Human Inquiry and Scientific Inquiry About Communication

How do you know? Most of what you know is based on agreement. We can also know things from direct experience or observation.

Ordinary Human Inquiry About Communication People want to both understand and predict their communication with others Our understanding is often based on sources of second-hand knowledge. Tradition Authority

Errors in Ordinary Inquiry Inaccurate Observations Overgeneralization Selective Observation Illogical Reasoning

Scientific inquiry guards against the errors of ordinary inquiry through careful and deliberate efforts.

Views of Reality The Premodern View The Modern View The Postmodern View

The Characteristics of Scientific Inquiry about Communication Theory, data collection, and data analysis are at the heart of the scientific enterprise. Scientific inquiry is an empirical enterprise. Scientific inquiry examines social regularities. Scientific inquiry examines aggregates, not individuals.

“Communication Studies is a field of research on the production and uses of symbols (both linguistic and non-verbal, whether face to face or mediated) in concrete social and cultural contexts to enable the dynamics of systems, society, and culture” (Baxter & Babbie, 2004, p. 11)

Communication as the primary phenomenon of study Communication researchers study the processes of message production, transmission, and meaning-making. Communication researchers study the content and form of communicative messages. Communication researchers study the function and effects of messages.

Disseminating Communication Research Research for public consumption. Research for private consumption (Proprietary research).