1st Class, Tuesday

Review: the scale from objective to interpretive

Interpretive scholars: put all the experiences (from them/the participants) to create meaning and multiple realities

Objective scholars: put the theory out of the maths/models

Different standards

1. Objective theories: scientific standards

1. prediction of future events: Will people repeat the same behaviors?

   Sometimes human behaviors cannot be predictable. But most of the times, it will predict very well.

   How to define the prediction: the confidence interval in quantitative research - 95%

2. Explanation of the data

   To be able to predict, you need to be able to explain the data.

3. Relative simplicity

   occam’s razor: two ways, you choose the simpler one.

   It’s simple, but it can involve complex understandings.

4. Hypotheses that can be tested

   Scientific theories should be able to proved wrong. （only a possibility of being true)

5. practical utility

   The theories will be used in different contexts.

6. quantitative research: care for statistics and data - A causes B

   e.g., survey (the collection of self-reported data); experiment

   The standards cannot be met all the time: theories have trade-offs

   2. Interpretive theories

   1. clarification of values

   2. New understanding of people: a personal view

   3. aesthetic appeal: it encourages to be creative, and the use of metaphors/imagery, etc.

   4. community of agreement: The community considered it good

   5. reform of society: the interpretive scholars do their research to make it occur to the society. To make people rethink, respond, and react.

   6. Qualitative research: assessment of words

      e.g., textual analysis; ethnography

   What makes good theorie?

   1. they offer insights and new ideas
   2. theories will change constantly - they are the products of elaboration, collaboration, and extension.
   3. good theories stay power. They remain interesting, and useful, and will not be abandoned easily.

   2nd Class, Thursday

   Seven Traditions in Communication Studies - used as lens

   1. socio-psychological tradition

   2. cybernetic tradition: Communication is a system of information processing

   3. Rhetorical studies: Communication as artful public address

      use public speech to convince the listeners

      • speech/that we can talk, distinguish humans from animals

   4. Symbolic tradition: communication as the process of sharing meaning through signs

      Anything can stand for something else. - depends on the interaction/culture

   5. Socio-cultural tradition: Communication as the creation and enactment of social reality

      We create and recreate the culture by talking.

      • SATIR WHORS: “Language shapes what people think and what they do.”

   6. Critical Traditions: communication as a reflective challenge to unjust discourse

      Critical traditions believe that it’s impossible to be objective.

   7. Phenomenological tradition: Communication as experiences of self and others through dialogue

      Understanding others’ stories, and how to grow/sustain relationships.

      The map of seven traditions: Some theories can be a mix of two/three traditions, but it’s hard to mix traditions that are too different from each other. Like mixing the critical traditions and socio-psychological traditions.