Communication Studies -- Graduate Theses

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This collection features graduate student theses produced in the Department of Communication Studies.

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The creative small group – towards a framework of collaborative creativity within the creative sphere
(2010-10-25) Bartels, Gerald
Zur Methode wird nur der getrieben, dem die Empirie lästig wird. (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, “Maximen und Reflexionen”) Creativity, its manifestations, and its consequences are both nuanced and elusive. As a “floating participant,” I dashed on a scooter through the Lebenswelt (lifeworld) of my participants and, for a while, abandoned the behaviour of a social researcher, a more or less passive observer of the moment. Grounded in the qualitative paradigm, this ethnographic study explores and interprets the various processes and means of communication used by a creative small group and strives to understand how the group members are influenced by and simultaneously define an environmental space that I call the creative sphere. This understanding of creativity considers the various interactive and communicative acts and the diverse environmental attributes that constitute the creative sphere. Similar to the overlapping character of the pieces of a kaleidoscope, the interactions within the creative sphere provide colourful interrelations between its social elements. Thus, creativity refers to a contextual capability for meaningful novelty or novel ideas, which emerge from interaction. The theoretical framework further develops previous understandings of creativity as only the relationship between creative individuals and their social environment. My work stresses the importance of the collaborative aspect of creativity. Consequently, I refer to communication as the driving force of the emergent phenomenon of collaborative creativity.
The experiences of female Members of the Legislative Assembly in Nova Scotia
(2011-08-31) Errington, Lori; Sedo, Denel Rehberg
The Nova Scotia Legislature is Canada‟s oldest House of Assembly, dating back to 1758 (Nova Scotia Legislature, 2011). In its entire history, 31 women have been elected to the House of Assembly. Political analysts and supporters of women‟s equal representation in government are trying to encourage more women to run for political office in Nova Scotia. However, little attention has been given to the atmosphere that waits for women once they are elected. The research question of this thesis asks how female Members of the Legislative Assembly experience the communications atmosphere in the Nova Scotia Legislature. To determine this, I apply feminist communication theory and feminist organizational theory to data collected through feminist participatory qualitative interviews with current and former female members of the Nova Scotia Legislature. The thesis concludes that while women have made some gains in the political sphere in Nova Scotia, they still encounter a male-dominated, largely unwelcoming atmosphere when they are elected to the House of Assembly.
Making Sense of Computer-Mediated Communication in Online Learning
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2011-10-26) Horsburgh, Sonya; Thurlow, Amy
The objective of this thesis is to understand how students make sense of online learning. I set out to explore questions like: Do students make sense of online courses as meaningful? What factors influence students‟ sensemaking of online education? A review of the literature revealed that many people avoid online learning because they believe they will perform poorly in this environment. It also found that students who took an online course were often satisfied with their experience despite their initial resistance to this form of learning. What is interesting is that there is very little research about the process students go through to achieve this new acceptance. My own experience as a student was consistent with what I found in the literature which prompted me to explore this topic. To try and understand more about the process leading to acceptance, PR graduate students from Mount Saint Vincent University were interviewed about their experiences with online learning. This qualitative approach allowed students to reflect on their own journey and provided rich interviews for analysis. Weick‟s (1995) sensemaking provided a theoretical framework which allowed me to analyse the process students underwent to accept online learning as meaningful and effective. Throughout the students‟ journey the seven psychosocial sensemaking properties (Weick, 1995, 2005) were evident, some more prominent than others. Participants clearly articulated their sensemaking process as rooted in identity construction. This property was evident in student interviews about their own presence as students, their identities as students as defined through relationships with classmates, and the ways in which they attributed identity to their professors. In discussing their initial resistance to online learning, participants also demonstrated properties of retrospection, plausibility, and the extraction of cues from their environments. As well, in discussion of their overall experiences with online learning participants highlighted the social and ongoing nature of sensemaking. At the end of their journey to make sense of online learning, students believed that online learning was as effective as traditional face-to-face learning. Expanding our understanding of this sensemaking process as educators and communicators may allow us to support students in their journey to make sense of online learning more effectively.
Data for a Brave New World: Stem Cell and Cloning Cartoons amid Information Overload
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2012-04) Martin, Cynthia
The emergence of cloning and stem cells from science into the public realm came with overtones of science fiction, for the announcement of a cloned sheep’s birth in 1997 lodged in peoples’ minds, preceding new research into stem cells and likely resisting communications to possible health benefits. In this study, cartoons were sourced from syndicates and examined as to evolving sophistication in scientific, political and cultural content in three periods from 1996 to 2011. Coding of 517 unit samples was completed in four spheres of concerns; culture, humanity, politics and metamorphose. Findings determined that cartoonists responded to media and public discourse in early years of Dolly’s announcement, the image of that cloned sheep providing comedic as well as worrisome fodder for cartoons. Findings from the first period of study were overwhelmingly expressed in cultural and metamorphose concerns. In the second period, politics rose substantially to become equal to culture, mirroring the time period’s political confusion and funding restrictions in the United States. In the final period, politics leads culture, indicating increased and more sophisticated understanding in and of the ramifications of cloning and stem cell issues. Throughout, the representation of humanity remained low: the two spheres within the social construction of reality, codes of Culture and Politics, were significantly dominant over the two spheres within natural laws and nature as the primary order, in Humanity and Metamorphose. A revised “image word sense” concept for coding the entirety of communication in cartoons was demonstrated, with overall content shifts determining the sophistication of messages within cartoons altered significantly over the period of study largely related to political events circa 2001. The study suggests that cartoons, which contain narratives that tell us to think not how to think, can indeed be constructed and used as communication aids. Results of this study indicate that just as in science where the cell determines what it is to be, science is informed by data and humanities theory as to nature and society. Findings also show that cartoons may aid in increasing scientific communications and citizenship and be useful to communicators as an antidote to scarcity of attention and information overload.
Social media, public relations, and the Government of Canada: An analysis of internal organizational texts
(2012-04-19) Basha, Janine
This thesis examined an internal policy document surrounding social media as a medium of public communication by the Government of Canada. It employed qualitative content analysis to examine an internal policy document titled Considerations for the Government of Canada’s use of Social Media to Communicate with and Engage the Public. In conjunction with the key considerations of structuration theory (Giddens, 1984) and structural elements of the institution itself, this qualitative content analysis endeavoured to examine used the Government of Canada’s (GC) perspective on the integration of social media into communication strategies, as well as the social and communicative norms that are demonstrated through this text. Dominant themes were identified and examined to facilitate the provision of practical advice for the GC with respect to how they can improve their communication practices and utilize online social media as a means of effective public communication.
Case Study: Nova Scotia Burning Exploring Racial Discourse in Nova Scotia Media
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2013) Titus-Roberts, Jolene; Thurlow, Amy
This case study examined The Chronicle Herald’s “Nova Scotia Burning” feature series, produced in 2011 in response to a cross-burning incident that occurred in Hants County, Nova Scotia in 2010. The study used postcolonial theory to examine the discursive practices in the text to understand how issues of race, representation, and racism pertaining to Black Nova Scotians were treated. The analysis illuminated a very complex process whereby the media itself attempted to destabilize some of the dominant discourses surrounding race and racism in Nova Scotia, and yet, in the end, reproduced them through their use of language, imagery and meaning making. This study contributes to our understanding of how issues of race and racism are treated in Nova Scotia media.
Public relations and communication management: In search of a pedagogical model for the MBA curriculum in Canada
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2013) Rath, Theresa; Parsons, Patricia
The Master of Business Administration (MBA) curriculum in Canada is lacking in that it does not include a public relations (PR) and communication management component. This is counterintuitive to the belief that effective management and leadership are tantamount to effective communication, and flies in the face of both the onus on organizations to communicate with their publics and those publics’ right to know. This study strives to illuminate the void in the Canadian MBA curriculum as it relates to PR and communication management, and to determine Canadian business leaders’ acceptance of such content therein. It uses a mixed methods approach to inquiry; the author first conducts a conceptual content analysis of Canadian MBA program websites which demonstrates the absence of strategic communication concepts in the graduate business school curriculum, and subsequently interviews Canadian business leaders to determine PR and communication management’s possible place in the MBA, the findings of which overwhelmingly call for such instruction in the graduate business school curriculum. When considered both individually and collectively, the quantitative and qualitative research findings inform the creation of a pedagogical model for a PR and communication management curriculum in the MBA which is steeped in PR/communication, ethical and pedagogical theories. This work stands to advance the pedagogy and practice of PR and communication management, bolster the MBA curriculum and create scores of Canadian MBA graduates – our future business leaders – who understand and value the PR and communication management function, and ultimately embrace their responsibility for it in their professional pursuits.
Goffman’s Dramaturgy: A case study analysis for potential inclusion in communication theory studies
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2014-08) Dell, Jennifer; Thurlow, Amy
This thesis presents Erving Goffman’s dramaturgy as a useful framework to advance our understanding of the functionality of communication. While Goffman’s work has been acknowledged and accepted as contributing to the understanding of interactive communication, often a comprehensive understanding of Goffman’s dramaturgy is absent from communication theory textbooks. In this thesis, Goffman’s dramaturgy is applied to an act of public communication to provide a strong argument for an increased and more comprehensive inclusion of his work in the field of communication studies. Using a critical discourse analysis (CDA) methodology coupled with Goffman’s dramaturgy, this thesis examines the performance of Ed Burkhardt during an impromptu press conference held in Lac-Mégantic, after the train derailment. It finds the CEO’s performance is strained by his selected role, normative pressures to conform to audience expectations, and a failed attempt to influence the frame. CDA is discovered to be a suitable methodology to be used with Goffman’s dramaturgy because it encourages the researcher to include contemplations at both a micro and macro level.
Marketing romantic relationships through social media: An analysis of the online discourse of relationship counsellors
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2014-09) Roestenberg, Lana; Rehberg Sedo, Denel
Romantic relationships are of fundamental importance to most people – both men and women - and we derive great satisfaction from being in a romantic relationship. For various reasons, people may turn to relationship counsellors when in need of relationship advice. With a focus on romantic relationships, this study examines how the discourse of relationship counselors defines romantic relationships. The qualitative study using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) was carried out analyzing 130 electronic newsletters from the year 2012. A Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of two case studies of romantic relationship counsellors involved the coding of data resulting in identification of common themes within the samples. The analysis contributes to our understanding of how romantic relationships are treated by relationship counsellors and women and men. The results show that across both case studies, there is a common discourse used when defining romantic relationships. Furthermore, the findings bring to light a picture of romantic relationships as something that can be manipulated with the right tools and techniques.
Talking Big About Small Talk: A Contemporary Theoretical Model for Phatic Communication
(Mount Saint Vincent University, 2014-09) González Manzo, Fabiana; Kushniryk, Alla
This thesis views phatic communication as a discursive mechanism relevant to the establishment and maintenance of social bonds, even in contemporary times. The theoretical framework that guides this research is Thomas Scheff's sociological Bond Theory. Through it, the functional significance of phatic communication in interpersonal relationships and society at large is characterized. Further attention is given to phaticity in social media, where online social platforms are used to establish and maintain bonds through different mechanisms. The framework for this purpose comes from the work of sociologist Vincent Miller and his concept of phatic culture. A theoretical model for phatic communication is elaborated through a classificatory scheme that identifies the formal and structural characteristics of phatic communication and phatic gestures. In consort with this process, representative illustrations of phatic communication are presented and explained from fabricated and secondary data. Sources for analysis include social occasions, such as greetings and spontaneous conversation in transient space, dialogues in work places, and exchanges in private contexts.

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