2 20 13 Objectives building theory Three stage model of communication inquiry The building blocks of theory How to build theories Testing theory How to evaluate theory The building blocks of theory Concepts Explanations o Causal necessity o Practical necessity o Logical necessity How to build a theory 1 Observe phenomenon 2 Develop explanation theory for phenomenon o Define concepts o Create logical explanation 3 Test your explanation theory of the phenomenon 4 Refine modify and or change your theory Testing theory Quantitative approaches o Empirical social scientists o Laws theories o Data are numbers o Statistics o Surveys o Experiments SONA studies available for extra credit Qualitative approaches o Humanists o Rhetoricians o Sometimes rules theorist o Data are words o Thinking about things and drawing conclusions by writing about these conclusions o Methods Textual analysis Specific text identified Ex speeches transcripts from TV shows other discourse Rhetorical theory used as analytical tool Conversational analysis In depth interviews Tests of theories are published in academic journals Communication monographs Communication theory Quarterly journal of speech How to evaluate theory explain or understand Scope has to do with the range of communication behaviors a theory is trying to o Adequate scope a good theory is broad enough to explain a lot of concrete communication events but its not so broad as its trying to do too much o Ex we wouldn t want to develop a theory to explain all of communication because it is too broad we have many theories to explain different parts of communication Precision has to do with how well you lay out your explanation Logical Consistency if your theory is not precise you cant be logically consistent is more then just being precise do you make a good argument will other people read your argument and agree with you has to do with the quality of your argument Testable we need to develop theories in a way were others can test our theories o Ex you could come up with a survey and test your theory o You need to test your theory in a way were it is possible that you are wrong Heuristic Value has to do with how much research a theory generates good theories generate a lot of research Validity theories represent reality but they are not reality in it of themselves how well does the theory represent reality how close to reality does it get o Utility how useful is the theory to you o Correspondence of Fit all theories want to solve problems typically the goals that they have to create social change If a theory adequately does that then it passes correspondence of fit Is the theory doing what it says it is doing Parsimony good theories are parsimonies frugal with its words a good theory explains a lot in a few words Questions to ask about theories of communication presented in class How does the theory define communication What is are the goals of the theory What are the theory s concepts and explanations How has the theory been tested What are the theorist s metatheoretical assumptions Is it a good theory of communication 50 multiple choice questions bring pencil Must study textbook Synthesize situation and apply it to the real world All rhetoricians are humanists but not all humanists are rhetoricianists
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