Communication Commons^™

Still Flying: The Communicative Constitution Of Browncoat Fandom As Culture, Jonathon Nicholas Lundy

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

In contemporary western culture, fandom is common. Many academics and members of the general public alike conceive of fandom as outside the norms of spectatorship; to be a spectator is to enjoy an interest individually and passively. However, others contend that fandom is a more significant cultural achievement.

This study qualitatively investigated how Browncoats, or fans of the cancelled television series Firefly , communicatively construct their fandom culture. Methods included participant observation, semi-structured interviews, data analysis through Grounded Theory, and a comparative thematic analysis of the original Firefly source texts and Browncoat cultural data in order to discover meaningful themes …

Generational Perceptions Of Productive/Unproductive Information Received From Management Through Different Communication Channels, Eva Lynn Cowell

Doctoral Dissertations

This exploratory study identified generational preferences for receiving information from management through different communication channels and determined if age predicted productivity for productive and unproductive information received through different communication channels. This is the first study to empirically examine the relationship between age cohorts, communication channel preferences, information categories, and productivity. Sample participants worked as Extension agents at a major land-grant university. The four generations represented in the sample utilized multiple communication channels and were geographically dispersed throughout the state. The survey was administered electronically and completed by 204 (74%) of the eligible 275 employees in the organization. Independent Samples …

Effects Of Parental Divorce On Uncertainty Following Initial Communication With A Potential Romantic Partner, Julia Ann Hansch

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Decades of research have supported Berger and Calabrese's (1975) Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT), which posits that reducing uncertainty is a chief goal of initial communication between strangers. This study extends the scope of URT, focusing on initial communication between strangers who see themselves as potential romantic partners. Further, this study specifically examines the potential influence of a well-researched external factor that has been found to negatively affect the way people communicate and behave within romantic relationships: parental divorce. Although many studies have assessed the impact of parental divorce on communication in developed relationships, there is little research examining its impact …

Looking Good And Taking Care: Consumer Culture, Identity, And Poor, Minority, Urban Tweens, Elizabeth Edgecomb

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Looking Good and Taking Care: Consumer Culture, Identity, and Poor, Minority, Urban Tweens is an ethnographic examination of how poor, minority, urban tweens (age 7-14) use consumer culture to create and perform their personal and social identities. Although portrayed in mass media as selfish and hedonistic, this work finds tweens creating profoundly social, giving, and caring identities and relationships through consumption. Their use of consumer culture is also a form of political resistance that subverts their place in the age, class, and race hierarchy. These tweens use “looking good” (attention to grooming, style, and behaving respectably), and not name brand …

A Qualitative Investigation Of Adolescent Females' Use Of Social Networking Websites, Janine Pate

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of the present study was to explore the ways adolescent females, age 14 through 17, utilized social networking websites such as MySpace and Facebook for communication, self-presentation and identity development purposes. Uses and gratifications theory served as a framework for identifying the participants' motivations for heavily using these websites, which allow users to post pictures, interests and updates for their friends to view and interact with online. Using a qualitative method, one preliminary focus group and ten in-depth interviews were conducted, totaling fifteen female participants between the ages of 14 and 17. Interview questions covered topics such as …

The Use Of Social Marketing As A Means Of Promoting Enviornmental Conservation: A Case Study Of Indonesian Biodiversity Campaigns, Alesia Za Gara

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

As a means of preserving Indonesia's natural allure and resources it is evident that there must be a conscious shift made wherein environmental conservation becomes top priority among the people of Indonesia and the world. Traditionally dealt with through a country's governmental facets, a new tread of social marketing is now being employed ENGOs in various countries such as Indonesia as a way to promote biodiversity conservation. For example, one such ENGO is Rare Conservation, an international organization that teaches social marketing tools to classes or cohorts of individuals around the world as a means of improving a variety of …

Jealousy And Attachment 2.0: The Role Of Attachment In The Expression And Experience Of Jealousy On Facebook, Megan Cole

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main objective of this research was to investigate how people use Facebook within the context of their romantic relationships from an attachment theory perspective. In the present study, a convenience sample (n = 179) completed an online survey with questions about Facebook use, attachment style, uncertainty-related behaviors, jealousy, relationship satisfaction and commitment. Results indicate that 1) there is a positive correlation between jealousy and Facebook use; 2) also, there is a positive correlation between jealousy and the time an individual spends viewing their partner's profile; 3) further, jealousy is positively related to uncertainty-reducing behaviors. Taken together, these results support …

A Study Of Communication In Baby Boomers' Romantic Relationships And The Effects Of Their Children's Communication About The Relationships, Lois B. Nemetz

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study contributes to our knowledge of life-span communication by examining the communication of the Baby Boomer generation (born 1946-1964) as they re-enter the dating scene. Although Baby Boomers' early years of dating (the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's) occurred in a time of new-found freedom, especially in sexual relationships, the experience of dating several decades later brings many complications due to aging and children. The intent of this study was not to generalize that all Baby Boomers would express the views stated in this study, but to show the complexity of this generation, and to present a theoretical framework for …

"Do It For Me, My Dear": Structuration And Relational Dialectics Among Mother-Daughter Dyads In Lebanese Arranged Marriages, Khaled Nasser

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This research applied a two-step triangulation approach to the study of mother-daughter communication in arranged marriages among the religious Sunnis of Beirut, Lebanon. Combining the theory of structuration and relational dialectics in one theoretical framework, the study investigated the role of mother-daughter interactions in the socialization of the daughter into the marital experience. The study investigated the process of marital socialization by first surveying 199 mother-daughter dyads, representing 398 individuals. In the second step, in-depth interviews were conducted with 12 families (three interviews per dyad), randomly selected out of the 199 surveyed pairs. The dyadic data analysis of the surveys …