Appendix (CIEL) and Appendix A (BCE): The Discipline of Communication

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. In many colleges and universities, departments related to communication studies draw which of the following with regard to numbers of majors?

a. Equal to other disciplines

b. The fewest number of majors

c. The largest number of majors

d. No majors—communication classes used only as elective classes

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Future of Communication and the Relational Perspective

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Which of the following is an assumption of the social scientific approach?

a. The Truth exists.

b. The Truth must be hidden from others.

c. The Truth does not exist.

d. The ongoing Truth will never be known.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Assumptions

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Which of the following is a disadvantage/criticism of the social scientific approach?

a. The approach focuses too much on including age and socioeconomic status in research.

b. Education is heavily emphasized when selecting participants.

c. Race, religion, sexuality, and other characteristics of participants are not always taken into account.

d. College students are rarely invited to participate.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Culturally Insensitive

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. When respondents in a research study tell the researcher what they think will make them “look good” to the researcher, it is known as the ______.

a. social desirability effect

b. self-fulfilling prophecy effect

c. negative-attitude effect

d. socio-egocentric effect

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Participant Accuracy

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Grounded theory is often used by which of the following?

a. Social scientific approach

b. Grounded approach

c. Interpretivist approach

d. Critical approach

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. The decision development perspective would be studied in which area of communication?

a. Group communication

b. Interpersonal communication

c. Media communication/mass media

d. Rhetorical criticism

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Group Communication and Leadership

Difficulty Level: Hard

7. Which statement about political communication is correct?

a. Due to the temporary nature of their work, campaign staff members are unable to form relationships.

b. Candidates cannot strive for positive relationships with voters.

c. Political communication scholars sometimes study voter behavior.

d. Political communication scholars have no way to study the talk about political issues among friends, family, and acquaintances.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Political Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. The first documented essay on communication was addressed to Kagemni, son of Pharaoh Huni, in approximately what year?

a. 300 BCE

b. 3000 CE

c. 300 CE

d. 3000 BCE

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. The National Association of Academic Teachers of Public Speaking later became which of the following?

a. International Communication Association

b. National Communication Association

c. American Communication Association

d. Global Communication Association

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Which is one of the two most important tasks of academic associations noted in Chapter 2?

a. Collect membership dues

b. Have local social gatherings

c. Publish academic journals

d. Discredit other associations

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. The earliest focus of the communication discipline was which of the following?

a. Public speaking, debate, and performance

b. Mass communication

c. Interpersonal communication

d. Group communication

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Emergence of Areas of Study

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. The study of rhetoric began in which of the following?

a. Interpersonal communication

b. Public address

c. Critical approach

d. Media studies

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. Which of the following became an area of study for mass media scholars only in the early decades of the previous century?

a. Television

b. Newspapers

c. Radio

d. Books

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Mass Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. When it comes to the origins of the communication discipline, writers are likely to begin with ______ in the 4th century BCE.

a. Socrates

b. Plato

c. Aristotle

d. Copernicus

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. The earliest existing book on effective communication is Precepts, written in ______ by Ptahhotep around the year 2675 BCE.

a. Greece

b. France

c. Germany

d. Egypt

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. The first formally organized professional association devoted to its study, the ______, was founded in 1910.

a. Eastern Communication Association

b. Southern States Communication Association

c. Western Communication Association

d. Central States Communication Association

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

17. The first national association devoted to the study of communication, currently known as the National Communication Association, was established in ______.

a. 1904

b. 1910

c. 1911

d. 1914

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

18. ______ communication examines communication within a single culture.

a. Intracultural

b. Intercultural

c. Cross-cultural

d. Critical cultural

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cultural Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. ______ communication examines communication when members of different cultural groups interact.

a. Intracultural

b. Intercultural

c. Cross-cultural

d. Critical cultural

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cultural Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. ______ communication compares the communication of different groups.

a. Intracultural

b. Intercultural

c. Cross-cultural

d. Critical cultural

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cultural Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. ______ communication examines issues of power within cultural contexts and seeks to contest hegemony and promote social justice.

a. Intracultural

b. Intercultural

c. Cross-cultural

d. Critical cultural

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cultural Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

Multiple Response

1. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which members of society are perceived as having a greater ability to impose their values and establish the nature of taken-for-granted aspects of society?

a. Women

b. Men

c. White people

d. Heterosexuals

Learning Objective: A.4: Explain the critical approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Assumptions

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. One method used by those taking a critical approach involves the analysis of texts. Which ones might be considered for analysis?

a. Transcripts of interactions

b. Television

c. Music

d. Movies

Learning Objective: A.4: Explain the critical approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which of the following would be considered part of cultural communication?

a. Intracultural communication

b. Cross-cultural communication

c. Critical cultural communication

d. Intercultural communication

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cultural Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Family communication studies can include which of these areas?

a. Conflict

b. Violence

c. Celebrations

d. Groupthink

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Family Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Persuasion can also be called which of the following?

a. Coercion

b. Brainwashing

c. Discouragement

d. Manipulation

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Persuasion

Difficulty Level: Hard

6. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Rhetoric studies all influences on communication, including which of the following?

a. Media content

b. Technology

c. Architecture

d. Politics

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Coming Together as Communication Studies

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. SELECT ALL THAT APPLY. Which ones are methods typically used in the interpretivist approach to communication?

a. Experiments

b. Interviews

c. Textual Analysis

d. Participant observation

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Which of the following are influential approaches to the study of communication?

a. Social scientific

b. Interpretivist

c. Focus group

d. Critical

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Coming Together as Communication Studies

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. The first formally organized professional association in communication was the World Communication Association.

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Aristotle and Socrates taught communication to the sons of wealthy citizens.

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Rhetoric and Rhetorical Criticism

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Rhetorical criticism is not limited to public address.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Rhetorical Criticism

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. The methods used in the critical approach are very different from those used in interpretivist approaches.

Learning Objective: A.4: Explain the critical approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. A critical approach avoids studying power within societal groups.

Learning Objective: A.4: Explain the critical approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Critical Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Researchers using the interpretivist approach primarily seek to understand and describe communication experience.

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interpretivist Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Storytelling is not one of the areas studied in family communication.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Family Communication

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. In modern times, the communication discipline was formalized for academic study out of studies of rhetoric, elocution, and speech.

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Early on in the discipline, a person did not study communication; rather, a person studied public speaking or speech.

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. The study of family communication is often placed under the broad umbrella term of interpersonal communication.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Family Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Small-group research emerged as a major area of discipline beginning in the 1990’s.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Group Communication and Leadership

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. People enter into group situations with preexisting relationships that influence their interactions and decision making.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Group Communication and Leadership

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Group members with little shared history or few preexisting relationships often anticipate future connection or, at minimum, generate relational alliances and adversaries within the group.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Group Communication and Leadership

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Linda Lederman has traced the origins of the study of health communication to the 1960s.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Health Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Early research in health communication focused on interactions between patients and doctors and public campaigns concerning health issues.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Health Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Health communication can occur within social networks of friends, family, and acquaintances as well as among health care providers.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Health Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Health communication can focus on the study of health campaigns and information sharing on the Internet use when seeking medical information.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Health Communication

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. The social scientific approach assumes that multiple truths exist because there exist multiple perspectives and no fixed reality.

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interpretivist Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. The critical approach assumes that a single Truth exists.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Scientific Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. The interpretivist approach is focused on a struggle for power.

Learning Objective: A.4: Explain the critical approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Critical Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. Social scientific approaches to research focus on description, correlation, and prediction.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Scientific Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

Short Answer

1. What is the main advantage of the social scientific approach?

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Advantages

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Why do interpretivist approaches reject the idea that research can ever be value free?

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Assumptions

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. When it comes to instruction and learning as the focus of communication education, what area of study has received perhaps the most attention?

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Communication Education and Instructional Communication

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. Textual analysis conducted as part of interpretivist research frequently takes what form?

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Textual Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Describe at least one disadvantage to the social scientific approach.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Disadvantages

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. What are the two primary methods used in the social scientific approach to studying communication?

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. The ______ views the world as objective, causal, and predictable; researchers using this approach primarily seek to describe communication activity and to discover connections between phenomena or causal patterns.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. What are 3 major programs of research in communication education or instructional communication?

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Communication Education and Instructional Communication

Difficulty Level: Hard

9. Early on in the discipline, a person did not study communication; rather, a person studied ______.

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Departments devoted to the study of speech and rhetoric were also experiencing problems by the end of World War II. A ______ revolution had occurred during that period.

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. There are many approaches to the study of communication, however, the three that have had the most influence are ______.

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. The ______ approach assumes the world is objective, causal, and predictable.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Social Scientific Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. The ______ approach assumes the world is subjective, arbitrary, and uncertain.

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interpretivist Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. The ______ approach assumes the world is subjective in which there is an imbalance of power.

Learning Objective: A.4: Explain the critical approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Critical Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. ______ involves the analysis of recorded communication, which could be visual, auditory, or both.

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Textual Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. Briefly explain the importance of associations, such as the National Communication Association, including two of their most important functions.

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Development of a Discipline

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Provide a brief explanation regarding the rise of interpersonal communication within the academic setting.

Learning Objective: A.1: Describe how the modern communication discipline developed.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Coming Together as Communication Studies

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Briefly explain the view of the social scientific approach and the types of research methods often used in data collection by social scientists.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Social Scientific Approach

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Provide a brief explanation of the two types of observation-based nonquantitative data collection that may be used by interpretivist researchers (direct observation and participant observation).

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Interpretivist Approach

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Explain how people in groups in real life rarely have zero history with one another and what that means for the group.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Group Communication and Leadership

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Describe the social desirability effect and why it could be detrimental.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Participant Accuracy

Difficulty Level: Hard

7. Unlike the social scientific approach, the data used in interpretivist research tend not to be quantitative or number-based. Describe what type of non-quantitative data is involved in interpretivist research.

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Data

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Scholars taking the critical approach to communication try to uncover hidden or explicit power within a societal group. Explain why this is important to the study of communication.

Learning Objective: A.4: Explain the critical approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Critical Approach

Difficulty Level: Hard

9. What is the challenge of scholars who undertake the critical approach to communication?

Learning Objective: A.4: Explain the critical approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Disadvantages

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Describe at least one disadvantage of the interpretivist approach to communication.

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Disadvantages

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Explain the use of experiments and how they are used as a research mechanism.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Explain the use of questionnaires and the different types of research questionnaires.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. The social scientific approach to communication has some advantages. Name three of them.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Explain how experiments and questionnaires can be culturally insensitive.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Disadvantages

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Name and explain the four areas of cultural communication study.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Cultural Communication

Difficulty Level: Hard

16. Explain how the study of health communication has evolved over time.

Learning Objective: A.5: Recognize some of the major areas of study in the communication discipline.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Health Communication

Difficulty Level: Hard

17. Explain what a research experiment entails and provide an example of an experiment.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Hard

18. Discuss two disadvantages of social scientific research.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. Explain what a convenience sample is and provide an example of how convenience samples might not be representative of other groups.

Learning Objective: A.2: Explain the social scientific approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. Explain the research method of textual analysis.

Learning Objective: A.3: Explain the interpretivist approach to communication.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Textual Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium