CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Part I – Hypothesis And

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CHAPTER 4 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 

Part I - Hypothesis and Operationalisation of the Concepts 

The government of Pakistan relaxed the electronic media policy in 2000 and allowed 

cable operators to work legally. Consequently, cable industry has grown rapidly and 

started transmitting local and foreign satellite television channels through their 

networks. The number of subscribers increased swiftly and exposed to the western and 

Indian societies. This has not only broken the monopoly of the state-owned electronic 

media in the country and provided a variety in channels and programmes but also 

elevated the concern over its effects on viewers. Hence, this study was carried out to 

probe the effects of cable television in Pakistan. 

Fundamental aim of this study was to ascertain the effects of cable television on 

women in Lahore, Pakistan, and suggest some recommendations for policy-makers and 

broadcasters. The study intends to record the demographic characteristics of cable 

television subscribers (women aged 18-40 years only), their consumption patterns and 

measures their level of viewing. It also probes whether or not there is any gender 

discrimination in cable television viewing and explores that how the viewing of cable 

television is affecting the lives of women residing in Lahore. 

4.1 Major Hypothesis 

The major hypothesis designed for the study was “Greater the exposure to cable 

television greater the effect on the lives of women in Lahore, Pakistan”. 

The core purpose of this study was to dig out the influence of foreign channels or 

local channels with foreign contents on the social life, values and behaviour patterns of 

female viewers. Therefore, the researcher was interested in examining whether or not 

and how far is the cable television affecting women in Pakistan at grass-root level in 

terms of the following factors: 

· Domestic and other activities 

· Family and social interaction patterns 

· Appearance and style 

· Cultural practices i.e. food, language, dress, traditions and religion 

· Domestic and personal expenditure 

· Role of Pakistani women in society

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The researcher has selected the above-mentioned factors based on the conclusion 

drawn after reviewing the relevant literature. Most of the viewers were of the view 

that television viewing generates socio-economic and cultural changes. Therefore, 

the researcher has formed the following sub-hypothesis: 

4.1.1 Sub-Hypotheses 

· Heavy viewers of cable television experience greater degree of effect on their 

domestic and other activities than the moderate and light viewers 

· Heavy viewers of cable television experience a greater degree of change in their 

family and social interaction patterns than the moderate and light viewers 

· Heavy viewers of cable television tend to show a greater degree of acceptance of 

television characters’ appearance and style than the moderate and light viewers 

· Heavy viewers of cable television experience greater degree of effect on their 

cultural practices than the moderate and light viewers 

· Heavy viewers of cable television have experience a greater degree of effect on 

their domestic and personal expenditures than the moderate and light viewers 

· Heavy viewers of cable television tend to show a greater degree of acceptance of 

role of women as portrayed on Indian and western channels than the moderate 

and light viewers 

4.2 Variables of the Study 

The study has independent and dependent variables: 

4.2.1 Independent Variable 

“Exposure to cable television” was an independent variable of the study. It means the 

time spend viewing cable television by the respondent. Therefore greater the time spend 

against cable television greater will be the exposure. 

4.2.2 Dependant Variables 

“Effect on lives of women” as the dependent variable is explained below: 

· Domestic and other activities 

· Family and social interaction patterns 

· Appearance and style 

· Cultural practices i.e. food, language, dress, traditions and religion 

· Domestic and personal expenditure 

· Role of Pakistani women

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4.3 Conceptualization 

The major terms used in the study are defined below: 

4.3.1 Cable Television 

i. Formal 

Encyclopaedia Britannica (1986) describes cable television as: “Generally, a 

system that distributes television signals by means of coaxial or fiber optic 

cables. The term also includes systems that distribute signals solely via satellite.” 

ii. Operational 

In this research, it (cable television) is referred only to those cable television 

networks which were working in Lahore, Pakistan, and transmitting local, 

western and Indian channels through coaxial or fiber optic cables. 

4.3.2 Exposure 

i. Formal 

“Lying open to reader an accessible, liable to action or influence.” (Oxford 

Dictionary (1958). 

“An action of exposing, lying open, setting for the programme and liable to 

action and influence (Webster, 1967, p. 802). 


By exposure to cable television, the researcher intends to define the time that 

women allocate towards viewing cable television channels. Moreover, this also 

pertains to the type of channels and programmes that the female viewers prefer 

to watch, so that it can determine the kind of “exposure” consequential to the 

“change in their life patterns”. 

4.3.3 Level of Viewing 

The number of hours devoted to viewing cable television programmes per day 

determines the level of viewing for this study. The researcher divided the viewers into 

three categories i.e. heavy, moderate and light viewers, instead of two because the main 

aim of the study was to compare two extremes i.e. heavy and light viewers. 

i. Heavy Viewer 

The respondents who watch cable television channels for 4 and more than 4 

hours per day are considered as heavy viewer.

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ii. Moderate viewer 

The respondents who watch cable television channels for more than two but less 

than four hours per day are considered as moderate viewer. 

iii. Light Viewer 

The respondents who watch cable television channels up to two hours per day 

are considered as light viewer. 

Table 4.2: Viewers Category by Hours of viewing 

Viewers category 

Heavy viewer 

Moderate viewer 

Light viewer 

Hours of viewing per day 

4 and more than 4 hours 

More than 2 but less than 4 hours 

Up to 2 hours 

4.3.4 Women 

i. Formal 

A woman is an adult female in contrast to a man, adult male, a girl and a female 

child. The term woman is used to indicate distinction based on sex and cultural 

bgender role or both. 


In this dissertation, the researcher has defined woman as a female of the 

reproductive age of 18-40 years old. The researcher has deliberately avoided 

those females who have reached this age bracket but are studying in any 

institution. The reason of keeping them out of the sample was that they might get 

affected from their peer group instead of directly viewing of cable television. 

Hence, the researcher considered only those 18-40 years old women who were 

working or house managers but not studying in any institution. 

4.3.5 Change in Life 

i. Formal 

Change means people engaged in such activities that are different from those 

which they or their parents were engaged in. (Saif, and Syed, 1999). 

Life is the quality that humans, animals and plants have when they are not dead. 

It distinguishes them from objects, materials and substances and is responsible 

for their growth and development (Websters’ Dictionary, 1967).

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The researcher has taken into account some of the aspects of target women’s life 

which were being affected by cable television channels. 

4.3.6 Domestic and Other Activities 

i. Formal 

Domestic role is especially significant in a Pakistani woman’s life. The 

wife/house manager is the one who generally does most of the household work 

such as cooking, cleaning, washing, taking care of children and helping them in 

their studies, buying groceries or household goods and so on and so forth. Other 

activities of women include reading newspapers, magazines, books, listening to 

music, praying, reading of religious books, going out for shopping and outing 

etc. The researcher was interested in seeing the effects of paying time to watch 

cable television on women’s activities’ Eashwer (1994) did a study in India 

which revealed that 16 out of 30 women spent over 4 hours a day watching cable 

television and 10 of them spent 2 to 3 hours a day. Major activities affected are: 

· Exposure to other media and reading habits 

· Interaction with children, husband, other family members, friends and 

neighbours 

· Cooking and other household work 


This factor was operationalized. One dependent variable which deals with 

changes in women’s daily routine life and its effect on their domestic and other 

activities i.e. household chores, newspapers, magazines and book reading, going 

out for shopping, outing and cinema, listening to music, prayer and religious 

book reading, etc. 

4.3.7 Family and Social Interaction Patterns 

i. Formal 

Traditionally, families in Pakistan have close relationship and interact with each 

other affectionately. Majority is used to live in joint family system and spend 

leisure time with parents, friends and relatives. They are used to share their 

feelings, emotions and family matters with each other. Similarly, social 

interaction is a part of Pakistan’s culture. People meet frequently with their 

friends and peers. They arrange gatherings, visit their neighbours and welcome

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them at their homes. It seems that due to cable television channels, people prefer 

watching dramas and movies rather than interacting with family members or 

going out and meeting friends and neighbours. Media contents might be a topic 

of discussion among them. But their concentration might be more towards the 

television programmes instead of family and social issues. This may affect the 

family and social interaction. Therefore, this research was aimed at identifying 

the changes occurring in the family and social interaction patterns of women. 


The study operationalized this factor into ten items which broadly deal with: 

· Social interaction: Change in interaction patterns with relatives, neighbours 

and friends in terms of time and visit 

· Family interaction: Change in family interaction patterns i.e. with husband 

and children in terms of time at home, outing and interruption during 

watching cable television 

4.3.8 Appearance and Style 

i. Formal 

Lifestyle is defined as the integration of decisions in the realm of career, 

personal and family relationship and leisure that results in guiding principles 

which directs one’s life (cited in Vijayalakshmi, 2005, p. 61). Lifestyle also 

includes clothing, food, accent and leisure pursuits. A person’s qualification, 

educational experience, occupation and levels of responsibility within his/her 

culture also determine his/her lifestyle. 

It is general observation that people follow celebrities shown in 

television programmes. They are seen as role models. Fashion and style 

introduced by them is considered as latest and advanced. It is general 

observation that media content remains the topic of discussion among people 

these days. Therefore, concentration might be more towards fashion, characters 

and predictions about what is going to happen next. Shopping of items related to 

personal appearance might be changing due to the exposure to foreign channels 

through cable television. The researcher has personally viewed that such items 

like jewellery and outfits with the names of television drama characters are 

available in the shopping areas in Lahore.

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This research tried to discover the target audience associating their personal 

appearance and lifestyle with television characters. The study described 

appearance and lifestyle as of dressing up hairstyle, make up, jewellery and 

accent adopted by women. Thus this dimension was operationalized into six 

dependant variables i.e. acceptance of resemblance with television characters, 

imitating television character’s hairstyles, accent, make-up, jewellery, etc. 

4.3.9 Culture Practices 

i. Formal 

Culture can be defined in several ways. It is the way of life in a particular 

society. Every culture has its own values system. In socialization, culture guides 

people what to do and what not to do. But there is no standardized definition of 

culture. Various scholars have defined it in different ways. Williams (1977) says 

culture is the sum of available description through which society makes sense 

and reflects their common experience. Williams states “culture is a way of life”. 

Culture is conceptualized in a variety of ways and is also widely used in 

inter-cultural communication. Although culture is defined in terms of a 

nation/state, most people conceptualized culture in terms of race, social class and 

gender identity etc. Culture patterns are normative to the extent that they 

represent the fundamental values and practices accepted by the whole society. 

(Vijayalaskshmi, 2005, p. 46). John F. Cuber (1968) states “there is one 

fundamental and inescapable attribute of culture: the fact of unending change. 

Phrases like “stagnant cultures” and “unchanging cultures” are misleading. All 

that squares with facts is that some societies sometimes change slowly, and 

hence in comparison to other societies seem not to be changing at all. But they 

are changing even though not radically or obviously so”. 

Jamias (1993) has reviewed the knowledge on new communication 

technologies pertaining to cultural identity. He summarizes that fear burns rife 

over the negative impact potential of the new communication technologies on 

cultural identity in rural Asia. Yet technology is not neutral. Technology is good 

or bad depending on the use. Shariffadeen (1995) research study looks at some 

of the major economic, cultural and social issues faced by developing countries 

arising from the new technology. It is suggested that developing nations promote

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a learning culture among their people in order to gain a foothold in the emerging 

information-based economy. 

According to the above-mentioned statements, it is obvious that culture 

in Pakistan is changing with the passage of time. Therefore, it was intriguing for 

the researcher to find out changes occurring in the cultural practices in Pakistan 

and its relationship (if any) with the viewing of cable television. Thus, the 

researcher has taken language, food, religion and some traditions as indicators of 

culture practices. 

Language 

Language is a strong part of the culture and cable television channels have 

affected it. Urdu and English are the official languages of Pakistan. Formally and 

informally, people speak regional and Urdu languages. People watch more Hindi 

channels on cable television as the Hindi language is close to Urdu and they 

have a better understanding of it. English channels are also creating impact on 

language. In Pakistani culture, people feel proud when they speak English and 

those who cannot speak English frequently try to incorporate English words in 

their regional and Urdu language to leave an impression. This study evaluates 

whether and how these channels are affecting the language of Pakistani women. 

Food Habits 

At homes Pakistani people generally prefer light and simple food i.e. Daal, rice, 

Roti vegetables, chicken, meat, fruit, etc. Family members sit together at dining 

table and talk about family and social issues while having their meal and this is 

the best time to discuss their family matters. It is general observation that these 

days 24 hours access to the cable television and variety of channels is creating 

impact and the eating trend is in the process of change and people prefer to take 

their meals in front of television. Television channels are regularly showing food 

preparation programmes so it was assumed that this might have changed their 

food and eating habits. Further, in Lahori culture, eating is considered as the 

greatest passion and all the recreation activities revolve around this. On the basis 

of the above information, this study tried to assess that whether the food habits 

are changing among women viewers residing in Lahore as changed food habits 

in women will directly affect the food habits of the whole family.

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Dress 

In urban areas the educated are dressed in a semi-western style at home. The 

local dress consists of the Kurta and Shalwar. Achkan and Sherwani are worn on 

formal occasions. The women's dress is generally more colorful. The important 

items of the women clothing are Shalwar Kamiz and Dopatta or Chaddar to 

cover their heads and upper parts of their body. Sari is only worn by women of 

the upper classes in cities on formal occasion. Shoes are worn by those living in 

city while women folk wear sandals and slippers; Purdah is not generally 

observed by city women. 

Religion 

Cable television is not only providing Pakistani channels but also transferring 

European, American, Indian and other channels. Through their programmes, 

religions other than Islam, are exposed to the public in Pakistan which have 

different values. The researcher assumed that such conditions might affect the 

religious trends in Pakistan. Some of the researches have proved that Indian 

channels are giving undue exposure to Hinduism through their dramas and 

movies (Pervez, 2006). Vulgarity and action scenes in these movies might 

influence their attitudes towards religion and their routine lives. Therefore, this 

research tried to evaluate effects on religious attitudes of light and heavy 

viewers. 

Traditions 

Pakistani people practice hospitality and show generosity towards others. They 

obey and respect each other, particularly their elders. Moreover, in Pakistan joint 

family system is as praised as compared to nuclear family. They share their 

happiness as well as sorrows. Now a days, people in Pakistan are being exposed 

to Indian, western and other culture’s rituals, traditions and celebrations like 

Valentine’s Day, Halloween, Holly, etc. not aligned with Pakistani norms and 

traditions. The rituals of Pakistani marriages have been changed as many norms 

and traditions of India are being followed now by the women in Pakistan. This 

statement is verified by a study conducted by Tariq (2004) on “Invasion of 

Indian culture through movies”. This study confirmed the influence of Indian 

movies on marriage traditions/celebrations in high class of Lahore, Pakistan. 

Keeping in view, the above-mentioned particulars, the researcher tried to figure 

out what types of changes are occurring in our traditions.

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This factor was operationalized into 24 items which deal with the five 

parameters including language, food, dressing, religion and some of traditions as 

indicators of culture practices. 

· Food: Acceptance of television as the best source of learning new dishes and 

the usage of western and Indian dishes and changed pattern of dining 

· Dressing: Acceptance of television as best source of fashion and dress 

designs and usage of western and Indian dresses as casual and party wear 

· Language: Acceptance of television as the best source of learning languages 

and the usage of Indian and English language 

· Traditions: Acceptance and practice of Indian and western traditions 

· Religion: Acceptance of television as the best source of religious 

information and changing trends 

4.3.10 Domestic and Personal Expenditure 

i. Formal 

Many research studies have proved that exposure to television, especially to 

commercials, is affecting peoples household budgets. This imbalance of budge 

may compel the family members to discover new ways of earnings. Through 

cable television, women of Pakistan are getting exposed a variety of western and 

Indian channels. It is quite obvious that it disturbs their budget. Thus the 

research tried to discover the changes occurring in domestic and personal 

expenditures. The affect on expenditure is also assessed by the tendency of 

women to indulge themselves in any business service or some other means of 

earning. This may happen because of advertisements on cable television 

channels. People get motivated to purchase new products and try them which 

may affect their daily budget. 


Domestic and personal expenditures operationalized that how cable television 

affects their domestic and personal expenditures and are they ready to become an 

earning hand?

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4.3.11 Role of Pakistani Women in Society 

i. Formal 

Women in Pakistan are expected to be more fostering, integrative and conjugal. 

Principally, they are responsible for child-rearing and home-making while men 

are responsible for generating income and management. Women are made to 

realize from early days of life that they are frail, childish, dependent, domestic, 

gullible, irrational, scheming creatures and not susceptible to taking important 

decisions or doing important things. Such realizations persuade women to accept 

their role in society only as housewife, regardless of their education, aspirations 

or intellect. 

Traditionally, Pakistan has a culture for arrange marriages. Most of the 

time parents or relatives select the match for their children particularly for their 

daughters. Caste and status is also considered before making decision. Majority 

of the families have a joint set-up. Therefore, women in families other than 

house- keeping, preparing food and taking care of children, also have to look 

after the elders of the family. Education and increasing expenditures are pushing 

women out of home to join workplaces but they do not receive encouragement 

from their homes and society. Working women sometimes get little help from 

their families in making adjustment with regard to demand on their time and 

pressure of work. But their prime duty is still considered as home-making, 

fulfilling the responsibilities as daughter, wife and mother and their careers do 

get the same weightage. Therefore, such women always remain under stress. 

It is clear that media, both broadcast and print, play an important role in 

defining what we think, who we are and what is our place is in the society. 

Media also helps define how issues are interpreted and evaluated. Western 

channels show both husband and wife sharing the tasks of earning and 

homemaking. These channels portray women as independent, enjoying freedom, 

having strong careers and making decisions independently. Therefore, it would 

be important and exciting to discover whether exposure to cable television has 

brought any change in Pakistani women’s perspective of their role in the society. 


Behaviour of the female viewers, cognition and the way of reasoning also 

involves a problem-solving attitude of the subjects under study. This concept 

extends out to structuring and re-structuring of the social role, cultural,

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linguistic, religious and moral values of viewers. Through this concept, the 

researcher intends to go up to the level of finding out whether or not the contents 

of the cable television have deformed and reformed the social role of viewers 

and how is this reformation effecting their personality, pattern of earning, getting 

their rights and freedoms, methods of bringing up their children and taking care 

of their homes. 

This factor was operationalized into eight items which deal with 

following indicators: 

· Acceptance of career women: Acceptance of career for women equivalent 

to the men 

· Sharing of family responsibilities by men and women: Acceptance of 

equally sharing family responsibilities by husband and wife i.e. nurturing 

children, sharing of household chores and income generation 

· Equal rights, respect and freedom of women: Acceptance of the idea that 

women and men should have equal rights, independence and respect in the 

society.

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Part II - RESEARCH DESIGN 

4.4 Survey 

In this study, survey method has been applied to obtain the data that is quantitative in 

nature from large representative but diverse and widely scattered population. The survey 

has aided the researcher in collecting information directly from the cable television 

viewers (heavy, moderate and light viewers) so that a proper analysis could be made by 

comparing their lives. The changes in their lives have hence figured out through the 

information provided on a quantitative scale. This research was conducted during 

February 2004 to May 2007. The data was collected in 2005. 

4.4.1 Population 

Due to the time and budgetary limitations, the total area covered by the study was Lahore 

only. Wimmer and Dominick (1993) define population as “A group or a class of subjects, 

variables, concepts or phenomena.” In the light of the above definition, total population of 

this study comprises all female cable television viewers aged 18 to 40 years and residing 

in Lahore. The researcher preferred this age group of women for the study because it is 

the most vibrant, active and dynamic part of their lives. According to PEMRA the 

estimated number of cable television subscribers in Lahore was 350,000. The estimated 

total viewership in Lahore was 2,000,000 to 2,200,000. The expected number of women 

targeted in this study was one fourth of the total viewership, which were about 500,000. It 

was not feasible for the researcher to approach the total population therefore sampling 

technique was applied. 

4.5 Sampling Method 

Even a modest sized survey typically requires considerable time, material, money and 

assistance. Thus the researcher has applied sampling technique to collect the data 

considering the definition of Wimmer and Dominick (1993) “a sample is the subset of the 

population that is taken to be the representative of the entire population”. 

The researcher selected Lahore as the field of study because it is the traditional 

capital city of Punjab and an urban center. It is the second largest city of Pakistan and 

cosmopolitan in nature. It consists of heterogeneous population comprising Punjabis, 

Pathan, Baluchis, Sindhis, and Kashmiris etc belonging to different religions and 

speaking different languages (see Appendix II for further details). 

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Lahore is considered as the hub of media industry. Almost all national dailies have 

their offices and are published from here. An established and oldest set up of Pakistan 

Broadcasting Corporation (PBC) located in Lahore is working productively since the 

creation of the country. Besides PBC, various FM radio channels are effectively working 

here. All television channels have their bureau offices in Lahore. According to PEMRA 

regional office Lahore, the Authority has issued 83 head end licensees till 2006, out of 

which 68 are active and 276 loop holders are successfully handling the cable operation 

and serving the 0.35 million subscribers. Every cable operator and loop holder provides 

more than 100 channels to the connection holder. Most of these channels are western and 

Indian, transmitting programmes in English and Hindi languages. English language, used 

as the medium of instruction in most of the educational institutions in Lahore, is also 

considered as a status symbol in Pakistan, particularly in cosmopolitan cities like Lahore. 

So people are familiar with the language and thus take interest in English language 

channels and programmes. On the other hand the main cause of popularity of Indian 

channels among the public in Pakistan is the similarities of Urdu and Hindi languages. 

These two languages are closer to each other and people understand them without putting 

any extra effort and thus feel comfortable watching Indian channels. 

The researcher was interested in collecting the data from large population but due 

to time and financial constraints, total 432 women cable television viewers belonging to 

Lahore were selected as a sample of the study. Lahore was divided into six towns by the 

government for administrative purposes, including 

· Aziz Bhatti Town 

· Data Gunj Bakash Town 

· Allama Iqbal Town 

· Nishtar Town 

· Ravi Town 

· Shalimar Town 

(see Appendix III for further details) 

The government administrative “Division” was used because each division consists of 

demographically diverse population. The researcher was able to target different groups of 

women of the society based on income, education, marital status, working and house 

managers, etc. Upon discussion with MS. Max Media (decoder provider to the cable 

operators) it appeared that subscribers were almost equally distributed in all the towns. 

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Since no authentic and systematic list of viewers was available to the researcher, it 

was decided to select equal respondents from each town by applying non-probability 

quota sampling. Allocation of Equal quota to each town was utilized to ensure that 

findings can be generalised to all of Lahore. 

Pakistan and in particular Lahore has witnessed rapid growth of cable television 

network after its legalization in year 2000. The researcher was also interested to find out 

the duration for which women of Lahore have been watching cable television. Women 

viewing cable television for less than 2 years were excluded from the sample because the 

researcher believes that time period less than 2 years is insufficient to cause effects on 

viewers. Based on this criterion four categories were made: 

· Watching cable television for the last 2 years 



· Watching cable television for more then 4 years 

The selected women for interview fulfilled the criterion of sample i.e. women aged 

between 18-40 years, residing in Lahore and viewing cable television for minimum of 

two years. Initially the researcher decided to draw a sample of 75 (being a modest no.) 

from each town making it a total of 450. Finally applying quota (a sampling method) and 

allocation of equal quota for each town and category it ended up at 18.75 per category. To 

avoid any complication of decimal and to have an even number, researcher decided to 

round it up at 18 (being an even number) and have a sample of 72 from each town which 

made total sample of 432 units. One respondent was considered as one unit of analysis. 

The researcher tried to create a balance among respondents from all categories i.e. heavy, 

moderate and light viewers for better results. A screener was used to identify the 

respondent. The screener asked about the availability of television, cable television 

connection and women aged 18-40 years (see Questionnaire, Appendix-VI). Only one 

respondent was selected from one household. In case, more than one respondent were 

available in one household the Kish Grid (see Appendix IV) was utilized to select the 

respondent. 

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4.5.1 Sampling Dynamics 

Table 4.3 indicates the division of the sample size. 

Table 4.3: Sampling Dynamics (N- 432) 

Duration 

of cable 

connection 

Aziz Bhatti 

Town 

Data 

Gunj 

Bakash 

Town 

Allama 

Iqbal 

Town 

Nishtar 

Town 

Ravi 

Town 

Shalimar 

Town 

More than 4 

years 

18 18 18 18 18 18 

4 years 18 18 18 18 18 18 

3 years 18 18 18 18 18 18 

2 years 18 18 18 18 18 18 

Total 72 72 72 72 72 72 

4.5.2 Household Route 

The universe of the study was Lahore and for data collection government administrative 

division was used which divided Lahore into six towns and 150 union councils. Every 

town has different number of union councils. Details are as follow: 

Table 4.4: Towns and No. of Union Councils 

Town 

No of union councils 

Aziz Bhatti Town 13 

Data Gunj Bakash Town 33 

Allama Iqbal Town 26 

Nishtar Town 25 

Ravi Town 30 

Shalimar Town 23 

Sourse: Office of the District Nazim. 

(see Appendix V for further details) 

Addresses of town offices and union councils were collected and effort was made 

to approach maximum households in all towns (see Appendix V). The researcher, with 

the help of town offices, defined the household route. The researcher applied right hand 

rule and started selecting respondents from the first household at right hand side of the 

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town offices. Then the screener was applied and respondents were selected on the basis of 

sampling method for interview. 

4.6 Data Collection 

4.6.1 Tool of Data Collection 

In this research, interviews’ schedule (verbal interview based on questionnaire) was 

selected as a tool for data collection because some of the respondents were illiterate and 

would not be able to read and answer the questionnaire. 

4.6.2 Pre Testing and reliability test 

The interview schedule was pre-tested. Pre-testing was done by interviewing one 

respondent in each category from every town. The result revealed certain shortcomings in 

the instrument so the researcher made modifications before finalizing it. To test the 

reliability of the instrument, Cronbach’s alpha approach was applied. This method of 

testing the reliability is commonly used when study of knowledge, attitude and practice is 

conducted and questions are in the form of Likert’s scale (Likert’s-1952). In a Likert’s 

scale a person expresses an opinion by rating his agreement with a series of statements 

(Hanif, & Ahmad, 2004). 

4.6.3 Collection of Data and Field Experiences 

The researcher engaged six female interviewers who personally had the experience of 

conducting interviews for media research. Still the researcher gave them a thorough 

orientation regarding the instrument. The enumerators were trained on how to conduct an 

interview and what to do if the respondent is distracted, loses interest or runs out of time. 

After a thorough review of the questionnaire, the interviewers started data collection. 

Efforts were made to get the female interviewees of different socio-economic 

background. Total sample consisted of 432 women of reproductive age i.e.18-40 years 

residing in Lahore. 

Data collection was completed in four months (August-November 2005). The 

instrument was formulated in English which was translated into standard Urdu language 

for the convenience of the interviewees. The interviewers had to face some difficulties in 

finding the target audience and in conducting interviews because of non-cooperative 

attitude of some of the respondents. Some of the respondents hesitated to respond to some 

of the questions. Some of the respondents had difficulty due to personal reasons to answer 

at the time interviewers approached them. 

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4.7 Data Processing 

The researcher has used the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS 

Version 13.0) for analyzing the data. Besides, Excel and MS Word were used for 

designing charts, tables, graphs and composing the thesis script. Similarly, for composing 

and designing the Urdu version questionnaire, “In Page” Urdu software was used. For 

data entry and analysis, the researcher had taken a very rigorous training course, 

particularly to learn SPSS. The researcher by experience felt that without the knowledge 

of computer in general and understanding the SPSS in particular, this research study 

might have not been successfully accomplished. 

4.7.1 Measure for Analysis 

After data collection scores were assigned to the respective categories of the questions 

which were necessary for quantification of variables. The researcher entered the data 

through SPSS. Data sheet was prepared by transferring information obtained from the 

respondents for the purpose of scoring. 

Data was analyzed separately to examine each hypothesis. As the study evaluated 

the association between exposure to cable television and change in lifestyles of women, a 

statistical tool, Chi-Square was used. The Chi-Square test is often used in research work 

where the data consists of frequencies or counts. The most common use of the test is 

probably with categorical data. The data of this research was of categorical nature hence 

the researcher applied Chi-Square to analyse it. The results were tested at 5 % level of 

significance which means that researcher is 95% confident in making the correct decision 

(Chaudhry, S. & Kamal, S. 2006, p. 129). 

Each of dependant variables was operationalized into a set of parameters and the 

answers were obtained on Likert 3 – point scale as mentioned in table 4.5. 

Table 4.5: Opinion and Respective Values 

Opinion 

Value 

Agree 3 

Undecided 2 

Disagree 1 

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Construction of Scale 

The next step in measure is construction of scale. The researcher made a three-point scale, 

comprising three points as high, medium and low for dependent variable. 

The minimum and maximum score actually received by a respondent for a factor 

was divided into three categories i.e. high, medium and low to measure the intensity of 

the effect. 

i. Effect on Domestic Activities 

Score Index for Q14 

· Minimum Value = 1 

· Maximum Value = 3 

In this question the researcher could get a maximum score of 3 and minimum 

score of 1. The responses were categorized into three categories i.e. low, medium 

and high on the basis of standard score. 

Category 

Score 

Low effect 1 

Medium effect 2 

High effect 3 

ii. Effect on Social Interaction 

Score index for Q15 to Q15: F 

· Minimum value was = 7 

· Maximum value was = 21 

The values are divided into three categories i.e. low, medium and high. 

Category 

Score 

From no to low effect 7 to 11 

Medium effect 12 to 16 

High effect 17 to 21 

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79 

iii. Interaction of Husband and Wife 

Q15G 

· Minimum value = 1 

· Maximum value = 3 

The values are divided into three categories of low, medium and high. 

Category 

Score 

No to low effect 1 


High effect 3 

iv. Mother-Child Interaction 

Q15H 

· Minimum value = 1 

· Maximum value = 3 

The values are divided into three categories of No to low, medium and high 

effects. 

Category 

Score 

No to low effect 1 


High effect 3 

v. Appearance and Style 

Q16_16:E 

· Minimum value was = 6 

· Maximum value was= 18 


Category 

Score 

No to low effect 6 to 9 



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80 

vi. Cultural Practices 

Q 17.1- 17.5: A 

· Minimum expected value was 25 points but on the data analyses it was found 

that not a single respondent scored below 27 points. Therefore, 27 was taken 

as the minimum value. 


The values are divided into three categories like low, medium and high. 

Category 

Score 



High effect Above 59 

vii. Personal and Domestic Expenditure 

Q18-18: B 

· Minimum value is = 3 

· Maximum value is= 9 


Category 

Score 




viii. Social Role of Pakistani women 

Q19- 19: G 

· Minimum expected value was 8. During data analysis it was noticed that 

minimum scored value was 10. 


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81 


Category 

Score 


Medium effect 

15 to19 


4.8 Application of Statistical Test 

The following statistics were used to analyze the data. 

4.8.1 Univariate Analysis 

This study has examined the relationship between exposure to cable television channels 

and changes in life pattern of women in Lahore, Pakistan. The researcher was also 

interested in recording the demographic characteristics of cable television viewers, their 

patterns of viewing and to find whether there was any gender discrimination in cable 

television viewing. Therefore, univariate analysis was also used through percentage 

distribution and cross tab and presented the data in form of figures, tables, etc. 

4.8.2 Bivariate Analysis 

For the hypotheses testing and verification of the association between the exposure and 

changes in life patterns of women, the Chi-Square statistical analysis was applied. 

As the observation of the samples was classified according to two variables, Chi- 

Square (x2) Test for contingency table was applied to see whether the 2 variables of 

classification independent or dependant have any association. 

Procedure for Testing Hypothesis 

Testing hypothesis of associations for contingency tables: 

1: Formula the null and alternative hypothesis: 

H o : The two variables of classification are not associated. 

H 1 : The two variables of classification are associated. 

2: Decide the significance level α 

3: Test statistic to be used is 

r c 

( oij 

-eij 

) 

2 

c = åå 

e 

i= 1 j= 

1 

ij 

2 

Which if H o is true has an approximate Chi-Square distribution with (r-1) (c-1) 

degrees of freedom. 

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4: Compute the expected frequencies under Ho 

( Ai 

)( B 

j 

) 

eij 

= 

n 

th 

th 

( i rowtotal)( 

j column total) 

= 

Numberof observations 

Also calculate the value of x² and the d.f. 

5: Determine the critical region which depends upon and the number of d.f. 

6: Decide as below: 

Reject Ho if the computed value of x² >= x² α (r-1) (c-1). Accept Ho, otherwise. 

For a (2x2) table only test statistic is changed, rest of the procedure is same. Test 

statistic used in the case is 

x ² = 

( a+b+c+d)(ad-bc)² 

(a+b)(b+d)(c+d)(a+c) 

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CHAPTER 4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Part I – Hypothesis And

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