Analysis Of Boundary Turbulence In Research

Dr. Rachel McLaren, an associate professor in the communication studies department, engages in research that includes the topics of interpersonal communication, social cognition, and hurtful messages. She identifies as a positivist because she believes that by studying communication, objective truths are revealed and explain how large groups of people transmit and respond to messages. Because these truths are essential to communication, she attempts to understand them by studying specific variables of individuals through empirical observation. For example, she conducted a study that researched boundary turbulence in relationships. Her first research question asks about the prevalence of certain emotions during occurrences of boundary turbulence. This motivates her first hypothesis that suggests anger will be positively associated with boundary turbulence approaches (McLaren, 2013). As a result, this …show more content…
McLaren involve participants, procedures and measurement. She employs a quantitative methodology, so that the results of her studies remain consistent, thus, driven by her views as a positivist. A second study she has led discussed the topic of how people communicate hurt. She reached out to potential participants through a mass e-mail in order to reach a more diverse sample. After selecting participants she disseminated surveys to be completed as a part of the procedure to her research. In the surveys she asked open-ended questions related to the topic of boundary turbulence and represented possible responses as numbers on a given scale (McLaren, 2014). In doing so, her participants were able to communicate their perceived emotions on this scale so the results could be measured quantitatively. Therefore, Dr. McLaren advances her position as a positivist because she believes that by focusing her methods of surveying the participants and using scales to collect information, an objective reality will be