What we do and don’t know: a meta-analysis of the knowledge gap hypothesis
- Author(s)
- Fabienne Lind, Hajo Boomgaarden
- Abstract
This article provides a meta-analysis of the knowledge gap hypothesis literature published between 1966 and 2018. We find the basic assumption of a positive education-knowledge relationship to be supported. This result is robust across different geographical settings of the knowledge topics examined, independent of the country of data collection, and–in line with the belief gap hypothesis–restricted to (politically) uncontested topics. The central assumption of the hypothesis–that an increase of mass media information fosters knowledge divides between those with less and more formal education–was supported. While TV fulfils a role as a knowledge gap maintainer, print media and especially online media use appears to increase knowledge inequalities between groups with discrepant educational attainment.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Communication
- Journal
- Annals of the International Communication Association
- Volume
- 43
- Pages
- 210-224
- No. of pages
- 15
- ISSN
- 2380-8985
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1080/23808985.2019.1614475
- Publication date
- 05-2019
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 508009 Media research
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Communication
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/what-we-do-and-dont-know-a-metaanalysis-of-the-knowledge-gap-hypothesis(aed432d3-c7bb-4949-a449-229c7d05aafb).html