Transcript Overview of Communication Theory

Basic Elements of Human Thought
• The Law of Non-Contradiction
– truth claims or propositions
– A and ~ A (If A, then not ~ A)
– time and sense
• Modes of Reasoning
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Deductive
Inductive
Analogical
Meta
A Logic of Communication Inquiry
Essential Elements
• Data (What are you looking at/listening to?)
• Problem/Experience (What’s up with the data?)
• Method (How are you looking/listening?)
• Theory (What do you have to say about the data?)
Data
What information counts as relevant for
Communication Theory?
• Human Verbal/Nonverbal Behavior
• Human Beliefs, Attitudes, and (Pre)dispositions
• Rhetorical or Symbol(ic) Artifacts
Methodology
By what means will you select, observe,
identify, discover, create, analyze, organize
and synthesize the data?
• 4 types:
– Experimental
– Self-Report (survey and interviews)
– Textual Criticism (e.g., rhetorical)
– Ethnography
Theory
What sorts of representations count in or
toward Communication Theory?
• Truth claims/propositions or sets of propositions that
describe, explain, predict “real” data patterns
(Objectivist)
• Arguments that persuade us of the meaning and
value of a “way of seeing” or understanding the data
(Interpretivist)
Theory Criteria
Social Scientific Theory (objectivist)
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Description (data concepts relations clarity scope)
Explanation
Prediction
Parsimony (Ockham’s razor)
Testability (hypotheses, verifiability, falsifiability)
Coherence
Competitiveness
Historicity
Utility (practical, scholarly)
Theory Criteria
Interpretive Theory (subjectivist)
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Insight into Human Condition
Alternative Way(s) of Knowing/Seeing
Values Clarification (ethics, power, hegemony)
Sex Appeal (aesthetics)
Persuasive Power
Community Endorsement
Societal Reform
Lines of Criticism
Social Scientific Theory
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(objectivist)
incoherent
concepts unclear, redundant
fails to explain (accurately and reliably)
scope of explanation too narrow or too broad
fails to predict
untestable
untested (relatively, completely)
too complicated
useless (practically, academically)
Lines of Criticism
Interpretive Theory
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(subjectivist)
no “news”
no values clarification
no sex appeal
no agreement (unpersuasive to many/most)
no reform (cultural, political, social)
no promise
Generic Research Plan I
Social Scientific Tradition (objectivist)
• Introduction
– overview of problem/experience
– significance
• Literature Review & Rationale
• Methods/Procedures
– data/variables, collection procedures, analysis
• Results/Findings
• Conclusions
• Future Research
Generic Research Plan II
Interpretivist Tradition (subjectivist)
• Introduction
– overview of problem/experience
– significance of study
– (preview)
• Background &/or Critical Apparatus
– artifact(s), description of theory and/or method
• Analysis
• Conclusions
• Implications
Communication Subdisciplines
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Intra/Interpersonal
Small Group
Organizational
Public Address
Mass Media
Cultural/Intercultural
Interpersonal Communication
• Definition: Communication interaction or transaction
between 2 individuals
• D-Epistemology: Objectivist/Social Scientific
• Key Theories: Social Penetration; Uncertainty
Reduction; Expectancy Violations; [Relational
Dialectics]; Social Judgment
• Key Concepts: dyadic relationships; friendships;
marriage; conflict; deception; relational
maintenance/dissolution; self-disclosure; intimacy;
politeness
• D-Methodology: Experimental, Survey
Small Group Communication
• Definition: Communication interaction among 3 to ...
individuals
• D-Epistemology: Objectivist and Interpretivist
• Key Theories: [Functionalism]; Adaptive
Structuration; [Information Systems]; [Cultural]; Critical
• Key Concepts: decision-making; identity;
cohesiveness; “group think”; productivity; stability &
change; conflict; power structures and relations
• D-Methodology: All
Public Rhetoric
• Definition: Static and interactive communication
between a single speaker and audience
• D-Epistemology: Interpretivist
• Key Theories: Neo-Aristotelian; Dramatism;
[Narrative]
• Key Concepts: Persuasion; Identification; Situation
• D-Methodology: Rhetorical criticism (generic,
metaphoric, feminist, cluster, fantasy theme, macrostylistic, micro-stylistic)