Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Chapter 12: Qualitative Understanding of Content:
Rhetorical and Critical Analyses, and More
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. Rhetorical analysis is the study and analysis of ______.
a. argumentation and persuasion
b. interpretation and meaning
c. the structure and properties of stories
d. human communication as drama
2. Narrative and discourse analysts study ______.
a. argumentation and persuasion
b. interpretation and meaning
c. the structure and properties of stories
d. human communication as drama
3. What do semioticians study?
a. argumentation and persuasion
b. interpretation and meaning
c. the structure and properties of stories
d. human communication as drama
4. What do critical analysts study?
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
a. argumentation and persuasion
b. interpretation and meaning
c. the structure and properties of stories
d. the ways in which communication maintains power structures in society
5. In Burke’s dramatistic analysis, agent refers to the ______.
a. action taking place
b. the means by which an action takes place
c. the individual(s) taking action
d. reason an act was done
6. In Burke’s dramatistic analysis, purpose refers to the ______.
a. action taking place
b. the means by which an action takes place
c. reason an act was done
d. the explanation offered by individuals in an interaction
7. The basic interest of discourse analysis is in ______.
a. the characteristics of language itself
b. how language is used to develop and position ideas and concepts
c. the evolution of language
d. the motivations behind language use
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
8. Utterances in conversation analysis are units of ______.
a. grammar
b. syntax
c. speech
d. pronunciation
9. ______ are basically a search for patterns and variations in content.
a. Coding and quantifying
b. Coding and analysis
c. Analysis and quantifying
d. Coding and confirming
10. Which of the following is a disadvantage of the qualitative analyses of
content?
a. They may be less precise.
b. They do not provide rich descriptions.
c. They cannot analyze both text and documented human interaction.
d. They have only one interpretation.
11. Which one of the following of Jakobson’s semiotic functions establishes the
sender’s expectations of the receiver?
a. expressive
b. conative
c. poetic
d. referential
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
12. Which one of the following of Jakobson’s semiotic functions establishes the
agreed meaning for words?
a. conative
b. poetic
c. referential
d. metalingual
13. Which one of the following of Jakobson’s semiotic functions establishes the
speaker’s emotional state?
a. conative
b. poetic
c. expressive
d. referential
14. Which one of the following of Jakobson’s semiotic functions establishes the
communication context or dominant message?
a. conative
b. poetic
c. referential
d. phatic
15. Two major approaches to critical analyses are ______.
a. Marxist and experimental
b. feminist and observational
c. Marxist and observational
d. Marxist and feminist
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
16. In Burke’s dramatistic analysis, “ratio analysis” means examining the ______.
a. ratio of ethos to pathos
b. relative significance of each pentad unit
c. relative significance of text to graphics
d. relative significance of categories to units
17. Which of the following is an advantage of the qualitative analyses of content?
a. They can all give us value judgments of the content.
b. They can tell us generalizable information.
c. They offer a multiplicity of approaches to understanding text and image.
d. They are used only for analyzing text.
18. ______ analysis is the research approach most likely to take an interest in
the stories people tell.
a. Dramatistic
b. Rhetorical
c. Semiotic
d. Narrative
19. ______ analysis is the research approach most likely to take an interest in
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
studying how messages are used in argumentation and persuasion.
a. Dramatistic
b. Rhetorical
c. Semiotic
d. Narrative
True/False
1. Semiotics is concerned with the relationship between language, and especially
signs, and meaning.
2. An advantage of semiotic analyses is the range of situations in which they can
be applied.
3. Narrative analyses generally attempt to identify a plot, setting, characters, and
order of events in people’s accounts of their lives.
4. Narrative analysis is a quantitative approach to analyzing people’s reports of
their lives.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
5. Two major schools of critical analysis are feminist criticism and Marxist
criticism.
6. Marxist criticism generally seeks to examine communication content for
messages that reinforce the ideology of those in power.
7. Metaphor analysis is not a tool of critical researchers.
8. Marxist criticism generally seeks to examine the aesthetic quality of messages.
9. Rhetorical analyses examine message content to understand the nature of
persuasion.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
10. Critical approaches to the study of communication question the notion of
objectivity.
11. Critical perspectives do not address social problems or inequalities.
12. From a critical perspective, metaphor analysis can reveal how language
maintains and promotes organizational power structures.
13. The central belief underpinning rhetorical and critical analyses is that one
definitive interpretation of communication content is possible.
14. Essentially, rhetorical analysis means examining communication content to
identify and assess its persuasive strategies.
15. Aristotle’s concept of ethos addresses the use of logic in argumentation.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
16. Aristotle’s concept of pathos addresses the use of character in
argumentation.
17. Aristotle’s concept of logos addresses the use of emotion in argumentation.
18. In Aristotelian rhetoric, the nature of the audience is unimportant.
19. The nature of the speech setting or context is unimportant in Aristotelian
rhetoric.
20. In Burke’s dramatistic analysis, act refers to the action taking place.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
21. In Burke’s dramatistic analysis, agency refers to the means by which an
action takes place.
22. In Burke’s dramatistic analysis, agent refers to the individual(s) taking action.
23. In Burke’s dramatistic analysis, purpose refers to the reason an act was
done.
24. Fantasy theme analysis is an approach to understanding group
consciousness and shared values.
25. Fantasy theme analysis is basically an approach to understanding fiction.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
26. A master narrative is a story or explanation that has the most credibility with
group members as an explanation for their successes or failures.
27. Symbolic convergence is a state of agreed understanding among group
members as to what unites them and differentiates their group from other groups.
28. A weakness of fantasy theme analysis is its inability to explain illogical
behaviors.
29. Narrative analysis is based on documents only.
30. A metaphor is a simple term used to explain or summarize a more complex
entity or concept.
31. Metaphor analysis includes a search for the basic or root metaphors that
shape the way individuals think.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
32. The basic interest of discourse analysis is in how language is used.
33. In discourse analysis, the coding of content is quantitative.
34. Utterances in conversation analysis are units of speech.
Essay
1. Explain each of the Aristotelian terms: ethos, pathos, and logos.
2. With examples, explain how you would use Aristotle’s concepts of ethos,
pathos, and logos to determine the effectiveness of either political campaign
advertising or advertising for a commercial product?
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
3. Describe Burke’s dramatistic pentad and explain how it might be applied in
practice.
4. Explain, with examples, the use of Burke’s ratio analysis.
5. Identify the key elements of fantasy theme analysis and explain how it might
be applied in practice.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
6. Explain the concept of narrative analysis and how it might be used in practice.
7. Explain the basic concept of discourse analysis and identify its strengths and
weaknesses as you see them.
8. Explain the concept of semiotic analysis and how you might do a semiotic
analysis of news or advertising content.