comms midterm study or die

Five main steps in the research process

1. Topic

2. Literature review

3. Data collection

4. Analysis

5. Report writing

Research

Systematic and scientific exploration of topics, phenomena, or relationships using empirical methods and the assumption of underlying patterns.

Scholarly research

Purely academic inquiry conducted by and for researchers and consumers that is easily accessible to the public.

Proprietary research

Inquiry commissioned for private use by businesses or individuals, which may carry inherent bias.

Three primary functions of research on behavior

1. Describing behavior

2. Determining causes of behavior

3. Predicting behavior based on data

Theory

A set of concepts and definitions developed and tested over time that attempts to explain and predict outcomes, serving as a guide rather than an absolute law.

Empirical

Based on direct observation or tangible experience gathered through the senses.

Social science method in communication

An approach to inquiry that focuses specifically on messages, message effects, and message meanings.

Lasswell's 5 Ws model of communication

An analytical model structured around: Who, says What, through Which channel, to Whom, with What effect.

Quantitative research methods

Approaches centered on numerical data, statistical calculations, hypothesis testing, and deductive reasoning.

Qualitative research methods

Approaches relying on non-numerical observations (e.g., interviews, focus groups, ethnography) to answer questions, develop theories, and utilize inductive reasoning.

Six steps of the scientific approach

1. Start with a question

2. Review the literature

3. Formulate a hypothesis or research question

4. Refine the hypothesis or question

5. Conduct the experiment or method

6. Analyze and interpret data

Questions of fact

Inquiries that focus on establishing definitions or verifiable reality.

Questions of variable relations

Inquiries that examine how different phenomena or concepts interact and connect with one another.

Questions of value

Inquiries that seek subjective evaluations or moral judgments.

Questions of policy

Inquiries that evaluate or recommend a specific course of action.

Seven standards for evaluating theories

1. Explanatory power

2. Predictive power

3. Parsimony (simplicity)

4. Falsifiability

5. Internal consistency

6. Heuristic provocativeness

7. Organizing power

Silver bullet theory

A media effects framework proposing that direct media stimuli produce uniform, immediate responses across passive audiences.

Social learning theory

A framework stating that individuals acquire behaviors and reactions by observing models and media content in their environment.

Limited effects theory

A perspective holding that media impact is constrained by individual audience factors like selective attention, exposure, and perception.

Two-step flow theory

A model proposing that media information reaches opinion leaders first, who then interpret and distribute it to the broader public.

Agenda-setting theory

A theory asserting that media does not tell audiences what to think, but rather what topics to think about by assigning salience to issues.

Framing theory

A second-level agenda-setting concept where media emphasizes specific wording or aspects of reality to influence how audiences interpret an issue.

Uses and gratifications theory

An audience-centered model postulating that individuals actively select media content to fulfill cognitive, affective, personal, social, or tension-relief goals.

Cultivation theory

A framework proposing that prolonged, heavy exposure to media content gradually reshapes an individual's long-term perception of social reality.

Tuskegee Syphilis Study

A study testing the natural progression of untreated syphilis by withholding treatment from Black men; lacked consent, used deception, and exploited subjects.

Stanford Prison Experiment

A study testing how social roles and situational power influence behavior by assigning guard/prisoner roles; caused psychological distress, inadequate protection, and inability to quit.

Ethical concerns of the Milgram Study

Key issues including participant distress, active deception, and restricting the right to quit.

Ethical concerns of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study

Key issues including absence of a consent form, active deception, deliberate withholding of treatment, and exploitation through incentives.

Ethical concerns of the Stanford Prison Experiment

Key issues including psychological distress, insufficient protection for subjects, and inability to quit.

Research ethics

The responsibilities researchers have to conduct ethical research and protect participant rights and welfare.

Researcher responsibilities

The scientific responsibility to follow guidelines and produce meaningful knowledge, alongside the ethical responsibility toward participants during data collection, interpretation, and reporting.

Ethical questions in planning research

Key considerations regarding consent procedures, confidentiality, participant appropriateness, potential harms, researcher influence, design validity, and researcher capability.

Belmont Report

An ethical framework built around three primary principles: beneficence, respect for persons, and justice.

Beneficence

The principle to protect participants from harm, maximize potential benefits, and ensure overall benefits outweigh risks.

Respect for persons

The principle to treat individuals as autonomous decision-makers by requiring voluntary consent, avoiding coercion, and protecting vulnerable populations.

Justice

The principle of fairness in participant selection that avoids exploiting groups who are easily available, unable to refuse, or easily manipulated.

Institutional Review Board (IRB)

A formal committee that reviews research proposals to ensure participant rights and welfare are protected prior to data collection.

IRB proposal components

Essential submission items including research questions/hypotheses, literature review, participant recruitment, informed consent, research methods, risk/benefit analysis, anonymity/confidentiality plans, and investigator background.

Informed consent

Information provided to participants prior to data collection ensuring participation is voluntary, conveyed in clear and understandable language.

Elements of informed consent

Key items including researcher identity, study purpose, procedures, duration, risks, benefits, confidentiality, harms, deception disclosure, contact info, voluntary nature, right to withdraw, and copy of the form.

Ethical issues in conducting research

Operational concerns including intentional deception (requiring debriefing), use of confederates, physical/psychological harm, maintaining anonymity/confidentiality, and recording participants.

Consent form considerations in quantitative research

Documentation detailing exact procedures and identifying any threatening or distasteful materials participants may encounter.

Consent form considerations in qualitative research

Evaluations focused on natural public settings, considering whether researcher presence creates negative consequences to determine if formal consent is required.

Milgram Study-

tested obedience to authority by seeing if participants would administer shocks when instructed; caused distress, used deception, and participants could not quit.

12 Characteristics of social science-

1.) Evidence based, 2.) Testable, 3.) Explore all possibilities, 4.) Replicable, 5.) Public record, 6.) Self-correcting, 7.)Measurement and observation, 8.) Recognizies error, 9.) Minimizes bias and distortion, 10.) Skepticism, 11.) Generability, 12.) Heuristic 

Variety of questions-      

1.) personal interest, 2.) Social importance, 3.) Theoretical significance 

Good research topics

1.) Testable, 2.) Theorily and Practically significant, 3.) heruistically interesting? (idea generating.) 

Thoery exceptions

1.) Not perfect, 2.) Not universal, 3.) Every theory has limitations, 4.) A theory with no limits is NOT a good one

Communictaion Theory

 production, processing and effects of symbol and signal systems 

Belief in media

war of the worlds ailens

Communication 3+2+4

• 3 paradigms (Rhetorical, Critical and Empirical)

• 4 types of research questions (Know those)

• 2 research methods (Quant and Qual)

Rhetoric com paradigm

Ethos, Pathos, Logos, Define presuasian and teh art of persuasion using communication elements

Critical Approach

Comms study of power, ideology, and social structures in comms using stuff about power and dominance (ie, opressor/oppressed, marxism, feminism)

Empericial Approach

Studies obseravable, measureable ascpets of behavior, basically researchers, like expirments and surveys

Qualative Research in action

Stduies human interaction and experienves and contextually situated/in-the-moment/ communicative perforamnce or daily routine, docused on naturally occuring discours, they like subjectivities and intersubjectivities NOT neutral

Intersubjectivites

The social accomplishmeny of the co-construction and experiencing the interaction of social life and examining how do people themselves understand their communication process

Inductive analysis

Used by Qual; moves from specific to general explanations and theories emerge with data

Issues with Qual research

Bias and lack of crediblity

To enhanc e credibility qual

• Data triangulation (use diff methods also)

• Investigator triangulation

• Interdisicplinary triangulation

• Member validation (going back to participants to individuals who provided Data)

Assesing qual research questions

1.) should reference sight, 2.) Focus on a specific interaction, 3.) Discover how meaning is shared

Quant V. Qual comparison

Quant= controlled experiment, Qual= Natural and any observeable data counts, but has to be filtered by researcher and is limited and time consuming

Threats to credibility in Qual research

Inaccuracy in data, problems of interpretation, theoretical validity, data failing to fit interpretation, Selection bias and reactivity bias