COMM 100 KEY PREDICTED EXAM PRACTICE
QUESTIONS WITH DETAILED EXPLANATIONS
2026
◉ How do messages travel in the Linear Model of Communication?
Answer: From sender through a channel to receiver
◉ What is a limitation of the Linear Model?
Answer: It treats communication as a one-way transmission
◉ What did the Revised Linear Model add?
Answer: Feedback and noise
◉ What is encoding?
Answer: Transforming a message into understandable signs or
symbols
◉ What is decoding?
Answer: Interpreting and making meaning from a message
◉ How do meaning and identity develop according to Symbolic
Interaction Theory?
,Answer: Through social interaction within culture and society
◉ What are 'frames' according to Goffman's Frame Theory?
Answer: A set of expectations used to interpret a social situation
◉ What is interpersonal communication?
Answer: Communication between two people
◉ What is public communication?
Answer: Communication with a large audience, such as giving a
speech in an auditorium
◉ What is intrapersonal communication?
Answer: Communication within yourself or self-talk
◉ What is small group communication?
Answer: Communication among three or more people working
toward a common goal
◉ What is a theory in communication research?
Answer: A unified and organized set of explanations about aspects of
the world
, ◉ What does it mean for a research question to be falsifiable?
Answer: It must be possible to prove it wrong with evidence
◉ What is the correct order of scientific inquiry?
Answer: Ask testable questions → systematic observation → develop
answers
◉ What makes a research question testable?
Answer: It can be measured or answered using evidence and
observation
◉ What is qualitative research?
Answer: Research focused on descriptions, experiences, and
meanings
◉ What is quantitative research?
Answer: Research focused on numerical data and measurement
◉ What is ethnography?
Answer: The study of social interaction from the inside through
participant observation
QUESTIONS WITH DETAILED EXPLANATIONS
2026
◉ How do messages travel in the Linear Model of Communication?
Answer: From sender through a channel to receiver
◉ What is a limitation of the Linear Model?
Answer: It treats communication as a one-way transmission
◉ What did the Revised Linear Model add?
Answer: Feedback and noise
◉ What is encoding?
Answer: Transforming a message into understandable signs or
symbols
◉ What is decoding?
Answer: Interpreting and making meaning from a message
◉ How do meaning and identity develop according to Symbolic
Interaction Theory?
,Answer: Through social interaction within culture and society
◉ What are 'frames' according to Goffman's Frame Theory?
Answer: A set of expectations used to interpret a social situation
◉ What is interpersonal communication?
Answer: Communication between two people
◉ What is public communication?
Answer: Communication with a large audience, such as giving a
speech in an auditorium
◉ What is intrapersonal communication?
Answer: Communication within yourself or self-talk
◉ What is small group communication?
Answer: Communication among three or more people working
toward a common goal
◉ What is a theory in communication research?
Answer: A unified and organized set of explanations about aspects of
the world
, ◉ What does it mean for a research question to be falsifiable?
Answer: It must be possible to prove it wrong with evidence
◉ What is the correct order of scientific inquiry?
Answer: Ask testable questions → systematic observation → develop
answers
◉ What makes a research question testable?
Answer: It can be measured or answered using evidence and
observation
◉ What is qualitative research?
Answer: Research focused on descriptions, experiences, and
meanings
◉ What is quantitative research?
Answer: Research focused on numerical data and measurement
◉ What is ethnography?
Answer: The study of social interaction from the inside through
participant observation
