Reception study of female magazine readers "Kalkidan" readers in focus

This study was conducted to explore the reception of female readers of the Kalkidan magazine in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A qualitative research method was used, as qualitative approaches are most often associated with reception analysis, which is the focus of the study. The study used a three stage qualitative approach, which include qualitative content analysis to make a comparative analysis of the content data with the audience data, focus group discussions followed by individual-in-depth interviews. The gathered data finally were thematically analysed. In addition, though the study is not bound to specific theories attention was given to theoretical and epistemological issues entailed in reception research during analysis. The study shows that factors such as age, education and marital status affect the interpretation and use of the magazine by the women. Moreover, the findings reflect that both the active and the passive audience theories are basically related to the education factor. The study also highlighted that educated audiences are generally unsatisfied with the provisions of the magazine as they felt that it has lacked pertinence to their real lives.