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Saturday Mornings

The research I have been doing on SchoolHouse Rock! has pointed me in a new direction: what did Saturday morning mean to the millions of children who spent that time sitting in front of the television, watching cartoons? I had been wanting more qualitative information than I got with the knowledge-based questionnaire on SchoolHouse Rock! So what I'd like from you this time around is more your thoughts, feelings, and memories about Saturday mornings. What did you do? How did you feel about it? Did you feel like your Saturday morning activities were typical, or were they different from your friends'?

Have fun, and feel free to reminisce. That's what will really help me with this questionnaire! This information will only be used in the paper I'm writing, and not at all for any kind of evil purposes. Please feel free to answer as many, or as few questions as you feel comfortable answering. The more you answer, the better I will be able to use the information you give.

To alleviate the concerns people have had about whether they will skew my data: this is not intended to be a statistically significant questionnaire. I want to get some anecdotal information, and to find out whether it would be useful to do more statistically accurate research on this in the future.

Don't worry if you filled out some of the same information on the SchoolHouse Rock! questionnaire. I'd like the information attached to each set of answers. And for the purposes of this questionnaire, I am thinking of children as people between kindergarten and 6th grade.

How old are you?

What is your gender?

What is your racial or ethnic background?

Did you mostly live in a while you were growing up?

How would you describe your family when you were a child? I am looking for a description of the number of children, the income level, and anything else that strikes you as either normal or unique.

What is your current level of education?

Did you live in a house with a television between 1973 and 1985? yes no

How many televisions were in the house you lived in?

Did you have cable as a child, or do you have cable now? If so, when did you have cable?

How much television did you watch during the week when you were a child? (At a guess)

What rules were there in your house regarding television viewing?

How many hours of television did you watch on Saturday mornings when you were a child? (At a guess)

Were the rules for television viewing different on Saturdays?

Please describe your childhood television viewing habits.

Please describe your current television viewing habits.

Please describe a typical Saturday morning when you were a child.

Did you feel your activities were typical for children in your area? yes no

What were your favorite cartoons, if any?

What, if anything, did you eat while watching Saturday morning cartoons?

Looking back now, how do you feel about how television affected your childhood?

What do you currently do on Saturday mornings? Do you think your childhood experiences influence your current behavior?

How do you think television and the media have changed since you were a child?

Thank you for filling out the questionnaire. Please add any additional comments here. If you would like to be contacted when I have the results, or when I write the paper, please add your email address.
--Julia

Please write your final comments and questions here.

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