Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Lecture Notes
Chapter 2: First Decisions: From Inspiration to Implementation
Learning Objectives
1-1 Define the terms induction, deduction, and abduction.
1-2 Identify key reasons for doing research.
Chapter Summary
This chapter covers the difficult issue of beginning research. First, the chapter describes the
difference between induction, deduction, and abduction. Next, the chapter identifies key reasons
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. Starting with Basic Beliefs and Perspectives
A. Generalizations and predictions about human behavior
1. Basic assumptions about human behavior coalesce into broad worldviews or
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
3. An emphasis on individual understanding is called an idiographic approach.
a. Referred to as worldview II.
B. Four worldviews
1. Postpositive—emphasizes cause and effect and the idea that the world is
governed by laws or theories that can be tested or verified.
a. Big ideas are reduced to sets of data that allow hypothesis testing.
2. Constructivist—individuals seek understanding of the world in which they live
and construct their own views of it.
a. Researchers, therefore, rely on participants’ own, subjective views of the
3. Transformative—change-oriented and argues for mixing research with politics
to confront social oppression and change lives for the better.
a. There is a basic interest in the marginalized and disenfranchised.
4. Pragmatism—focuses on solutions to problems—what works—and using all
possible approaches to understand a problem.
a. It does not commit to anyone basic philosophy and therefore embraces mixed
method research.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
C. Metatheory
1. Rhetorical—the practical art of discourse, debate, or discussion; emphasizes the
use and power of words.
4. Cybernetic—the flow of information; emphasizes communication as a system of
information processing and feedback.
5. Socio-psychological—the interaction of individuals; emphasizes attitudes and
perceptions and individuals influencing each other or working toward collective
outcomes.
8. Craig also suggests other perspectives that might be considered—for example;
you might also view communication from feminist, aesthetic, economic, or
spiritual perspectives.
D. The relationship between theory and observations
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
1. Induction—reasoning from observation to theory.
II. Starting with a Focus
A. Research questions: less certainty; more room to move
1. Open-ended research questions basically ask whether there is a relationship
B. Hypotheses: statements of prediction
1. Two-tailed hypotheses state that there is a relationship between variables but do
not specify the direction of the relationship.
C. Operationalizing constructs
1. Constructs are ideas or concepts.
2. Operationalizing them means to define them in such a way that they can be
measured.
III. Starting with a Purpose
A. Exploration
1. Exploration is curiosity-based research.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
B. Description
1. Description, especially rich descriptions of people’s lives, can be compelling
C. Explanation
1. Studies focused on explanation attempt to answer the “why” question.
D. Prediction
1. Our explanations have greater credibility if they are capable of prediction.
E. Control
1. Control means researching with a view to being able to predict and manipulate
physical processes.
F. Interpretation
1. Interpretive studies can be understood as attempts to place yourself “in the other
person’s shoes.”
view of the people doing it.
G. Criticism
1. Critical theorists want to understand and explain the way in which communication
IV. Starting with the “What” Question
A. “What shall I study?”
1. “Communication” is a large umbrella under which many research interests find a
home.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
B. Must read scholarly articles
1. Often, our interest may be triggered by a news item, a casual observation, or an
V. Starting with “Who,” “Where” and When Questions
A. Who
1. Pinpoints a person or a group of people as a starting point.
B. Where
1. Suggests a geographic starting point.
C. When
1. Suggests a point-in-time start.
2. “When” question means that you see time as a critical concept in your research.
VI. Starting with the “How” Question
A. “How” may be a specific research question.
1. Method decisions are rooted in epistemology—the question of how we know
what we know.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
6. Empiricism—observation.
B. Scientific methods
1. Combine empiricism, rationalism, and positivism (the idea that phenomena are
VII. Starting from the Works of Others
A. Regarding the work of others
B. Review academic journals
1. Serials record in the form of articles and letters ongoing conversations among