Test #1 Flashcards
Theory
An interrelated set of statements about reality that are logically tied together and empirically testable
Concepts
Categories of things identified with a term (ex: boring, interesting, etc.)
Connection
Relating of concepts to one another (ex: shyness causes a feeling of boredom in listeners)
Propositions
Statements that associate or connect a concept to one or more other concepts
Correlation
When two concepts are associated
Casual Loop (mutual causation)
circular connection
Action Connection
Action concept takes lead to a goal or outcome (people can choose to do various things to reach certain goals)
Propositions are…
the building blocks of theory
A theory is….
an organized set of propositions
How theory is created
Theory is a way of packaging reality, a way of understanding it,”You cannot understand reality without theory”
Steps of creating a theory
Concepts > Connections / Relationships between them > how to organize them > Title Theory
Fit
Theories MUST have Fit and Utility. FIT is the degree to which categories and relations in a theory explain our experience of events
Utility
Theories must have Fit and Utility. Utilities —- Do they help us do things?
Descriptive Value
How things work. More scientific approach to explaining the world
Critical Value
What is wrong with how things work? Political approach to show how people are oppressed or disadvantages in the world
Objective Measurement
“Look” of a theory. Scales/measure.
Subjective Measurement
Wits/give a reading. Interpretation
Validity
Involves a set of procedures designed to make sure that what you see is really what you see
Reliability
Set of procedures designed to make sure your method observation is consistent
Broad Scope
In general idea
Narrow Scope
An in scope idea
Incremental Growth
Adding new theories
Developmental Growth
Process of elaborating/improving existing theories
Canonical Development
certain standard theories serve as the “Canon” of the community
Revolution
Canon called into question. Turns theories on their head.
How to evaluate theories
1) How far does the theory allow me to generalize? it is general reason beyong individual case. You can apply it to a range of experiences. 2) In what realms of life is the theory important? How to use/best for this purpose? 3) Does the theory stimulate me to think of inventing questions? Stimulate thinking? 4) Does it fit my experience? Does it make intuitive sense. 5) Does it say a lot in a simple and logical way? Reduce mechanism to a manageable set of ideas. 6) Improvement and change. Is there room for expansion or change?
Functions of theory
Explain the world, predict the future, and control outcomes
Everyday ways of knowing
We know the world a way because someone told us it was true
Authority
People (like parents) tell you something is right or wrong
Personal Experience
“I’ve seen it have an effect”
Intuition
Get a feeling/thought
Custom/Tradition
“It’s the way we’ve always done it”
Magic & Superstition
“Shit you can’t explain… immediately”
Advantages of Everyday Way of Knowing
Provides us with a pool of knowledge to question
Problems of Everyday Ways of Knowing
If we accept them at face value, it cuts off the question value and can be dangerous
YOU CANNOT PROVE SOMETHING
you can only provide more evidence/examples for it!
Social Scientific Process/Method
Set of steps to understand the world
Characteristics of Social Scientific Method
Empirical, testable, falsifiable, replicable, public, Self-Correcting, Measurable, objective, skeptical, heurism.
Empirical
Evidence must be based off of observation
Testable
You HAVE to be able to test your theory
Falsifiable
Has to be able to be disproved
Replicable
Should be able to have results that can be replicated
Public
Such as accessible in a journal article, etc.
Self-Correcting
Should be able to fix all it’s own problems
Measureable
Should be able to measure it and see if it has an effect
Skeptical
Bring Skeptical/providing questions
Objective
Unbiased as possible
Heurism
The degree to which the method and theory generates more data and research
Standards for evaluating theory
Scope, testability, parsimony, utility, heurism
Scope
How much does the theory explain of the world?
Testability
must be testable
Parsimony
Appropriate simplicity of the explanation
Utility
How useful is that knowledge?
Heurism
The notion of new research and ideas that spawn from this theory
Politeness Theory
When we as communicators take other feelings into account when we interact with them
Positive Face
Everyones needs and wants to have their public self image appreciated
Negative Face
Need, Desire, and want to be free from imposition and to have our personal territory and perogatives respected. TO DO WHAT WE WANT WHEN WE WANT
Face Threatening Acts
When people have their face threatened
Bald On Record
outspokenness on addressing problem without redressive action
Positive Politeness
“I don’t like that tie as much as your other ones”
RUDE
when we attack positive/negative face in out society
Off Record
Ambiguous assignment to nature. Not held accountable. “These potatoes are bland…” / “Want the salt?”
Don’t do the FTA
Don’t do the face threatening act and let it slide.
What Strategy to use?
W=P+D+R
W
What strategy to use
D
Social Distance Distance between the hearer and the speaker. The difference in their social roles “best friends vs. complete strangers”
P
Power Distance. who has more power? “Faculty vs. administration”
R
Riskyness to face. Too risky or not?
Attack
Offense
Variables
Anything with two or more values
Independent variables
A variable that is though to have an affect on another variable “swearing”
Dependent Variable
Variables that are thought to be affect by the independent variable
(Swearing effects persuasion
Variables
Things in the world to study
Nominal Data/Information
Categories/Types
Ordinal Data
You take variables and find categories and find perferences of categories
Interval Data
Where you have standard/measurements. Intervals. On a continuum to indicate perception of categories
Ratio Scale/Datas
There’s an absolute zero
Non-Directional Research Question
____ will have an effect (not specific)
Directional Research Question
____ will have a __particular type___ of effect (specific)
Pretest/Post Test Design
Total amount of people split into two groups - experimental and control group.
R SPLIT into:
1) Experimental group 01 X1(manipulation) 02
2) Control Group 03 X0 (no manipulation) 04
EX: Show video to both groups. have one group sit in an empty room with no manipulation (control) and another have a discussion (experimental) and take results from both
Formula
A visual representation of a relationship that exists
Post Test Only
R is split into:
1) X1 (go straight to manipulation) 01 (test results)
2) X0 (do activity without manipulation) 02 (test results)
ADVANTAGE - half the time/money
DISADVANTAGE - if beginning thoughts/results not similar, rest of story is irrelevant
Solomon 4 group
Combination of Pretest/Post test Design and Post Test only Design.
R is split into:
1) 01 X1 02
2) 03 X0 04
3) X1 05
4) X0 06
use this to go after people
Factorial design/Factor
2 or more independent variables
Factorial Designs
3x3x3
Likert Scale
Has the responds respond to statements and rate whether they strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, or disagree strongly)
Semantic Differential Scale
Rate something as bad or good
Politeness
when we take others feelings into account
What’s more powerful? A question or a hypothesis?
Research questions > non-directional hypothesis > Directional hypothesis
