Sample
Questions—EXAM ONE
1.
Using a social scientist perspective, answer all of the following in question
three. Compare and contrast hypotheses and research questions. Define
each. When are research question used
and not hypotheses? When are hypotheses the preferred choice? What are
operational definitions? Using the
scenario of a social scientist, set up an “experiment”, one with hypotheses and
the other with research questions. You may set up the operational definitions
once or twice depending if you feel that they need to be defined differently in
the second case. Use the example of a communication scholar who acts as a
social scientist who wants to discover and learn about how juries form
perceptions about the way defendants are dressed in a court of law. Be specific
as possible. Please refer to the text when appropriate.
2. Discuss the concept of monitoring as it is
talked about in chapter one. How might
the issue of monitoring be discussed via the Shannon Weave model of
communication which is discussed in chapter two. Be sure to discuss all the
parts of the model, with an emphasis placed on the issue of monitoring. How might the concept of the three types of
noise in the Shannon-Weaver model affect monitoring behavior? Be specific as
possible, referring to the text when appropriate.
4. What stance do
ethnographers take? Which side of the ontological spectrum do they more closely
sit? What research goals and agendas seem more consistent with the study of
ethnography? Using the scenario of
learning the behaviors of teens who paint on trains, walls, and bridges as
artistic expression, argue as an ethnographer would and explain how one might
be interested in studying this type of behavior. Explain you answer carefully
referring to the text when appropriate. Please refer to the text when
appropriate.