COMM 250 Agenda - Week 2 Housekeeping / Logistics Create the Teams Team Pictures – Next Tuesday ?? Syllabus Questions ?? Attendance Sheets Lecture Concepts, Theories, and Paradigms Team Exercise 2

Housekeeping – After Class Tasks for EVERYONE: Circle your Number on the attendance sheet Finalize Hemlock Overlook Attendees Tasks for each TEAM: the “Team Roster” form to me Plan TP1 & TP2 (Hemlock or meet elsewhere)

Assignments Due Next Week TP1 – Brief Write-up from Each Team Practice RAT1 on WebCT (Required – 6 pts.) (I Will WebCT Information to the Class List by 12 midnight on Wed.) RAT1 – in Class Next Week

Review: How Do We “KNOW” Things?  Experiential Reality  Firsts Hand Experience  Done There; Been That !  Agreement Reality  Second Hand Knowledge  Tradition and/or Authority  Both Can Assist or Hinder Inquiry  Science: Has a Special Set of Standards for “Agreement Reality”

Review: The Research Process Conceptualization Planning & Designing Research Methods for Conducting Research Analyzing & Interpreting Data Re-Conceptualization

The World of Concepts Concepts are: “Mental images;” Ideas Can represent things in the physical world Concepts are not real – that is, They don’t exist as physical objects IQ, love, anger, conservative, liberal, life, death, terrorism Note - many physical objects also function as concepts Table, chair, tree, building, sky, computer

Theories Outside of Science We all have many “informal” theories Beliefs about how the world works Predictions about what will happen Judgments about how people are Sometimes these are based on data Sometimes even on good data! Scientific theories are different – they are “informed” theories

The World of Theories Theories are: Structures of knowledge Representations of the physical world that live in the world of ideas (Rough) approximations of events Theories are “Useful Fictions” Scientists don’t think of theories as “true” or “false” - because they are simply tools When a better approximation is available, scientists switch theories Lessons from evolution, relativity, & big bang

The World of Paradigms Paradigms are: World views Lenses through which each of us views the world Over-arching structures of knowledge Representations of the physical world that live in the world of ideas Approximations of events in the real world Paradigms are “Useful Fictions:” Paradigms are not “true” or “false” - they are simply tools When a better approximation is available, scientists switch paradigms Lessons: Newtonian Mechanics  Relativity

Paradigms Outside of Science The term is used quite freely today - In business & industry, in general usage To where stuffed crust pizza is a “new paradigm” Paradigm is used to denote smaller changes In accepted processes In common practices In common beliefs That’s ok; just keep in mind that in science, genuine “paradigm shifts” are very rare

In-Class Team Exercise # 1 1) Two rounds of “Name Calling!” N o written deliverable 2) Paradigms & Paradigm Shifts Deliverable: list 6 major paradigm shifts in society (List Both the “Old” and “New” Paradigms) Additional Team Work Choose a team name Plan TP1: Meet before next week Plan TP2: Peer Evaluation P&C

Types of Research Research based in Positivism Objective World Quantitative Methods Researcher is a Dispassionate Observer Research based in Naturalism Subjective World Qualitative Methods Researcher is Part of the Research