Transcript Week 2

Reminders/Updates/To Do, 9.26
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1) printing quizzes – reminder: we need the percentages printed out (click “print preview”)
2) TILT quizzes returned to me sometime this week. I’ll return next week.
3) Check Bb daily, email daily, watch for my checklists/ reminders…trying to stay 1 step
ahead (if you are “struggling,” please meet with me)
– There is a positive correlation between prof meetings and learning outcomes/student
success (a/k/a – getting into the COM 300 rhythm. It’s a great “dance”)
4) chapter 2 in-class practice quiz, next Monday instead of today.
5) as you prepare for class, review the “big ideas” for chapter 2
6) In class –chpt. 2; POR II: “Sense of Community” article, find it
7) Note that you have an assignment related to RQs and Hs. I recommend that you become
familiar with it as we work through this material.
8) the concentration groups are set – review assignment description as a group. Work on
Section 1. I’ll send out further detail about how to “blend” section 2. Additional samples will
be posted this week. If you have questions about anything, send an email.
9) Reminder: the groups for your group paper are the “discussion groups” you are currently in
(Group 1, Group 2, Group 3), not the concentration groups.
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NOTE: an email from Mike is like an email from me. It is a good idea, professionally, to
respond in a timely manner.
NOTE: some under-achieving Bb participants. . .you know who you are, and I know you
excuses. No dice  My “ode to a late/non-poster” is warming up in the bullpen. You know
how bad I am at poetry. Please don’t make me bring it out. . . See me after class if you need
encouragement. Again, HUGE points for Blackboard, huge.
STEP 1:
CONCEPTUALIZATION
Chpt. 1
Narrow focus
Identify topic
Define Key Concepts
Chpt. 5
STEP 2: PLANNING
& DESIGNING
STEP 3: SELECTING A
METHODOLOGY
Report / Write
Review of Literature
Research Question
Hypotheses
Chpt. 3
App. G
Measurement
Techniques
Operationalizaton
Which Method?
Chpt. 2
STEP 4: ANALYZE
& INTERPRET DATA
STEP 5:
RECONCEPTUALIZATION
A WORKING MODEL OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
Research Questions
What is the nature
of communication?
Descriptive Studies
Describe &
Understand nature
& characteristics
or particular
communication
behavior or variable
E.g., What cues do people rely on to
identify bias in a message?
E.g., Who watches reality TV shows &
why?
How is communication
related to other
variables?
Correlational Studies
Understand how
communication is
related to other
important variables
(beyond description)
IV/DV?
E.g., Is gender/age/education related
to motives for entering interpersonal
relationships?
Describing Communication Behavior
• What patterns of deceptive communication characterize close
relationships (Metts, 1999, p. 163)
• In employment screening interviews, what purpose do the majority
of interviewee questions fulfill? (seeking info, clarifying, etc.)
(Babbitt & Jablin, 1999)
• What type of power strategies do subordinates perceive
themselves using in interactions with their supervisors (Richmond,
et al, 2000, p. 90)
• How do college students “map” or organize the music
world/music genres? (Christenson, et al., 2002, p. 289)
• Who listens to/watches a [particular show/program]? Why do they
listen to [show/program]?
• What are the television viewing/internet use habits of college
students?
Research Questions
What is the nature
of communication?
Descriptive Studies
Describe &
Understand nature
& characteristics
or particular
communication
behavior or variable
E.g., What cues do people rely on to
identify bias in a message?
E.g., Who watches reality TV shows &
why?
How is communication
related to other
variables?
Correlational Studies
Understand how
communication is
related to other
important variables
(beyond description)
IV/DV?
E.g., Is gender/age/education related
to motives for entering interpersonal
relationships?
Relating Communication Behavior to
Other Variables
Format:
What is the relationship/association between _________ and _________?
Example:
What is the relationship between gender and political affiliation?
Is there an association between one’s level of education and
amount of TV viewing?
What is the effect of instructor’s use of podcasts on
students’ cognitive and affective learning in the f2f classroom?
Is professional occupation related to which media source
one uses to gather news?
Relating Communication Behavior to
Other Variables (IV/DV)
• Will the demographic variables of age, gender, education level, and
household size be related to interpersonal communication
satisfaction in long-distance relationships?
• How does family mediation of TV effect children’s comprehension
of specific programs and of TV in general? (Desmond, et al, 1985,
p. 467)
• Does attorney gender, disfluency, or delivery style affect or interact
to affect juror perceptions of defendant’s credibility and guilt?
(Barge, et al, 1989, p. 335)
• Is there a positive relationship between church attendance and time
spent viewing/watching religious media?
HYPOTHESES
Definition:
A hypothesis is an expectation about events based on
generalizations of assumed relationships between
variables.
Format:
Subjects who are [high in, low in, characterized as, exposed
to, etc.] (insert input variable of interest)
will have [higher, more, or greater, or less] (insert output
variable ofWhat’s
interest)the Null Hypothesis here?
Reject or Accept?
than others who are [high in, low in, not characterized by,
not exposed to, etc.] (insert input variable of interest]
Example:
Subjects who are low in self-esteem will have greater
attitude change in response to a persuasive message than
others who are high in self-esteem.
HYPOTHESES
Definition:
Positive: as IV increases,
A hypothesis is an expectation about events
based on
DV increases
generalizations of assumed relationships
between
Negative:as
IV increases,
variables.
DV decreases
= Directional
Format:
There will be a [direct, or positive, negative, inverse,
curvilinear] relationship
What’s the Null Hypothesis here?
between (insert
first variable of interest)
Reject
or Accept?
and (insert second variable of interest).
Example:
There will be a positive relationship between the amount of
eye contact used by speakers and credibility ratings.
Independent & Dependent Variables
Identification
Research Questions--“Millionaire Style”
• Do [men and women] report significantly
different [levels of satisfaction with
conflict interaction]? (Papa & Natalle,
1989, p. 263)
Independent & Dependent Variables
Identification
• People who have high levels of exposure to TV news
will report greater satisfaction with life than people
who have low levels of exposure to TV news.
1. What are we manipulating? Controlling?
2. What variable is said to be “influenced by” the other?
• IV: level of exposure to TV news
• DV: degree of satisfaction with life
– note: predicted direction in variable is not the variable itself
IV/DV’s
• Communicators who have had formal debate
training will report higher levels of
assertiveness than will communicators who
have not had formal debate training.
• IV: amount of debate training (or presence or
absence of debate training)
• DV: levels of assertiveness (high, low, medium)
IV/DV’s
• When people are exposed to fear arousing
messages, as opposed to non fear arousing
messages, they will report increased levels of
anxiety.
• IV: level of fear arousing messages
• DV: (levels of) anxiety
IV/DVs
• Individuals with low communication
apprehension will report significantly more
positive parental behaviors and attitudes toward
communication than individuals with high
communication apprehension.
• IV: communication apprehension
• DV: (2) positiveness of parental behaviors; attitudes
toward communication (amount of)
• NOTE: high & low are levels of one variable, not 2
variables.
IV/DVs
• Subjects reading persuasive messages by
attractive sources will experience greater
attitude change than subjects reading
persuasive messages by unattractive
sources
• IV: attractiveness of sources
• DV: attitude change
• Constant – persuasive messages
IV/DV’s
• The older one is, the greater will be the
levels of stress perceived in one’s life
• IV: age
• DV: perceived stress
– note: older is a predicted direction, not variable
– age is the variable, measured in some direction
IV/DV’s
• The public’s evaluations of public relations
in general will be higher when licensed
practitioners engage in 2-way
communication strategies for altruistic
motives than evaluations of public relations
in general when unlicensed public relations
sources have selfish motives and the
practitioner engages in 1-way
communication strategies.
The end!
Variables have attributes
Variables
Attributes
• Kind of social support
• Advice, $, Emotional, etc.
• Channel of comm
• Verbal, Nonverbal
• Violent acts per hour
• 0, 1, 2, 3, 4
• Speech anxiety
• Low, Medium, High
• Conflict style
• Competitive, Submissive,
Interactive, Combative.
Variables
• Defined:
– any concept that takes on 2 or more values;
varies by different types or amounts
• Types:
-- ordered: assigned numeric values, indicate how
much of concept is present
e.g., class rank, age, weight, temperature
-- nominal: differentiated only by type
e.g., gender, ethnicity, political affiliation
Variables
Classification: Independent & Dependent
Independent Variable: a variable which is thought
to influence changes in another variable(s).
Dependent Variable: a variable which is thought
to be changed by another variable(s).
DV1 = IV1 + IV2 + IV3 + … + IVn
Credibility of a Newscast = Anchor + Sportscaster +
Weathercaster + News Set + Credible News Source +
Frequency of Viewing + Newscast Choice +
Age + Education + Income + Gender
VARIABLES
Other Types of Variables:
Moderating Variables: variables that explain the changes
in the DV better than the IV – “YEAH, BUT. . .”
1. Blackboard increases cognitive learning
2. Using PPT in worship with images that
match songs being sung makes the worship
experience more positive
Approaches to Human Communication Research (Bochner, 1985)
Goal
Subject Matter
Method
Major Concern
Function
How Knowledge
is Produced
How Truth
Claims are Judged
Behaviorism
Phenomenology/
Interpretive school
Critical School
Explanation,
Prediction, Control
Interpretation &
Understanding
Criticism &
Social Change
Behavior
(Facts)
Meanings
(context)
Values
(historical)
Operationalism
Interpretation
Historical-critical
& textual criticism
Method
Subject Matter
Quantitative
/ Qualitative
Social Change
Put under a
covering law
Place in an
intelligible frame
Enlighten &
Emancipate
By Objectifying
(mirroring)
By edifying
(conversing)
By Reflecting
(criticizing)
Falsification
Juridicial Validation
(Ricoeur)
Free Consensus
(Habermass)
Research Questions
How is communication
What is the nature
Definition: Research questions
related to other
of communication?
are the question(s) we expect
variables?
to answer through research.
Descriptive Studies
Correlational Studies
Describe &
Understand nature
& characteristics
or particular
communication
behavior or variable
E.g., What cues do people rely on to
identify bias in a message?
E.g., Who watches reality TV & why?
Understand how
communication is
related to other
important variables
(beyond description)
IV/DV?
E.g., Is gender/age/education related
to motives for entering interpersonal
relationships?
Cross-sectional or Longitudinal
How do we
operationalize
“Communication
apprehension?
The “process” - conceptualization
“I wonder. . . “
Research (“read” & “review” lit)
Variables identified (narrowing begins)
Narrowing appears as RQ or H . . . Or both