Many universities have established centers or projects that pursue questions about the effects of television. These include the Family Television Research and Consultation Center at Yale University, the Center for Research on the Influence of Television on Children at the University of Kansas, the National Center for Children and Television at Princeton, and Project Zero at Harvard University. Foundations have supported research in the areas of media effects and instructional television, including the Spencer, Ford, and Carnegie Foundations. Public service organizations such as Action for Children's Television and church television awareness groups have spurred policy and research.
Research and development (R&D) organizations, such as the Southwest Educational Development Laboratory, have generated curricula on critical-viewing skills. Children's Television Workshop (CIV), the producer of Sesame Street, is an R&D organization that not only develops programming but also does research on the effects of television.