Communication Theory 1

Objective versus Interpretive theorists see theories quite differently from the other.  While an Objectivist values predictions, explanations of data, tests of hypotheses, and practical usage of a theory, an Interpretivist prefers clarification of values, understanding people and how they affect society, and interviews to discover the meaning behind theories (Griffin, Ledbetter & Sparks, 2015). 

                To put the above in perspective, one can look at the results of the Iowa Caucus that occurred this week.  Channel 10 ABC News reported candidate Cruz as the winner on the Republican side, with Clinton and Sanders in a close tie on the Democratic side with Clinton ahead by only one vote (Channel10 ABC News, 2016).  If one were to study the results of the election, they would be done from an Objectivist approach with a quantitative study.  After all, numbers are used to decide the results of the caucus; hard facts and numbers are the result.  Political experts hypothesized who would be the winner of the caucus long before the actual votes were in, attempting to predict future events.  While this is beneficial for the results of the win, if Americans wanted to know why these results occurred or voter sentiments in Iowa, an interpretive approach could be utilized.  Interviews could be conducted within a focus group of Republicans and Democrats in Iowa, to discover their reasons for voting for a particular candidate.  This is in the attempt to understand voter sentiment and perhaps see the whole picture and understand what voters in Iowa are looking for in political candidates.  

                There seems to be communication theories for everything; chapter four describes the different traditions that fall under objective versus interpretive theories of studying communication.  For example, the phenomenological tradition looks at a person’s experiences and tries to understand what they are experiencing (Griffin, Ledbetter & Sparks, 2015).  Phenomenology really looks at how a person perceives something and how they interpret it; this sounds like it could get complicated.  Everyone has a different way of perceiving and interpreting something, which makes studying people extremely complex.  Everyone will have their own unique ideas and understandings of the world, but that is the importance of understanding communication theories—their purpose is to gauge different understandings of a theory and how they relate or affect other theories, which makes up the field of communication study.

References

Stewart, A. (2016). What you need to know about Monday night's Iowa Caucuses. Retrieved February 02, 2016, from http://news10.com/2016/02/02/what-you-need-to-know-about-monday-nights-iowa-caucuses/

Griffin, E. A., Ledbetter, A., & Sparks, G. (2015). A first look at communication theory (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.