Clarification details
Updated December 2017. This document has been updated to address issues that have arisen from moderation.
Focus of the standard
The standard assesses a student’s ability to use data to identify and discuss patterns of media use, and what similarities and/or differences there are in the way people interact with the media.
Appropriate forms of media interaction
Students can focus on one form of media interaction, such as news media or social media, or the scope can be on a wider range of media usage. Whatever is chosen should be sufficient to enable patterns to be identified. For example, pamphlet folding and delivering or texting are inappropriate.
Selecting subjects
The standard requires subjects be selected based on identifiable differences between the subjects in their use of media. Students may use themselves as one of the subjects for the assignment.
Writing a hypothesis
As the hypothesis is not a requirement of the standard, its usefulness may be in providing a springboard for a discussion, such as surprising patterns. The focus of the report should be on the results themselves and the patterns that are identified, rather than a discussion of whether the hypothesis was correct or not.
Supporting evidence
All similarities and differences need to be supported with detailed evidence from the student’s research.
Reasoned explanations
Reasoned explanations, as required for Merit, are generally best derived from interviews with the selected subjects.
For Excellence, the discussion of the significance for the media needs to stem from the patterns, similarities and differences identified in the report and may be supported with evidence from additional sources.