Part of the Communications Design Center's (CDC) on-going research on communication and document design, this report emphasizes the importance of a multi-level computer help system that goes beyond simple command descriptions to include assistance with goals and strategies within the application domain--in this case, automated authoring. The help…

To learn more about small group interactions, a study investigated the characteristics of women's conversation in its own right rather than compared to a male model of conversation. The researcher spent 10 months as a participant/observer in a women's weekly circle (WWC), a group of mothers of young children who met once a week. The researcher…

Supplementing a national survey of self-help group members, a study examined the functioning of an epilepsy self-help group in order to identify communication patterns establishing mutual aid. An examination of eight tape-recorded sessions was combined with an observer's field notes to develop a profile of the group. Analysis revealed a loosely…

A case study tested the premise that people cope with ambiguity in particular ways within an organizational context, negotiating for understanding and choice through the manipulation of power, ideology, and technology. The study focused on the implementation of a satellite communications network in local Catholic Church offices and on staff…

Two longitudinal studies focused on naturally occurring conversations at home among (1) 18- and 24-month-old second-born children, mothers, and older siblings, and (2) first-born children 25 and 32 months old, mothers, and younger siblings. By two years of age most children referred to a range of feeling states in self and other, and discussed the…

Examines verbal interactions of mothers and fathers with their school-age children (9 and 12 years of age) during structured sessions. Mothers, more than fathers, tend to use more problem-solving behaviors with their 9-year-olds than with their 12-year-olds and boys discriminate more than girls in their use of problem-solving behaviors with…

Describes skin conductance measurement as a physiological procedure to obtain information on onset, duration, intensity, and completion of private physiological responses to parts of films or media products. The mechanics of the technique, how measurements are recorded and analyzed, and types of skin conductance research literature are discussed.…

When maternal communication with two-and-one-half- to three-and-one-half-year-old children was analyzed, significant differences between mothers' speech to daughters and sons were found. Males consistently received more verbal stimulation of the type thought to facilitate cognitive development. Differential treatment of girls and boys was lessened…

A study explored Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) in the context of news reports about a hazard. Content elements of outcome severity, vulnerability, and response efficacy were systematically varied in stories about a fabricated risk: fluorescent lighting lowering student academic performance. Research subjects were 206 students in an…

This paper reviews the existing body of research on the relationship between communication apprehension (CA) and nonverbal behavior. The strengths and limitations of three different approaches are considered. Contextual approaches are studies of CA and nonverbal behavior in which the primary focus is on communicative context (public speaking,…

Noting that the theory of international development is a paradigm, a model by which researchers guide their studies, this paper reviews various concepts of international development theory and proposes a research study that would examine mass media use in Georgia, one of the new republics born out of the death of the Soviet Union. The paper begins…

Divided into two sections, this report describes research on the range and degree of assessment of students' communication skills in colleges and universities and includes the following findings: (1) of the 384 respondents from college speech communication departments, 45 reported using large-scale, uniform testing of students; (2) these…

Despite widespread indifference or resistence to the idea, communication scientists need to discuss the ethical implications of their research. Fortunate in being able to conduct research, scientists are responsible to and for the larger population in whose names they do their work. They need to realize that such traditional research areas and…

The Department of Defense (DOD) has undertaken major research and development programs to improve the quality of their documentation, yet there continue to be major deficiencies in the quality of the manuals produced. In an attempt to identify factors in the design and development process that may be contributing to such deficiencies, this project…

The "sense making" process structures humans' categorization, perceptual, and expressive processes. These "sense making" references are ultimately derived from four distinct "root metaphors": mechanism or mechanistic thinking (machine), formism or formistic thinking (similarity), organicism or organistic thinking (organic process), and…