The survey
Example response
Jennifer, our example online
news consumer, took her first
survey on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
When answering, she was asked
to think about the past two hours.
Below is what each of the 14 short surveys looked like over the
course of the week
Did you get any online news on the following topics in the past two hours? If so, this was a news instance.
In the past two hours, Jennifer got news on politics, science, and entertainment. This was a news instance – sometimes referred to as one of the times she got news.
1
examples of topics:
Government and politics, people and events in your community, business and finance
Which topic did you get all or most of your news about?
This is the main news topic.
She got most of her news about science, so that was her main topic.
2
She got this news from a social networking site. This was the pathway.
3
examples of pathways:
A news organization’s website or app, search engines, social networking sites
4
She got to this news by clicking on
a link from social media, but did not remember the news outlet.
If you got news by clicking on a link from social media, emails or text messages, do you remember the name of the outlet that the link led to?
Respondents could write down the name of up to 3 outlets, or could indicate that they did not remember
5
Did you seek out this news, happen upon it while doing something else online, or find it while already getting other news?
She happened upon this news
while doing other things online.
Did you follow up on this news by taking any actions?
She followed up on this news with two actions. She spoke with someone about that news in person, and commented on that news on social media.
6
Examples of Actions:
Spoke with someone about the news, sent an article, shared it on social media, bookmarked it
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
The survey
Example response
Jennifer, our example online
news consumer, took her first
survey on Wednesday at 1 p.m.
When answering, she was asked
to think about the past two hours.
Below is what each of the 14 short surveys
looked like over the course of the week
Did you get any online news on the following
topics in the past two hours? If so, this was a
In the past two hours, Jennifer got news on politics, science, and entertainment. This was a news instance – sometimes referred to as one of the times she got news.
1
examples of topics:
Government and politics, people and events
in your community, business and finance
Which topic did you get all or most of your
news about? This is the main news topic.
2
3
4
If you got news by clicking on a link from social
media, emails or text messages, do you
remember the name of the outlet that the link
led to?
She got to this news by clicking on
a link from social media, but did
not remember the news outlet.
Respondents could write down the name of up
to 3 outlets, or could indicate that they did not
remember
5
Did you seek out this news, happen upon it
while doing something else online, or find it
while already getting other news?
She happened upon this news
while doing other things online.
Did you follow up on this news by taking
any actions?
She followed up on this news with
two actions. She spoke with
someone about that news in person,
and commented on that news on
social media.
6
Examples of Actions:
Spoke with someone about the news,
sent an article, shared it on social media,
bookmarked it
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
The survey
Below is what each of the 14 short surveys looked like over the course of the week ...
... followed by an example response
Jennifer, our example online news consumer, took her first survey on Wednesday at 1 p.m. When answering, she was asked to think about the past two hours.
Did you get any online news on the following topics in the past two hours? If so, this was a news instance.
1
In the past two hours, Jennifer got news on politics, science, and entertainment. This
was a news instance – sometimes referred to
as one of the times she got news.
Which topic did you get all or most of your news about? This is the main news topic.
2
She got most of her news about science, so that was her main topic.
How did you access your news on that main topic? This is the pathway used.
3
Examples of pathways: A news organization’s website or app, search engines, social networking sites
She got this news from a social networking site. This was the pathway.
If you got news by clicking on a link from social media, emails or text messages, do you remember the name of the outlet that the link led to?
4
Respondents could write down the name of up to 3 outlets, or could indicate that they did not remember
She got to this news by clicking on a link
from social media, but did not remember
the news outlet.
Did you seek out this news, happen upon it while doing something else online, or find it while already getting other news?
5
She happened upon this news while doing other things online.
Did you follow up on this news by taking any actions?
6
Examples of actions: Spoke with someone about the news, sent an article, shared it on social media, bookmarked it
She followed up on this news with two actions. She spoke with someone about that news in person, and commented on that news on social media.
PEW RESEARCH CENTER
