This book provides a comprehensive, balanced introduction to communication research methods. Designed for readers who have little or no familiarity with research methods, this book helps one become a more knowledgeable and competent consumer (and limited producer) of scholarly research and of the everyday research to which they are exposed by the mass media. Praised for its accessible writing and extensive real-life examples, this book takes a step-by-step approach through the communication research process. Investigating Communication shows how communication research is conducted from start to finish, with the book's organization modeled after a traditional research study. By making the material accessible rather than impossible to learn, readers become excited about studying research methods. For anyone interested in the introductory methods of communication research.
Preface ix PART ONE CONCEPTUALIZING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH 1(78) Introduction To The Research Culture 3(24) The Importance of Knowing Research Methods 3(3) Making Claims and Offering Evidence 6(2) Everyday Ways of Knowing 8(4) Personal Experience 8(1) Intuition 9(1) Authority 10(1) Appeals to Tradition, Custom, and Faith 10(1) Magic, Superstition, and Mysticism 11(1) The Research Process 12(9) Characteristics of Research 12(5) Research as Culture 17(3) Research as Conversation 20(1) The Importance of Distinguishing Research from Pseudoresearch 21(5) Conclusion 26(1) Asking Questions About Communication 27(21) Defining Communication 27(1) What Constitutes Communication Research? 28(1) Areas of Communication Research 28(2) Basic Versus Applied Communication Research Topics 30(8) Basic Communication Research 30(3) Applied Communication Research 33(3) An Integrated Model of Basic and Applied Communication Research 36(2) Justifying Communication Research Topics 38(1) Research Questions and Hypotheses 39(8) Describing Communication Behavior 39(1) Relating Communication Behavior to Other Variables 40(7) Conclusion 47(1) Finding, Reading, And Using Research 48(31) Reasons for Reviewing Previous Research 48(2) The Search for Research 50(16) Types of Research Reports 50(6) Finding Research Reports 56(6) ``Internet and World Wide Web Resources for Research 62(4) Diane F. Witmer How Research Is Presented: Reading Scholarly Journal Articles 66(3) A Typical Quantitative Scholarly Journal Article 66(3) Writing a Literature Review 69(5) Conclusion 74(5) PART TWO PLANNING AND DESIGNING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH 79(88) Observing And Measuring Communication Variables 81(28) Conceptual versus Operational Definitions 81(2) Evaluating Operational Definitions 82(1) Measurement Theory 83(12) Quantitative and Qualitative Measurements 83(2) Levels of Measurement 85(9) Measuring Unidimensional and Multidimensional Concepts 94(1) Measurement Methods 95(4) Self-Reports 96(1) Others Reports 97(1) Behavioral Acts 98(1) Measurement Techniques 99(8) Questionnaires and Interviews 99(5) Observations 104(3) Conclusion 107(2) Designing Valid Communication Research 109(31) Internal and External Validity 109(2) Measurement Validity and Reliability 111(8) Measurement Reliability 111(4) Measurement Validity 115(4) Threats to Internal Validity 119(6) Threats Due to How Research Is Conducted 119(2) Threats Due to Research Participants 121(2) Threats Due to Researchers 123(2) External Validity 125(14) Sampling 125(8) Ecological Validity 133(2) Replication 135(4) Conclusion 139(1) Research Ethics And Politics 140(27) Ethical Issues in Communication Research 140(25) The Politics of Academic Research 141(5) Ethical Issues Involving Research Participants 146(15) Ethical Decisions Involving Research Findings 161(4) Conclusion 165(2) PART THREE METHODOLOGIES FOR CONDUCTING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH 167(120) Experimental Research 169(29) Establishing Causation 169(2) Exercising Control in Experimental Research 171(11) Exposing Research Participants to an Independent Variable 171(4) Ruling Out Initial Differences between the Conditions 175(3) Controlling for the Effects of Extraneous Influences 178(4) Experimental Research Designs 182(8) Preexperimental Designs 183(3) Quasi-Experimental Designs 186(3) Full Experimental Designs 189(1) Factorial Designs 190(5) Factorial Design Statements and Diagrams 192(2) Between-Group and Within-Group (Repeated-Measures) Designs 194(1) Laboratory versus Field Experiments 195(2) Conclusion 197(1) Survey Research 198(27) The Prevalence of Surveys 198(6) Applied Uses of Survey Research 198(4) Use of Surveys in Communication Research 202(2) Survey Research Design 204(5) Selecting Survey Respondents 204(4) Cross-Sectional versus Longitudinal Surveys 208(1) Survey Measurement Techniques 209(13) Designing Questions for Survey Instruments 210(3) Questionnaire Survey Research 213(3) Interview Survey Research 216(6) Using Multiple Methods in Survey Research 222(1) Conclusion 223(2) Textual Analysis 225(32) Purposes of Textual Analysis 225(2) Important Considerations in Textual Analysis 227(2) Types of Texts 227(1) Acquiring Texts 228(1) Approaches to Textual Analysis 229(1) Rhetorical Criticism 229(7) Conducting Rhetorical Criticism 230(1) Types of Rhetorical Criticism 231(5) Content Analysis 236(7) Value of Quantitative Content Analysis 238(1) Quantitave Content-Analytic Procedures 239(4) Interaction Analysis 243(9) Describing Interaction and Relating It to Other Variables 243(5) Conducting Interaction Analysis 248(4) Performance Studies 252(4) ``Performance as a Method 252(4) Ronald J. Pelias Conclusion 256(1) Naturalistic Inquiry 257(30) Common Assumptions Guiding Naturalistic Inquiry 258(1) Types of Naturalistic Inquiry 259(3) Ethnography 259(1) Ethnomethodology 259(1) Critical Ethnography 260(1) Autoethnography 261(1) The Flow of Naturalistic Inquiry 262(2) Collecting Data in Naturalistic Inquiry 264(16) Naturalistic Observational Research 264(9) Interviewing in Naturalistic Inquiry 273(7) Start Making Sense: Analyzing and Reporting Qualitative Data 280(5) Analyzing Qualitative Data 280(4) Reporting Findings from Naturalistic Inquiry 284(1) Conclusion 285(2) PART FOUR ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING QUANTITATIVE DATA 287(92) Describing Quantitative Data 289(26) Making Sense of Numbers: Statistical Data Analysis 289(3) Describing Data through Summary Statistics 292(9) Measures of Central Tendency 292(4) Measures of Dispersion 296(5) Describing Data in Standard Scores 301(4) Describing Data through Visual Displays 305(9) Frequency Tables 305(2) Pie Charts 307(2) Bar Charts 309(2) Line Graphs 311(1) Frequency Histograms and Frequency Polygons 312(2) Conclusion 314(1) Inferring From Data: Estimation And Significance Testing 315(21) Estimation 316(7) The Normal Distribution 316(2) Use of Random Sampling 318(1) Inferring from a Random Sample to a Population 319(4) Significance Testing 323(11) The Logic of Significance Testing 325(4) The Practice of Significance Testing 329(3) Type I Error and Type II Error 332(1) Statistical Power 333(1) Conclusion 334(2) Analyzing Differences Between Groups 336(20) Types of Difference Analysis 337(17) Nominal Data 337(5) Ordinal Data 342(2) Interval/Ratio Data 344(10) Advanced Difference Analysis 354(1) Conclusion 354(2) Analyzing Relationships Between Variables 356(23) Types of Relationships 356(3) Unrelated Variables 356(1) Linear Relationships between Variables 357(1) Nonlinear Relationships between Variables 358(1) Correlations 359(10) Correlation Coefficients 359(8) Coefficient of Determination 367(1) Multiple Correlation 368(1) Partial Correlation 369(1) Regression Analysis 369(4) Linear Regression 370(1) Multiple Linear Regression 371(2) Advanced Relationship Analysis 373(3) Conclusion 376(3) PART FIVE RECONCEPTUALIZING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH 379(18) Epilogue: Concluding Research 381(16) Discussing Research Findings 381(14) Interpreting the Meaning of Research Findings 381(8) Identifying Limitations of the Research 389(5) Suggesting Directions for Future Research 394(1) Conclusion 395(2) APPENDICES 397(11) Random Number Table 397(1) Chi-Square Table 398(1) t Table 399(1) F Table 400(6) Pearson r Table 406(1) Spearman rho Table 407(1) Glossary 408(36) References 444(55) Name Index 499(8) Subject Index 507
