D.Litt. et Phil. (Communication Studies) / Public relations as the active outwards and inwards communication process in the functioning of the organisation is seldom evaluated. In most cases, evaluation is limited to the measurement of media and message exposures. Although the importance of evaluation is emphasized by various researchers, limited research has been done on the evaluation process, a lack of systems methodology exists and no theoretical model has been developed or proposed to date. These problems led to the central aims of this study: to identify systems methodology for the evaluation process; and to develop an integrated communication evaluation model to redefine existing evaluation methods and techniques. Two methods were followed to address these aims. First an extensive theoretical study wasdone in terms of the systems theory to identify the systems methodology on which the evaluation process is based. Secondly, the concepts, methods and techniques for evaluation were identified and integrated into a theoretical framework for the evaluation process. A further purpose of this study was to explore evaluation to determine the role it fulfils in the functioning of the organisation, the communication process and the public relations process. Furthermore, an overview of developments in evaluation research is given. The aim was to draw from these findings to formulate directives for the development of an integrated communication evaluation model. To achieve this purpose, the concept evaluation was conceptualised and the main streams of thought were highlighted in terms of an integrated communication approach to evaluation. An integrated communication approach to evaluation suggests that public relations should not be evaluated in isolation, but that it should be integrated with other communication processes. The emphasis of an integrated communication process to evaluation is on information, a consumer/employee orientation, the use of both qualitative and quantitative evaluation in terms of three methods (attitude and behavior changes, effect studies and content analysis), and four new criteria for evaluation (the four C's: consumer/employee perceptions, communication of service/product qualities, cost to the consumer/employee and convenience).

D.Litt. et Phil. (Communication Studies) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The purposes of this study are to develop criteria for examining a theory of communication and perception with particular reference to the principles of good filmstrip design, to produce a logical rationale for the step-by-step development of a filmstrip for use in the college introductory art class, to produce a sample of "Design-An Introduction", and to analyze the filmstrip on the basis of the criteria which result from the development of a theory of visually-oriented teaching which utilizes verbal means for additional amplification.

The problem of this study is the relationship of perception and a selected communication model to filmstrip design.

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This thesis consists of six publications presenting a theoretical framework, a methodological proposal and three empirical studies. The aim of the work is; to gain knowledge on how children with severe multiple disabilities communicate with their caregivers, to analyse how different research strategies can add knowledge from different perspectives on communication, and to develop models for analysing and describing the dyadic interaction. The theoretical framework addresses the impact of multiple disabilities on the child’s communicative development, as well as the role of the communication partner, and implications for interventions. In the methodological framework, different research approaches are discussed and a system theory-based approach is proposed. The empirical studies are focused on pre-school children with intellectual disabilities in combination with vision disability and/or motor disability. When relationships between use of communication and child characteristics and setting conditions were investigated, the results showed relationships between disability and the use of communication but also that children with similar disability profiles could display quite different communicative patterns. When the communicative process was investigated with the proposed system theory-based approach, it was found that the child and caregiver continuously co-regulated their actions and together created consensual frames and that the process went through phases of instability and stability. Models for a system theory-based analysis of dyadic interaction are presented. The discussion is concentrated around how the results from the studies along with the theoretical aspects can contribute to evidence-based practice. The main conclusions are that, in communication involving a person with severe multiple disabilities, meaning is something that is co-constructed and communication cannot be regarded as a personal competence, the competence is within the dyad.

L'investissement des adultes pour augmenter la survie des jeunes est souvent optimisé par une communication émise par les jeunes et informant les parents de leur niveau de besoin. Nous avons exploré dans cette thèse si les comportements des larves de fourmi pouvaient être des quémandes alimentaires telles que définies par les modèles de communication honnête. En effet, les fourmis, eusociales, possèdent un système de relations sociales et de coopérations qui diffère du modèle parental classiquement décrit. Nous avons donc testé chez la fourmi Ectatomma tuberculatum si les comportements des larves pouvaient refléter leur niveau de besoin et si les ouvrières apportaient la nourriture en fonction du signal comme prédit par les modèles. Nous montrons dans cette thèse que les mouvements émis par les larves ainsi qu'un composé chimique volatil larvaire pourraient tous deux intervenir et influencer l'apport alimentaire par les ouvrières. Les mouvements larvaires augmentent avec le stade de développement des larves et le composé chimique augmenterait avec le niveau d'affamement des larves. Les ouvrières, nourrices et fourrageuses, pourraient donc optimiser la répartition des ressources alimentaires de la colonie grâce à ces signaux ou indices des larves. Cependant, nous montrons aussi que plusieurs autres facteurs proximaux interviennent. Les mouvements larvaires font suite à des contacts fortuits avec les ouvrières, et l'organisation spatiale des ouvrières et des larves influencent les mouvements larvaires et le nourrissage. Des hypothèses alternatives ou complémentaires à la communication sont donc proposées. / Parental investment to increase survivability of the young is often optimised by signalling emitted by the young and informing the parents of their level of need. In this thesis, we explored whether the behaviour of ant larvae could be analysed as food solicitations as defined by honest communication models. Indeed, ants are highly social and their social relations differ from the social relation in parent-offspring systems which is usually analysed for food solicitations. We therefore tested, in the ant Ectatomma tuberculatum, whether behaviour of the larvae was correlated with the level of need and if workers provisioned larvae with food according to the intensity of the signal, as predicted by honest signalling models. We showed in this thesis that movements displayed by the larvae as well as a larval volatile emission could influence food provisioning by workers. Larval movements increase with larval developmental stage and volatile emission vary with nutritional state of the larvae. Nurse and forager workers could then optimise food resources allocation inside the nest thanks to signals or cues from the larvae. However, we also show that several other proximal factors are involved. Larval movements are not freely displayed but follow a contact with a worker, and spatial organisation of workers and larvae influences larval movements and food provisioning. Thus we propose alternative or complementary hypotheses to the communication hypothesis.

Problem: The concept of marketing segmentation was introduced over 60 years ago and have been a central element in the process of conducting customer analysis since then. However, it has barely been criticized. Consequently, companies have constructed their communication strategies upon segmentation criteria’s with the belief of it being the most effective alternative. As digitalization has changed the way in which information is retrieved and the way people communicate with one another, the customer analysis process should be adapted accordingly.   Purpose: This study aimed to explore how customer analysis is performed by professionals in the marketing field today and identify which factors professionals find essential when communicating with their target audience.   Method: To fulfil the purpose of this research and answer the research questions, a qualitative research approach with a case study was conducted. Semi-structured interviews with eight Swedish professionals in the field of marketing was held in the empirical data collection process.   Conclusion:   The analysis of the interviews showed that there is an understanding of new perspectives when conducting customer analysis among professionals today. Furthermore, acknowledgments were made that for marketing communication to be effective, changes in customer demand and individuals life context should be taken into account. Based on these results, we conclude that segmentation criteria’s might be less relevant when identifying prospects and communicating with target audiences today. Moreover, companies should become familiar with their customer's preparatory understandings, as this premise could be used as a complement to segmentation when identifying prospects and performing effective marketing communication.

The recent breakthroughs in communication technologies have reintroduced the user to Internet. Media consumers became empowered with the capabality to produce, and will gradually shift from the traditional role of an audience to generate content, compete with mainstream media and construct new social and cultural realities. The impact user-generated-content is having over individuals and groups is still ambiguous and requires a better understanding of both the nature of UGC and the particularity of social media platforms as a channel. The pupose of this paper is to further the discussion on how user-generated-content impact audiences in terms of opinion and behavior, particularly during periods of crisis.

This thesis presents a framework for inter-agent communication, represented and partially implemented with default reasoning. I focus on the limited goal of determining the meaning for a Hearer-agent of an utterance ω by a Speaker-agent, in terms of the beliefs of the interlocutors. This meaning is generally more than just the explicit propositional contents of ω, and more than just the Speaker's goal to convey her belief that ω. One way of determining this meaning is to let the Hearer take stock of the implicit components of the Speaker's utterances. Among the implicit components of the meaning of ω, I show in particular how to derive certain of its presuppositions with a set of default schemata using a framework for default reasoning. More information can be extracted from the communications channel between interlocutors by adopting a normative model of inter-agent communication, and using this model to explain or 'make sense' of the Speaker's utterances. I construct such a model expressed in terms of a set of default principles of communication using the same framework for default reasoning. The task of deriving the meaning of an utterance is similar to the job required of a user-interface, where the user is the Speaker-agent, and the interface itself is the Hearer-agent. The goal of a user-interface as Hearer is to make maximal use of the data moving along the communications channel between user and application. The result is an integrated theory of normative, inter-agent communications expressed within an ontologically and logically minimal framework. This work demonstrates the development and application of a methodology for the use of default reasoning. The implementation of the theory is also presented, along with a discussion of its applicability to practical user-interfacing. A view emerges of user-modelling as a component of a user-interface. / Science, Faculty of / Computer Science, Department of / Graduate