The 3rd Annual “SII Research Methodology Development” PhD Course Series
3. Topics in IC Research 1: Intergroup Communication Approaches (3rd offering)
Instructor: Prof. Dr. Yan Bing Zhang, University of Kansas, USA
Course Description: This course is designed to expose students to important and influential international topics in intercultural and/or cross-cultural interpersonal, intergroup, mass communication. The role and mission of a communication scholar are to examine human symbolic activity as it shapes and is shaped by relationships, institutions, and societies. This work concerns the creation, analysis, and critique of messages, and devotes particular attention to understanding the ways in which communication sustains and erodes collaboration within and among local, national, and global communities.
These 3-4 sessions will focus on the Contact Hypothesis, Intergroup Contact Theory, and Anxiety/ Uncertainty Management. This course is largely “social scientific,” covering material from communication, social cognition, and social psychology (rather than rhetoric). We will briefly touch on social identity, identity processes, stereotypes, intergroup communication, communication accommodation, and intergroup contact to demonstrate the manner in which communication both affects and reflects our social group memberships. The objective is to provide students with the theoretical foundation to view various contexts of communication through an “intergroup lens,” to enhance their skills to both research and critically evaluate historical, present, and future social issues associated with intergroup and intercultural relations.. By social groups we mean large-scale groups: those where you might identify with somebody else because they are a co-member of a group, even if strangers. Of special interest will be cultural and age groups, though sessions will discuss all kinds of different groups.
The recommended articles seek to accomplish three objectives: 1). Students are exposed to research in one corner of intergroup and intercultural communication; 2). Students will familiarize themselves with the structure of typical journal articles using quantitative research methodology; and 3) Students will learn about the details regarding the conceptualization and operationalization of major constructs examined in each of the journal articles, some through groups; The focus of this group work is demonstrating the integration of theory, research design, and measurements (and explaining basic data analysis).