COMM 102 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Spurious Relationship, Dependent And Independent Variables, Social Class

• School: U of M
• Department: Communication Studies
• Course: COMM 102
• Professor: Scott Campbell

Document Summary

Set of generalizations that explain observable phenomena by posing some relationships among variables. Hypothesis statement/proposal that can be tested by gathering empirical evidence. Prediction about what will happen if the theory is true. People imitate what they see others do. Hyp 1: kids shown superman cartoons in school will hit other kids on the playground more than kids who don"t see superman. A phenomenon or event that we observe. More than 1 value can be assigned. We are interested in whether the messages bring about changes in thoughts, attitudes, emotions, behaviors, etc. Test the existence of a causal relationship. 3 criteria necessary for claiming a causal relationship. Presumed cause and presumed effect must covary. Presumed cause may precede the presumed effect in time. Spurious relationship- some third variable that explains the relationship between. Ice cream sales cause shore traffic, in reality rising temperatures cause both. The relationship isn"t due to some unmeasured variables.