THE PERCEPTION AND USAGE OF TELEVISION WEATHER FORECAST INFORMATION BY RESIDENTS OF AFRICAN CONCRETE PRODUCTS (ACP) ESTATES AND FARMERS IN SELECTED COMMUNITIES AROUND POKUASE IN THE GA WEST

MUNICIPALITY OF GHANA.

PRESENTED BY

Theodora D. Adjin-Tettey

Outline of presentation Introduction/Background

Problem statement

Objectives/Research Questions

Hypothesis

Theoretical framework

Related studies/Literature review

Methodology

Findings

Recommendation/Conclusion

Introduction Weather forecast presentations have

become a staple on our primetime news bulletins.

All economic sectors, regions and individuals are affected by the weather. Both improved weather forecasts and improved use of current forecasts can enhance personal safety, reduce property damage, increase economic efficiency, as well as save multiple lives and the loss of millions of money each year (Murphy, 1998).

Intro. Cont’d This research sought to find out

whether people could interpret and use television weather information and what additional information viewers wanted in weather predictions.

Problem statement Individuals and socioeconomic sectors use

different types of weather information. Most weather forecasts are targeted at one of four areas. These include the aviation industry, agriculture the general public and other meteorologists (Habby, 2003)

Several countries set up government agencies to provide forecasts to the public in order to protect life and property and to boost the economy – Gmet.

Problem statement cont’d

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) advocates effective communication of disaster risk information to mitigate the effects of disasters that might be easily prevented.

Awareness of what the end user needs from weather forecast and communicating it effectively is very important.

Objectives This research sought to find out:

What the typical television weather forecast was – its format and content

If people paid attention to the weather forecast segment on television, could interpret forecast terminologies provided and whether this had a correlation with their level of education.

Whether it helped people in making decisions and what additional informational they wanted in weather forecasts.

From producers why the forecast segment was featured in prime time news.

Research Questions Are viewers able to process and understand

televised weather forecast information?

Do viewers wish for additional information in weather presentation?

How much value do viewers place on weather forecast information and does it influence the decisions they make?

Are television forecast producers realising their objectives?

Hypothesis

H1: The level of education of viewer would likely influence viewer’s understanding of temperature figures.

Rationale: The knowledge gap hypothesis.

Study Setting

Pokuase, Ga West:

ACP Residents

Farmers

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK The knowledge gap hypothesis

Basic assumption is that knowledge, like wealth, is not distributed equally throughout society: people with higher socioeconomic status tend to have better ability to acquire information. This results in a two groups in society: the “haves and have-nots” with regard to information just as there are the “haves and have-nots” with regard to material wealth.

Knowledge-Gap Cont’d… Tichenor Donohue and Olien (1970) present five reasons for

justifying the knowledge gap: People of higher socioeconomic status have better communication

skills, education, reading, comprehension and information recall abilities.

People of higher socioeconomic status can store information more easily or remember the topic from background knowledge.

People of higher socioeconomic status are more likely to be exposed to certain types of information, especially, those dealing with public affairs or science than people of lower socioeconomic status.

People of higher socioeconomic status are better in selective exposure, acceptance and retention.

The nature of the mass media itself is that it is geared toward persons of higher socioeconomic status.

Theoretical framework Cont’d The uses and gratifications theory

The audience is active.

Audience members are aware of and can identify their reasons for media use

Media use is goal – directed

Media consumption can fulfil a wide range of needs

Related studies

Van Bussum (1997) carried out a study on how the public understood and used Probability of Precipitation (PoP) forecast terminologies and presentations.

Findings: Nearly 65% got their weather information from local

media sources, namely radio and TV. Respondents took more action as the chance of

precipitation increased. Most people surveyed paid attention to the forecast some

time during the week. The top choice was 7 days a week with second highest being 1-3 days, and very few respondents never paid attention to forecasts.

Methodology Survey - main method

Content Analysis

Interviews

Some Major Findings: Why Forecasts are part of primetime news

Gmet exists to provide cost effective weather and climate service by collecting, processing, archiving and disseminating meteorological information to support end-users thereby contributing to the management of Ghana’s economy with special regard to the protection of life and property.

Television Stations

Primetime news is most watched, so could reach larger audiences from different backgrounds.

Structure and content:

Usually the last segment of the major news bulletins of the stations studied.

Two main presentation formats Credit: Metro TV, Ghana

Audience’s exposure to and patronage of television news

64.20%

1.70%

34.20%

60.00%

2.50%

37.50%

Yes N0 Sometimes

ACP Percentage

Farmers Percentage

News Segment Preference

Local news got the highest number of responses for both farmers and residents of ACP.

Weather forecast: least checked by residents of ACP estates (11%) while Business news was the least checked by the farmers (9.6%).

Attention to forecast information

Do Not Pay Attention- 13.8%

Close to half (43.8%) actually paid attention

Sometimes-(42.5%)

Interpretation of Weather information

A little more than half (52.5%) of ACP residents and 20% of farmers understood temperature figures.

The rest (rainfall, humidity and cloud cover) had figures below half (50%) for both groups.

Do you understand the

temperature figures? Respondent

Total ACP Resident Farmer

Yes Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage Frequency Percentage

63 52.5% 24 20.0% 87 36.2%

No 26 21.7% 33 27.5% 59 24.6%

Not really 31 25.8% 63 52.5% 94 39.2%

Total 120 100.0% 120 100.0% 240 100.0%

Value of forecast information

Almost all (92.9%) of respondents said it was important while the remaining 7.1% thought it was not.

Confidence in predictions

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Very low Low Medium High Very high

7.50%

14.20%

52.50%

20.80%

5.00% 2.50%

7.50%

45.80%

26.70%

17.50%

ACP Farmer

Use of Forecast information

74.20%

25.80%

80.80%

19.20%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

Yes No

ACP Residents Farmers

Decisions taken based on weather predictions The highest choice by ACP

residents was “Planning a travel” (23.2%)while the farmers selected “planning farming activities” (27.3%).

Least choice by farmers (11.3%)-”planning how to dress self or children”.

The least choice by ACP residents (4.7%) - “Planning farming activities”

Hypothesis testing: Level of education and understanding of temperature figures

• The chi-square test produced a chi-square value which was lower than the significance level set at 0.05 (p ≤ 0.05).

• This means the null hypothesis that, “there would be no relationship between the level of education of a viewer and the understanding of temperature figures” was rejected.

Additional information proposed by respondents Accurate and timely weather presentations spelling out activities

that people could engage in and those that must be avoided for particular periods.

Translation of forecasts into major local languages to enable the less-educated understand.

The possibility of having long-term forecasts such as weekly, monthly or quarterly forecasts to help farmers, especially, plan farming activities ahead of time.

Enough time allocated to forecasts for more detailed explanation.

Comparison of forecast figures with those of previous years so end users would know exact change in weather patterns.

Conclusion

The relationship between education and understanding of weather forecasts makes it critical to modify weather information to reach larger audiences and help more people make informed decisions.

This would help make the Gmet realise the

objective of using television to relay weather reports to the general public.

Thank You.