Principles of Research in Communication introduces students to the methods of research used specifically in
the communication discipline. While most competing texts provide some overview of library research and the development
of a research bibliography and literature review, this book provides a more comprehensive introduction to such
research and includes the most timely information concerning citations using the American Psychological Association
Style. The text provides the foundation necessary to comprehend published research and implement simple research
investigation, even for students with little or no previous scientific experience.
Table of Contents
Preface.
1. Epistemology and Science.
Characteristics of science.
Assumptions of the scientific method.
Schools of communication inquiry.
Fundamental scientific activities.
Evaluation of theory.
A model of the scientific method.
2. Problem Development.
Research problem statements.
Elements of a research problem.
3. Access to the Community.
Meeting the community.
Access to the community.
Integrating the community.
Credit to the community.
4. Developing Valid Measurements.
Measurement.
Assessing measurement validity.
5. Sampling Theory.
Probability sampling.
Non-probability sampling.
6. Research Ethics.
Ethical responsibility to human subjects.
7. Design Considerations.
Research methodology.
Design validity.
8. Experimental Designs.
Requirements of causality.
Factors influencing control.
Categorizing by research setting.
Categorizing by control.
Categorizing by number of independent variables.
Planning the experiment.
9. Survey & Interview Designs.
Advantages to the survey method.
Disadvantages to the survey method.
Survey designs.
Designing the survey instrument.
Nine rules to effective question development.
Common survey items.
Instrument design.
Pilot testing.
Administration techniques.
Evaluating response rates.
Planning the survey.
