and in Telg et al.’s (2012) study which indicates farmers should be used in future food documentary productions. Recommendations from this research project include the replication of this study with a nationally representative population. Filmmaking should be integrated into existing agricultural communication and capstone coursework.
Emily Buck, Ph.D. (Advisor)
Janet Parrott, M.A. (Committee Member)
Annie Specht, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
M. Susie Whittington, Ph.D. (Committee Member)
343 p.

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Beam, B. W. (2017). Lights, Cameras, and Agricultural Documentaries: Understanding viewers’ interpretation of source credibility in food documentary films [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500448684766755

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Beam, Brooke. Lights, Cameras, and Agricultural Documentaries: Understanding viewers’ interpretation of source credibility in food documentary films. 2017. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500448684766755.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Beam, Brooke. "Lights, Cameras, and Agricultural Documentaries: Understanding viewers’ interpretation of source credibility in food documentary films." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1500448684766755

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)