COMM 402 Final Exam Study Guide Dr Westcott Baker Path Models A model refers to an object or process system or structure o It is a simplified or scaled down representation o Illustrating something in a simpler way A model represents a portion of reality either an object or process in such a way as to highlight what are considered to be key elements or parts of the object or process and the connections among them How is this different from a theory o The purpose of a theory is to explain predict o The purpose of a model is to describe and imagine To illustrate or show something o A model can be an illustration of a theory o But a model can also model something else like a train for example Uses of models o Make predictions by suggesting relationships o Illustrate or teach heuristic tool o Help make measurements by suggesting how to design tests Types of Models o Physical vs conceptual Physical example the actual spine model at the doctor Conceptual example a drawing of the inside of a head and a voice coming out of the mouth for example ideas and terms and processes are labeled o Structural vs Functional Structural can be physical but can also be not physical For example hierarchy of CEO and other rankings is a structural model but its not physical Structural models based on physical structure or hierarchy Functional model shows how something is working Model of a brain showing the function with the bouncing of molecules in brain not just listing o Within Conceptual functional models Action Communication is something that one person does to another conduit injection hypodermic needle transmission linear Interaction adds the possibility of feedback loops communication is an exchange of messages This changes this Transaction considers sending encoding and receiving decoding to be simultaneous processes o Ritual publicity and reception Criticism of Models Adding variables o By simplifying processes objects actions are devalued o Status quo bias concentration on what is observable and salient o Designed to work on average for what is normal routine o Theorists love their models o Distract from finding causal agents and making empirical predictions o As more variables enter your theory the number of possible relationships between variables vastly increases o Given 4 variables you should be able to write a hypothesis based on this Example of what to say Given 4 bubbles say A is positively related to B C moderates relationship between B and D etc o When you only have 2 variables you only have 2 possible relationships Either A leads to B or B leads to A When you have 3 variables you have 6 possible relationships o As you continue adding variables you continue getting more possible combinations o As the of variables goes up the of potential bivariate relationships INCREASES dramatically This is a reason to favor parsimony o Do they matter enough to keep them in there or are the multiple variables causing confusion Is it too much o You have all of these crazy variables how do you figure out which ones are relevant and which ones are not Establish TIME ORDER o Time order changes in the IV must come before the changes in the DV o Models can help eliminate possible statements o When establishing time order consider feedback processes causality does not necessarily flow in only one direction o Relationships can flow in both causal directions Evaluating Theory Testability and falsifiability o Must be able to be tested against as well as proven false o Must have something to compare it to Parsimony o How many things do you have in the theory Are there a lot of variables o The simplest possible explanation o Is it practical o Straight to the point Explanatory Power o How much of the time is it true o How much of the time does it explain what happens o How much communication both in a case by case basis and in a context basis does it explain Predictive power o Not only do we want to explain but also we want to predict things o You can go back and explain the results but if the predictions don t work out then it doesn t follow this predictive power Needs to follow this Scope o How general or specific o Broad or narrow o Broad trying to cover SO MUCH cannot predict easily o Narrow specific covers certain things EPPM for example fear based comm very narrow How people process fear based health campaign scope good at predicting scope so broad doesn t really explain or predict too much o Narrow o Broad Social exchange Cumulative nature of Science o How much history does the theory have behind it How much evidence Degree of formal development o How much does it allow it to be built upon o Test of time o How long has it been around o If its been around for a long time and people are still using it then it obviously is a good theory o Some theories people seem to think that this must be true the way we see things on TV must be true it is how we see that the world is People get these ideas in their heads o Laid out to create hypotheses o Was it laid out formally with a strict setup o Set up to create research o Or is it just someone s blog post that says Oh I have this theory that says how this works but there aren t any formal terms Is it just this idea thrown out there or was it fully developed o How much is it set up to create research from it o Does it give variables etc Heuristic Value o How much research does it have o Can it be further researched o Some theories suggest the ways in which further research may be Think HIGHeristic can you go any higher with this Can you research HIGHer conducted Aesthetics o How nice is it o How fluffy and pretty is it o If it just seems like a neat concept that it must be true o People don t like reading boring or unlikable things o So it is important how enjoyable or well communicative the theory is o If its ugly or difficult to read people aren t going to be inclined to read or else nobody wants to read it it Takes too much effort read and given a chance o Make a theory inviting easy to understand and read Then it will be The Strong Inference Approach Platt Explaining rapid progress in other sciences compared to social sciences saying that basically the reason that they seem to actually move instead of sticking with the same things regardless if they have evidence or not is because they seem to throw things out if they don t have anything on it The ones that do work they use it to build a theory They do not keep useless ideas they move on if they don t work When