Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
REGION IV-A CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF QUEZON PROVINCE

Name of Researcher/s: School/School District: LOPEZ NATIONAL

Cristian Kenneth L. Trillanes COMPREHENSIVE HIGH SCHOOL

Grade Level: 12 Track: ACADEMICS Strand: HUMSS

RESEARCH CAPSTONE PROJECT FINAL REPORT
MEDIA EFFECT: INFLUENCE OF MASS MEDIA TO VOTING BEHAVIOR
OF ELECTORATES IN BARANGAY CONCEPCION LOPEZ, QUEZON

Abstract:

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to determine the level of influence of mass media to
voting behavior of electorates in Brgy. Concepcion Lopez, Quezon; identify the most frequent
media platform encountered by the electorates when seeing political advertisements and/or
indorsements; and develop voting and media awareness based on the findings.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: The research used descriptive and

descriptive-comparative design and quantitative approach. Simple percentage, t- test and
analysis of variance were utilized in the statistical treatment of data. Respondents were
selected purposively. The researcher selected the voters in Brgy. Conception Lopez, Quezon
who could be able to participate in offline and/or online survey. 31 electorates were able to
participate in the study. The assistance of the Brgy. officials were sought to assist the
researcher in identifying the respondents.

FINDINGS: The findings disclosed that majority of the respondents were female with ages
ranging 24-30 years old. Traditional media, specifically, television was found as the major
media platform in which most of the respondents encountered during campaigns and when
receiving political advertisements and/or information. Respondents in general were
significantly influenced by media. Such influence does not differ among respondents from
different sexes and age ranges. A voting awareness seminar was recommended.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS: Due to pandemic, existing rules and policies for limited
face-to-face interactions were considered, and for particular reason, data gathering was limited.
The researcher was able to gather data from 31 participants only, less than from the desired 197
electorates to be asked as respondents.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE: The data gathering was conducted on April 16-17, 2021, in Brgy.
Concepcion Lopez, Quezon which is the locale of the study which provided significant result
on the level of influence of mass media on voting behavior of electorates. More so, the result
of the study led to the development of voting awareness to strengthen and improve voting
behavior, and media and information literacy of the respondents.

KEYWORDS: electorates, mass media, voting behavior

 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
REGION IV-A CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF QUEZON PROVINCE

Title MEDIA EFFECT: INFLUENCE OF MASS MEDIA TO VOTING

BEHAVIOROF ELECTORATES IN BARANGAY CONCEPCION
LOPEZ, QUEZON

Purpose The aim of the study was to determine the level of influence of mass media to
voting behavior of electorates in Brgy. Concepcion Lopez, Quezon; identify
the most frequent media platform encountered by the electorates when seeing
political advertisements and/or indorsements; and develop voting and media
awareness based on the findings

Brief Government is the most essential institution of a nation. It composes

Introduction of powerful personalities and authorities that govern the country and its
people. The nation needs good governance for its progress and development,
but it comes from good governing bodies. Hence, people must choose and
elect worthy individuals or persons. Election is pivotal to every democratic
country – it gives the people the freedom and power to choose who they want
to lead and serve them. Electorates, the registered voters of a state play vital
role in this national event; as they will elect who would be the next state
leaders through votes. As for the particular reason, every campaigning
candidate or politician does his or her most, for the sake of pleasant and
remarkable name. Thus, all possible ways to persuade voters; for instance,
political advertisement and endorsement are being used by them.
During campaigns, different approaches and channels are utilized by
candidates and politicians to reach even the furthest voters. These things may
affect the voters’ choices. According to an article on bbc.co.uk (n.d.), there
are factors that affect how electorates vote, namely: social class, age, gender,
political parties, and the media. As mentioned, media is one of the affecting
factors on electorates’ voting behavior. No doubt, why mass media is famous
and favorite of politicians because of its wide scope. Furthermore, there are
various types of media that are used on political or campaign propaganda, for
instance; print media, broadcasting, and social media.
Media platforms, especially those have good sources and famous
networks are used for bias political endorsements which are greatly influence
voting, but it depends upon on the impact and credibility of an indorsement
(Chiang and Knight,2011). It says that televisions, radios, and newspapers are
the traditional media platforms that are still running and influencing voting up
to these days (aceproject.org, n.d.). For instance, Javaid and Elahi (as cited in
Willis, 2007) the study of 1968 presidential election in United States have
found that issues broadcasted by media and the concern of the voters on the
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
REGION IV-A CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF QUEZON PROVINCE
same issues have correlation. These issues made or broadcasted by the media
had significantly affect voter’s perception.
On the other hand, as the digital age entered, the new era has arrived
too; the new media – a widespread media type that brought the people to a
cultural and technological changes through the utilization of online platforms
and the internet; such as the social media, (2012books.lardbucket.org, 2012).
Others specifically suggest that social media has huge impact on election,
Dado (2019) said that social media is an election game-changer. Due to wide
affordability and availability of gadgets or devices, and internet connection,
people use social media as source of information and entertainment
nowadays. Hence, politicians and campaigners take advantages of it by
creating political strategies and movements like propaganda that later on
presented, posted, and witnessed on various social media platforms online.
In addition, the internet or social media has huge a number of users
and visitors that make information circulates and spread widely and rapidly.
For instance, Facebook has 2.8 billion users worldwide (statista.com, 2021),
and 78 million of that came from the Philippines (statista.com, 2020).
Imagine how this massive numbers could spread a single information that
could affect electorates’ belief and other people who have been part of the
networking.
Furthermore, the execution of this study would make a present of
factual answers on how mass media influence voting behavior of the
electorates and identify which or what particular media platform are
commonly used by political bodies to target voters.

Research This study aims to provide concrete data on how mass media influence
Questions voting behavior of the electorates. Specifically, it aims to answer the
following questions:
1. What is the profile of the electorates in terms of:
1.1. age;
1.2. sex?
2. What mass media platforms are frequently encountered by the
electorates in the form of:
2.1.traditional media;
2.2.new media?
3. How do mass media influence electorates’ voting behavior?
4. Is there a significant difference on the influence of mass media to the
electorates’ voting behavior when grouped according to profile?
5. Based on the findings, what voting awareness could be developed to
strengthen voting behavior of electorates?
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
REGION IV-A CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF QUEZON PROVINCE
Brief Review Election is where electorates or voters have the power to choose and
of Related elect new governors based on their own perception. There are factors that
Literature affect electorate’s voting behavior. During candidacy or campaigns of the
and Studies electoral candidates, they use different mediums and platforms to reach and
get voters. One of those is media. According to an article entitled Factors
Influencing Voting Behaviour by BBC (2021), media and/or new media is
considered as one of the affecting factors of one’s voting behavior.
Mass Media refers to wide communication tools for transferring
information to the audience. It can also leave either short-term or long-term
impacts on its audience, (encyclopedia.com, 2018). In the article; Traditional
Media vs. New Media: Which is Beneficial, by Sha (2020), there are two
major types of media; the traditional media and the new media. Traditional
media includes the newspaper, radio, and broadcasting television, while new
media includes various platforms of social media and the internet. She also
added that they are both used in advertising. Priyasa (n.d.), suggests that mass
communication and media are considered powerful as these can reach big
audiences in a short period of time and can leave huge impacts to the people.
In addition, Lee (as cited in Tsfati and Cohen, 2013) agreed that as the people
expose to information on news media, it molds one’s opinion and attitude
Furthermore, surveys and statistics show huge number of people that
utilize various forms of mass media, according to Adobomagazine.com
(2020), there are 20.8 million television household users in the Philippines.
On the other hand, the country has 74 million Facebook users in 2019, that
makes it the most dominant social media platform in the country. These data
are great representation of massive numbers of media users in the Philippines.
According to an article: How Mass Media Influence Our Society
posted by Nimcj.Org (2019), people media programs give and emphasize
positive impacts as it increases the literacy on information. Moreover, Walden
University (2016), added some good impacts of media in the society; mass
media keeps the people connected to each other and makes interactions. On
the other hand, the university also added some negative impacts of mass
media, and one of those is the spread of misinformation and/or
disinformation. According to Roose (2018) of The New York Times, there are
numerous misinformation that can be found on social media – on Facebook.
Other news organizations also found lots of problem on this social media
platform on allowing advertisers without checking its contents for particular
reason that these ads are paid and as part of the social media policy. In this
case, people may lead to wrong understanding or misinformation
Along with people’s traditional media exposure, Ksiazek, Kim, and
Malthouse (2019), on their study; Television News Repertoires, Exposure
Diversity, and Voting Behavior in the 2016 U.S. Election, found out that
citizens or voters with exposure to television news have great influence on
voting. A similar study conducted by Marijan and Sahab (2019) found that
 Republic of the Philippines
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political news and information shown on the television had huge influence on
voting perception of the voters. In addition, they also included other political
appearances on interviews and talk shows. Furthermore, Yisa (2019) suggests
that voters who have exposure on radio and listen to political messages
influence them to be encourage to vote and to be aware of their vote – in other
words it provides good impacts to the citizens.
Meanwhile, the development of media along with the advancement of
information and communication technology made a new way and platforms
for mass communication. Networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube,
and the likes play vital role in enlightening the people on democracy and
politics. Electorates who make well-informed voting decisions are
knowledgeable voters who might have better access to information but on the
other hand, not all electorates utilize internet to improve their political
literacy, (Heblich, 2012). According to Biswas, Ingle, and Roy (2014),
politicians become active on social media than ever before. With the
utilization of social media; political parties are greatly influencing the
electorates.
In summary, there are numerous factors considered that affect one’s
voting behavior and one of those is mass media. In other words, various
media platform can have positive or negative impacts to the electorates’
behavior during election.

Conceptual Framework

Figure 1.
Conceptual Paradigm on the Influence of Mass Media to Voting Behavior of
the Electorates

Mass Media is categorized in two types, which are the Traditional

Media and New Media. These two have various platforms where political
advertisements or endorsements may appear and presented. The electorates
will have their insight or personal perspective on the said political movements
in a certain media platform and how these affects and influences their voting
behavior.

Research Design
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
REGION IV-A CALABARZON
SCHOOLS DIVISION OF QUEZON PROVINCE
Design and This study used the descriptive and descriptive-comparative methods
Methodology of research. Descriptive design is utilized in describing the profile the
influence of mass media on voting behavior of the electorates. Meanwhile,
descriptive -comparative was used as the researcher compare the influence of
mass to the electorates from different groups. The said designs are believed to
be appropriate in determining and describing quantitative data.
Quantitative method through the use of a survey questionnaire that the
researcher devised in elaborating how mass media affect or influence the
electorates’ voting behavior. The quantitative method through the use of
survey questionnaire allowed the researcher to gather quantitative data to
determine and describe the influence of media on voting behavior.

Research Population and Sample

The respondents of the study were the electorates of Brgy. Concepcion
Lopez, Quezon, who already registered and have voted last mid-term election,
and eligible to vote this coming 2022 National Elections. The respondents
were selected purposively by the researcher. As above mentioned, the
criterion for a respondent to be able to participate in this study; must be a
registered voter of the barangay. Through purposive sampling, the researcher
gathered reliable data from online participants and respondents who
approached at the researcher’s family-owned store and who responded to the
survey willingly. Originally the respondents composed of 197 electorates
from a total 402 electorates, but only 31 persons participated in the study.

Research Instrument
The researcher utilized survey questionnaire in two modalities; online
and offline. The online platform was through Google Form, and printed
survey questionnaires for the offline mode. The survey form sought to
determine the following: the demographic profile of the participants; the most
frequent media platform of political advertisements/contents; and the
influence of mass media to voting behavior of the electorates.

Data Gathering Procedure

In accomplishing this study, the following procedures was considered
and followed:
The permission from the Chairman of Barangay Concepcion Lopez,
Quezon was sought to allow the researcher to take the list of registered voters
to identify who are only allowed to participate and sought for their
willingness to participate too. After the approval of the Chairman and the
respondents, the researcher administered a survey with combination of online
and offline platforms through the utilization of Google Form and printed
survey questionnaire for limited face-to-face interactions. For online survey
form, the respondents were allowed to submit their responses with the given
 Republic of the Philippines
Department of Education
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SCHOOLS DIVISION OF QUEZON PROVINCE
time. While on the printed survey form, after the respondents answered the
questionnaires retrieving of the forms took place.

Data Analysis and Statistical Treatment of Data

The researcher used the statistical measures and tools in
summarizing, presenting, analyzing and interpreting the data gathered.
In relation to specific problem 1 concerning the demographic profile
of the respondents, simple percentage was utilized.
To answer specific problem 2 on the most frequent mass media
platforms encountered by the electorates, Weighted Average Mean (WAM)
was utilized. It was used to classify and determine the major mass media
category and media platform with highest frequency rate.
To answer specific problem 3 on how mass media influence voting
behavior of the electorates, Weighted Arithmetic Means (WAM) were utilized
too. Using the 4-point Likert scale indicators and the WAM formula the
researcher determined the level of influence of media on voting behavior.
To answer specific problem 4 concerning the significant difference on
the level of influence of mass media and the electorates’ voting behavior
when are grouped according to sex and age, T-test and ANOVA were used
respectively.
To facilitate the computation, the researcher used the Statistical
Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software.

Findings 1. On the Demographic Profile of the Respondents

The study was inclusive to 31 electorate respondents in which 17 or 54.84
percent were female while 14 or 45.16 percent were male. In terms of age,
there were 7 or 22.58 percent 18-23 years old, 8 or 25.81 percent 24-30
years old, 4 or 12.90 percent 31-40 years old, 7 or 22.58 percent 41-50
years old, and 5 or 16.13 percent 50+ years old respondents.
2. On the Most Frequent Media Platform Encountered by the Electorates
In general, the respondents encountered Traditional Media platforms often
or Frequent with overall Weighted Arithmetic Mean of 2.70. For specific
media platform, respondents encountered television Most Frequent with
Always verbal description and overall Weighted Arithmetic Mean of 3.48.
In terms of new media platforms, respondents encountered Facebook
often or Frequent with overall Weighted Arithmetic Mean of 2.87.
3. On the Influence of Mass Media to the Voting Behavior of the
Electorates, In general, the respondents were found influenced by media
with an overall computed Weighted Arithmetic Mean of 2.95,verbally
described as Agree. This also means that the political contents appeared
on various media platforms encountered by the electorates influenced
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REGION IV-A CALABARZON
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their voting behavior as they agreed to the given situations in the
indicators. Among the indicators, respondents strongly agreed to the
influence of political advertisements on television to make the voters vote
to the person/s being endorsed with the highest WAM of 3.45 while
majority Disagree on easily relying and believing on the content or
information on the advertisement with computed WAM of 2.32.
4. On the Significant Difference on the Influence of Voting Behavior of
the Electorates According to profile. The p-value of 0.571 for significant
difference when respondents are grouped according to sex, and p-value of
0.090 for the significant difference when grouped according to age were
both greater than alpha 0.05. Hence, Ho was not rejected. Thus, there was
no significant difference found on the influence of mass media to the
electorates’ voting behavior when grouped according to sex and age.
5. On the Development of Voting Awareness. Factors considered in the
development of the voting awareness of the electorates to strengthen their
voting behavior and literacy is the result of this study. The voting
awareness is a seminar that the researcher will be conducting that will be
composed of election and voting, as well as media and information
literacy. The researcher will coordinate with the authorities of the
barangay for the conduct of the said seminar. For safety measure, if
limited face-to-face interaction would not be allowed, other options would
be utilized; the use of other platforms, such as online seminar (webinar)
and/or printed brochures that would be distributed to the electorates.

Conclusions Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are formulated;

1. Majority of the electorates participated in the study were female and

24-30 years old. Such result was congruent to the statistics of electorates
in Brgy. Conception, Lopez Quezon given by the Brgy. Authority in
which majority were also female and with age range of 20-30 years old.
2. Traditional media platforms were frequently encountered by the
participants when seeing political advertisements or contents. Under the
traditional media platforms, television was found as the most frequent
platform encountered by the respondents. Therefore, traditional mass
media is still dominant in rural areas like Brgy. Concepcion in political
advertising that affect voters (Biswas, Ingle, and Roy, 2014)
3. Majority of the voters who participated agreed that their voting behavior
were influenced by mass media. Although majority do not easily believe
on the information from the advertisement, still respondents’ behavior on
voting were still influenced by those being indorsed on various media
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platforms. Respondents were strong consensus to the political
advertisements on television encourage them to vote the person/s being
endorsed which is similar to Chiang & Knight (2011) findings in which
political endorsements on particular media platforms influence the voters
by supporting the recommended candidates
4. There was no significant difference on the influence to the electorates
voting behavior when grouped according to sex and age. This implies that
the age and sex of a person has no relationship to the influence of media
to voting behavior (Biswas, Ingle, and Roy, 2014)
5. In the development of voting awareness to cater such needs as found, the
researcher will be collecting and making contents of the said voting
awareness that will be shared to the electorates in various means
depending on the situation.

Recommen-d The findings of the study led the researcher to give the following
ations recommendations:
For the Respondents
It was found that traditional mass media platforms dominantly
influenced most of electorates’ voting behavior. Hence, they are
recommended not to easily believed on the candidate or information delivered
or received through various platforms. Strongly suggested to crosscheck
information, as well as the candidate to prevent misinformation and decrease
level of influence. Setting guidelines and standard for political candidates is
recommended too.
For Future Electorates
Strengthen and increase critical thinking, media and information
literacy. It is recommended to critique political advertisements before
deciding.
For Political Candidates
Since traditional mass media was the most influential media platform,
the use of it would be beneficial for the campaign.
For the Future Researchers
To use the findings of the study to conduct researches related to the
level of influence of media to voting behavior of younger and elder
electorates, and as to make comparisons that would lead to better voting and
media and information literacy enhancement.

References
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Century. Retrieved February 18, 2021, from
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SCHOOLS DIVISION OF QUEZON PROVINCE
https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/mass-communication-media
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no-households-with-satellite-tv-are-the-most-satisfied-according-to-
report-by-ses/#:~:text=The%20Philippines%20stands%20as%20one
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Ohme, J., de Vreese, C., & Albaek, E. (2017, December 7). The Uncertain
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Biosketch of the Researchers

CRISTIAN KENNETH L. TRILLANES

is a Senior High School Student at Lopez National
Comprehensive High School under Humanities and
Social Science Strand

He started doing research when he was in Grade 11. He is

passionate into studying politics and social science
topics.