Summary Methods of Communication Research and Statistics (Y)

Week 1
Lecture (1): intro to scientific method

How does fake news affect the population

Does a campaign work? What are the effects? For whom does it work? Different effect for
different people? Why does it work (or not)?

Knowledge is based on
- intuition/belief (gut feeling)
- Consensus
- Tenacity
- Authority
- Observation (empiricism)
- Logical reasoning

Scientific research is a systematic process of gathering theoretical knowledge through
observation (empiricism).

Empirical  Based on social reality

Systematic and cumulative
- Builds on previous research
- In search for patterns and associations

Research is a systematic process
- Posing questions
- Answering questions
- Demonstration that your results are valid
- Sharing your research results

Communication research is a systematic process of asking and answering questions about
human communication

Observation: personal need for information. Checking news
Preliminary research question
Induction: general theory people have a specific need for
information during a pandemic
Theory
Deduction: predication general theory to more specific
Testing: data collection; test the hypothesis
Analyze data
Evaluation: do the results support the hypothesis
Research design
-
Experimental (casual)  effect
- Correlation  association
o Cross-sectional

, o Longitudinal

Data collection
- Observation  during experiment in real life
- Pose questions  survey in-depth focus group interviews
- analyze content - content of existing

SUMMARY
You now know what communication research is about:
- Systematic process
- Posing questions
- Answering questions with valid results
- Sharing your results
- Based on your research objective and question you choose a strategy
- Two main research strategies –quantitative & qualitative
- Based on the strategy you chose, you determine design and data collection method

Micro lectures
Non- scientific methods
- Intuition/belief
- Consensus Opinion
- Authority
- Causal observation
- Informal logic Biased/flawed

Scientific method
We can’t use this we need systematic observation that is formal logic, consistently applies
also known as the scientific method
- Better chance of valid explanations
- Evaluate plausibility of hypotheses

Scientific method 6 principles
1. Empirically testable  physical data, observations
2. Replicable  repeat the setting, repeatedly
3. Objective  doesn’t matter who does it, should get the same results, clear
assumptions, concepts, procedures, independently
4. Transparent  replicated by anyone, publicly shared information
5. Falsifiable  imagine finding contradictions to the hypothesis
6. Logically consistent  Hypothesis internally coherent, conclusion logically
consistent, logically sound




Scientific claims
Scientific attitude; critical, open transparent, able to get critique

Basic claim – observation (accurate or inaccurate); doesn’t describe/explain, general relation

,Hypothesis / Law – describes/explain pattern, general relation; not/strongly supported. A law
is strongly supported, a formula.
Theory – overarching explanation of many related phenomena




Empirical cycle
Process of hypotheses and testing, systematic. Hypothetical deductive approach

Observation  sparks idea for hypothesis, interesting relation we want to explain come from
previous research. Observing relation one or more instances

Induction  general rule, with inductive reasoning relation in specific instance is
transformed to a general rule
§
Deduction  relation should hold in new instances, expectation/prediction is deduced about
new observations; hypothesis is transformed with deductive reasoning and specification of
research set up into prediction about new observations

Testing  statistical processing compare data to predictions data collection; descriptive-
summarize; inferential-decide. New data collected and – with aid of statistics – compared to
predictions

Evaluation  interoperate results in terms of hypothesis, prediction confirmed > hypothesis
provisionally supported, prediction disconfirmed > not automatically rejected, repeat research
or adjust hypothesis

Epistemology
How can we know it?
- What is knowledge
- Epistemology  study of knowledge
Rationalism  knowledge through reasoning, plato and decart
Empiricism  knowledge through sensory experience, Aristotle

Ontology
Study of being
Nature of reality
- Existence or external reality
o Outside
 Materialism
 Everything is interaction of physical matter
o Only in mind

,  Idealism
- Existence of
o Particulars
 Specific instances
o Universal
 Abstract, (love)
Lecture (2): intro to scientific method
A systematic process of gathering theoretical knowledge
through observation

World View I
- Human communication is objectively measurable and
can be summarized in rules.
- “Nomothetic” approach (involves rules and patterns)

World View II
- Human communication is subjective, individualistic and must be described as such.
- “Idiographic” approach (uniqueness of subjects, objects or phenomena)

Two scientific approaches
- Empirical-Analytical
o Observe, measure from researcher’s perspective
o Observation= empiricism
o Explaining
o Rule out alternative explanations
o Nomothetic approach (worldview I): reality is objectively measurable, uses
reason
o Quantitative
o Experiment, survey, content analysis

- Empirical-Interpretative
o Observe, interpret from participants’ perspectives
o Understanding
o Idiographic approach (worldview II): communication is subjective and unique
and must be described as such
o Qualitative
o Individual interviews, focus group interviews, ethnography
Falsification
- Verification  confirm interpretative approach
- Falsification  refute analytical approach
- If not refuted...then provisional truth: you found supportfor your hypothesis
INCORRECT: you acceptedyour hypothesis



Hypothesis
- Scientific claim
- Testable statement about reality (the world around us)
- We test by observing (social) reality = empiricism (scientific method)