The Department of Public Policy (DPP) at the University of Connecticut was commissioned by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to survey high school students, faculty and administrators at a representative sample of high schools across the country in order to assess whether a relationship exists between the presence and nature of media programs in high schools. Professors David Yalof and Ken Dautrich are the principal investigators for the study.

The study was designed to gather data from administrators, students and faculty at a random sample of schools. In order to study potential clustered or hierarchical relationships between variables, the survey collected data from administrators, students and faculty at the same schools. The current study is based on an analysis of summary interviews with 544 school administrators, detailed interviews with 327 principals or other senior administrators, 7,889 faculty members, and 112,003 students.

The survey consisted of a multi-stage cluster design conducted in two stages across three units of analysis: schools, students and faculty. Four surveys were administered. Initially, DPP administered a “general survey” to appropriate administrators at 544 high school buildings around the country. In the second wave of the study, 327 of the 544 administrators agreed to allow us to conduct interviews with students and teachers in their schools.   In these schools, separate surveys were administered to principals, faculty and students. Surveys were administered during April and May of 2004.

The sample was designed to be representative of all high schools, public and private,  in the United States. The sample was based on a database licensed from Educational Directories of Schaumberg, Ill. This database, published in print format as “Patterson’s American Education,” is a comprehensive single-source database of both public and private high schools in the United States. The sample was stratified to proportionately represent public and private schools of different sizes. In the first stage of the sample design, schools were randomly selected. In the second phase, the survey was designed to interview all faculty and students at these schools. The samples of students, faculty and principals are representative of their respective populations nationally.