INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH – WEEK 1
Treadwell Chapter 1 – “Getting Started: Possibilities and Decision”
Basic assumptions behind communication research:
1. There are realities we can observe and underlying realities we cannot observe,
but we assume they exist (e.g. power, attitude).
2. Theories about human behavior can be generalized. Because every person is a
unique individual, we are not entitled to make generalizations about them.
Nonetheless, researchers typically will want to assume that the results of their
research will apply to people who are similar to the study participants.
3. The more distant the researcher becomes, the more neutral they can be in
reporting a group’s behavior, but they will be unable to get the insights they
would get if they were closer to the group. On the other hand, moving closer to
the group will provide the researcher with insight, but then they become open to
influencing the group dynamics or becoming biased in their reporting as a
result.
4. Each researcher has its own motives for doing research (e.g. curiosity about
human behavior, fame, money, to help society, etc.).
5. Some aspects of a question are more important to look at than others and there
is one best standpoint from which to observe human communication.
To understand this Early telecommunications-based model of
communication:
o Source, the provider of the content.
o Message, the content of communication.
o Channel, the vehicle of communication content.
o Receiver(s), the recipient of information.
o Noise, distractions that disrupts the interaction.
o Context.
Researchers will typically find one of these components of the communication
process more interesting than others and will give that component priority in
their investigations.
How researchers might approach a specific piece of communication content – public
service advertisements (PSAs). PSAs are designed to promote positive behaviors and
they focus on topics of public interests. They usually address alarming statistics (e.g.
“Every 51 minutes, someone is killed in an alcohol-related accident.”) to relate the
,“remote” statistics to the individual members of a target audience. To conclude the ad,
PSAs usually include a tagline (e.g. “Drinking and driving can kill a friendship.”).
Does the ad work? If statistics show that accidents associated with alcohol have
decreased, we could assume that the anti-texting advertisement was effective.
However, this is not always true, because there could be other explanations for such a
decrease. One way to assess the effectiveness of these advertisements is to take a
scientific approach Identify and rule out other possible explanations, so we can
assume that our advertisement is the ONLY cause for such a decrease.
What can readers and viewers tell us? Establishing that the advertisement did
influence behavior or attitudes provides no insight on why it did so. We could answer
this question through a survey (quantitative results) or through a focus-group
(qualitative results).
What can the content tell us? There are many angles from which to study media
content, including:
o Rhetoric (Qualitative): Studies the appeals or persuasive tactics used to
persuade an audience to adopt a behavior. Rhetoricians using theory
developed by Aristotle might search for appeals based on logos (logic, e.g.
“texting + drinking = crash”), ethos (character, e.g. typical teenager with a
typical behavior), or pathos (emotion, e.g. the tragic consequences of a crash).
We could also ask the questions proposed by Kenneth Burke: “What is the act,
the scene, the people, and the purpose of the act?”.
o Content analysis (Quantitative): Looking at ads for distracted driving, a content
analyst might set up categories of content based on their interest in
representations of gender in advertising. They could also compare their results
to a distribution of these categories in accident records. This way, the analyst
would be comparing advertising’s world with what we know of the real world.
o Critical analysis: The focus is on the (implicit) relationship between message
source and recipient. “Whose interests are served by the advertising, and how
exactly do language and representations maintain the interests of such
entities?”.
What can the creators of the ad tell us? Our understanding of the advertisement would
be enhanced if we could talk with the client and with the producers, directors, and
writers in the agencies that produced the ads.
,Communication researchers encounter inevitable choices they must make:
o The field of study – Wide or narrow? Communication researchers typically focus
on one interest area (e.g. Advertising, Media Ethics, Public relations, etc.).
o The researcher – Dispassionate or involved? To what extent should researchers
get involved with their human “subjects”?
o The approach – Objective or subjective? Social scientists often bring the
assumption of an external “real” world that can be observed and agreed on to
the study of human interaction. By contrast, phenomenologists and
ethnographers try to understand people’s subjective worlds.
o The perspective – Your questions or their answers? Get answers to specific
questions you have (Quantitative) or to elicit people’s views in their own
language (Qualitative).
o The sample – Large or small? Public opinion researchers believe that for an
accurate view of adult public opinion in the United States, you need about 1,200
randomly selected people (plus or minus 3% error). However, in some cases,
one solid series of interviews with a few people can give a better grasp on a
situation than a thousand-people survey.
o The data – Quantitative or qualitative? Do you want to calculate the votes or
listen to the participants? In practice, researchers use multiple methods
providing multiple perspectives to ensure a better understanding (=
Triangulation).
o The report – Objective or subjective? Just as there are different ways of doing
research, there are different ways of writing research. You can choose to use
primarily qualitative languages and report what the participants told in their own
words; or use statistics to report and interpret data collected.
,Micro Lectures 1
Non-scientific methods:
o Intuition/Belief: Simply believing something does not make it true.
o Consensus: The most prominent beliefs are not always correct.
o Authority: Authorities’ opinions may be wrong or biased.
o Casual observation: You support your statement with an observation of the
world, but it’s still not good enough. For example, you may selectively observe.
o Informal logic: Fallacies and logically inconsistencies are a regular mistake.
To gain true and correct knowledge, we need systematic observation, free from any
bias, combined with a consistently applied formal logic = Scientific method.
Scientific research is a systematic process of gathering theoretical knowledge through
observation. It is empirical (based on social reality), systematic (in search for patterns
and associations) and cumulative (builds on previous research).
The scientific method is. It has to follow six principles:
1. Empirically testable: It should be possible to collect empirical evidence
(observations) that supports or contradicts the hypothesis.
2. Replicable: The study should be replicable, as to avoid coincidences.
3. Objective: Other researchers should be able to get the same results based on
the description of the assumptions and the procedure.
4. Transparent: Researchers need to publicly share all relevant information for
accurate replication of the study.
5. Falsifiable: A hypothesis is falsifiable if we can imagine finding observation that
contradicts it (e.g. Religious beliefs are not scientific truths because they do not
accept contradictions).
6. Logically consistent: There should be no internal contradictions with the
hypothesis and the conclusions. It is not permitted to change your hypothesis
after getting the facts.
Scientific claims:
,o Observation: Is the most basic claim. It can be an accurate or inaccurate
representation of the world. It has no explanatory power. They become useful
when they are used to contradict or confirm a hypothesis.
o Hypothesis: Is a statement that describes a pattern or general relation between
properties. It can be unsupported or strongly supported after being tested.
o Law: Is a special type of hypothesis that provide precise descriptions of
relations or patterns. They are usually expressed in mathematical expressions.
They are not common in the social sciences.
o Theory: Is a broad overarching explanation of many related phenomenon. It is
built up out of hypothesis that are supported by empirical evidence. In social
sciences, a theory is considered highly plausible when it has withstood attempts
to refute it based on historical and qualitative analysis.
, Treadwell Chapter 2 – “First Decisions: From Inspiration to Implementation”
As researchers, we are obliged to use our own best judgment to decide which basic
beliefs will inform our research. Basic assumptions about human behavior coalesce
into broad worldviews or basic sets of beliefs that underpin our perspectives on
communication research.
o Nomothetic approach: Human behavior is predictable, objectively measurable,
and generalizable. Researchers seek generalizations that will hold true across
space and time. Privileges the researcher’s perspective. Advertising and
audience researchers subscribe to this approach.
o Idiographic approach: Human behavior is individualistic, unpredictable, and
subjective. Researchers seek to describe the subjectivity and individuality of
human communication. Privileges the participants’ perspective. Researchers
that subscribe to this approach are more interest in the relationship between
individuals and media content.
Creswell and Creswell (2018) identify four worldviews:
o Postpositive: This worldview challenges the notion of absolute truth but
emphasizes the idea that the world is governed by laws or theories that can be
tested. The emphasis is on objective observation and measurement.
o Constructivist: This worldview states that individuals construct their own views
of the world they live in. The emphasis is on the participant’s subjective views
Qualitative methods.
o Transformative: This worldview is change oriented and argues for mixing
research with politics to confront social oppression and improve lives.
o Pragmatism: This worldview focuses on solutions to problems. It embraces
mixed-method research, and it emphasizes the problem.
Craig’s (1999) communication metatheory (the different perspectives of
communication):
o Rhetorical: Practical use of discourse or discussion.
