1st test

Question 1

What is research?

Answer 1

To search ; to find

Question 2

What are focuses of communication research

Answer 2

1. Text
2. Creator(s) of the text
3. Audience
4. Effects
5. Contexts

Question 3

Meaning of diachronic vs. synchronic

Answer 3

1. Diachronic - historical studies, focus of CHANGE OVER TIME
2. Synchronic - In comparative studies, focus on CHANGE OVER DISTANCE

Question 4

Qualitative vs. quantitative research methods?

Answer 4

1. Qualitative - Matter’s of texts / degree of excellence, judgement and taste, often accused of “reading” into texts.
2. Quantitative - Numbers and magnitudes / measurement, often accused of being too narrow.

Question 5

How to choose a good research topic?

Answer 5

1. Significance
2. Testable hypothesis
3. Potential ethical problems
4. Do you have the necessary skills?
5. Sufficiently narrow and focused
6. The best method to address the subject
7. Access to needed resources

Question 6

Why do we do library searches?

Answer 6

To get legitimate, researched information to use in our own analysis / research.

Question 7

What is a literature review?

Answer 7

text by someone to consider the critical points of current knowledge including findings

Question 8

Primary vs. secondary sources?

Answer 8

Primary sources = never been created before, own original research

secondary sources = using another academic journal to base your research off of

Question 9

How to read a peer-reviewed article quickly but critically?

Answer 9

the abstract

Question 10

What is the science of semiotics?

Answer 10

the art of interpreting signs

Question 11

Who are the major scientists in semiotics?

Answer 11

Founder of semiology = Ferdinand de Saussere

Philosopher of semiotics = Charles Sanders Peirce

Question 12

Signifier vs. signified

Answer 12

Signifiers = sounds and images (blatently there - you know automatically)

Signified = concepts of those sounds and images ( tree is a bit leafed plant)

Question 13

Sign vs. symbol?

Answer 13

Signs are arbitrary (subject to individual interpretation)

Symbols = are not you know the meanings of these (i.e. scales are usually law)

Question 14

How does Peirce categorize different kinds of signs?

Answer 14

Peirce categorizes different signs by:

A. Icons = Signify by resemblance (Statue of Lib. = freedom / NY)

B. Indexes= Signify by cause & effect (Smoke + firetrucks = fire present)

C. Symbols = Signify by convention (cross = god & religion. We must learn this)

Question 15

Denotation Vs. Connotation?

Answer 15

Denotation = literal meaning, descriptive (big Mac)

Connotation = CULTURAL meaning behind it (Big Mac = Americanism / obesity)

Question 16

Metonymy Vs. Synecdoche

Answer 16

Metonymy = communication by association (Expensive car –> wealth)

Synecdoche = sub category of metonymy (whitehouse, pentagon)

Question 17

What is the meaning of rhetoric and how does Aristotle characterize its modes?

Answer 17

Aristotle 3 models:

Ethos = Personal character of the speaker (credibility)

Pathos = appeal to the audience’s emotions

Logos = appeal to audience’s logic

Question 18

How about Cicero & rhetoric?

Answer 18

Cicero saw rhetoric further break down into:

1. Invention
2. Arrangement
3. Style
4. Memory
5. Delivery

Question 19

Important contribution of Kenneth Burke and Booth for contemporary rhetoric?

Answer 19

Burke and Booth said that all symbolic communication is rhetorical. Thus ads, tv, commercials…etc.

Question 20

Analyze Laswell’s and encoding/decoding models of communication.

Answer 20

WHO (artist)
Says WHAT (message)
To WHOM (audience)
With WHAT EFFECT (meaning, persuasion)

– However, encoding and decoding the message is not taken into consideration with Laswell’s models of communication, which can be interpreted multiple ways.

Question 21

Rhetorical Device (Allegory)

Answer 21

Abstract ideas are represented by characters and events (hero)

Question 22

Rhetorical Device (Comparison)

Answer 22

making meanings

Question 23

Rhetorical Device (Definition)

Answer 23

how to define

Question 24

Rhetorical Device (Encomium)

Answer 24

praising inherent qualities (tastes good, less filling)

Question 25

Rhetorical Device (Exemplification)

Answer 25

using examples to back

Question 26

Rhetorical Device (Irony)

Answer 26

meaning the opposite of the literal meaning

Question 27

Rhetorical Device (Metonymy)

Answer 27

association to generate meaning

Question 28

What is ideology?

Answer 28

systematic and all-inclusive sociopolitical explanation of what goes on in society

Question 29

What is the basis of Marxist ideological critique?

Answer 29

the media are used by an elite class in society (government) to generate false consciousness in the masses.

Question 30

What is the feminist ideological critque?

Answer 30

women's oppression in a patriarchal society.

Question 31

Freud’s structural hypothesis, significance of symbols.

Answer 31

Id = I want chocolate -----------------------------EGO (eat a small bar of chocolate) Superego = You're on a diet

Question 32

Uses of interview?

Answer 32

- To find out about attitudes, opinions, social characteristics, behavior – present. - To find out about goals, expectations - future; to find out about experience – past

Question 33

What is intertextuality?

Answer 33

Deals with the relation between texts; how texts borrow from one another, consciously or unconsciously.

Question 34

What is the difference between speech, language, and speaking .

Answer 34

- Speech = Human faculty - Language = social institution (rules and contentions) – learned by being raised in a given community - Speaking = parole i.e. the individual’s use of those rules

Question 35

Types of interviews?

Answer 35

By medium/organization - In-person (with one informant) - Telephone - Internet (virtual), e.g., chat, instant messenger etc. - Focus groups (a moderator leads a discussion among 4-10 informants) – used as a probing strategy, especially before creating a questionnaire By question type - Informal – to introduce a researcher and the study, to gain confidence of an informant - Structured (with a fixed interview schedule: specific instructions regarding questions, follow-ups etc.) - Semi-structured (with a semi-fixed interview schedule) - Unstructured (no interview schedule, no control over responses

Question 36

Problems of interview (what types of question to avoid)?

Answer 36

- Object characteristics and bias - Interviewer characteristics and bias - Interviewer effect (Hawthorne effect) - Inconsistent language and style of an interviewer - Problems of ethics - All problems with self-report

Question 37

What questions to avoid in interviews?

Answer 37

Loaded (emotional)– e.g. Do you think this campaign advocate killing an unborn baby? Ambiguous – e.g. Are your relations with your co-workers good or bad? Leading – e.g. Do you like this candidate? How well did this candidate perform? Instead – What do you think about this candidate (his/her performance)? Double negative – e.g. Do you disagree that this candidate did not have a good campaign? “Threatening” (embarrassment, unpleasant phrasing)– e.g. Have you ever done drugs? Were you raped? Double-barrel (compound, double item) – e.g. What do you think about this campaign and this candidate?

Question 38

interview vs. questionnaire?

Answer 38

- Interview = broader / ability to expand on ideas | - Questionnaire = typical, yes no or qualitative information gathered

Question 39

What to note when conducting an interview?

Answer 39

Is this person telling the truth…etc

Question 40

Focus group interview?

Answer 40

-Focused group discussion led by a moderator to gather the desired information: A. Gather info. from targeted audience about attitudes/knowledge/behavior toward products/issues/services B. Help develop Adv/Mktg/PR/Media strategies C. Help develop questions for survey

Question 41

What’s coding?

Answer 41

Analyzing your data once you’ve collected it i.e. after the interview.