The Anatomy of a Theory

Building Blocks of Communication TheoriesPrepared by: Ms Jahwella Ocay, BA Comm

It’s what we do everyday.

Central to the identity and the history of Communication are theories that define its scope and that cultivate insight into

human interaction.

Theories have four goals.

Description

ExplanationUnderstanding, Prediction and Control

Reform

ONTOLOGY

Determinism vs. Free Will: Do we just automatically respond to things or do we make choices about how to act?

THROWNNESS

Martin Heidegger advanced the idea that individual freedom is constrained by this. It refers to the fact that we are thrown into a

multitude of arbitrary conditions that influence our lives and our opportunities.

EPISTEMOLOGY

OBJECTIVISM vs. CREATING

MEANINGS – is reality

external to human mind or is it

subjective and based on a person’s

perceptions?

Some individuals believe that truth is an objective phenomenon that humans can discover through careful observation or other scientific methods. Other people think that reality is ultimately subjective and that what we know is intimately tied up with who we are.

PURPOSE OF THEORIZING

LAW-BASED vs. RULES-BASED – does a theory want to establish laws that will remain true across a variety of circumstances or rules that will explain and describe

patterns of behavior

FOCUS OF THEORIZING

BEHAVIORISM vs. HUMANISM

– is it focusing on observable behavior

or on meanings?

Brute Facts (objective, concrete

phenomena)

Institutional Facts

(what an observable

phenomenon means)

So…What can we say about theories?

1.They reflect points of View

2.Different Theories are not necessarily incompatible

3.They have limited focus and Scope