Research Perspectives

• Perspectives that shape research in communications and cultural studies.
• Different visual perspectives can generate very different sets of data about the same phenomena.
• The exact same thing holds for conceptual perspectives (ideas, beliefs and values that shape the world according to what you think is important and what isn’t.)
• As a researcher, you should be aware of your perspectives so you can avoid your bias.

Three Major Perspectives (Functionalism, Interpretivism, Critical)

• Functionalism – or – Factual generalization
  • Dominant perspective in communications research since the 1940s, since it began almost in the US
  • Basic Assumptions:
    • Reality is a static, knowable, predictable.
    • To understand any one thing is to understand the main purpose of it (e.g. chair, the best chair is the mastered one which provides us with amazing comfort…)
    • Human nature is rational and predictable.
    • Communication practices are variables which affect the behaviors of communities and organizations (eg. If you change the purpose of an organization would mean you would have to change the organization entirely..Ford going to start a furniture company would mean losing profits, it would be an entirely different organization than what it does today.)
    • Different kinds of communications practices perform different kinds of functions (e.g. anything that can transmit information, that is like a bulletin board, a wink, a middle finger)
  • Basic Goals
    • Catalogue and predict behaviours
    • Assess whether or not communications facilitates the organization of a corporation.
    • Tries to find information about how to fix things or change things.
      • E.g. organization –> engine. The system is a fixed entity, what they want to do is alter it to provide maximum worth.
    • Identify and diagnose problems
    • Explore and clarify solutions
• Interpretivism – or – Ideographic
  • Basic Assumptions
    • Reality cannot be known directly
    • Human nature is not rational and predictable.
    • Hence, we can only observe and interpret it.
    • It is important to understand the meaning of communication practices and messages.
    • Comprehend what people do at a deeper level.
    • Researchers gain to receive an aesthetic delight in bullshit/art.
  • Basic Goals
    • Observe and describe messages.
    • Understand and expain messages.
      • Hocking: “sometimes we are interested in observing an event as an end in itself” (pg.26)\
    • Perhaps the goals and purposes of the corporation affect whether their communications systems actually function
      • If there is a problem in the communication system, the functionalist approach doesn’t work because the employees of the corporation will not be able to get the information required to proceed with their work. Functionalism has a blind spot and fails to look at things like purposes and goals, and is unwilling to look at everything and if it misses something important, it won’t interpret it. E.g. Hilary’s communications towards head office weren’t sufficient and therefore Cecil had to go there to make the pragmatic aspect of their circumstance accurate. Hilary interpreted John’s instructions differently than how Cecil did when he came over to resolve the issue.
    • Meanings and the values attached to things.
    • Interpretive: Behaviours are determined by your relationship with the individual (functionalist. Behaviour becomes predictable because of that role. Your individuality may not be important as the category of your role.) vs. Interpretive – all relationships are socially constructed; therefore, each relationship is an ongoing phenomenon and is dynamic, not static. At the end of the day, people are not predictable. Why do people behave in these relationships?
  • Interpretive –> All knowledge in the world is socially constructed (subjectivity). The processes of constructing knowledge, values and beliefs is done through communications. We must communicate to develop our social roles. All about values, beliefs and attitudes and understanding how these become manifested through communications (one word à Culture).
• Critical – or – Ethical/Aesthetic
  • Basic assumptions:
    • Reality cannot be known directly.
    • Human nature is not rational and predictable
    • Hence, we can only observe and interpret it.
    • It is important to understand the meaning of communication practises and messages.
    • It is important to assess the legitimacy of communication practices and messages.
    • Developed by the Frankfurt school. Believed in the distribution of power.
    • Emphasizes value judgements. Human interaction has purpose. What is the purpose of communications? Who does it benefit? And is it good or bad?
    • Habermas is the leading philosopher about this. Emphasizes open and transparent communications. Why? He believes that people need information to make decisions, presumably, the better information you have the better the decision you can make. The better the educated the population is, the more they have access to information, the better everyone is.
    • However, Power and resources are not distributed equally among everyone in society and therefore affects the distribution of information and wealth (i.e. not everyone on the planet has the internet)
    • Concerned with the influence of power on communications.
  • Basic Goals:
    • Observe and describe messages
    • Understand and explain messages
    • Judge communications practices.
      • Major differences from interpretive.
    • Is power ever good? Can power ever be used legitimately? Yes, power can be exercised legitimately, power can be good when it is based on informed consent.
    • Michel Foucault à ideology, power and its distribution. Those of the elitist ideologies become the leading ideologies that dominate the entire state.
    • Open transparent communications.
    • Presumably, there is a subordinate in any relationships. Subordinates, perhaps, should only change their behaviour according to informed consent.
    • A good leader develops individuals who are enthusiastic.
    • A shitty leader is one who uses trickery.