Western Kentucky University TopSCHOLAR® Dissertations Graduate School 5-2011 Understanding Inter-and Intra-Generational Communication Methods Utilizing a Framework of Message Sensitivity Thomas Edwin Craft rJ . Western Kentucky University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/diss Part of the Communication Technology and New Media Commons, Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research Commons, and the Higher Education and Teaching Commons Recommended Citation Craft, Thomas Edwin Jr., "Understanding Inter-and Intra-Generational Communication Methods Utilizing a Framework of Message Sensitivity" (2011). Dissertations. Paper 8. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/diss/8 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by TopSCHOLAR®. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TopSCHOLAR®. For more information, please contact [email protected]. UNDERSTANDING INTER- AND INTRA-GENERATIONAL COMMUNICATION METHODS UTILIZING A FRAMEWORK OF MESSAGE SENSITIVITY A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Educational Leadership Doctoral Program Western Kentucky University Bowling Green, Kentucky In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education By Thomas Edwin Craft, Jr. May 2011 UNDERSTANDING INTER AND INTRA-GENERATIONAL COMMUNICATION METHODS UTILIZING A FRAMEWORK OF MESSAGE SENSITIVITY Date Recommended ~ $.1 2tJ / / ~~ Randall Capps, Dissertation Chair carle~-fJ-rP{----- S~~7-=== ~/2~4'l2L Robert Reber First and foremost I would like to thank God for everything that He has done for me, for watching out over me when I was not deserving of it, and for blessing my family. Next, I would like to dedicate this to the five people in my life who mean the most to me: my wife, my children and my parents. To my wife who spent countless hours wondering when I would ever get finished with school, who stood behind me the whole time and supported me through the entire journey, who took care of the house and Thomas and never once complained. You are truly more deserving of recognition than I. I love you with all of my heart, as the quote from Marcel Proust states, "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." You are the gardener who makes my soul happy. To my son who just wanted me to play the Wii game with him and wanted a little more attention than I was able to give, who got up early in the morning to kiss me goodbye for the day, who was asleep at night when I arrived home, and whom I gently carried to his own bed. As Eleanor Roosevelt stated, "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.‖ Your innocence makes it clear to me how easy it is to see the difference between right and wrong, and to stop, look fear in the face, and always do the right thing. To my daughter with whom my time has been so short, I miss deeply being able to spend time with you. ―If I had a single flower for every time I think about you, I could walk forever in my garden.‖ Claudia Ghandi And to my parents who taught me more than they realize and who I owe everything that I am today. From Mark Twain, ―Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." You have always challenged me to climb the tallest mountain, to fight ―the bear,‖ and to be the best I could possibly be. Yet, at the same time I have always known if I stumbled or fell, you would be there to pick me up. Acknowledgements Many people have helped me along this journey and I would like to take this opportunity to say Thank You. I know I will not be able to thank all who have helped. I owe a debt of gratitude to all the members of my dissertation committee for your hard work and advice as I embarked on this journey. Your prompt responses, discussions about my research, and advice were invaluable. This dissertation would not have been possible without your continued help. Thank you Dr. Capps for your continued support as my dissertation chair and mentor; without your continued words of encouragement, this journey would not have been possible. You pushed me to step outside of my comfort zone and take on new and exciting projects. Thank you Dr. Burch whom I wish I had spent my lifetime learning from. You have been invaluable in my educational journey. Thank you to Bob Cobb for the rigor in which we reviewed the data for the research presented in this dissertation. At times I felt as if my dissertation was as important to you as it was to me. You have made many friends in life. Thank you to Dr. Bob Owen, my boss, for understanding, allowing me time to complete this process, for supporting me in my endeavor to achieve a great milestone in my life, and being my mentor. Thank you to my cohort and the other members of the Educational Doctoral Program. You have given me an inner strength to finish the program. v Epigraph Education is a social process. Education is growth. Education is, not a preparation for life; education is life itself. John Dewey They say genes skip generations. Maybe that‘s why grandparents find their grandchildren so likeable. Joan Mcintosh The older generation thought nothing of getting up at five every morning – and the younger generation doesn‘t think much of it either. John J. Welsh It used to be if you didn‘t feel well, you went to a doctor. These days you have to know why you don‘t feel well—in order to know what kind of a doctor to go to. Paul Harwitz That which seems the height of absurdity in one generation often becomes the height of wisdom in another. Adlai Stevenson Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it. George Orwell You know, I hear everybody talking about the generation gap. Frankly, sometimes I don‘t know what they‘re talking about. Heck, by now I should know a little bit about it, if I‘m ever going to. I have seven kids and eighteen grandkids and I don‘t seem to have any trouble talking to any of them. Never have had, and I don‘t intend to start now. John Wayne vi Contents Chapter I: Introduction .........................................................................................................1 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 Problem Statement ...................................................................................................... 3 Purpose ........................................................................................................................ 6 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................... 7 Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 7 Rationale of the Study and its Significance ................................................................. 8 Nature of the Study ...................................................................................................... 8 Limitations of the Study .............................................................................................. 8 Definition of Terms ..................................................................................................... 9 Summary ................................................................................................................... 11 Chapter II: Review of the Literature ..................................................................................12 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 12 Generational Information .......................................................................................... 13 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................................. 15 Generational Theory .................................................................................................. 16 Cyclical Generation Theory ............................................................................... 16 Linear Generational Theory ............................................................................... 20 Other Generational Theories .............................................................................. 22 vii Technology‘s Effect on Younger Generations .......................................................... 24 Video Games ...................................................................................................... 25 Communication Methods .......................................................................................... 27 Telephone Communication ................................................................................ 28 Electronic Mail Communication ........................................................................ 30 Text Messaging .................................................................................................. 30 Social Networking Sites ..................................................................................... 31 Communication Theories .......................................................................................... 31 Expectancy Violations Theory ..........................................................................