Abstract:

I am happy to say that today we have entered the age of reason, enlightenment and science, where research and television programmes are concerned. Much of the credit must go to Dr. Haldane and the ITA, for instigating research into 'the state of public opinion concerning programmes', and also to the Television Contractors themselves who have co-operated, and to the "new wave" of Research Managers, who between them have broken the old taboo which said that "Market Researchers must not poke their noses into the programming side of television". I welcome the new era, and the research, but I do have some reservations. In the introduction to his paper, Dr. Haldane states that his concern is with the point of view of the user rather than the practitioner, and therefore, because this emphasis is more concerned with application rather than techniques. My remarks will be largely confined to applications.