COMM 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Communication Monographs
13 Mar 2018
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The communication inquiry process: stage 1: observing communication phenomena, ask appropriate questions, stage 2: discovering theoretical explanations, define concepts, create logical explanation, stage 3: test theoretical explanations, stage 4: refine, modify, and/or change your theory. The building blocks of theory: a theory is "any conceptual representation or explanation of a phenomenon, concepts, explanations. Conceptualizing: start with concrete events, group similar events into categories, label categories (i. e. concept, define concepts that you come up with. Identifies relationships among concepts: answers questions "why" and/or "how, relies on principle of necessity. Social scientists: quantitative approaches: methods include surveys, experiments, quasi-experiments, data: numbers, statistics. Humanists: qualitative approaches: methods include textual analysis (speeches, movies, letters, blogs, etc. ), conversational analysis, in-depth interviews: rhetorical theory used as analytical tool, analyze topic of research through stories, myths, and themes, data: words, humanistic-rhetoricians and non-rhetorician. Tests of theories are published in academic journals: communication monographs, communication theory, quarterly journal of speech.
