The document discusses different approaches to communication research including social science, interpretive, critical, and postmodern approaches. It provides an overview of the goals, views of reality and human behavior, primary methods, contributions, and limitations of each approach. Additionally, it discusses Likert scales, characteristics of academic research articles, and provides questions to guide evaluating communication research studies.

2.  Attempts to explain…
• WHY we want to
reduce uncertainty.
• HOW we handle
uncertainty.
• GOALS for reducing
uncertainty.
• RELATIONSHIP
between uncertainty
and relational
development.

3.  What is the
underlying theories
of education that
RateMyProfessor
is based on?
 Good teachers
are…
• Helpful
• Clear
• Easy
• Hot

4. PP. 42-43 Social Interpretive Critical Postmodern
Science
Goal of To describe, predict, To describe, explain, To describe, explain, To understand the
and explain behavior and understand and understand contemporary human
research behavior in context. society in order to condition.
affect change.
View of Reality External & Subjective Subjective and Subjective
describable material
View of Human Complex but Creative and Resistive Fluid
predictable voluntary
Behavior
Primary Quantitative analysis Qualitative analysis Textual analysis, Textual analysis,
of surveys, of rhetorical texts and media analysis participant
Methods observation, and ethnographic data, observation.
experiments. interviews.
Contributions Identifies Emphasizes in-depth Emphasizes power Challenges
communication study of relations in assumptions about
patterns and communication. communication gender, race,
association among interactions; ethnicity, and other
variables recognizes societal social categories.
impacts on
communication.
Limitations Does not focus on Limited number of Does not focus on Does not focus on
the influence of participants: does not face-to-face face-to-face
power or societal focus on power or communication. communication; may
forces. societal forces. be viewed as
pessimistic and
impractical.

5. Controlled
environment
Testinga
hypothesis

6.  Developed by Rensis
Likert
 Survey rating scale
 Makesopinions easily
measureable

7.  Written by experts
 Peer-reviewed
 Reports on research
• Literature review
• Methodology
• Results
• Discussion
• citations and a bibliography
 Geared for Academic audience.

9. Communication & Mass Media
Complete

12.  1. What was the research question(s) or
hypothesis/hypotheses?
 2. Why did the researchers think this was an important area of
study?
 3. Who or what was studied?
 4. How many were studied?
 5. How did they conduct their research (what method did they
use)?
 6. Which approach to communications research did this study
follow (pp. 42-43)?
 7. What was the theoretical framework of the study?
 8. What did the researchers learn (what was the answer to
their question)?
 9. What further research do the researchers feel needs to be
done?
 10. What is your evaluation of this research?

14. Paragraph format
Thesis
In-text Citations
Reference Citation