chapter i. jour 60

• Theory


  • Any attempt to explain or represent something
  • Someone's conceptualization of an observed set of events
  • A scholar's construction of what an experience is like (based on observation)
  • A scholar's best representation of the state of affairs at any given time
  • Any conceptual representation or explanation of a phenomenon
  • Offers an account of what something is, how it works, what it produces or causes to happen, and what can change how it operates
• Theory


  • Abstract system of concepts and their relationships that help us understand a phenomenon
• Goals of theory


  • Description
  • Explanation
  • Prediction or understanding
  • Reform
• Description


  1. Using symbols to represent phenomena

  2. Identify features and describe the variations
• Explanation


  Effort to clarify how and why something works
• Prediction or Understanding


  • Projecting what will happen to a phenomenon under specified conditions or when exposed to particular stimuli
  • Insight into a particular situation, process or phenomenon
• Reform


  Active pursuit of positive social change
• Concept


  • Symbolic representation of an actual thing
  • Can be real (directly observable) or nominal (not directly observable)
• Construct


  Concept with no physical referent
• Principle


  Expresses the relationship between two or more concepts or constructs
• Functions of concepts and principles

  • Help us understand or explain what is going on around us
  • Help us predict future events
• Functions of theory


  • Organizes and summarizes knowledge
  • Focuses attention on important variables and relationships
  • Clarifies what is observed
  • Offers an observational aid
  • Predicts outcomes and effects in the data
  • Provides an open forum for discussion, debate and criticism
  • Heuristic function - aids in discovery
  • Control function - seeks to establish norms of performance
  • Generative function - challenges existing cultural life and generates new ways of living
• Stages of theory development

  1. Speculative - attempts to explain what is happening

  2. Descriptive - gathers descriptive data to describe what is really happening

  3. Constructive - revises old theories and develops new ones based on continuing research
• Relationship between theory, practice and research

  1. Theory-practice-theory: Take existing theory, apply to practice, develop new theory

  2. Practice-research-theory: See what is happening in practice, submit to research, develop theory from results

  3. Theory-theory-research/practice: Build on an initial theory to develop a second theory, then apply and test it
• Communication theory


  • A systematic summary about the nature of communication process
  • Provides a way to predict or understand one or more concepts
• Model


  Describes "what happens" but not "why does it happen", cannot predict "what will happen if..."
• Types of theory


  • Commonsense theory - based on personal experiences or helpful hints
  • Working theory - generalizations made in a particular profession about best techniques
  • Scholarly theory - undergone systematic research, provides more thorough, accurate, and abstract explanations
• Examples of theory types

  • Commonsense theory: Never date someone you work with, The more competent you are, the higher you get promoted
  • Working theory: Audience analysis should be done prior presenting a speech, To get the press released published, it should be newsworthy and written in journalistic style
  • Scholarly theory: Effects of violations of expectations depend on the reward value of the violator, The media do not tell us what to think but what to think about
• Criteria for evaluating a theory

  • Scope - What are the boundaries of the theory's explanation?
  • Logical consistency - Do the claims of the theory match its assumptions? Do the principles of the theory contradict each other?
  • Parsimony - Is the theory as simple as it can be to explain the phenomenon under study?
  • Utility - Is the theory useful or practical?
  • Testability - Can the theory shown to be false?
  • Heurism - Has the theory been used in research extensively to stimulate new ways of thinking about communication?
  • Test of time - How long has the theory been used in communication research?
• Criteria Questions to ConsiderScopeWhat are the boundaries of the theory’s explanation?LogicalconsistencyDo the claims of the theory match its assumptions?Do the principles of the theory contradict each other?ParsimonyIs the theory as simple as it can be to explain thephenomenon under study?UtilityIs the theory useful or practical?TestabilityCan the theory shown to be false?HeurismHas the theory been used in research extensively tostimulate new ways of thinking aboutcommunication?Test of time How long has the theory been used incommunication research?