Investigates intimate play in college students' same-sex friendships and opposite-sex romantic relationships. Derives a typology of eight play forms, and finds playfulness a strong correlate of relationship closeness. Finds differences among the eight play forms on the functions of indexing intimacy, lessening interpersonal risk, distancing self…

Documents the fruitfulness of the agenda-setting metaphor in communication research via three features: the steady historical growth of its literature; the integration of communication research areas; and the ability to generate new research problems across a variety of communication settings. (SR)

Seeks to add insight to the complex intellectual history of agenda-setting research by identifying over-time patterns of publications and of bibliographic citations. Addresses issues about the past, present, and future of agenda-setting research. (SR)

Reviews the conceptual position of agenda-setting research, identifies methodological problems associated with it, and proposes a newly defined criterion variable--the "problematic situation"--as a cognitive approach to the metaphor that mass media tells people "what to think about." (SR)

Combines the ideas of Erasmus, the Renaissance humanist, and Bakhtin, the twentieth-century Russian philosopher, into a unified theory of business correspondence. Presents both a set of guidelines and a model for the practice of dialogical correspondence. (SR)

Argues that pedagogical research must be retrieved from the margins of the communication discipline. Sketches guidelines for a more theoretically sophisticated and engaging form of discipline-specific pedagogy. (SR)

Finds that, for students with high test anxiety, support from people outside of class is positively related to exam grades, and support from peers in class is negatively related to exam grades; however, for students with low test anxiety the reverse is true. (SR)

Compares the rank ordering of cognitive differentiation scores by observers and actors; and methods of construct sampling based on instructional set. Shows that observer and actor codings are inconsistent but that two different methods of sampling are consistent. Suggests the particular score assigned by observers using established procedures may…

Analyzes empirical findings and conceptual problems to clarify how sex differences are related to communication. Finds that conceptual reasons for the muddled picture of sex differences in communication research include reliance on stereotypes, polarization of the sexes, lack of valid reasons, and dearth of theory. (SR)

Describes what business communication professors and practitioners believe are the most important research issues. Compares research being published to that which is rated as the most important. Lists criteria of good business communication research. Determines the extent to which the published research is meeting the criteria for good business…

Examines the structure of participants' conceptions of ideal group discussion procedures. Finds that about one-half of the participants favor a "reach-testing" procedure, one-fifth a linear procedure, one-fifth a procedure beginning with reach-testing and ending with a linear stage, and one-tenth beginning with a linear stage and ending with…

Advocates an ethnographic, diagnostic approach for analyzing social meanings associated with contemporary technologies. Outlines a normatively based theoretical framework to guide research into how communications technologies may serve or impede the goals of identity, orientation, self-knowledge, and community. (SR)

Highlights broad philosophical issues and future areas of research on personal relationships that derive from the author's earlier work. Discusses the dialectics associated with intraindividual, interpersonal, and intergroup dynamics as well as the effect of the physical environment on personal relationships. (RS)

Concentrates on the context, complexity, and consequences as ways of thinking about how research in health communication should be evolving in the twenty-first century. Uses examples from the author's research agenda, and widens the discussion beyond that, knowing that the pressing needs of such research exceed what the author alone hopes to…

Identifies the author's most challenging research puzzles, which revolve around dialectical or paradoxical layering of ideas and methods. Presents an overview of the development of a communication theory of identity. (RS)