COMM 305 1nd Edition Exam 1 Study Guide Lectures 1 10 Lecture 1 January 14 Theory is an imperfect explanation this is a good thing Theory is a story of how or why something works the way it does It s an abstraction Metatheory is theory about theory It is important to remember that the map is not the territory the map is just a representation not the actual territory Theories are made to focus our attention to certain things usually at the expense of other things The principle of abstraction says theories are not actually what we re trying to describe they are representations Hierarchy is adhered to with higher levels of abstraction placed near the top with more specific concepts underneath The point of theory is to understand the real observed world you ve been living in this whole time Lay Theory says that theory making is something that is fundamentally human The only distinction is that Formal Theory is more systematic and written down Lecture 2 January 16 There are 2 ways of generating theory induction going out into the world and to make a theory based of what you observe beginning with the specific to the general and deduction before going out into the world we can make some guesses You can make your theory and then test it Begin with the general to the specific The point is to determine what the starting place is to determine whether you are generating a theory based on induction or deduction Theories typically include a description of the phenomena relationships among the phenomena a story about the process captured in the relationship among phenomena and links to the empirical world You can think of the maps example because maps have this too A map has a picture shows distance maps tell stories and describe what you d see in a specific place Theories should solve empirical problems what s actually happening conceptual problems refining the theory itself with new definitions jargon language to use in the theory in a way that helps us understand more it s like a different labeling and practical problems helping people solve the problem they help us do things to better the problem When thinking about theory we should as a few questions How are the pieces telling the story of phenomena of the theory and what are the problems with the phenomena Do answer these questions we look at scope what is the theory about appropriateness are the assumptions made by the theory a fit for what we re trying to do heuristic value will or has the theory generate new theory research or ideas parsimony is it just complicated enough validity is it true and true about the right things and openness accessibility is the theory open to the community interested in it Can we access the theory There are tradeoffs and connections between the above connections The more broad you make the theory the less true it will be There are 3 key theoretical assumptions and subsets of each assumption Ontology the nature of being the nature of reality This asks Can our senses can be believed and Is the world as we perceive it to be Realist ontology believe the world around us is as we perceive it if you touch your desk you re really touching your desk Their goal is to understand the methods of communication We know they re out there we just have to be smart enough to understand them Nominalist believe the world is as we decide it is We all have our own unique experience of the world Their goal is to come up with better names Social constructionist believe that people create reality together as a collective Where nominalists believe what s mine is mine and I can connect with no one at any point social constructionists believe that people s ideas of the world can come together at some common ground Epistemology related to the questions of the nature of knowing what counts as knowledge How is knowledge produced How should knowledge be judged Is knowledge accumulated or not Objectivist stance the real world can be systematically known we can and should try to observe without bias Subjectivist stance the real world can t be separated from our perceptions of it The goal should be to admit that and try to learn as much as we can about each of our subjective self of knowing Axiology value or worth treats questions of how our own values sense of what s worthy or not should or shouldn t influence our thinking about the world Comes down to 2 things Awareness to what degree can we be aware of our values Control to what degree can or should we control those values The faucet problem if you re laying in bed and can hear the faucet dripping objectivist would simply turn it off They think they can and should be in control Subjectivist think that it s broken They are painfully aware but they can t control it The slab leak stance is when we not only can we not control but we can t be aware Radical Axiology fire hose Instead of worrying about keeping values out of your research embrace them What you re looking for is determined specifically by what you think is important Lecture 3 January 21 The key communication assumptions include communication as a process communication unfolds over time communication as transactional say communication is transaction is to remember that communication involves feedback communication as symbolic communication involves the use of signs communication as social to say that communication is social is to limit the phenomena to at least 2 people or more and communication as intentional One can not not communicate Watzowick Social Penetration Theory SPT involves relationship development which is the process of sharing more and more information There are 4 steps also called the onion model of communication Orientation scripted conversation Exploratory Affective relating to emotion Exchange going beyond the scripted conversations The information exchanged will be more intimate and cover in more depth Affective Exchange Stable Exchange marked by openness and richness in information According to SPT it takes time to move from one stage to another with no skipping of other steps The principle measure of SPT is disclosure Early on our disclosure is guided by the norm of reciprocity meaning if I tell you something you tell me something of equal value In making a cost benefits analysis on a relationship you think about the other options you have Think am I getting what I want from this relationship based on the comparison level based on past experiences and comparison level of alternatives based on other