1. 3
Weighing the Words

2. Weighing the Words What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Slide 2
Weighing the Words
What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Contested Turf and Common Ground Among Theorists

3. Slide 3
Weighing the Words
The work of social scientists and interpreters is so different that it is natural they often have trouble understanding and valuing their counterparts’ scholarship

4. What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Slide 4
What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Twin objectives of scientific knowledge
Explains past and present
Predicts the future
Four additional criteria for theories:
Relative simplicity
Testability
Practical utility
Quantifiable research

5. What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Slide 5
What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Scientific Standard 1: Explanation of the Data
Objective theory draws order out of chaos
Describes process, focuses attention on what’s crucial, helps us ignore that which makes little difference
The reason something happens becomes as important as the fact that it does

6. What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Slide 6
What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Scientific Standard 2: Prediction of Future Events
Objective theory predicts what will happen
Only possible when dealing with things we can see, hear, touch, smell, and taste over and over again
In social sciences, a certain humility on the part of the theorist is advisable

7. What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Slide 7
What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Scientific Standard 3: Relative Simplicity
Objective theory should be as simple as possible
Rule of parsimony (Occam’s Razor) – Given two plausible explanations for the same event, we should accept the simpler version

8. What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Slide 8
What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Scientific Standard 4: Hypotheses That Can Be Tested
Objective theory is testable
Falsifiability – requirement that scientific theory must be stated in a way that it can be tested and disproved if it is wrong
Some theories are so loosely stated that it’s impossible to imagine empirical results that could disprove their hypotheses

9. What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Slide 9
What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Scientific Standard 5: Practical Utility
Good objective theory is useful
Lewin: There is nothing as practical as a good theory

10. What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Slide 10
What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Scientific Standard 6: Quantitative Research
Most scientific research depends on a comparison of differences

11. What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Slide 11
What Makes an Objective Theory Good?
Scientific Standard 6: (continued)
Experiment – research method that manipulates a variable in a tightly controlled situation in order to find out if it has the predicted effect
Survey – research method that uses questionnaires and structured interviews to collect self-reported data that reflects what respondents think, feel, or intend to do

12. What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Slide 12
What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
No universally approved model for interpretive theories
Create understanding
Identify values
Inspire aesthetic appreciation
Stimulate agreement
Reform society
Conduct qualitative research

13. What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Slide 13
What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Interpretive Standard 1: New Understanding of People:
Interpretive theory offers fresh insight into human condition
Typically examines a one-of-a-kind speech community that exhibits specific language style
Self-referential imperative – include yourself as a constituent of your own construction

14. What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Slide 14
What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Interpretive Standard 2: Clarification of Values
Interpretive theory brings people’s values into the open
Theorists should reveal ethical commitments
Ethical imperative – grant others that occur in a construction the same autonomy that one practices in constructing it

15. What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Slide 15
What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Interpretive Standard 3: Aesthetic Appeal
Interpretive theory can capture readers’ imaginations
Critic’s job to spark appreciation

16. What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Slide 16
What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Interpretive Standard 4: Community of Agreement
Interpretive theory must be supported by other scholars
Must become the subject of widespread analysis

17. What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Slide 17
What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Interpretive Standard 5: Reform of Society
Interpretive theory often generates change
Critical interpreters are reformers who can have an impact on society
Critical theorists – scholars who use theory to reveal unjust communication practices that create or perpetuate an imbalance of power

18. What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Slide 18
What Makes an Interpretive Theory Good?
Interpretive Standard 6: Qualitative Research
Interpretive scholars use words to support their theories
Textual analysis – research method that describes and interprets characteristics of any text
Ethnography – method of participant observation designed to help a researcher experience a culture’s complex web of meaning

19. Contested Turf and Common Ground Among Theorists
Slide 19
Contested Turf and Common Ground Among Theorists
Points of contact
Explanation creates understanding
Prediction and value clarification look to the future
Simplicity has aesthetic appeal
Achieves a community of agreement
Theory that reforms unjust practices is practical
Commitment to learn more

20. Figure 3-1: Summary of Criteria for Evaluating Communication Theory
Slide 20
Figure 3-1: Summary of Criteria for Evaluating Communication Theory