Questions for this survey have been adapted, with permission, from various editions of the Fall Colors: Prime Time Diversity Report by the American children's advocacy organization Children Now.
In this survey you will be assessing how well prime-time television reflects racial diversity in Canada. (Sports programming is not included in this survey.) If possible, you may want to tape the programs you are surveying in case you need to double-check data.
General Instructions
Before beginning your survey, record the following (this information can be found in a TV Guide):
Name of the station surveyed.
Time period your survey covers.
Program titles, genre (for example, situation comedy, drama, reality etc.), and time-slot (for example, Wednesdays 8:00-8:30 pm, Thursdays 9:00-10:00 pm).
Program Analysis
Before beginning this survey, take some time to read over each of the charts below so you know what information you are looking for.
Character Roles
Make a copy of this chart to record the prominence of roles played by TV characters from various representation groups. Make one check mark for each character you find in each category. (See below for definitions of characters.)
In addition, indicate whether the characters are male or female. (Here's an example of what a completed chart might look like.)
Representation Group | Opening Credits M F | Primary Non-Recurring M F | Secondary Recurring M F | Secondary Non-Recurring M F | Tertiary M F |
Black | *** | *** *** | * | ** | * | *** | ** | * | *** | *** |
White
| *** *** *** | *** *** * | *** *** | *** | | | | | | |
Chinese
| *** | | | ** | * | *** | | * | ** | |
Aboriginal
| | | ** | | | *** * | | | | |
| | | | | | | | | | |
