This article presents an examination of research methods used in empirical research over a 5-year period in technical and professional communication. This examination reveals that the most common methods used are surveys, interviews, usability tests, observations, and focus groups. In addition, the field does incorporate research categories of…

Courses: Research Methods, Qualitative Research Methods, Ethnography. Objectives: The aims of this class exercise are: (1) To define an autoethnographic approach to communication research; (2) To understand autoethnography as both a research process and product; (3) To emphasize the varied forms of autoethnographic research and writing; (4) To…

Analysis of teacher-to-teacher talk provides researchers with useful information regarding the teaching profession and teachers' perspectives. This article provides a description of a method, with accompanying example, examining teacher-to-teacher talk by incorporating semantic modality and examining trends of its usage in a quantitative manner.…

This article offers a case study of a graduate class in communication research methods with a service-learning approach. Students were engaged in evaluating the public information campaign of a nonprofit organization exposing human rights abuses in US prisons. They gained hands-on experience in the use of a variety of basic research methods and…

Articulates a case for triangulation as a research strategy to aid in the development of theoretical claims and the integration of theory. Demonstrates the potential and actual uses of these types of triangulation for argumentation by examining research in everyday argument and argument fields. (MS)

Replies to an article in "Human Communication Research" (v14, n4), "Item Desirability Effects in Compliance-Gaining Research: Seven Studies Documenting Artifacts" by Brant R. Burleson, Steven R. Wilson, Michael S. Waltman, Elizabeth M. Goering, Teresa K. Ely, and Bryan B. Whaley. (MS)

A study of the reported sampling methods and respondent/subject characteristics in 297 published communication research studies suggests that the vast majority of published communication research literature does not meet minimal scholarly standards for reporting research results. (GT)

Advocates the traditional controlled message, crossed design for the study of language variables in communication research. Analyzes and rejects arguments (presented in the article, "Messages as Replications: Toward a Message-Centered Design Strategy," in the same issue) in support of the multiple-message design. (SR)

Advocates the multiple-message design (message replication within experiments) for message research in communication. Analyzes and rejects arguments (presented in the article, "The Design and Analysis of Language Experiments in Communication," in the same issue) in support of the single-message design. (SR)

Counters David R. Seibold, John E. Hunter, Franklin J. Boster's criticisms (same issue) of Burleson's et al. original article in "Human Communication Research" (v14, n4), "Item Desirability Effects in Compliance-Gaining Research: Seven Studies Documenting Artifacts." (MS)

Lays out a systematic analysis of different experimental designs for message effects research. Discusses advantages of designs that include replications. Considers the issue of a fixed- versus random-effects analysis, and argues that replication factors should be treated as random except in very unusual circumstances. Examines in detail two…

Discusses the focus group, a relatively new method of communication and organizational research. Describes the need for such research, essential ingredients of a quality focus group session, and the advantages and disadvantages of the method. Establishes a theoretical framework and offers examples of focus group research. Suggests methods of focus…

The Structured Observation System (SOS) is a data collection method developed to document changes in the communication behaviours of children identified with speech and language delays. The system employs a rating scale which reflects the occurrence of communication behaviours as well as the amount of assistance needed for behaviours to occur.…

Journalists have some justification for dismissing scholarly inquiries into their craft because communication science does not take journalists and their craft seriously either. Empirical research into journalistic practices fails to take journalism seriously in the sense Jurgen Habermas outlined: meanings of news texts are described without…

This paper argues for a synthesis between the major competing paradigms of empirical positivism and critical theory, into a multiperspective methodology. Citing recent efforts to incorporate such a merger, the paper concludes that, though such a copula appears necessary, it remains problematic when considered within the context of an immutable…