A HISTORY OF HANDSETS FOR DIRECT MEASUREMENT OF AUDIENCE RESPONSE

Abstract

For 50 years there has been a specialized type of media research which measures audience reaction to films and other programming on a continuous second-by-second basis through use of electronic handsets. Results are charted during the viewing. Patterns of response constitute an X-ray of the program as experienced by the audience, a record of cognitive processing. Such research data are unique and unavailable using other research methods. This paper traces the history of the development of handsets, from the 1940s to the 1990s, and describes their characteristics. By the 1950s various response scales were being used, principally 3-point, 4-point, and 5-point, as well as different configurations of handset, with push buttons, or dial, or 4-way joy stick. Now in the 1990s there is an extraordinary variety of sophisticated hardware and software available. Hardware developed for continuous response measurement was early adapted by educators for administering classroom tests, and more recently for two-way interaction in Distance Learning. Industry now uses handsets in group meetings for feedback and to facilitate joint decisions. Teleconferencing uses hardware which permits groups assembled in different cities to respond to a presentation made from a central point, and interact with speakers. From its first years, continuous audience response research has remained the tool of a relatively small group of sophisticated users. Most but not all creative people tend to reject use of an electronic device for evaluating their work. Thus, paradoxically, those who can benefit the most have been most reluctant to use it. But as competition for audiences becomes stiffer, demand for research based on handset use appears to be growing.