Instructor Resource
Dainton, Applying Communication Theory for Professional Life 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
Chapter 2: Theory Development
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. The belief that the best theories are found in the results of systematic study
(inductive theory) is also known as ______.
A. cognitive dissonance
B. grounded theory
C. social comparison theory
D. deduction
2. When every member of a population has an equal chance of being selected
for a research study, the sample is known as a/an ______.
A. aggregate sample
B. nonrandom sample
C. population sample
D. random sample
3. Because they provide more anonymity to her respondents, Tanisha should
plan to use which of the following in her research study?
A. closed-ended questions
B. questionnaires
C. interviews
D. focus groups
4. Alonzo will be conducting an ethnography by observing the actions of a group
of people with whom he has never interacted and wants to observe their actions
without interacting at all with any of the members of the culture. Alonzo’s plan,
then, is to act as which of the following?
A. complete participant
B. participant-observer
C. complete observer
D. Text-miner
5. Cheri plans to record and then analyze the conversations between and among
members of a group of people she has chosen for her research study. Cheri’s
work may also be known as ______.
A. interaction analysis
B. ethnography
C. data mining
D. generalization
6. A systematic method for describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating the
persuasive force of messages is known as ______.
A. content analysis
B. experimental research
C. rhetorical criticism
D. survey research
7. A text is ______.
A. a written message
Instructor Resource
Dainton, Applying Communication Theory for Professional Life 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
B. a message
C. a recorded message
D. a written or recorded message
8. Researchers who are interested in the structure of interactions typically
conduct ______.
A. content analysis
B. interaction analysis
C. rhetorical criticism
D. textual analysis
9. Social scientists refer to patterns of communication that hold true across
groups of people, over time, and in different contexts as ______.
A. determinism
B. generalizations
C. hypotheses
D. random samples
10. The humanist approach views truth as ______; whereas the social scientific
approach treats truth as ______.
A. altruistic; deterministic
B. common sense; scholarly
C. ethnographic; experimental
D. subjective; objective
11. Theories can grow when there is a deeper and more nuanced understanding
of the original principles. This is known as ______.
A. induction
B. deduction
C. intension
D. extension
12. The social scientific approach utilizes ______ methods in order to make
generalizations about human behavior.
A. quantitative
B. qualitative
C. intensive
D. extensive
13. Dante would like to collect data about the life of first-year college students.
He would like the research to be comprehensive, to include information about
what daily life is like, what classes are like, and what it is like living in the dorms.
The best research method to obtain this data would be ______.
A. experiment
B. survey
C. textual analysis
D. ethnography
14. ______ research is reported by someone other than the person who
conducted it, which means the information could be unintentionally presented in
a biased manner.
A. Primary
B. Secondary
C. Quantitative
D. Qualitative
15. A researcher who is looking at a situation in its entirety, as the focal point of
research, is applying which of the following?
A. particularism
B. holism
C. a social scientific approach
D. a quantitative method
16. Cause and effect is revealed with which research method?
A. experiment
B. survey
C. textual analysis
D. ethnography
17. Data mining is a more modern derivation of which research method?
A. rhetorical criticism
B. content analysis
Instructor Resource
Dainton, Applying Communication Theory for Professional Life 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2018
C. interaction analysis
D. none of these
18. The ______ research method is naturalistic and emergent because
participants are in their natural environment.
A. field experiment
B. lab experiment
C. ethnography
D. biography
19. According to the humanistic approach, humans have free will and choice—
they are practical and plan behavior. This viewpoint is labeled ______.
A. pragmatism
B. determinism
C. holism
D. particularism
20. According to the social science approach, human behavior should be studied
in specific, narrow pieces. The intent is that the entire picture will eventually be
made clear. This viewpoint is labeled ______.
A. pragmatism
B. determinism
C. holism
D. particularism
21. Which of the following uses verbal descriptions of communicative
phenomena?
A. qualitative methods
B. quantitative methods
C. ethnography
D. textual analysis
22. Deductive theory is generally associated with which of the following?
A. grounded theory
B. scientific method
C. humanistic approach
True/False
1. Deductive theory development occurs before inductive theory development.
2. Survey research is the only way to determine how someone thinks or feels
about something.
3. Experiments can only occur in laboratory settings.
4. Content analysis is primarily used to study mass communication.
5. In ethnographic research, acting as a complete observer allows for the most
objectivity in recording data.
6. The participant–observer researcher becomes fully involved with the culture or
context, but he or she has admitted his or her research agenda before entering
the environment.
7. Masculinity is considered a variable because people can be highly masculine,
moderately masculine, non-masculine, and so on.
8. Extension occurs when a new element is added to a theory.
9. The control of a variable is known as manipulation.
10. Field experiments take place in a controlled location known as a laboratory.
Essay
1. Identify and explain two research methods. Then compare and contrast the
two methods based on the strengths and weaknesses of each.
2. Besides research methods used, thoroughly explain two differences between
the social scientific and humanistic approaches to communication theory.
3. Differentiate between why social scientific approach researchers follow
determinism and humanistic approach researchers follow pragmatism.
4. Explain open-ended and closed-ended questions and how they differ.
5. Identify and explain the three different types of ethnography based on the
researcher’s role. Explain a benefit and drawback for each type.
