Critically analyse two of the theories that seek to explain the Essay

Critically analyse two of the theories that seek to explain the relationship between people and technology - Essay Example According to the determinists, human beings are directed by the technology, and cannot decide on how the technology will be used. In other words, the society is influenced by the technology. Another important perspective is sustantivism which suggests that human beings are enframed by technology. Human beings also lose their will if they become attached to the technological systems. This perspective shapes different institutions including the political systems, culture and social structure. The perspective further holds that technology has its own independent values, which human beings cannot be able to change. This paper examines the social construction of technology and actor network theory. According to Gad and Jensen (2009), this theory rejects the determinists’ perspectives that the society is influenced by the technology. The concepts of this theory are well described in an article titled, the social construction of technology: structural considerations. The writers of this article, Klein and Kleinman (2002) observe that the first component of the SCOT theory is interpretive flexibility. According to Klein and Kleinman (2002), this concept is borrowed from the empirical program of relativism and suggests that artifacts are products of intergroup negotiations. The second component is the relevant social group concept. According to this component, social groups share same values and characteristics. In this regard, different social groups can differ on how a particular technology works, but in the end they come into a consensus. The third component of this theory is closure and stabilization. According to this component, multi-group processes occur until a cons ensus is reached, and stabilization is facilitated by the rhetorical closure and closure by definition. Rhetorical closure occurs when all problems are eliminated while closure by definition happens when the problem is redefined until it poses no more

Communication study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Communication study - Essay Example This chapter attempts to explore the use of indexes and scales as a measure of variable in social science research. It also discusses the various typologies employed in both qualitative and quantitative research (Babbie, 2012). Indices in this case are used to measure an individual item in relation to their importance in the concept being established. Babbie (2012) notes that indexes are normally used to measure a given social issues affecting people in the society. A scale, on the other hand, is used as a tool for ascertaining the intensity of emotions or attitude of an individual. Babbie (2012) reveals that the scales employed by the social scientists in research are normally constructed in the ordinal data level. Likert, semantic differential and Bogardus Social Distance Scales, are the typically examples of scales normally used by social scientists in their studies according to Babbie (2012). Babbie (2012) also considers the effectiveness of scales and indexes as a measure of variables in this chapter. In this regard, it comes out that scales are perceived to work better than indexes. This is because scales take into consideration the feelings being measured, as well as the intensity of the question asked, according to Babbie (2012). There are normally several data collection methods used by social scientists. Sampling is one of the most popular methods used for data collection. Sampling refers to the data collection method in which a given small sample is taken as a representative of an entire population according to Babbie (2012). In this chapter, Babbie (2012) explores sampling as a data collection technique used by social scientists. It also attempts to examine the various sampling techniques used by researchers, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of sampling as a data collection technique. Babbie (2012) reveals that sampling technique has been