CITATION AND COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
Cite as: Clark, K. D. (1995). A communication-as-procedure perspective: An ethnographic and Sense-Making study of a women’s spirituality group. Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University. Advisor, Brenda Dervin.
© Kathleen Diana Clark (1995).
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ADVISOR:
Brenda Dervin

ABSTRACT:
This research examines the communicative process of a women’s spirituality group focusing on elements identified in the feminist consciousness-raising group process. How does a feminist group, informed by a feminist consciousness of process, create and maintain a group in keeping with its vision? How is the group process egalitarian, pluralistic, and democratic? How are the communicative practices of feminist group process unable to maintain its vision? Communication-as-procedure is a theoretic perspective being developed by Dervin and colleagues which attempts to deal with communication as a process rather than an end product. The perspective attempts to shift the study of communicative action from a static to a dynamic mode by “verbing” it, and by using the conceptually grounded Sense-Making methodology.

Data was collected from a women’s group focusing on spirituality situated in a larger religious community. A combination of ethnographic and Sense-Making methods was used to study a group of eight women with field notes from six months of meetings followed by in-depth Sense-Making interviews six months after that. The data were first inductively observed for patterns and themes. Next a communication-as-procedure analytic tool was used to systematically assess and organize the data. Finally, a deductive theoretic template was applied to the inductively analyzed material.

This group’s process was structured using communicative procedures such as visioning, creating, and maintaining. When a few group members stopped attending, this was conceptualized as dysjuncturing. Communicative procedures were used both intentionally and unconsciously in this group. Unlike the recommendations of the feminist group literature, these women did not consistently use communicative procedures to make their group more egalitarian, pluralistic, and democratic. The power dynamics between members of the group and the religious community added tension, making it difficult for group members to realize their visions. In spite of the difficulty and tension, many of the women succeeded in manifesting the experience they had sought in creating this group.

OTHER MATERIALS BY THIS AUTHOR ON THIS WEBSITE:
See: http://communication.sbs.ohio-state.edu/sense-making/AAauthors/authorlistclark.html