Instructor:                         Stephen D. Bruning, Ph. D.,  118 Spielman Hall,   sbruning@capital.edu
                                        Phone 236-6323 (w), 338-1715 (h)

Office Hours:                   10:00-11:00 M, W, F
                                        3:30 - 4:30 T, TH, and by appointment

I. COURSE OBJECTIVES

This course is based upon three overriding principles:

• We live and function in a society based on communication.
• Study of communication provides an individual with the knowledge and skills necessary to compete successfully within ever-changing social, technological, and professional environments.
• There exist many techniques for investigating the phenomena of communication, and the development of a rudimentary understanding of these techniques can help an individual interpret, modify, control, and adjust to the environment.

• Describe qualitative research processes.
• Describe quantitative research processes.
• Develop theoretical explanations, grounded in qualitative and/or quantitative research, that further understanding of the phenomena of communication.
• Appreciate the formal study of the role of communication within a complex society.
• Discuss, debate, and criticize the ways in which communication influences ethics, morals, and values in our society.
• Understand the various perspectives that researchers may take when examining the phenomena of communication.
• Develop critical thinking skills, and appreciate how critical thinking skills can aid in your growth as a scholar, professional, and individual.

• Read your text conscientiously so that you may gain insight into the phenomena of communication research.
• Do all assignments at the time scheduled. DO NOT miss assignments. Late assignments will be accepted, but your grade will be lowered two letter grades.
• Read newspapers and magazines. Listen to the radio and television programs dealing with current problems. Then start thinking how communication could be studied in the stories we hear every day.
• Attend class regularly.
• All work submitted must be the student's own. Cheating in any form (see below for definitions and examples) will not be tolerated and will result in disciplinary action.

"Academic Integrity" is the expectation that all Capital students are to be honest in their academic endeavors, and that the work one submits for academic evaluation must be his/her own, unless an instructor expressly permits certain types of collaboration. Instructors are expected to make this Academic Integrity Policy known, in writing, at the beginning of a course.

A non-exhaustive list of behaviors which constitute academic misconduct and subject one to sanction(s) includes:

Cheating -- deceiving/misrepresenting information submitted on a paper/test/project

e.g. -- using materials/notes not permitted by the instructor during an examination

-- collaborating on a test/project when not authorized to do so by the instructor

-- receiving, giving or stealing parts of, or an entire test which has not yet been administered

-- substitution of one student for another during an examination

Plagiarism -- submitting work that is not expressly one's own as one's own

e.g. -- quoting verbatim or paraphrasing excessively another person's words (published or unpublished) without acknowledgment of the source

-- including facts, statistics, or other illustrative materials that are not common knowledge without acknowledgment of the source

-- submitting another's term paper, essay test answer, computer program, or project as one's own

Fabrication -- using "invented" information or falsifying research, data, or other findings with the intent to deceive

e.g. -- citing information not taken from the source indicated; failure to document a secondary source material

-- listing sources in a bibliography not directly used in the academic exercise

-- submitting lab reports or clinical data which contain fictitious/falsified information; concealing/distorting the true nature, origin, or function of such data

III. EVALUATION OF STUDENT PROGRESS

• Four papers will be graded.
• Assigned activities are graded based upon your ability to demonstrate a thorough comprehension of communication theory building and research.
• Two examinations.
  

Grades will be assigned based upon the following scale:
 

IV. SCHEDULE OF WEEKLY ASSIGNMENTS

The following pages contain the tentative semester schedule. There will be ample time for class discussion of communication principles. You are urged to follow the syllabus regularly and to note the specific dates upon which activities and reports are due.
 

Date	Topic	Chapter
1-6	Introduction and overview to the course
1-8	Studying communication  Overview to the communication discipline Ways of knowing The research process Recognizing good research The three-stage model of communication research Assumptions of researchers	1 http://www.icahdq.org/ http://www.natcom.org/
1-13	Conducting research using secondary sources  Selecting, narrowing, and adjusting a topic  Developing search strategies Reasons for reviewing previous research	2
1-15	Developing research questions and hypotheses Describing communication behavior. The search for research Reading scholarly journal articles Relating communication behavior to other variables.
1-20	Observing and measuring communication variables Conceptual vs. operational definitions. Measurement theory.	4
1-22	Writing a literature review Collecting information. Writing style. Questions to answer. Articles, Materials, etc. for the Literature Review Due	http://www.westcomm.org/
1-27	Individual Workshops -- sign up in class	http://www.unm.edu/~emmons/communications.html
1-29	Individual Workshops -- sign up in class
2-3	Writing a literature review Collecting information. Writing style. Questions to answer.	http://www.cios.org/
2-6	Conducting research using secondary sources  Basics of APA Annotated Bibliography Due
2-10	Research ethics and politics Revising the Literature Review Based upon Feedback
2-12	Exam I
2-17	Designing valid communication research Threats to internal validity. External validity. Preparing research projects  Research review.	http://ssca.net/
2-19	Rough Draft of Literature Review Due
3-1	Textual analysis Rhetorical criticism. Interaction analysis. Performance studies.	10
3-2	Writing the Methods Section Questions to answer. Information to provide. Developing a thorough methods section.
3-4	Writing the Methods Section Questions to answer. Information to provide. Developing a thorough methods section.
3-9	Individual Workshops -- sign up in class
3-11	Individual Workshops -- sign up in class
3-16	Writing the results section Reporting important findings. Reporting all results. Quantifying results when possible.  Final Draft of Literature Review Due	11
3-18	Describing quantitative data Making sense of numbers. Describing data through summary statistics. Describing data in standard scores.
3-23	Theory development Basic tenets of theory Purpose of theory
3-25	Final Draft of Methods and Results Section
3-30	Developing theory  Stop sign activity Writing the discussion section Presenting findings. Developing theory. Defending conclusions. Suggestions for future research.
4-1	EXAM II
4-6	Individual Workshops -- sign up in class.
4-13	Individual Workshops -- sign up in class.
4-15	Finalize final paper
4-20	Findings presentations
4-22	Findings presentations
4-27	Findings presentations