Media use varies between persons (person-specific variation) and within persons (situation-specific variation, that is, the same individual uses media differently across situations). Understanding the relative importance of these two levels of variation in media use is fundamental to theory building as it helps determine whether theories of media use should focus on person- or situation-specific factors. To examine the relative importance of person- versus situation-specific variation in media use, we conducted a meta-analysis of self-reported data from studies using repeated in situ measurement designs (28 studies with 150 media use measures). The results showed that about two-thirds of the variance in media use was situation-specific. This suggests that the situation level is of high relevance for understanding and measuring media use. Theoretically, situation-specific factors are key in explaining whether, how long, and how often individuals use media. Methodologically, our results call for in situ designs repeatedly measuring media use across situations.

中文翻译：

---

区分媒体使用中因人而异和因情境而异的差异：荟萃分析


媒体使用在人与人之间（特定于人的差异）和人内部（特定于情境的差异，即同一个人在不同情况下使用不同的媒体）有所不同。了解媒体使用中这两个层面的变化的相对重要性对于理论构建至关重要，因为它有助于确定媒体使用理论是否应该关注特定于个人或特定情况的因素。为了检验媒介使用中个体与情境特定差异的相对重要性，我们对使用重复原位测量设计的研究中的自我报告数据进行了荟萃分析（28 项研究涉及 150 项媒体使用测量）。结果显示，大约三分之二的媒体使用差异是因情况而异的。这表明情境水平与理解和衡量媒体使用高度相关。从理论上讲，具体情况因素是解释个人是否使用媒体、使用媒体的时间和频率的关键。从方法上讲，我们的结果要求现场设计反复测量不同情况下的媒体使用情况。