Skip to main content
Article
Transportation into Audio-visual Narratives: A Closer Look
Communication Quarterly (2021)
  • Amber Reinhart, University of Missouri-St. Louis
  • Lara Zwarun, University of Missouri-St. Louis
  • Alice E. Hall, University of Missouri–St. Louis
  • Yan Tian
Abstract
Many scholars use Green and Brock’s (2000) transportation scale to measure the degree to which audiences become absorbed into a narrative. In a pair of studies, we explore if the scale performs the same in relation to text-based versus audio-visual (AV) narratives. In Study 1, 125 participants were exposed to one of two versions (text or AV) of the same narrative. A confirmatory factor analysis indicates that the scale is not unidimensional and the factor structure is not consistent between formats. Measurement invariance across the text and AV groups was not supported. In Study 2, a larger (N=498) more diverse sample was employed, as well as different stimuli. Again the scale was not unidimensional and measurement invariance was not supported. These results indicate the scale may not be valid for audio-visual narratives, and also suggest that the concept of transportation itself may be distinct depending on the medium.

Keywords
  • narratives,
  • narrative transportation,
  • audio-visual; persuasion
Disciplines
Publication Date
September 23, 2021
DOI
10.1080/01463373.2021.1981416
Citation Information
Amber Reinhart, Lara Zwarun, Alice E. Hall and Yan Tian. "Transportation into Audio-visual Narratives: A Closer Look" Communication Quarterly Vol. 69 Iss. 5 (2021) p. 564 - 585
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/amber-reinhart/19/