Hypothesis 1-4 predicted that high and low involved personnel will likely seek out and utilize different sets of communication venues to obtain information on the various Air Force topics. In order to identify these, a variable was created which trichotomized the involvement variable into thirds, the top third indicating high involvement and the bottom third indicating low involvement.

Data Analysis
To examine hypotheses 1-4 which addressed media use and influence among high and low involved personnel across the contexts of Air Force policy, base command issues, and family services two approaches were used. First, a one-way ANOVA was computed comparing use of communication forms among high and low involved personnel. Second, correlations were computed between communication use and military respondents’ perception of the credibility of communication forms, satisfaction with Air Force life, and commitment to remaining in the Air Force.

Hypotheses 1 and 3 examined and predicted which media forms high involved Air Force personnel would seek out and use to obtain information about various areas of Air Force culture: Air Force policy issues and base installation issues in hypothesis 1; family issues in hypothesis 3. Both hypotheses posited that these personnel would utilize Air Force specific communication media as opposed to such media as local and cable TV, radio news or local papers. Hypotheses 2 and 4 posited similar predictions, but for low involved Air Force personnel.

All four hypotheses were partially supported in that some of the predicted communication forms were, in fact, utilized by these personnel. As Table 1 reveals, compared to low involved Air Force personnel, high involved Air Force personnel utilized all communication forms more. There were no exceptions.

Communication use implies credibility. Examination of correlations revealed some nuance for low and high involved personnel in terms of their perceptions of the credibility of communication forms, but no definitive patterns.

For high involved personnel, with regard to Air Force policy, most communication forms, not just the predicted venues of Airman Magazine, base papers, Air Force Web Sites and Commander’s Access Channels, were deemed credible. As Table 2 reveals, the most credible sources were network TV, local TV, and the base newspaper, while the least credible venues were Air Force Times and the Air Force Web. As Table 3 illustrates, in terms of base policy, the most credible communication forms were Air Force Times, general online, local TV, and network TV. Finally, as Table 4 indicates, with regard to family issues, for high involved personnel the most credible communication venues were Airman Magazine, local newspaper, general online, local radio and TV, and network TV. In short, whereas Hypotheses 1 and 3 posited greater use of specific Air Force communication venues among high involved personnel, the results indicated considerable use of many communication forms, including those specific to the Air Force and more broad-based media.

In terms of credibility and how it impacts satisfaction and commitment, base papers, Airman Magazine and to a lesser degree Commander’s Access Channel were found to be the most significant. In Hypothesis 3, in terms of how credibility and its impact on satisfaction and commitment, the correlation indicated the base paper and Commander’s Access Channel positively impacted satisfaction, but not commitment.

Our results for hypotheses 1 and 3 indicate that high involved personnel consume many types of media. It s also appears that high involved people process the internal communication media more often and receive the most input which adds to their satisfaction levels of their service. In hypothesis 1, the consumption of these internal media played a role in shaping their commitment to the Air Force, but in hypothesis 3, regarding family issues, the base paper and the Commander’s Access Channel added to their satisfaction but not their commitment to the Air Force.

In hypotheses 2 and 4, we posited that low involved personnel would use less Air Force specific media sources such as local papers, network and cable news, and radio. The assumption was made that some forms of media would be credible while others were not. In the case of hypothesis 2 which dealt with Air Force policy and base installation issues, our results were completely unsupported. Our correlation indicated that none of the communication media were deemed credible and there were no links to satisfaction and commitment in any of our results. Local TV was the closest to being significantly credible but fell short, (.324). Most of our values in these categories were negative. These results may indicate that low involved personnel receive their information about Air Force culture from other sources such as other personnel or what they observe. Low involved personnel may simply not get the message at all and therefore have very little satisfaction or commitment toward the Air Force.

Hypothesis 4 regarding Air Force family issues the results were more closely supported. In our correlation of the various media, Table 5 indicates that most sources were deemed credible. In terms of satisfaction, Airman Magazine and the local papers were most closely linked to satisfaction and none of the communication media were linked to commitment. These results indicate that low involved Air Force personnel believe what they read and hear, but these media do not overwhelmingly add to their satisfaction and none of the media influence their commitment to the Air Force.

Hypothesis 5 and 6 were different from the previous four because they ceased to predict the relationships between high and low involved personnel and were more interested in measuring credibility of media sources. Hypothesis 5 posited that in regards to AF Policy issues/Base policy issues, the internal media products namely base newspapers, Air Force Web sites and Commander’s Access Channels would be deemed most credible and more likely to be the media of choice. We used multiple regression analysis to test our predictions.

A multiple regression analysis was conducted to predict the use of media by Air Force personnel in regards to Air Force policies and base issues. Thirty six percent of the variance was accounted for and the credibility of the model was highly significant, F= 9.678, (.00) p =.00. The analysis showed a statistical difference for the base paper, t = 2.201, (.029) p =.01, and to a lesser degree for online resources (other than AF Web sites), t =1.721, (.087) p =.01, and network TV, t=1.986, (.049) p=.01. Based on these results, our hypothesis was partially supported in that the use of the base paper was significant; other media such as online resources and network TV was also being used to obtain information about Air Force policy and base installation issues. These results may indicate that as other information venues emerge, i.e. online resources, they may become a bigger provider of Air Force information.

Hypothesis 6 was similar to hypothesis 5 in that it deals with the prediction of the use of media. In regards to Air Force family issues, hypothesis 6 posited that the some internal media namely base newspapers, Air Force Web sites and Commander’s Access Channels would be deemed most credible and more likely to be the media of choice. would be more likely sought out and utilized by personnel. As in hypothesis 5, multiple regression analysis was the instrument we used to test our predictions.

A multiple regression analysis was conducted to predict the use of media by Air Force personnel in regards to Air Force family issues. Thirty-seven percent of the variance was accounted for and the credibility of the model was highly significant, F=11.351, (.00) p=.00. The analysis showed a statistical difference for the base paper, t =2.715, (.007) p =.01, and to a lesser degree for local TV t =2.281, (.024), p =.01. These results indicate our hypothesis was partially supported, by the use of the base paper, but again, more media are in play (local TV) in regard to family services.

In the research questions we were interested in discovering a positive relationship between Air Force personnel’s consumption of internal communication media and their satisfaction of the service (R1) and their levels of commitment (R2). These questions were mostly addressed in the correlations generated for hypotheses 1-4. In regards to levels of satisfaction, a multiple regression was run using satisfaction and then commitment as the dependent variable using media use as a predictor. For satisfaction the model was significant with 7 percent of the variance accounted for. The results indicate any links between media use and satisfaction is tenuous at best.
The results for research question 2, using commitment as the variable, were more conclusive. The model was significant and 9 percent of the variable was accounted for. In this regression, it is Air Force Times and the Air Force Web Site which impact the likelihood of Air Force members staying in the service.