Communicatiewetenschap als scheikunde of chemie: Naar een integrale benadering van de wetenschapsdiscipline

• Published in: Tijdschrift voor communicatiewetenschap 2014-11, Vol.42 (4), p.329
• Main Authors: van Vuuren PhD, Mark, Aarts, Noelle, Stevens MSc, Tim
• Format: Article
• Language: dut
• ISSN: 1384-6930; 1875-7286

Communication science as atomology or chemistry: towards an integral approach of the scientific discipline A scientific discipline benefits from a variety of perspectives. In this study we use the 'integral framework of communication research' to map the variety of research approaches of the empirical studies published in the journal Tijdschrift voor Communicatiewetenschap in the period 2002-2012. This assessment shows that research in the domain of communication science often takes the individual as unit of analysis and barely studies interactions among people. If the sender and receiver are cut off from the context and are studied as separate objects, then the communication science is like the study of atomology without chemistry. Such a partiality can hamper the societal relevance of the discipline, which is to bring insight into the complexity of our society and the meaning of communication therein. A reorientation of the big questions that bind us and a shared interest for multiple research approaches can incite the chemistry of our discipline.