COMM 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Eye Contact, Voicemail
The Scientific Method
- Formulate hypotheses about the relationship between variables
- Predictions based on prior studies/theories/models
- Test hypotheses using empirical observations
- I.e., gather data! (can measure attitudes)
Survey/Observational Research
- Ask people what they think or do
- Can use telephone, mail, internet, face-to-face
- Purpose: Examine relationships between comm attitudes/behaviors, etc.
- Ex variables: Social media use; connectedness
- Hyp: The more social media use, the greater the feeling of
connectedness with others
Limitations of Surveys
- Reliance on self-reports
- Cannot make causal conclusions
- EX: 2 vars may be related -- more social media <-> more connected
But this doesn’t mean that using social media MAKES you feel more connected!
Experimental Research
- Purpose: draw causal conclusions
- EX: variables: eye contact; attractiveness
- Hyp: Eye contact makes people seem more attractive
- Think of it like clinical drug testing -- experiments test whether the drug
has an effect on (improves/worsens) people’s symptoms
- Manipulate causal variable(s)
- EX: “eye contact”
½ of the subjects shown photo with face looking at camera
Other ½ shown same face, but looking away
- Control everything else (same face, expression, background, etc.)
- Measure effect/outcome
- EX: attractiveness rating
Limitations of Experiments
- Limited participants and artificial setting
- So cannot generalize results beyond participants and lab environment
Comm in a Digital Age
- Digital comm: Electronic media used to send digitally coded signals
- Pervasive
- Almost all Americans now use internet (⅔ have broadband)
- ⅔ have smartphones
- Rapidly changing
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Formulate hypotheses about the relationship between variables. Ask people what they think or do. Purpose: examine relationships between comm attitudes/behaviors, etc. Hyp: the more social media use, the greater the feeling of connectedness with others. Ex: 2 vars may be related -- more social media more connected. But this doesn"t mean that using social media makes you feel more connected! Hyp: eye contact makes people seem more attractive. Think of it like clinical drug testing -- experiments test whether the drug has an effect on (improves/worsens) people"s symptoms. Of the subjects shown photo with face looking at camera. Other shown same face, but looking away. Control everything else (same face, expression, background, etc. ) So cannot generalize results beyond participants and lab environment. Digital comm: electronic media used to send digitally coded signals. Almost all americans now use internet ( have broadband) Synchronicity - ability to coordinate rapid exchanges in real time.
