Chapter 9

OUTLINE	CONCEPTS

I. Invitations to Empirical Research in Communication --problem statements and hypotheses that focus on current descriptions and relationships (attempts to: ascertain norms; establish goals; develop methods) --data that are quantitative; research questions often addressed by a combination of methods to "triangulate" research methods to draw upon all available information	empirical: means observable; most people use the term to refer to "scientific research" experiment: a study that introduces a variable and determines its effects while controlling all other variables
II. Survey Research	survey: the process of looking at something in its entirety survey research: empirical study that uses questionnaires or interviews to discover descriptive characteristics of phenomena forms of descriptive studies: --studies of behavior: facts and opinions (studies designed to determine the current status of conditions or attitudes) --studies of status and development (studies that trace the genesis and change of a group of people throughout a life cycle --methodological studies (studies that deal with the development and validation of new tools and measuring instruments
III. The Questionnaire Survey steps: A. Selection of Questions and Instructions	questionnaires: surveys in which individuals are asked to respond to items they have read
--ways to develop survey items: use standard forms in resource works; select measurement forms that have been used in research pieces you have read; develop your own measures --criteria for questions: to what extent might a question influence respondents to show themselves in a good light? to what extent might a question influence respondents to be unduly helpful by attempting to anticipate what researchers want to hear or find out? to what extent might a question ask for information about respondents that they are not certain, and perhaps not likely, to know about themselves?
--choices in question forms --problems in question design: double-barreled questions, loaded language, improper grammar, incompleteness, vagueness, ambiguous terms, lengthy items, complex questions, averaging or reconstructive questions, leading questions, abbreviations, imprecise questions, misspelling, awkward construction, items with only one logical answer, presumptive questions, elevated vocabulary, imprecise agents of action B. Formatting (order of questions, grouping of items, guidelines for length of question- naires)	direct (that ask for obvious reports) or indirect questions (that ask respondents to react in ways that imply information); specific (that try to focus attention on individual activities) or general questions (that ask respondents questions) vs. statements (declarations to which subjects indicate how much they agree or disagree) types of questions open ended questions: questions to which people respond in their own words closed ended questions: questions to which people respond in fixed categories of answers paired comparison questions: questions that ask respondents to make a judgment between alternatives taken two at a time contingency questions: questions asked only of some respondents, determined by their responses to other questions ranking questions: closed ended questions that ask respondents to rank order a set of options inventory questions: closed ended questions that ask respondents to list all reactions that apply to them matrix questions: closed ended questions that ask respondents to use the same categories to supply information multiple choice questions: closed ended questions that ask respondents to select a category response from a range of possible responses
C. Determining Reliability and Validity	validity: the consistency of a measure with a criterion, which reveals the degree to which a measure actually measures what is claimed (to show that a set of questions is valid, one first must show that it is reliable) reliability: the consistency of a measure with itself
--additional controls: 1. check questions	check question: asking the same question twice at different locations in the questionnaire, usually once positively worded and once negatively worded
2. measures of test taking behavior	social desirability: a measure of the degree to which people attempt to describe themselves in ways that they think are acceptable, desirable, or approved by others MMPI Lie Scale: a scale to identify respondents who are attempting to avoid being candid and honest in their responses Infrequency Index: a measure of the inconsistency of response
3. polarity rotation	polarity rotation: avoiding phrasing all items positively and avoiding placing all positive adjectives on the same side of the measurement items --response set: a tendency for subjects to follow predictable patterns of responding to test items
C. Sampling Subjects D. Administering the Questionnaire
E. Analyzing and Interpreting Results	--survey research reveals relationships, but not causal relationships (experiments or long- term historical studies are required to make those sorts of claims)
IV. The Interview Survey --reasons for interviews: 1. helpful when permission to participate is required; 2. desired to reduce refusal rate; 3. useful when it is important to record information (such as a respondent's manner and nonverbal actions) that might be lost by using questionnaires
A. Selection of Questions --types of interviews: structured interviews and unstructured interviews --recommendations for interviewers: 1. questions should be brief and to the point; 2. words and phrases should be simple and in common day-to-day use among all groups in the community; 3. questions should not include words that have strong emotional content; 4. questions must avoid all possible bias or suggestion in favor of or against a particular point of view; 5. questions should include all the important alternatives that may emerge on a given issue; 6. when the individual is asked to choose between different alternatives, this choice of alternatives must be given as early in the interview as possible.	structured interviews: use of specific lists of questions unstructured interviews: use of items that permit respondents to indicate their reactions to general issues without guidance from highly detailed questions strategies for initial questions: funnel questions: starting with an open-ended question and following up with increasingly narrow questions inverted funnel questions: starting with a very specific question and expanding by asking increasingly general questions follow-up question strategies: mirror questions: questions that repeat previous responses to elicit additional information probing questions: directly asking for elaboration and explanation climate questions: asking respondents to explain how they feel about the interview climate and their willingness to answer questions
--a question of ethics: confidentiality and anonymity	confidentiality: protection of the identity of research participants anonymity: protection of research participants be separating specific identities from the information given
B. Training and Controlling Behavior of Interviewers C. Determining Reliability and Validity D. Sampling Subjects E. Analyzing and Interpreting Results --credibility of questionnaire and interview data: data may not be trusted if: (1) respondents may not be aware enough to give useful responses; (2) recall is not known to be accurate
V. The Focus Group Survey --purposes: to gather preliminary information; to help develop questionnaire items; to understand a particular phenomenon; A. The Focus Group Method 1. Assembling the Groups --not random samples, but specific characteristic groups; recommended size from 6-12; more than one group typical	focus group: an interview style designed for small groups . . . focus group interviews are either guided or unguided discussions addressing a particular topic to test preliminary ideas or plans of interest of relevance to the group and the researcher
2. Preparing Study Mechanics	telefocus session: focus group sessions completed by teleconferencing methods over the telephone
3. Preparing Focus Group Session Materials and Questions --use of the presession questionnaire to increase willingness to speak 4. Conducting the Session questions not restricted to the moderator's guide; moderator's exercise skill to deal with different sorts of people; hosting single or many meetings varies 5. Analyzing Data and Preparing a Summary Report B. Focus Group Advantages 1. flexible; 2. very helpful in pilot studies; 3. promote frank and honest sharing of ideas C. Focus Group Disadvantages 1. cannot generalize results from one focus group to an entire population; 2. focus groups are only as good as the ability of the moderator 3. as a result of group discussion, many sets of reasons and comments tend to become more and more extreme
VI. Network Analysis	network analysis: a set of research procedures for identifying structures in social systems based on the relations among the system's components rather than the attributes of individual cases
A. Traditional Network Analysis	traditional network analysis: a method that obtains individuals' reports of their communication activities with others for the purpose of observing and describing the flow of information in a particular organizational system
1. The Traditional Approach of Network Analysis purposes: 1. to construct a map of the inter- action among people in an organization 2. to diagnose problems in communi- cation flow
3. to identify the roles played by different group members	grapevines: informal flows of communication
2. The Method of Network Analysis --general steps: 1. selecting communica- tion variables of interest; 2. securing individual reports from all members of the group
3. constructing network maps and tracking information flow	patterns: reciprocal pattern: one in which individuals share nearly an identical network pattern among themselves liaison: a person who links people of different networks together isolate: an individual who is not actively involved in any established network
4. interpreting results by comparing the network to a desired standard B. Network Analysis Beyond the Traditional --network analysis of social units or nodes can be people, departments, organizations, or message elements, such as words
1. Semantic networks	semantic networks: examinations of the relationships among words in a message
2. Networks among Groups	networks among groups: examinations of relationships among groups in an organization
3. Networks among Nations	networks among groups: examinations of relationships among nations
C. Limitations of the Approach 1. emphasizes structural information rather than content information; 2. does not explain the reasons for the relationships;