COMMUNICATION PROCESS & AUDIENCE ANALYSIS

Communication Process & Audience Analysis

Courtney Reiter

Ottawa University

March 13, 2022

Professor Cook
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Communication Process & Audience Analysis

In communication there are a lot of processes that go into making a communication

process and the audience analysis. Communication is best described as a translation of a message

from a sender to a receiver in any manner. Communication is a huge key in the world today with

the personal world and the business world. As mentioned by Sanchez (n.d.), “it has been proven

that poor communication reduces quality, weakens productivity, and eventually leads to anger

and a lack of trust among individuals within the organization”. This is why the communication

process, and everything intertwined in it and the audience analysis is extremely important for

sending and receiving messages properly. The communication process is made up of different

processes of the sender and receiver in a message and the interlaying elements that are also

involved.

Communication Process

Sender

The sender in any type of communication is the person who is in fact sending the

message. They are the ones who are simply sending a message to others and the receiver can

even become the sender depending on the type of communication occurring. According to

Sanchez (n.d.), “the sender’s experiences, attitudes, knowledge, skill, perceptions, and culture

influence the message”. Anything can affect the way in which a sender sends a message and if

there is anything that affects the sender it can interfere with how the receiver receives the

message and that can cause some errors in the message.

Encoding
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When it comes to the steps a sender is faced with, the first step is encoding. Encoding is

the “translating [of] information into a message in the forms of symbols that represent ideas or

concepts. This process translates the ideas or concepts into the coded message that will be

communicated” (Sanchez, n.d.). The symbols can be anywhere from languages, to gestures, to

words, to pictures, and to sounds to encode any ideas into a message for the receiver to

understand them. A lot of encoding messages is relating it to what they think the receiver is able

to understand and how they will understand. Using symbols that are not familiar with the

receiver is not a great way to encode a message. A great way to encode a message properly is to

“mentally visualize the communication from the receiver’s point of view” (Sanchez, n.d.). Doing

this will help send a message more clearly to the receiver and they have a higher chance of

understanding the message as well.

Frames of Reference

Frames of reference are the way a person perceives the world and their surroundings. “It

is a particular set of values, beliefs or ideas on which they base their judgment of things” (Cook,

2020, 3:11). This all has to do with influences that can come from parents, teachers, any type of

life experiences, one’s culture and just simply each individuals’ views on the world. Frames of

references are unique and personal to each person. So, when it comes to encoding a message, it is

important to keep in mind that everyone has their own frames of reference so a message might

come off a little different based on their background and what they have framed their world on.

Noise

Noise is defined as “any type of disruption that interferes with the interpretation of

information from the message sender” (Kyle, 2020). There are four specific type of noise that
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can interfere with the receiver receiving the message in a different way than the sender wanted.

The first type of noise that one can encounter is physical noise. This is the most common noise

because it is what it sounds like, it is literal noise. Cook (2020), explains that “examples of this

noise could be things such as a lot of people talking at once in a small meeting room or phones

ringing in the office or people talking within earshot of where you are, or dishing clanging in a

restaurant” (5:35). There is also outside noise which refers to noise that is coming from outside

the environment that one is in. This could be hearing noises outside an office building that can be

very distracting in an important conversation. The second type of noise is physiological noise.

According to Cook (2020), the physiological noise “refers to you personally, a few examples

might be a headache or the medication that you’re taking is affecting your ability to listen or any

physical ailment or pain. It can also refer to any permanent physical disabilities such as being

hearing impaired” (6:05). The third type of noise is psychological noise. This type of noise is

more of the internal thoughts and attitudes and preconceived notions that how we focus and

listen to interpret messages. “Examples of this would include both negative and positive

thoughts” (Cook, 2020, 6:30). The final type of noise is semantic noise, and this refers to

differences in understanding words that are used in the communication interaction. One big thing

that can cause semantic noise can be language barriers and even broken English or speaking any

type of broken language. All of these frames of reference have an influence on the way a

message is encoded.

Channel and Codes

A channel is they way a message is conveyed. Channels can also be referred to as a

medium and they are either oral or written. Currently as technology has expanded the channels

are becoming more and more visual. According to Sanchez (n.d.), “the effectiveness of the
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various channels fluctuates depending on the characteristics of the communication”. Oral

communication channels can be very important for immediate feedback of something because

any unclarity can be solved right then and there. “Although in many cases, both oral and written

channels should be used because one supplements the other” (Sanchez, 2020). If a message is

sent through the wrong channel, it can affect the way the receiver receives the message.

Messages can be received through any type of channel as long as the message gets through there

is no right or wrong way. “Each channel will have one or more codes. The codes we’re talking

about are vocal, verbal, and visual codes” (Cook, 2020, 10:06). Vocal codes are the qualities of

one’s voice that goes with the words spoken, like the accents, volume, and pitch of one’s voice.

Verbal channel is the words that are being used and how these words can be spoken or written.

Visual code is the non-verbal interactions, body language, and facial expressions. These codes

are part of evaluating the media richness of communication.

Receiver and Decoding

Receiver is the individual or individuals that are receiving the message directly. The way

in which a person receives a message is based on a number of facts, such as knowledge,

experience, relationship and trust between the sender and the receiver. According to Sanchez

(2020), “all interpretations by the receiver are influenced by their experiences, attitudes,

knowledge, skills, perceptions, and culture. It is similar to the sender’s relationship with

encoding”. Decoding begins once the message has been received. Decoding is when the receiver

extracts the meaning of the message from the words, phrases, vocals, and visual codes, the

receiver can then code the message and find the meaning that was send from the sender. All of

this is accomplished by the sender taking in affect noise, frame of reference that could affect

mistranslation in the message and still getting it across clearly. Everything the sender goes
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through to send the message, the receiver goes through the same thing in order to decode the

message properly.

Environment

“Environment refers to the context in which the communication interaction is taking

place” (Cook, 2020, 14:16). One example of this would be the difference in a communication

between people in a library compared to a busy mall setting. Each environment setting is going

to have an interplay on the various elements of the communication process. The environment can

have an affect on one receiving a message because it sets one mind to what might be happening

depending on what is going on in that environment. This can have an impact on credibility and

judgement of such environment.

Feedback

Feedback is arguably the most important element of the communication process.

“Feedback is the receiver’s response to the interpreted message and informs the sender if the

message was properly decoded or if modification is required” (Cook, 2020, 16:19). Receiving

feedback whether it be immediate or delayed is the only way in which one is going to be able to

know if they sent the message properly or if there was anything that was lacked or missed in

sending it properly to the receiver. For example, if one is presenting in front of a group and there

isn’t a certain reaction to the information just said, then that person needs to ask questions and

receive that feedback to make sure the proper meaning was extracted from the message that was

just sent.

Audio Analysis

Defined and Explained

“Audience analysis is the process if gathering information about the people in your

audience so that you can understand their needs, expectations, beliefs, values, attitudes, and

likely options” (Saylor Academy, 2012, ch. 5). There are three different types of audience

analysis: demographic analysis, psychographic analysis, and situational analysis. With the

demographic analysis includes different factors such as gender, age, marital status, and culture.

When it comes to age there is a lot to learn about the audience just based of their age. You can

base on how someone grew up based off their age and what they might have had to go through

growing up such as 9/11 or even the Vietnam War in the 1960s. Gender can also define the

audience because male and females have all gone through different experiences in history which

have grown to where they are today. The same goes with martial statuses, “even if your audience

consists of young adults who have not yet made occupational or martial commitments, they are

still aware that gender and the choices they make about issues such as careers and relationships

will influence their experience as adults” (Saylor Academy, 2012). Being able to know the

demographic analysis of the audience one is able to understand what type of audience they are

interacting with.

Psychographic analysis is information that includes things such as values, opinions,

attitudes, and beliefs. Psychographic information is not as straight forward as demographic

analysis. “Psychographic analysis can reveal preexisting notions that limit your audience’s frame

of reference. By knowing about such notions ahead of time, you can address them in your

speech” (Saylor Academy, 2012). Being able to find out about the audiences’ beliefs and values

before a speech will be able to help the speaker connect with the audience more than not

knowing any of this before speaking and not being able to connect with the audience.
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Situational analysis is focused on the characteristics related to a specific speaking

situation. The situational analysis can be divided into two different questions “1. How many

people came to hear my speech and what are they here? What events, concerns, and needs

motivated them to come? What is their interest level, and what else might be competing for their

attention? 2. What is the physical environment of the speaking situation? What is the size of the

audience, layout of the room, existence of a podium or a microphone, and availability of digital

media for visual aids? Are there any distractions, such as traffic noise?” (Saylor Academy,

2012). All of these connect once again to the speaker and the audience and being able to

understand what they are having to work with.

Interplay Between the Communication Process and Audience Analysis

The interplay between the communication process and audience analysis is a big

connection between one another. Audience analysis plays off of the communication process in

multiple ways. It all connects to how the sender is connecting with the audience and being able

to properly send the message to the said audience. The speaker when looking and finding out

what their audience consists of will in turn help them go through the communication process and

be able to make sure they get the channels correct and make sure that it fits the

receivers/audience and hopefully if they have sent the information correctly, they will receive

immediate feedback by an applause or questions that anyone might have about the previously

said information. Also, the receiver has to learn how to take in whatever noise might be

happening whether it be cellphones, airplanes going overhead, or just small side conversations.

How the Communication Process & Audience Analysis Affect Message Construction
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The communication process and the audience analysis can affect message construction a

few different ways. If the speaker doesn’t fully fulfil the communication process, then that can

affect the way the message is constructed. The construction of a message is relied heavily on the

connection of the communication process and the audience analysis. All this connects to each

other, and they can happen without the other but together they work best to deliver a specific

message and make the message construct together easier.

Conclusion

The communication process is a big key to anyone who is trying to send and even receive

a message properly. By following it one is able to send a message clearly and help the receiver

connect to the message and not have the message get lost in translation along the way. The main

things for the communication process are the sender, receiver, encoding of the message, frames

of reference to connect to the receiver, decoding the message, and feedback. Even with audience

analysis it is important to learn about the audience that is going to receive the message and make

sure they are able to connect to them as a whole by learning previously about their beliefs,

values, attitudes, opinions, and their needs. In whole, the communication process should be taken

into consideration every time someone needs to send a message to someone and make sure that

the message is being sent clearly and received clearly as well.

References

Cook, D. (2020). Communication process explained [video]. YouTube. Retrieved from:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oFDMjq5n64

Kyle (n.d.). Explain the process of communication with definition, and diagram. Learn Tech.

Retrieved from: https://learntechit.com/the-process-of-communication/

Sanchez, N (n.d.) Communication process. Retrieved from:

https://web.njit.edu/~lipuma/352comproc/comproc.htm#:~:text=The%20communication

%20process%20is%20made,the%20sender%20and%20the%20receiver.

Saylor Academy (2012). Stand up, speak out: The practice and ethics of public speaking. V. 1

Retrieved from: https://saylordotorg.github.io/text_stand-up-speak-out-the-practice-and-

ethics-of-public-speaking/s08-audience-analysis.html