COMM 250 Agenda Week 4

1
COMM 250 Agenda - Week 4

• Housekeeping
• Setting Grade Weights
• Then
• Remaining Team Pictures Back of Room
• If your team has changed, get another picture
• Remaining Team Names (?)
• Lecture
• Paradigms Paradigm Shifts
• Epistemology, Ontology, Axiology
• Variables
• MTW-I Acknowledgment
• Research Questions Hypotheses
• Operationalizing Variables

2
The Philosophy of Science

• Epistemology the Study of Knowledge
• FBK relation of researcher to the topic
• Positivists independent (objective knowledge)
• Naturalists interdependent (subjective)
• What is the Nature of Knowledge?
• Is some/all knowledge absolute?
• Is some/all knowledge relative?

3
The Philosophy of Science

• Ontology the Study of Being
• FBK the nature of reality
• Positivists the world is objective
• Naturalists the world is subjective
• What is the nature of Being ?
• Beings as Passive S-R Psychology, SMCR
  Communication
• Beings as Active Constructivism, Cognitive
  Psychology

4
The Philosophy of Science

• Axiology the Study of Values
• FBK the role of values
• Positivists science can be value-free
• Naturalists science is always value-laden
• What are the nature of Values?
• Values Are there objective values? (Is there
  Truth with a capital T ?)
• Values or subjective, depends upon who is
  deciding the values

5
4 Types of Variables

• Independent influences another variable
• IV Predictor variable
• Dependent variable influenced by another
• DV Outcome variable
• Control variable one tries to control for
• Either keep constant, balance across groups,
  or extract in the statistical analysis (aka a
  concomitant variable)
• Extraneous variable not studied/interested in
• But it has some impact on the IVDV relationship

6
MTW I Acknowledgment

• Acknowledgement is . . .
• Personal
• Powerful
• A Contribution to Another Person
• A Connection with Another Person
• Simple
• Satisfying
• An Aid in Building Team

7
MTW I Acknowledgment

• Accepting Acknowledgement is . . .
• Generous
• Open
• Honest
• A Connection with Another Person
• Simple
• Allowing Another to Contribute to You

8
In-Class Team Exercise 4

• Part I
• Two rounds of Acknowledgment
• Deliverable No Written Deliverable
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• Additional Team Work (if time permits)
• Make Sure Team Picture is Current
• Is your team name in?

9
The Research Process

• Conceptualization
• Start with / Develop a Theory and Develop
  Hypotheses
• Planning Designing Research
• Operationalize all Variables
• i.e., How will you measure each variable? (must
  be precise!)
• Methods for Conducting Research
• Plan the Study and Collect the Data
• Analyzing Interpreting Data
• Run Statistics and Interpret Results
• Re-Conceptualization
• Back to the Drawing Board

10
RQs and Hypotheses

• RQs
• Open-ended, general
• When researcher is unsure or new to the area
• E.g. How does education level affect income?
• Hypotheses
• Predict a relationship
• When researcher knows an area, or has a theory
• E.g. The more education a person has, the
  higher his/her annual income.

11
RQs use Variables Hs use IV, DV

• Independent influences another variable
• IV Predictor variable
• Dependent influenced by another
• DV Outcome variable
• Sample RQ
• What is the relationship between education level
  and income?
• Sample H1
• The more education a person has, the higher
  his/her annual income.

12
RQs and Hypotheses

• RQs
• Open-ended, general
• When researcher is unsure or new to the area
• How does education level affect income?
• Hypotheses
• Predict a relationship
• When researcher knows an area of has a theory
• The more education a person has, the higher
  their annual income.

13
Hypotheses

• Two-Tailed Hypotheses
• Non-directional researcher predicts a
  relationship, but does not specify the nature
• Education level is related to income.

14
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• One-Tailed Hypotheses
• Directional predicts a relationship AND the
  direction of that relationship
• The more education a person has, the higher
  their annual income.

15
Operationalization

• Operational Definition
• Defines a concept in observable / measurable
  terms
• A scientist can propose/claim/offer virtually ANY
  operational definition of a concept all he/she
  has to do is be able to defend it
• So operational definitions must be
• Plausible (must make sense to most in the field)
• Measurable (must be specified in detail)
• Replicable (must be complete - so others can
  repeat)

16
Examples of Operational Definitions

• Good (Defensible)
• IQ score achieved on the Wechsler Adult
  Intelligence Scale
• Poor (Indefensible)
• IQ how smart someone is
• Good (Defensible)
• Educ Level highest grade completed
• Poor (Indefensible)
• Educ Level total years in school

17
In-Class Team Exercise 4 - Part II

• First Do as Individuals, then produce a Team
  Version
• 1) Create 2 Hypotheses (One 1-Tailed, One
  2-Tailed)
• Relate the concepts regular exercise and
  health
• 2) Create a specific, measurable Operational
  Definition of each concept
• 3) Which is the IV, which the DV?
• 4) Propose 2 (likely/possible) Intervening
  Variables
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• Deliverable a written version of the above

18
Correlation Causality

• Correlation
• Two variables are related (as one varies, the
  other varies predictably)
• Causation
• 3 Necessary Sufficient Conditions
• Two variables must be shown to be related
• The IV must precede the DV in Time
• The relationship cannot be due to another
  variable (an Intervening or Confounding
  variable)