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Chapter Objectives: |
his is a test! If you have traveled on planes before, you have likely encountered some of the frustrations that go along with airline travel. One day, one of your authors wanted to see if he could fly first class without paying for it. He hypothesized that there were certain communicative actions he could perform to achieve this goal. When the day of his flight arrived, he showed up nicely dressed for his flight, spoke with kindness to the ticket agents (remember, they deal with irritated people throughout the day), stated his preference to sit toward the front of the plane in an aisle seat, and simply asked if any free upgrades were available. To his amazement, he got a free upgrade to first class! He flew first class on many other flights after the day of the initial experiment. While he doesn’t get to fly first-class every time, this ongoing experiment indicates that there might be certain communicative actions that will result in a free upgrade. This is an example of informal Communication research that most of us do on a regular basis.
Doing Communication Research
edittudents often believe that researchers are well organized, meticulous, and academic as they pursue their research projects. The reality of research is that much of it is a hit-and-miss endeavor. Albert Einstein provided wonderful insight to the messy nature of research when he said, “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” Because a great deal of Communication research is still exploratory, we are continually developing new and more sophisticated methods to better understand how and why we communicate.
Seven Basic Steps of Research
editSeven Basic Steps of Research |
While research can be messy, there are steps we can follow to avoid some of the pitfalls inherent with any research project. Research doesn’t always work out right, but we do use the following guidelines as a way to keep research focused. Let’s look at seven basic steps that help us conduct effective research.
- Identify a focus of research. To conduct research, the first thing you must do is identify what aspect of human communication interests you and make that the focus of inquiry. Most Communication researchers examine things that interest them; communication phenomena that they have questions about and want answered. For example, you may be interested in conflict between romantic partners.
- Develop a research question(s). Simply having a focus of study is still too broad to conduct research, and would ultimately end up being an endless process of trial and error. Thus, it is essential to develop very specific research questions. Using our example above, what specific things would you want to know about conflict in romantic relationships? If you simply said you wanted to study conflict in romantic relationships, you would not have a solid focus and would spend a long time conducting your research with no results. However, you could ask, “Do couples use different types of conflict management strategies when they are first dating versus after being in a relationship for a while? It is essential to develop specific questions that guide what you research.
- Define key terms. Using our example, how would you define the terms conflict, romantic relationship, dating, and long-term relationship? While these terms may seem like common sense, you would be surprised how many ways people can interpret the same terms and how a particular definition shapes the research. Take the term long-term relationship, for example, what are all of the ways this can be defined? People married for 10 or more years? People living together for five or more years? Those who self-identify as being monogamous? Important to consider are populations who would be included and excluded from your study based on a particular definition and the resulting generalizability of your findings. Therefore, it is important to identify and set the parameters of what it is you are researching by defining what the key terms mean to you and your research.
Communication Research Then |
Select an appropriate research methodology. A methodology is the actual step-by-step process of conducting research. There are various methodologies available for researching communication. Some tend to work better than others for examining particular types of communication phenomena. In our example, would you interview couples, give them a survey, observe them, or conduct some type of experiment? Depending on what you wish to study, you will have to pick a process, or methodology, in order to study it. We’ll discuss examples of methodologies later in this chapter.
- Establish a sample population or data set. It is important to decide who and what you want to study. One criticism of current Communication research is that it often relies on college students enrolled in Communication classes as the sample population. One joke in our Field is that we know more about college students than anyone else. But in all seriousness, it is important that you pick samples that are truly representative of what/who you want to research. If you are concerned about how long-term romantic couples engage in conflict, (remember what we said about definitions) college students may not be the best sample population. Instead, college students might be a good population for examining how romantic couples engage in conflict in the early stages of dating.
- Gather and analyze data. Once you have a research focus, research question(s), key terms, a method, and a sample population, you are ready to gather the actual data that will show you what it is you want to answer in your research question(s). If you have ever filled out a survey in one of your classes, you have helped a researcher gather data to be analyzed in order to answer research questions. The actual “doing” of your methodology will allow you to collect the data you need to know about how romantic couples engage in conflict.
- Interpret and share results. Simply collecting data does not mean that your research project is complete. Remember, our research leads us to develop and refine theories so we have more sophisticated representations about how our world works. Thus, researchers must interpret the data to see if it tells us anything of significance about how we communicate. If so, we share our research findings to further the body of knowledge we have about human communication. Imagine you completed your study about conflict and romantic couples. Others who are interested in this topic would probably want to see what you discovered in order to help them in their research. Likewise, couples might want to know what you have found in order to help themselves deal with conflict better.
Communication Research Now |
Although these seven steps seem pretty clear on paper, research is rarely that simple. For example, one of your authors conducted research for his Master’s thesis on issues of privacy, ownership and free speech as it relates to email at work. He had reached the step of sharing his results with a committee of professors, the last step before obtaining his Master’s degree. The professors began debating the merits of the research findings. Two of the three professors felt that the research had not actually answered the research questions and suggested that your author re-write his two chapters of conclusions. The other professor argued that your author HAD actually answered his research questions, and suggested that an alternative to re-writing two chapters would be to re-write the research questions to more accurately reflect the original focus of the study. It was your author’s first exposure to the reality that, despite trying to account for everything by following the basic steps of research, research is always open to change and modification, even toward the end of the process.
Motivational Factors for Research
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e think it is important to discuss the fact that human nature influences all research. While some researchers might argue that their research is objective, realistically, no research is totally objective. What does this mean? Research is done by humans who have to make choices about what to research, how they will conduct their research, who will pay for their research, and how they will present their research conclusions to others. Many of these choices are determined by the motives and material resources of researchers. The most obvious case of this in the physical sciences is research sponsored by the tobacco industry that downplays the health hazards associated with smoking (Muggll, Forster, Hurt & Repace, 2001). In 2006, for example, the tobacco industry funded research that examined infertility. Their goal was to convince smokers that taking vitamin supplements would improve their chances of having children. The study failed to mention that any positive gains in fertility would be nullified by smoking. Intuitively, we know that certain motivations influence this line of research. Realistically though, all researchers are motivated by certain factors that influence their research. |
W
e think it is important to discuss the fact that human nature influences all research. While some researchers might argue that their research is objective, realistically, no research is totally objective. What does this mean? Research is done by humans who have to make choices about what to research, how they will conduct their research, who will pay for their research, and how they will present their research conclusions to others. Many of these choices are determined by the motives and material resources of researchers. The most obvious case of this in the physical sciences is research sponsored by the tobacco industry that downplays the health hazards associated with smoking (Muggll, Forster, Hurt & Repace, 2001). In 2006, for example, the tobacco industry funded research that examined infertility. Their goal was to convince smokers that taking vitamin supplements would improve their chances of having children. The study failed to mention that any positive gains in fertility would be nullified by smoking. Intuitively, we know that certain motivations influence this line of research. Realistically though, all researchers are motivated by certain factors that influence their research. |
Intended Outcomes
One question researchers ask while doing their research project is, “What do I want to accomplish with this research?” The answer to this question is as varied as the people who ask it. We represent possible answers to this question in what we call the Continuum of Intended Outcomes.
A great deal of Communication research seeks understanding as the intended outcome of the research. As we gain greater understanding of human communication we are able to develop more sophisticated theories to help us understand how and why people communicate. For example, one of your authors researches the communication of registered nurses to understand how they use language to define and enact their professional responsibilities. He discovered that nurses routinely refer to themselves as “patient advocates” and state that their profession is unique, valuable, and distinct from being an assistant to physicians. One way to enact change with this research is to educate physicians and nurses about the impacts of their language choices in health care.
A second intended outcome of Communication research is prediction and control. Ideas of prediction and control are taken from the physical sciences (remember our discussion of Empirical Laws theories in the last chapter?). Many Communication researchers want to use the results of their research to predict and control communication in certain contexts. This type of research can help us make communicative choices from an informed perspective. In fact, when you communicate, you often do so with the intention of prediction and control. Imagine walking on campus and seeing an acquaintance approach. You predict that if you say “hi” to her, she will respond back with a greeting. As a result of your prediction, you decide to say “hi” in order to control the exchange at some level. This same idea motivates many Communication researchers to approach their research with the intention of being able to predict and control communication contexts. For example, research into those who are scared to give public speeches often has as its intended outcome the ability to predict when and how people get scared in order to develop (control) ways to help them cope with that (Harris, Sawyer & Behnke, 2006).
A third intended outcome of Communication research is positive critical/cultural change in the world. Scholars often perform research in order to challenge communicative norms and effect cultural and societal change. For example, research that examines health communication campaigns seeks to understand how effective campaigns are in changing our health behaviors such as using condoms to prevent sexually transmitted diseases or avoiding high fat foods. When it is determined that health campaigns are ineffective, researchers often suggest changes to health communication campaigns to increase their efficacy in reaching the people who need access to the information (Stephenson & Southwell, 2006).
As humans, researchers have particular goals in mind. Having an understanding of what they want to accomplish with their research helps them formulate questions and develop appropriate methodologies for conducting research that will help them achieve their intended outcomes.
Case In Point In 1987 an anti-drug campaign began to air on television (you can easily find this Public Service Announcement on YouTube). Wikipedia writes, “The first PSA, from 1987, showed a man who held up an egg and said, "This is your brain," before picking up a frying pan and adding, "This is drugs." He then cracks open the egg, fries the contents, and says, "This is your brain on drugs." Finally he looks up at the camera and asks, "Any questions?" 
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Theoretical Preferences
editRemember that theoretical paradigms offer different ways to understand communication. While it is possible to examine communication from multiple theoretical perspectives, it has been our experience that our colleagues tend to favor certain theoretical paradigms over others. Put another way, we all understand the world in ways that make sense to us.
Which theoretical paradigm(s) do you most align yourself with? How would this influence what you would want to accomplish if you were researching human communication? What types of communication phenomena grab your attention? Why? These are questions that researchers wrestle with as they put together their research projects.
Methodological Preferences
editAs you’ve learned, the actual process of doing research is called the methodology. While most researchers have preferences for certain theoretical paradigms, most researchers also have “favorite” methodologies for conducting research. As with theories, there are a large number of methodologies available for conducting research. As we did with theories, we believe it is easier for you to understand methodologies by categorizing them into paradigms. Most Communication researchers have a preference for one research paradigm over the others. For our purposes, we have divided methodological paradigms into rhetorical methodologies, quantitative methodologies, and qualitative methodologies.
Communication Research Now You have learned that Communication researchers ask questions that are of interest to them, are motivated by social issues of the day, and fall into certain theoretical and methodological perspectives. But, what kinds of questions are being asked? Here are some examples of research questions being studied today: |
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