COMM 250 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Standard Deviation, Human Behavior, Systems Theory
16 Feb 2015
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Document Summary
It is impossible because of choice that people have: theories/research explore the web of meaning, qualitative research methods, use words. The laws approach to theory building and testing. Paradigms in communication field: covering laws approach, rules approach, systems approach. Covering laws approach: no choice (ontological meta theoretical assumption, people communicate the way they do because some prior condition caused them to respond a certain way, communication is governed by forces that are predictable and generalizable, forces=laws. Laws: universal, transcends time and space (is always true, ex. Water always boils at 100 degrees celsius: based on relationship between phenomenon i. Types of laws: positivistic law, deterministic ii. If x then y: probabilistic law, based on probability ii. If x then probably y under certain conditions z: law-like, explain conditions under which the laws should hold up. Law theorists: want to discover the conditions that will cause people to communicate in some way, why, explain, predict.
