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Survey Overview

Goals

The Next Gen project focuses on the media consumption of emerging consumers. The survey's objective is to gather self-report information on news and media consumption patterns, perceptions of media, and changing demographics. The project will survey adults 18 years old and up but will oversample individuals 18-35, as those in that age group best fit the definition of "emerging consumers."

Background and Rationale

With the advent of the Internet and social media outlets, the concept and delivery of "news" has changed (and continues to change) dramatically. This is especially true for young adults. Knowledge and understanding of these changes is the purpose of the Next Gen project.

Previous research has investigated next generation media habits. However, such research has commonly used traditional media measures to examine audience behavior. Given the extreme changes seen in news consumption, leading to increased news consumption through aggregators and social media, traditional media measures that focus on attention to sources are unlikely to accurately capture modern audience news habits.

Furthermore, it is hoped that the Next Gen survey may be repeated in future years, allowing comparisons with previous years' results. Previous analyses of next generation media habits have not seen the survey repeated, meaning comparisons across time are not possible.

Research Team

Principal Investigator
Dr. Gerald Kosicki, Associate Professor, OSU School of Communication
Co-Investigator
Dr. Elizabeth Cooksey, Professor of Sociology and Director of CHRR at The Ohio State University
Key Personnel
George Pearson, OSU School of Communication
Chris Booker, Assistant Director, OSU Media relations, Media & PR
Lucia Herrera, CHRR
Nicki Stassen, CHRR
Justin Vance, CHRR

Funding for the project has been provided by Gatehouse Media and The Ohio State University.

Take the Survey

The Next Gen survey is currently closed until the next wave (not yet scheduled). The incentive for the first wave of Next Gen participation was a $20 gift card. Incentives for subsequent waves have not been set.

APP Members

American Population Panel members will be sent a survey invitation if their demographic information is a match for the study's needs in the next wave. If you're a match, you will use the link within your survey invite to begin the survey. If you have questions about your panel membership, please contact the APP at: panel@chrr.osu.edu.

General Public

Individuals 18 years or older living in the U.S. may register for the American Population Panel for future opportunities. Joining the APP does not guarantee that you will meet eligibility requirements to participate in the Next Gen survey, but it will place you into a membership pool where you will be matched to future paid research surveys.

Join the APP