Communication Research: Principles, Ethics, and Methods

Posted on May 2, 2024 in Psychology and Sociology

Unit 1: Fundamental Principles of Communication Research

Key Terms

  • Research Methods: Systematic procedures for collecting evidence to test or build explanations for the subject of study.
  • Empirical: Based on observations or experiences of communication.
  • Rhetorical: Focuses on the use of language to persuade.
  • Critical: Focuses on inequality and oppression that can occur through communication practices and structures.
  • Social Scientific: Examining patterns in behavior or messages.

Outcomes of Communication Research

Communication research allows us to:

  1. Describe communication behavior, including outcomes, processes, and relationships between variables.
  2. Predict future communication behaviors to improve decision-making.
  3. Explain communication behaviors to understand why they occur.
  4. Determine causes of communication behavior to develop intervention programs and training.

The Research Process

5 Main Steps:

  1. Ask a question or state a problem, considering theoretical significance, social importance, and personal interest.
  2. Formulate a hypothesis or research question.
  3. Gather data using appropriate research methods.
  4. Interpret the data using statistical procedures and draw conclusions.
  5. Write a research report.

Characteristics of Scientific Research

  1. Based on evidence
  2. Testable
  3. Explores all possible explanations
  4. Results are replicable
  5. Results are made public
  6. Self-correcting
  7. Relies on measurement and observation
  8. Recognizes and controls for error
  9. Objective
  10. Relies on skepticism
  11. Aims for generalizability
  12. Heuristic in nature

Limitations of Scientific Research

  • Science cannot answer every type of question.
  • Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: Observation can affect the phenomenon being observed.
  • All observation contains error.
  • Results are probabilities, not certainties.

Unit 2: Research Process and the Role of Theory

Defining Theory

Theory: A set of interrelated propositions that present a systematic view of a phenomenon. This includes models, frameworks, and taxonomies.

Components of Theories:

  • Conceptual definitions
  • Operational definitions
  • Functional relationships (e.g., hypotheses, research questions)

Communication theories help us understand, explain, and predict communication behaviors, as well as question, challenge, and extend existing ideas about communication.

Theory-Research Interface

Research can both validate and develop theory:

  • Deductive approach: Research validates existing theory.
  • Inductive approach: Research develops new theory.

Theory guides research and organizes data in logical ways.

Inductive vs. Deductive Research Models

Inductive Research Model:

  • Gather and analyze data.
  • Formulate theories based on data.
  • Moves from specific data to general explanations.

Deductive Research Model:

  • Starts with a theory.
  • Research tests and confirms hypotheses derived from the theory.
  • Moves from general to specific.

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Unit 3: Research Ethics

Ethical Principles (Belmont Report)

  1. Beneficence: Protecting the well-being of participants.
  2. Respect for Persons: Treating individuals as capable of making decisions and protecting those who cannot.
  3. Justice: Treating all participants equally.

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRBs review and approve research involving human subjects, ensuring ethical considerations such as informed consent, risk minimization, and confidentiality.

Informed Consent

Informed consent ensures participants understand their rights and the risks involved in the research.

Ethical Violations in Research

Examples of unethical research include the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Milgram’s Obedience Studies, and the Stanford Prison Experiment, which violated principles of beneficence, respect for persons, and justice.

Ethical Issues in Conducting Research

  • Deception
  • Use of confederates
  • Physical and psychological harm
  • Anonymity and confidentiality
  • Recording participants
  • Debriefing

Ethical Issues in Reporting Research

  • Accuracy
  • Plagiarism
  • Protecting participant identities

Unit 4: Constructs, Concepts, Hypotheses, and Research Questions

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research represents communication phenomena using numbers and allows for comparisons using descriptive and inferential statistics.

Hierarchy of Concepts

  • Construct: An abstract idea or concept.
  • Concept (Conceptual Definition): An observable part of a construct, linked to other concepts.
  • Operationalization (Operational Definition): How a variable (construct) is measured or observed.
  • Variable: Used to identify the construct.
  • Hypothesis: A statement of the relationship between variables.

Example: Media Multiplexity Theory

This theory proposes that people in close relationships use multiple communication channels. Key constructs include tie strength and multiplexity.

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Types of Hypotheses

  • Directional Hypothesis: States the nature and direction of the relationship between variables (e.g., increases in tie strength lead to increases in media multiplexity).
  • Non-Directional Hypothesis: States that a relationship exists but does not specify the direction (e.g., there is a relationship between tie strength and media multiplexity).
  • Relational Hypothesis: States the existence of a functional relationship between variables (e.g., time spent on Instagram is negatively related to body satisfaction).
  • Comparative Hypothesis: States the expectation of a difference between groups (e.g., Instagram users will report lower body satisfaction than non-users).
  • Null Hypothesis: States that no relationship exists between variables (e.g., there is no relationship between Instagram use and body satisfaction).

Research Questions

Research questions ask about the existence of a relationship between variables or the difference between groups (e.g., what is the relationship between Instagram use and body satisfaction?).

Independent and Dependent Variables

Independent Variable (IV): The variable that is manipulated or varied to examine its effect on other variables. It is the presumed cause.

Dependent Variable (DV): The variable influenced by the independent variable. It is the presumed effect.

IVs are hypothesized to have an effect on DVs.

Unit 5: Variable Relationships and Confounding Variables

Types of Bivariate Relationships

  • Null: No relationship between variables.
  • Correlation: Variables change simultaneously (positive, negative, or curvilinear).
  • Causal: Change in one variable (IV) causes change in another (DV).

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Criteria for Causality

  1. Temporal Ordering: The cause must precede the effect.
  2. Correlation: There must be an empirical association between variables.
  3. Non-Spuriousness: The relationship cannot be explained by a third variable.

Confounding Variables

Confounding variable: A third variable that obscures the relationship between the IV and DV, preventing us from determining causality.

Controlling for Confounding Variables:

  • Manipulation
  • Statistical control
  • Randomization

Internal and External Validity

Internal validity: Confidence that no confounding variables have influenced the results.

External validity: Ability to generalize results to the real world.

There is often a trade-off between internal and external validity. The more control we have over variables, the less realistic the research may be.

Experiments are the only method that can establish causality.