Appendix

Question 1

subject-object problem

Answer 1

scientists are human and they study humans so conflicts of interest emerges; solve by creating distance between scientists and ‘objects’

Question 2

social scientific approach

Answer 2

views world as objective, causal and predictable; researchers seek to describe communication activity and discover connections between phenomena or causal patterns

Question 3

social science method questionnaires/surveys advantages

Answer 3

relatively easy if you want a lot of participants; strong agreement between scientists

Question 4

social science questionnaires/surveys disadvantages

Answer 4

human behaviour unpredictable; people create own realities rather than react to shared reality

Question 5

social science problems in methodology

Answer 5

impossible consider all variables affecting communication;too much restriction on subjects; social desirability effect; convenient samples used; methods culturally insensitive

Question 6

interpretivist approach

Answer 6

Researchers primarily seek to understand and describe the communication experience; solving the subject-object problem is impossible; personally interpreting what is being studied; data=symbolic activity

Question 7

grounded theory method

Answer 7

ethnographic research(natural setting), interviews, textual analysis

Question 8

advantages grounded theory

Answer 8

provides deep understanding; communication more likely to be studied in natural context; recognizes influence of researcher on results obtained

Question 9

disadvantages grounded theory

Answer 9

focuses on specific people but not transferable to other people, so doesnt allow for wide range understanding of communication; may impose own values and understanding on research; time-consuming

Question 10

critical approach

Answer 10

seeks to identify hidden but formidable symbolic structures and practices that create disadvantages, inequity, or oppression of some groups in favor of others

Question 11

methods critical approach

Answer 11

ethnographic, interviews, analysis of text, but can also use numbers

Question 12

advantage methods critical approach

Answer 12

redirects thinking of communication; directs scholars to the awareness of inequities in society at large

Question 13

disadvantages critical method

Answer 13

giving itself power and the right to identify inequity and how it might be challenged; wont be clear if an assessment of power is accurate, may only exist from perception of outsider