It's a journey: From Media Effects to Dynamic Systems

Abstract

This paper aims to demonstrate how an analytical paradigm shift from the General Linear Model (GLM) used in most communication processes and effects research to dynamic systems theory (DST, a nonlinear mathematical theory), fundamentally changes one’s research assumptions and research questions and leads to novel approaches to research design, data collection, and analysis. Concrete examples demonstrating these changes are drawn from the co-viewing literature. In addition, we discuss how data collected and interpreted using the GLM can be re-analyzed and re-interpreted to further inform our understanding of communication behavior when we use the assumptions of dynamic systems theory to derive new predictions.