Thesis (M.F.A.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 97 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. iii).

Spiral of silence has been published for 30 years, and been tested in many areas, however these test are not all qualified. This study aims to interpret spiral of silence theory and to inspect if there are any misuse in these test. First, we interpret these theory form the origin of the theory and it¡¦s deducing process, and built an theory model. Then inspect those test based on this model. The result discovered that most of these test stressed on testing people¡¦s willingness to speak out, and misleaded to compare one¡¦s opinion and one¡¦s perception of majority. This comprehension gap may comes from the wrong variable definition in the operational models. For this sake, this study offered a theory model to overcome this gap.

The purpose of this investigation is to further an understanding of the spiral of silence theory as it functions within both face-to-face (FtF) and computer-mediated contexts. Computer-mediated communication (CMC is often touted for being an empowering medium as it affords its users anonymity. This finding could have an impact on whether the spiral of silence occurs within CMC. Previous studies have relied upon hypothetical scenarios and have established weak support for the theory. Despite this study’s utilization of a within-subjects experimental design, however, no significant differences in minority opinion holders’ fear of isolation were found. Similarly, no significant relationship was found between minority opinion holders’ attention paid to news and fear of isolation. In regards to both majority and minority opinion holders, no significant differences in perceptions of opinions expressed in either condition were found. Reasons for such unexpected findings, as well as strengths, limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.