0 evaluări0% au considerat acest document util (0 voturi)
176 vizualizări15 pagini
INVESTIGATING COMMUNICATION AN INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS SECOND EDITION LAWRENCE R. FREY The University of Memphis CARL H. BOTAN Purdue University GARY L. KREPS National cancer Institute ALLYN AND BACON Boston. Toronto. Sydney. TblEo. Singapore. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any way without written permission from the copyright owner
Descriere originală:
Titlu original
00 Investigating Communication. Contents and Preface.PDF
INVESTIGATING COMMUNICATION AN INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS SECOND EDITION LAWRENCE R. FREY The University of Memphis CARL H. BOTAN Purdue University GARY L. KREPS National cancer Institute ALLYN AND BACON Boston. Toronto. Sydney. TblEo. Singapore. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any way without written permission from the copyright owner
INVESTIGATING COMMUNICATION AN INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS SECOND EDITION LAWRENCE R. FREY The University of Memphis CARL H. BOTAN Purdue University GARY L. KREPS National cancer Institute ALLYN AND BACON Boston. Toronto. Sydney. TblEo. Singapore. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any way without written permission from the copyright owner
SECOND EDITION LAWRENCE R. FREY The University of Memphis CARL H. BOTAN Purdue University GARY L. KREPS National C ancer Institute ALLYN AND BACON Boston. London. Toronto . Sydney . TblEo . Singapore S er ie s E dito r : rKaron Bowers Vice President, Editor-in-Chief: Paul A' Smith E dit o ri al A s s i s t ant : J ewif et B ecket Marketing Manager: Iackie Aarcn Prod,uction Editor.' Christopher H. Rawlings Editorial-Production Service : Oinegatype Typography, Inc' iComposition and Prepress Buyer: LindaCox Manufacturing Buyer : Megan Cochran Cover Administrator: JennY }Iatt Electronic Composition: Omegatype Tlpography, Inc' Copyright @ 2000, l99l by Allyn & Bacon A Pearson Education ComPanY 160 Gould Street Needham Heights, MA 02494 Internet: www. abacon.com All rights reserved. No part ofthe material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any forrn or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any inflrmation and siorage retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner. Between the times website information is gathered and then published, it is not unusual for some sites to have closed. Also, the transcription of URLs can result in unintended typographical errors' The publisher would appreciate notification where these occur so that they may be correited in sub- sequent editions. Thank You. Library of Congress Cataloging'in'Publication Data Frey, Lawrence R. Investigating communication : an introduction to research methods. - 2nded./ Lawrence R. Frey, Carl H' Botan, Gary L' Kreps' p. cm. Rev. ed. of: Investigating communication / Lawrence R' Frey ' ' ' [et al.]. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice Hall, c1991' Includes bibliographical references and index' ISBN (invalid) 0-205 - 19826-0 1. Communication-Research-Methodology' I' Botan, CarlH' II. Kreps, GarY L. III. Title. P91.3.F74 2000 302.2',07',2-4c2r Printed in the United States of America 20 t 9 l 8 L7 16 13 12 l r l 0 09 99-344M CIP CoNrBxrs PREFACE tx PART ONE CONCEPTUALIZING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH CULTURE The Importance of Knowing Research Methods 3 Making Claims and Offering Evidence 6 Everyday Ways of Knowing 8 Personal Experience 8 Intuition 9 Authority 10 Appeals to Tradition, Custorn, and Faith l0 Magic, Superstition, and Mysticism l1 The Research Process 12 Characteristics of Research 12 Research as Culture 17 Research as Conversation 20 The Importance of Distinguishing Research from Pseudoresearch 2I Conclusion 26 CHAPTER 2 ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT COMMUNICATION Defining Communication 27 What Constitutes Communication Research? 28 Areas of Communication Research ZB Basic versus Applied Communication Research Topics Basic Communication Research 30 Applied Communication Research 33 An Integrated Model of Basic and Applied Communication Research 36 Justifying Communication Research Topics 38 Research Questions and Hypotheses 39 DescribingCommunicationBehavior 39 Relating Communication Behavior to Other Variables Conclusion 47 CHAPTER 3 FINDING, READING, AND USING RESEARCH Reasons for Reviewing Previous Research 48 The Search for Research 50 Types ofResearch Reports 50 27 30 40 48 IY CONTENTS Finding Research RePorts 56 "Internet and World Wide Web Resources for Research" by Diane E Witmer 62 How Research Is Presented: Reading Scholarly Journal Articles 66 A Typicat Quantitative Scholarly Journal Article 66 WritingaLiteratureReview 69 Conclusion 74 PART TWO PLANNING AND DESIGNING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH 79 CHAPTER 4 OBSERVING AND MEASURING COMMUNICATION VARIABLES 81- Conceptual versus Operational Definitions 81 EvaluatingOperationalDefinitions 82 Measurement Theory 83 Quantitative and Qualitative Meqsurements 83 Levels of Measurement 85 M easurin g U nidimensional and Multidimensional ConcePts 94 Measurement Methods 95 Self-Reports 96 Others'Reports 97 Behavioral Acts 98 Measurement Techniques 99 Questionnaires and Interviews 99 Observations 104 Conclusion 107 CHAPTER5DESIGNINGVALIDCOMMUNICATIONRESEARCH Internal and External Validity 109 Measurement Validity and Reliability 111 Measurement Reliability 111 MeasurementValidity 115 Threats to Internal ValiditY ll9 Threats Due to How Research Is Coruducted 119 Threats Due to Research Participants 121 Threats Due to Researchers 123 External Validity 125 Sampling 125 EcologicalValidity 133 Replication 135 Conclusion I39 109 CONTENTS CHAPTER6 RESEARCHETHICSANDPOLITICS 140 Ethical Issues in Communication Research 140 The Politics of Academic Research l4I Ethical Issues Involving Research Participants 146 Ethical Decisions Involving Research Findings 16I Conclusion . 165 PART THREE METHODOLOGIES FOR CONDUCTING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH 167 CHAPTERT EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH 169 Establishing Causation 169 Exercising Control in Experimental Research IlI Exposing Research Participants to an IndependentVariable I7I Ruling Out Initial Dffirences between the Conditions 175 Controlling for the Effects of Extraneous Influences 178 Experimental Research Designs 182 PreexperimentalDesigns 183 Quasi-ExperimentalDesigns 186 Full Experimental Designs 189 Factorial Designs 190 Factorial Design Statements and Diagrams 192 Betwe en-Group and Within-Group ( Repeated-M easure s ) Designs 194 Laboratory versus Field Experiments 195 Conclusion 197 CHAPTERS SURVEYRESEARCH 198 The Prevalence of Surveys 198 Applied Uses of Survey Research 198 Use of Surveys in Communication Research 202 Survey Research Design 204 Selecting Survey Respondents 204 Cross-SectionalversusLongitudinalsurveys 208 Survey Measurement Techniques 209 Designing Questions for Survey Instruments 210 Questionnaire Survey Research 213 Interview Survey Research 216 Using Multiple Methods in Survey Research 222 Conclusion 223 CHAPTER9 TEXTUALANALYSIS 225 Purposes of Textual Analysis 225 Important Considerations in Textual Analysis 22j Types ofTexts 227 1tD9 YT CONTENTS Acquiring Texts 228 Approaches to Textual Analysis 229 Rhetorical Criticism 229 ConductingRhetoricalCriticism 230 Types bf Rhetorical Criticism 231 Content Analysis 236 Value of Quantitative Content Analysis 238 Quantitative Content-Analytic Procedures 239 Interaction Analysis 243 Describing Interaction and Relating It to Other Variables ConductinglnteractionAnalysis 248 Performance Studies 252 "Performance as a Method" by Ronald J. Pelias 252 Conclusion 256 258 284 289 243 CHAPTER 10 NATURALISTIC INQUIRY 257 Common Assumptions Guiding Naturalistic Inquiry Types of Naturalistic Inquiry 259 EthnographY 259 Ethnomethodology 259 Critical Ethnography 260 Autoethnography 261 The Flow of Naturalistic Inquiry 262 Collecting Data in Naturalistic Inquiry 264 Naturalistic Observational Reseqrch 264 Interviewing in Naturalistic Inquiry 273 Start Making Sense: Analyzingarrd Reporting Qualitative Data 280 Analyzing Qualitative Data 280 Reporting Findings from Naturalistic Inquiry Conclusion 285 PART FOUR ANALYZING AND INTERPRETING QUANTTTATTVE DATA 287 CHAPTER 11 DESCRIBING QUANTITATIVE DATA 289 Making Sense of Numbers: Statistical Data Analysis Describing Data through Summary Statistics 292 Measures of Central TendencY 292 Measures of Dispersion 296 Describing Data in Standard Scores 301 Describing Data through Visual Displays 305 Frequency Tables 305 CONTENTS Pie Charts 307 Bar Charts 309 Line Graphs 31 I Frequency Histograms and Frequency Polygons 312 Conclusion 314 CHAPTER 12 INFERRING FROM DATA: ESTIMATION AND SIGNIFICANCE TESTING 315 Estimation 316 The Normal Distribution 316 Use of Random Sampling 318 Inferring from a Random Sample to a Population 3 j9 Significance Testing 323 The Logic of Significance Tbsting 325 The Practice of Significance ksting 329 Type I Enor andType II Error 332 Statistical Power 333 Conclusion 334 CHAPTER13 ANALYZINGDIFFERENCES BETWEEN GROUPS 336 Types of Difference Analysis 337 Nominal Data 337 Ordinal Data 342 Interval/Ratio Data 344 Advanced Difference Analysis 354 Conclusion 354 CHAPTER14 ANALYZINGRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN VARIABLES 356 Types of Relationships 356 UnrelatedVariables 356 LinearRelationshipsbetweenVariables 357 NonlinearRelationships betweenVariables 358 Correlations 359 Conelation Cofficients 359 Cofficient of Determination 367 Multiple Correlation 368 Partial Coryelation 369 Regression Analysis 369 Linear Regression 370 Multiple Linear Regression 371 AdvancedRelationshipAnalysis 373 Conclusion 376 vlt viii CONTENTS PART FfVE ' RECONCEPTUALIZING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH 379 CIIAPTER 15 EPILOGUE: CONCLUDING RESEARCH 381 Discussing Research Findings 381 Interpreting the Meaning of Research Findings 381 Identifying Limitations of the Research 389 Suggesting Directions for Future Research 394 Conclusion 395 APPENDICES 397 Random Number Thble 397 Chi-Square Table 398 tTable 399 FTable 400 Pearson rTable 406 Spearman rhoTable 407 GLOSSARY REFERENCES NAME INDEX SUBJECT INDEX 507 408 444 499 PnBrnce Reseqrch methods-two little words that seem to intimidate even the best college student. Indeed, when we asked a group of students the first thought that came to mind when they heard these words, they said, "Difficult," "Time consuming," "Worth the effort?" "Bor- ing," and "C" (as in grade). Faculty members, in contrast, responded with, "The pursuit of truth," "Planned investigation," and "Proof." To quote the boss of the labor camp (an unfortunate analogy, we know!) in the movie Cool Hand Luke, "WhaI we have here is a failure to communicate." Students don't under- stand the full value of learning about research methods. They see research as the province of the elite, as difficult or even impossible to master. Unforfunately, this attitude is often re- inforced by how research methods are taught. Research methods courses can become a bat- tle or proving ground, with students wishing merely to survive and then forgetting about what they learned as soon thereafter as possible. In short, the gap between the attitudes of teachers and students is an obstacle to learn- ing about research methods that must be oyercome. To that end, our goal has been to write a text that encourages you as a student to become excited about studying research methods. Call us optimistic, but we seek to make research methods accessible rather than impossible to learn and, hopefully, to encourage you and your teachers alike to have fun in the process. One way we attempt to do this is by framing research methods in some potentially helpful ways. First, we equate learning about research methods with learning about a new culture. Like a foreign culture, research methods have their own languages, rules, and so- cial customs. Learning about a foreign culhrre takes time and patience, and learning about research methods is no different. We, the authors, remember what our entry period into the culture of research was like; indeed, some of us did not do all that well in our first research methods course! Yet here we are today teaching and writing about communication research methods. Understanding the maturation process firsthand and being sensitive to the diffr- culty of leaming this new culture, we start at the very beginning and proceed slowly, mak- ing sure that everyone is with us along the way. Second, in line with a communication perspective, it is helpful to think about the re- search methods culture as a series of conversations that take place among and between its members and constituents. There is, for example, the conversation that goes on between a researcher and the people he or she studies. There is also the conversation that goes on be- tween a researcher and his or her colleagues in the form ofjournal and book publications and convention presentations. Both conversations, and a number of others, although they are quite different in purpose and nature, are part ofthe research process. The value of such a perspective, then, is that it grounds the research process in communication acts and processes-something you, as a communication student, already understand. Third, within any culture there are subculfures where members carry on conversations using particular words and phrases; in some cases, these subcultural conversations are not understood easily by members of other subcultures or by members of the larger culture. For example, if you are a surfer, you know that words llke hollow, closed-out, and sucking de- scribe types of waves, while drop-in, cut-back, and offthe-lip describe surfing maneuvers (see Scheerhorn & Geist, 1997).T}r.e research methods culture also has subcultures within PREFACE it; as one example, subcultures are represented by the different methodologies that re- searchers use to study communication, such as experimental, survey, textual analysis, and naturalistic inquiry. Hence, researchers who conduct experiments believe in and under- stand the importance of randomization, which refers to the process of assigning research participants to the different conditions that are part of an experiment (such as treatment and nontreatment conditions) in such a way that each person has an equal chance of being put into each condition so as to rule out the possibility of initial differences between the con- ditions (see Chapter 7).Eachmethod, thus, has its own terminology and rules about how researchers converse with the people being studied, with colleagues in the discipline and other fields, and with the press and general public. We seek to teach you about these sub- cultures and the conversations that occur therern. Finally, we see researchers as being similar to detectives. Like a detective trying to solve a crime, a researcher is trying to uncover new knowledge. The researcher-detective starts with a topic worth studying, poses questions that need asking, and then attempts to find the answers in a systematic manner. Research methods are, thus, the strategies re- searchers use to solve puzzlingquestions. Like a detective, a researcher searches for evi- dence as carefully and as systematically as possible, sorts the meaningful from the trivial, and adopts the most likely solution or answer. Learning about the conversations that take place in the research methods culture, in general, and the various methods subcultures, in particular, is helped by exposure to the ways other social detectives do it. For that reason, we provide you with many examples of real-life communication research. By the time you finish this text, we are sure you will agree that there are many exciting topics studied in the communication discipline and in- triguing ways in which research is done. And while we review many classic examples of re- search, communication is a young and growing field that seems to change almost daily. For that reason, we concentrate on sharing with you the latest, cutting-edge research studies conducted during the 1990s. Although a number of good research methods textbooks are available, our approach is particularly helpful in learning this subject in five ways. First, we aim at students with little or no familiarity with research methods. We know that research methods and findings are often steeped in mystery and obtuse language, making it diffrcult for new learners (and even seasoned veterans), so we try hard to demystify the research process, making it acces- sible instead of esoteric. This does not mean that we do not deal with important, substan- tive, and, at times, difficult material; we do, but we never forget that you are an introductory student. Instead of throwing you into the deep end of a pool and seeing whether you swim or drown, we prefer to take you into the water slowly, first getting your feet wet and then immersing yourself in the pool at a comfortable rate' Second, the primary goal of this text is to enable you to become a more knowledgeable and critical consumer of research. We are not trying to train you as a professional re- searcher; this is more appropriate for graduate education. Indeed, the primary difference between undergraduate and graduate education is the extent to which students learn to en- gage in original research as part of their graduate coursework (both in terms of taking a number of methods courses and as the basis for a thesis or dissertation). We are aware that you may not have to conduct research in your professional life, but, as we show in the very fust chapter, you most certainly will have to be able to find, read, understand, and evaluate research as part of your work life and as an informed citizen who is called on to make im- portant decisions, such as voting for political candidates or serving onjuries. Understand- PREFACE ing the research process, of course, is the first step toward becoming a producer of research, so if you choose to go on to graduate school or if you are asked to conduct research as part of this or anoiher course during your undergraduate career, this text will prove invaluable. Third, we have written this textbook explicitly for students who wish to understand how research methods are used to study communication behavior. This approach prepares communication majors to study, research, and analyze the real-world communication is- sues they encounter in the various careers they pursue. Most of the principles we talk about, however, cut across disciplines; thus, this text also helps you to become a knowledgeable and critical consumer of many other types of research, such as psychological, sociological, business. and medical research. Fourth, in a national survey about the teaching of undergraduate communication re- search methods, Frey and Botan (1988) found that most professors who teach this course require students to read and report on communication research published in scholarly jour- nals. Many other communication coluses, as well as courses in other fields, also require students to read journal articles. If you are to remain current and make use of primary source material in this field, you must be able to find and understand the information gen- erated by scholars. Doing so, however, is far more difftcult than merely obtaining the lead- ing scholarly journals and reading them. Few research reports are written clearly and in the standard way described in research methods textbooks. The prose is usually inflated, using words not found in everyday language. Students often feel bewildered by what they en- counter in these scholarly academic jounfals, so they just skim the contents of articles, and vow to avoid all further contact with them. To combat these feelings, we provide you with the "code" in which scholarly research articles are written. Once you know the purpose and the meaning of each section in re- search articles, the internal logic and value of an article emerges more clearly. Accordingly, this text mirrors the format of a traditional scholarly journal article by proceeding in the fol- lowing logical manner: 1. Introducing you to the research process 2. Sharing with you some of the topics communication scholars consider worth study- ing and how research questions and hypotheses are posed 3. Showing you how to find and read previous research 4. Examining how researchers plan and design studies 5. Explaining how researchers conduct studies using various methodologies 6. Understanding how the information collected is analyzed 7. Discussing how results from research are interpreted in a meaningful manner We also provide you with the code by bolding key terms throughout the text and listing them at the end in one ofthe most extensive and detailed glossaries you are likely to see. 'We've even cross-listed these terms, using "see" so that you can find other similar or related terms and "compare" to enable you to compare how the term differs from other related terms. If you still find yourself having difficulty understanding primary source materials, you may wish to consult our other text, entilled Interpreting Communication Research: A Case Sndy Approach (1992, also available from Allyn and Bacon). In that text, we use the case study method to walk students through actual communication research articles selected from scholarlyjournals and books. Questions are posed to consider prior to reading an ar- ticle, the lines of the article are numbered, and we then analyze the article by referring to xl It re- . and rder- urch t and g put con- how : and sub- n_E to ftn'e pts to ]s re- r e\-l- rhial. re- ln ro rhe ,le-s of r s-ill nd in- gfre- r-. For nrdies nch is h little .gs are s (and acces- bstan- uctory r swim d then geable nal re- erence rto en- rking a re that re very raluate ke im- rstand- xlt PREFACE specific line numbers and discussing the decisions the researcher(s) made. We also cite ad- ditional reference material that explains in greater depth the specific methodology beilg examined, and give an annotated bibliography of five additional research articles that use that methodology. Finally, the field of communication is fragmented into many subspecialties. Diversity, though rich, also means the possibility of losing sight of what others in the field are doing' Too often textbooks aim at one particular subspecialty of the discipline (such as mass com- munication) or promote one kind of research method (such as experimental) while giving only lip service to some of the other research methods. We believe that understanding various research methods fosters the complementary integration of these various subspecialties. Each of the authors of this text has extensive ex- perience in both teaching introductory communication research methods courses and con- ducting research. Our various research efforts have spanned the major areas of the communication discipline (i.e., speech communication, mass communication, and journal- ism), the four methodologies we cover (experimental, survey, textual analysis, and natural- istic inquiry), and the two ways of analyzing data (quantitative and qualitative). We believe that this diversity of interest and experience has resulted in a balanced approach to this text- book that could not possibly have been achieved had any one of us written it alone. We have also grown in gur understanding of research methods since the first edition of this book was written. The present edition, consequently, represents a substantive revision of the original text. We were not content merely to change a few things around and put a new cover on it, but instead, took the time necessary to do a thorough job. Virtually every chapter has been significantly revised, mostly by adding new material that makes these en- tirely new chapters (plus an entfuely new chapter in the analyzing and interpreting quanti- tative data section), by improving the discussions in material retained from the previous edition, and, of course, by including the most up-to-date information about the research studies conducted in the field of communication. In the final analysis, we encourage you to approach this textbook and this course with an open mind. Preexisting attitudes too often obstruct learning new ones, and this certainly can be the case with learning about communication research methods. So expose yourself to research; as the saying goes, "Try it, you might like it!" ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Writing and/or revising a book involves an incredible number of people. We are indebted to those who helped shape both the first edition and the present edition, and would like to express our sincere thanks to these colleagues and friends' We would like to thank Steve Dalphin, our f,rrst editor at Prentice Hall, for his faith in this project from the very start; Joe Opiela, Editor-in-Chief of Humanities at Allyn and Ba- con, who inherited this text and placed his trust in us; Paul Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Edu- cation, Communication, and Health; and Karon Bowers, Acquisitions Editor at Allyn and Bacon, who helped produce this edition. We also thank the superb team selected to review the first edition for their insightful cornments, criticisms, and suggestions: Mark B' Co- madena, Illinois State University; Michael E. Mayer, Arizona State University; Robert D' McPhee, Aflzona State University; Marshall Scott Poole, Texas A&M University; and Brian J. Spitzberg, San Diego State University. ! t I r r I Fd" hs |ue il$- b PREFACE We also want to express our sincere appreciation to Paul G. Friedman, University of Kansas, one of the authors on the flrst edition of this textbook. Paul's help on the first edi- tion, as well aS our other methods text, was immeasurable, and although he decided for per- sonal reasons not to be a coauthor on this second edition, he still graciously agreed to review material and provided detailed feedback. There is no doubt that this textbook is sub- stantially better because of the help he offered. We are also indebted to a nirmber of colleagues who wrote research overviews of some areas covered in the f,trst andlor present edition and allowed us liberal use of their material: Richard L. Johannesen, Northern Illinois University, for help with rhetorical criticism; Dawn Kahn, The John Marshall Law School, for help with communication issues related , to the law; Kathleen E. Kendall, State University of New York at Albany, for help with po- litical communication; Leah A. Lievrouw, University of California, Los Angeles, for help with bibliometrics; W. Barnett Pearce, Fielding Institute, for help with framing research methods as conversation; Ronald J. Pelias, Southern Illinois University, for his contribution about performance studies; Nancy L. Roth, for help with elecffonic searches; Thomas J. Socha, Old Dominion University, for help with interaction analysis; Myoung Chung Wil- son, Rutgers University Library, for help with online databases and CD-ROMs; and Diane F. Witmer, California State University, Fullerton, for her contribution about Internet aad World Wide.Web resources for research. We want to thank all the students in our research methods courses over the years at Illinois State University, Loyola University Chicago, Northern Illinois University, Purdue University, Rutgers University, and University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who provided us with feedback about the first edition of this text. We are also deeply indebted to JoAnn Fricke of Loyola University Chicago for her wonderful secretarial help with the first edition. The authors extend special thanks to Sandra Metts of Illinois State University. San- dra's only formal commitment for the fust edition was to write the instructor's manual, but she went over each draft of that manuscript with a fine-toothed comb and offered wonder- ful suggestions and rewrote much of the material. Her instructor's manual for the first edi- tion is one of the best ones we've seen. 'We were, indeed, fortunate, then, when Jim Query Loyola University Chicago, agreed to do the instructor's -manual for this edition. He has produced an exceptional manual, one that we know instructoli will appreciate very much. Thanks, Jim, for your excellent work. In revising this text, we solicited feedback via a questionnaire from colieagues in the communication discipline. They offered many excellent suggestions that we incorporated into this edition. Special thanks for taking the time to help is extended to (in alphabetical or- der): Dennis C. Alexander, University of Utah; E. James Baesler, Old Dominion University; Thomas N. Baglan, Arkansas State University; James Barushok, Northeastem Illinois Uni- versity; Julie M. Billingsley, Rutgers University; Joseph C. Chilberg, State Universiry of New York College-Fredonia; Mark E. Comadena, Illinois State University; Judith M. Dallinger, Westem Illinois University; Susan Fox, Western Michigan University; Philip Gray, Northern Illinois University; Stephen C. Hines, West Virginia University; Ann House, Santa Clara University; Lawrence W Hugenberg, Youngstown State University; Jerry M. Jordan, University of Cincinnati; Richard A. Katula, Northeastem University; Dean Ka- zoleas, Tllinois State University; Sandra M. Ketrow, University of Rhode Island; Ana Kong, Govemors State University; Charles U. Larson, Northern Illinois University; Gail Mason, Eastern Illinois University; Michael E. Mayer, Aizona State University; Paul A. Mongeau, xltl @- @ llE'lt f1ffi.- WIF- t dtuE nerr!- mriF [ne ESI- mo[ w[41 F a l{H1 eefl - qEu- ns(Is ;ruch rqith ain\- mself ebted ike to iftin dBa- Edu- n and evlew i. Co- ert D. r; and xlY PREFACE othy L. Sellnow, North Dakota State University; Edward Sewell, Virginia Tech; John C. Sherblom, University of Maine; Christine B. Smith, University of Southern Califomia; search methods, We know this is not the easiest material to teach or the most popular with students, but your dedication to helping students understand communication research does make a difference in their lives' Finally, each of us would like to thank the following people: about communication and research methods. I also want to thank my family for their love anci support, and my Chicago-based friends (especially Mark and Jiil and Mike and Heidi) for once again putting up with me during the work on this second edition. This book, as be- fore, is dedicated to Marni Cameron with all my love. -L' R. F' Any undertaking of this size intrudes on family life and requires that some things be put on hold. I would like to thank my wife, Jennifer McCreadie, for her comments, support' and patience throughout, particularly in reminding me that qualitative methods hold up half the lresearch] world. I also want to dedicate this book to my father John Botan, mother Julia Tynell, and brother Ronald Botan, the reluctant politician in the group. -C. H. B. I owe a great debt of gratitude to my coauthors on this book, Larry and Carl (as well as paul Friedman), who supported me and patiently waited for my late-arriving chapter drafts through my moves from one end of the country to the other (and back again) ' I also sincerely thank-my loving family, Stephanie, Becky, and David, who loyally followed me from one job to another and know that they are the ultimate source of my affection. My hope is that this book will encourage rigorous, pluralistic, and social$ informed communication in- quiry. -G. L. K.