Transcript Human Inquiry and Scientific Inquiry About Communication

Human Inquiry and
Scientific Inquiry About
Communication
How do you know?
Most of what you know is
based on agreement.
We can also know things
from direct experience or
observation.
Ordinary Human Inquiry About
Communication
People want to both understand and
predict their communication with others
 Our understanding is often based on
sources of second-hand knowledge.

– Tradition
– Authority
Errors in Ordinary Inquiry
Inaccurate Observations
 Overgeneralization
 Selective Observation
 Illogical Reasoning

Scientific inquiry guards
against the errors of
ordinary inquiry through
careful and deliberate
efforts.
Views of Reality
The Premodern View
 The Modern View
 The Postmodern View

The Characteristics of Scientific
Inquiry about Communication
Theory, data collection, and data analysis
are at the heart of the scientific
enterprise.
 Scientific inquiry is an empirical enterprise.
 Scientific inquiry examines social
regularities.
 Scientific inquiry examines aggregates, not
individuals.

“Communication Studies is a field of research
on the production and uses of symbols (both
linguistic and non-verbal, whether face to
face or mediated) in concrete social and
cultural contexts to enable the dynamics of
systems, society, and culture” (Baxter &
Babbie, 2004, p. 11)
Communication as the primary
phenomenon of study
Communication researchers study the
processes of message production,
transmission, and meaning-making.
 Communication researchers study the
content and form of communicative
messages.
 Communication researchers study the
function and effects of messages.

Disseminating Communication
Research
Research for public consumption.
 Research for private consumption
(Proprietary research).
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