Uses and Gratifications Survey
The uses and gratifications survey is the dominant audience-centered method in communication research, asking not what media do to people but what people do with media. Codified by Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch in 1973, it treats audiences as active agents who select media to satisfy social and psychological needs, and it measures those motives and the rewards obtained through structured self-report scales.
Read the full method
Sign in with a free account to read this section.
Method map
The neighbourhood of related methods — select a node to explore.
Sources
- Katz, E., Blumler, J. G., & Gurevitch, M. (1973). Uses and gratifications research. Public Opinion Quarterly, 37(4), 509–523. DOI: 10.1086/268109 ↗
- Palmgreen, P., & Rayburn, J. D. (1979). Uses and gratifications and exposure to public television: A discrepancy approach. Communication Research, 6(2), 155–179. DOI: 10.1177/009365027900600203 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 22). Uses and Gratifications Survey Methodology. ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/communication/uses-and-gratifications-survey
Which method?
Set this method beside its closest kin and read them side by side — the library lays the books on the table; the choice is yours.
- Agenda-Setting AnalysisMedia Studies↔ compare
- Cultivation AnalysisCommunication↔ compare
- Media Richness AnalysisCommunication↔ compare
- Media System Dependency AnalysisCommunication↔ compare