» updated 1/6/08 (note: this unit has three parts and lasts three weeks)
» part A: social science and humanistic approaches to theory
» part B: communication research traditions
» part C: evaluating theories

Context:

This course introduces you to the discipline of Communication Studies. You should understand the word discipline in several ways. Discipline is about training, instruction, rules of behavior, self-control, and branches of learning. To be an academic discipline is to have a history of approaches to creating knowledge and understanding. It is to have a set of practices and to constantly rethink how best to approach your subject. As a discipline, Communication Studies covers a dizzying range of contexts, from the very intimate (self-talk and close personal relationships) to the incredibly vast (culture, media, and globalization). In this first three weeks of readings, you will learn about two distinct approaches to communication theory and the production of knowledge. You will get an overview (a "map") of the field of Communication Studies, as well as an introduction to the various standards by which theories are evaluated. One of the basic paradoxes of Communication Studies is that you have to do it (i.e., communicate) in order to study it (i.e., communication). Theory, research, the creation of standards, and the taking of courses are all themselves communicative endeavors. Fortunately or not, there are no final answers.

Objectives:

part A:
• To understand what a theory is, and what it can do.
• To understand some basic concerns of epistemology.
• To understand some major differences between social scientific (objectivist) and humanistic (interpretive) approaches to communication theory.

part B:
• To be introduced to seven major traditions of communication theory & research.
• To understand these traditions in terms of social-scientific and humanistic approaches to theory.

part C:
• To be introduced to ten basic standards for evaluating communication theories.
• To test these standards with a communication theory (symbolic convergence theory)
• To understand the basic claims and elements of symbolic convergence theory

Readings:

Week 1: Talk About Theory (chapter 1)--I will discuss this in our first day meeting. Read this chapter AND the next before your week 2 meeting.
Week 2: Mapping the Territory (chapter 2)
Week 3: Weighing the Words (chapter 3)

"Lecture" to enhance unit 1
What is Methodology? Methodology is the philosophical rationale that supports research methods employed in an academic discipline. A methodology is concerned with how we come to know what we know, what counts as data and knowledge, and how best to attain this data and knowledge. A method, by contrast, is the actual tool of investigation or research. A methodology is the set of principles about how to use the method and how to make sense of what the method produces.

The discipline of Communication Studies is far reaching and includes methodologies spanning several intellectual histories (including philosophy, rhetoric, poetics, elocution, sociology, psychology, anthropology, journalism, marketing, and business). Griffin (your textbook author) describes two basic approaches to communication theory and research: (1) objective (or social scientific), and (2) interpretive (or humanistic). This distinction works for most of our purposes this semester, but needs to be explained just a little bit further to avoid confusion down the road. The problem is that there are really three approaches at play in the textbook. One is humanistic, and the other two are two approaches to social science: quantitative and qualitative. Qualitative social science is interpretive, which makes it similar to humanistic approaches, but the humanities and the qualitative social sciences arrive at their similarities through very different assumptions. I hope the following will tease out the distinction a bit more for you.

A. Humanistic methods serve as analytic tools for interpreting meanings and values of messages and objects. Humanistic research methods are flexible and reflexive, as opposed to the values of predictability and objectivity that are essential to the natural sciences. The only properly humanistic method that Griffin talks about in chapter 1 is "textual analysis." The humanities are usually associated with literature, art, languages, theatre, philosophy, rhetoric, and music. The big challenges for humanistic research is on agreeing about what constitutes knowledge and what constitutes scholarship. In addition, the role and methods of humanistic scholarship make it very hard, in many instances, to separate scholarship from politics. This goes back to the very beginning of communication study in Greece, where rhetorical skill was a tool for political action.

B. Social scientists assume there is an enduring reality and universal Truth of human experience that can be discovered through systematic observation and data collection. Social scientists see human behavior as governed by stable rules and laws. Like the physical sciences, social science is governed by empiricism (sensory data is the only reliable source of true knowledge). Empiricism is aimed at objectivity and the use of scientific methods. Social science is descriptive, not prescriptive (social scientists do not address questions of value or of solutions to problems).

Social scientists engage in theory building and theory testing, using two general kinds of methods (quantitative and qualitative).

1. Quantitative methods are deductive (they go from whole to parts; from theories to hypotheses that are tested). Quantitative researchers translate human behavior into numerical terms (statistics) that allow generalized conclusions about people. The focus of this kind of research is on making predictions about and explanations of human behavior. These methods are best when doing comparisons and making generalizations about large populations. Quantitative research often arises from survey research, reproducible experiments, and other uses of research instruments that bring about quantifiable data.

2. Qualitative methods are inductive (moving from parts to the whole; going from observations to theories). Qualitative researchers focus on words and meanings of people’s experiences in everyday life. This research is done in context, and involves interpretation and elaboration of people’s reported experiences (interviews, case studies, ethnography, discourse analysis). This is similar to humanistic scholarship, except for the inclusion of the assumption of objective truth and the use of systematic methods.

Qualitative social science research focuses on understanding the meanings found in the opinions, experiences, and behaviors of actual people in the various contexts of social and individual life. Qualitative communication research looks for how these meanings are constructed out of experience and through communicative interaction. This approach is usually narrative-based, and is directed toward language rather than numbers. There are three basic techniques for gathering data in qualitative research: participant observation, interviews, and analyzing artifacts.

Ethnographic research uses all three data collection techniques to describe human social phenomena. This approach originated in cultural anthropology. This method of research involves describing cultural practices from the “native’s” point of view in order to understand the actions of groups of people through “cultural interpretation.” Remember that when we were describing performance studies, we said that participant-observation and ethnographic research is one of the premiere methods employed in communication research at USF, and that it shares its most basic principle with the oral interpretation of literature (and the humanistic perspective of communication as performance that you will visit in unit 8): encountering and providing a “sense of the other.” It is through the other that you enrich your understanding of the world, but it is also through the other that you enrich your understanding and knowledge of yourself. In both interpreting literature and doing participant-observation fieldwork you have to “imaginatively enter another world.” A typical ethnographic research program in communication will try to discover the ways that shared identity is created by communication in a particular community or “cultural scene” (such as Japanese businessmen, basketball fans, African American families, or members of a bowling league). The discovery could take place, for instance, by looking for shared meanings in public performances of the community. Or the researcher may interview community members in order to discern insider descriptions of communication. By observing communication practices, ethnographers can uncover community norms (standards and expectations), describe forms of communication in a particular community, and reveal cultural codes (the meanings attached to symbols and behaviors in the cultural community).

Keep in mind that the differences between qualitative social science and humanistic methods often appear quite small. However, the long traditions that lead to these similarities often reveal drastic differences when it comes to fundamental philosophical questions about the nature of truth, reality, and knowledge. Similar questions surround the nature and role of research itself, which can include the description and explanation of human behavior, producing knowledge for its own sake, trying to provide practical solutions to human problems, and trying to improve society. Griffin tries to tackle these similarities and differences in chapter 3.

Some historical background

How did research methods develop in Communication Studies?

Social science research has its roots in the 19th century development of sociology, particularly the positivism of August Comte, who believed that the empirical methods of the natural sciences could be applied to the study of society to reveal “positive” knowledge (knowledge that can be positively determined and confirmed through empirical data). As the social sciences developed through the beginning of the 20th century, early communication researchers focused on 5 realms of research, reflecting 5 different disciplinary fields of study.
• Mass communication researchers were interested in the political effects of messages, primarily propaganda (reflected in Harold Lasswell’s development of content analysis methods) and public opinion (reflected in Walter Lippmann’s analysis of news media)
• Social Psychologists were interested in how individuals are affect ed by their social world, and focused communication research on persuasion, attitude change, group interaction, and interpersonal communication. John B. Watson developed a behaviorist approach that only considered objective observations of behaviors and reactions as beng able to shed light on human actions. Kurt Lewin developed a cognitive approach holding that thoughts are both a product of communication and produce communication.
• From sociology, communication research focused on human interaction (in George Herbert Mead’s symbolic interactionism school—the focus of chapter 4) and mass communication effects (where Paul Lazarsfeld developed survey research methods that led to market research).
• In linguistics, communication research developed around language use, and the relationship between language and thought and language and culture.
• In business, communication research focused on human relations in the workplace (management) and in advertising and market research.

During World War II, social scientific communication research representing work in psychology, social psychology, sociology, and political science were all employed by the government to work on propaganda (understanding Nazi propaganda techniques) and persuasion (helping to sway public opinion in favor of the war effort).

In the second half of the 20th century, social scientific research in communication started to converge in the development of departments of speech communication, where they also merged with scholars from the rhetorical tradition. Social scientists in communication saw their role as addressing the problems of democracy, particularly in the areas of propaganda and social influence. Communication research also continued to explore small group interaction (decision-making, leadership, and groupthink in organizations), mass media effects, interpersonal communication, and nonverbal communication. Influence from researchers in anthropology started to show up in communication research, and “dramatism” became an important research perspective. After the social upheaval of the 1960s, a lot of mass media research fell out of favor, and communication research took a major turn toward understanding face-to-face relationships and social interaction.

Wilbur Schramm was the major force who integrated the different trajectories of communication studies into cohesive departments, bringing together the rhetorical focus on speech with the social science focus on communication theory to create departments of speech communication. The communication department at USF was originally called the Department of Speech Communication, and the three different course prefixes used for courses in the department reflect the legacy of integrating the field of study. COM is rooted in communication theory, SPC in Speech, and ORI is Oral Interpretation. We should note that other areas of communication research are distributed across several other departments and colleges at USF: mass communication, journalism, public relations, marketing, and advertising. The communication faculty at USF mainly represents the social sciences, though some work in the humanistic traditions. Almost all of the social scientists here, though, work from the qualitative perspective, particularly utilizing ethnographic and interpretive research methods. All of this is reflected in the list of undergraduate course offerings available, where courses in the three areas of concentration feature humanistic and qualitative social science courses exclusively.

Study Guides :

Study Guide #1 (Talk About Theory)--due in class week 2** (or week 1 if you do it before your first meeting)

Part I: Explain the following terms that help us distinguish the scientific and humanistic approaches to communication (What does the term mean? Why is it important to know it? Is it particular to one of the approaches?): Behavioral/Social Scientist, Interpretive Scholar, Epistemology, Determinism, Objectivity, Emancipation, Experiment, Dependent variable, Independent variable, Survey research, Textual Analysis, Ethnography.
Part II: Make a chart that compares the elements of the two basic approaches to communication theory side-by-side. Each subheading of the chapter compares and contrasts the two approaches, so make your chart based on the terms and ideas presented there.

Study Guide #2 (Mapping the Territory)--due in class week 2

This chapter introduces the seven primary traditions of research found in the field of communication studies. For this study guide, summarize each of the seven traditions. For each summary, include at least the following information: (a) how does the tradition define communication?, (b) is it social-scientific, interpretive/humanistic, or mixed?, and (c) who are the names associated with the tradition?

Study Guide #3 (Weighing the Words)--due in class week 3

Part I: Explain each of the ten standards for evaluating theories. Write a short, clear paragraph for each.
Part II: Which of the ten standards do you think is the most important for theorizing communication? Make the case for your choice (explain why is it important for you). Which standard would be your second choice?

Extras:

textbook learning center: use the dropdown box to select a chapter. Test your knowledge with quizzes and puzzles. Enhance your knowledge with application logs, web links, theory abstracts, and a glossary.

Learn More:

Epistemology entry (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Epistemology entry (Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Theory of what? (Jonathan Culler)
Some resources on communication theory (Martin Ryder)

Some Wikipedia entries:
What is a theory in science?
What is social theory?
What is critical theory?
Communication Theory entry (includes the seven traditions)
Evaluating communication theories

Application:

1. Consider the chart you developed in study guide #1: How are you visualizing communication theory? Are you drawn to differences or similarities? What aspects of theory appeal to you? What aspects seem confusing or unappealing?
2. Think about the two standards of evaluation you ranked as most personally important in study guide #3. Do you feel a pull toward objectivist ideals, intepretive ideals, or is there a mix? If you are considering the discipline of communication as a major, what do you hope to do with it? In what ways is communication a discipline?
3. Explore the website for the communication department at USF (including the faculty profiles), as well as the undergraduate course offerings.
From what you’ve learned in this week’s readings, how would you describe the USF Communication Department in terms of approach to communication? Which research traditions do you think best represents the study of communication at USF?