THE UNIVERSITY OF AKRON
School of Communication

7600:384-003  COMMUNICATION RESEARCH
 
 Instructor: Andrew S. Rancer, Ph.D.
Office: Kolbe Hall 110-F
Office Phone: (330) 972-6801 (my office), (330) 972-7954 (School of Communication).
Office Hours: Tuesdays 2-5PM, Thursdays 8:30-10:30AM, and by appointment.  You can also call me during my office hours if you can't make it to campus for my office hours.  I also have voice mail, so please be sure to leave a phone number where I can reach you.
E-Mail: My e-mail address is: ARANCER@UAKRON.EDU.  Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions, issues, problems, etc., as I check my e-mail messages every day.  This is probably the best way to reach me.

Class Hours:

Required Textbook:
 Stacks, D.W., & Hocking, J.E. (1999).  Communication Research, 2nd Edition.  New York: Longman, Inc.

Recommended Text (available at most bookstores):
 Williams, F.N. (1992).  Reasoning with Statistics, 4th Edition.  Dallas, TX:  Holt, Rinehart and Winston.

Course Objectives:  Along with effective communication skills and a good working knowledge of business principles, understanding communication research methods is one of the most important skills for the communication major in today's marketplace.  The goal of this course is to help you understand how communication processes and behavior are studied using the social scientific techniques of observation and measurement.  Course lectures, readings, and activities are designed with several distinct objectives in mind.  By the end of the semester, you should achieve the following objectives:

1. Increase your understanding of, and interest in, the process of communication research.
2. Improve your ability to understand and critique communication research conducted by others.
3. Acquire the basic skills needed to conceptualize and conduct research concerning human communication using a variety of methods such as surveys, experiments, content analyses, focus groups, and field research.
 
7600: 384-003    Communication Research    Andrew S. Rancer

Class Behavior and Attendance:  This is a required course for all of our majors and is considered one of the more "challenging" of the courses in the core.  Because I want to optimize your chances of success in this course, I expect that you will attend each session.  Attendance will be taken each session.  Participation, discussion, interaction, indeed mere presence is a critical element in the success of the course.  However, recognizing the uncertainties individuals have in their lives, I will allow three unexcused absences during the semester (a very liberal number I might suggest!).  Any unexcused absences beyond those three will lower your final grade in the course by one half a letter grade for each additional absence.  I expect that you will speak with me personally, call my office, or send me an e-mail message if you plan to miss any class.  Any absence which does not conform to this expectation will be considered an "unexcused absence" and will count against your final grade in the course.  In sum, it is important to attend class.

Repeating the Class: Any student who is repeating the class to earn a higher grade should make an appointment with me before the end of the second week of classes.  These appointments are helpful so that the problem(s) that led to the less than satisfactory grade the first time the course was taken can be identified and so that additional assistance for these students can be arranged.  Meeting with me during the first two weeks of the class is strongly encouraged.
Course Exams:  There will be four examinations in this course.  Each exam will consist of multiple choice, true - false, and short answer questions (Exam #3 will also require some statistical computation).  The four exams will be equal in value and will not be cumulative.  All exams must be taken at their scheduled times.  The last exam will constitute the "final exam" and will be held during the final exam period.
Course Article Abstract Assignment:  This assignment is designed to improve your ability to read and comprehend research articles of the sort often produced by communication researchers.  For this assignment, particular emphasis is placed on your ability to locate the major features of the article including the research questions or hypotheses, the basics of the methodology that the researchers used, the findings that the researcher(s) report, and the conclusion that they (or you) believe can be drawn from the article.  This assignment should also improve your ability to communicate about research methodology in a written form.  You can choose to write about research which was conducted via survey(descriptive) method or the experimental method.  Specific details concerning this assignment can be found as an attachment to this syllabus.  The completion of this article abstract is required for you to complete this course.
Skill Building Assignments:  There will be a few (no more than 5) "skill building assignments" designed to better acquaint you with various aspects of planning/conducting research.  Some of these assignments will be completed in class, some will be done outside of class and brought to class for review.  All skill building assignments must be completed and turned in to the instructor to complete the course.
 
 
 

Andrew S. Rancer   7600:384     Communication Research

COURSE SCHEDULE

Week Topic Readings
1 Course Introduction; Asking & Answering Questions; Why Do Communication Research? Chapter 1
2 The Role of Theory in Communication Research; What's theory and who cares about it? Chapter 2
3 Measurement Fundamentals; Reliability & Validity Chapter 6
4 Measurement Scales; Types of Scales Chapter 7
5 The Experimental Method in Communication Research Chapter 12
6 Experimental Strategies & Designs Chapter 13
7 Descriptive Statistics Chapter 14
8 SPSS-PC The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences Materials to be distributed in class
9 Inferential Statistics Chapter 15
10 Sampling in Quantitative Research Chapter 10
11 Survey (Descriptive) Research Chapter 11
12 Content Analysis Chapter 8
13 Focus Group Research/In-Depth Interviews Chapter 9 (pp.      )
14 Participant-Observation Chapter 9 (pp.     )
15 Ethics in Communication Research Chapter 3
16  Course Wrap-Up

Exam                                         Chapters Responsible For in Textbook

1 1, 2, 6, 7

2 12, 13

3 14, 15, 10

4                                                 11, 8, 9, 3       Final Exam Date: Tuesday May 11, 1999
                                                                                                        12N - 1:55PM
 
 
 
 
 

Andrew S. Rancer   7600:384      Communication Research
Article Abstract
Example - Survey/Descriptive Research
Due:
Objectives:
This assignment is designed to improve your ability to read and comprehend research articles of the sort often produced by communication researchers. For this abstract, particular emphasis is placed on your ability to locate the major features of the article including the research questions or hypotheses, the basics of the methodology that the researchers used, the findings that the researcher(s) report, and the conclusion that they (or you) believe can be drawn from the article. This assignment should also improve your ability to communicate about research methodology in a written form.
Academic Dishonesty:
Including any direct quotations from the article on which your article abstract is based without the use of quotation marks constitutes plagiarism. If your abstract contains extensive quotations it will be marked down since it will not demonstrate that you understand what the authors of the article are saying. Any student found plagiarizing on this assignment will receive a 0.
Procedures:
1) Locate and copy an article from one of the communication journals listed below. The article must use a survey or descriptive research as its primary research methodology. You will turn in a copy of the article with your analysis.
2) Read through your article, beginning with the abstract and continuing through the entire article. You may want to do this several times.
3) Find answers to the following questions:
1. What are the researcher's predictions or research questions?
2. What reasoning led the researchers to draw these hypotheses or ask these questions?
3. What kind of survey did the researchers use to test their predictions or ask their research questions.
4. Who, and how many people did they use in their sample and how were they sampled?
5. Who was the population the researchers were generalizing to?
6. What did the researchers learn about each of their hypotheses and research questions? Were their predictions confirmed?
7. What conclusions do the researchers draw from their results?
8. What additional conclusions, reservations, or questions does the article raise that warrant further investigation?
 

Andrew S. Rancer   7600:384    Communication Research
 

4) Type/word-process your answers to these questions. You may choose to answer each question separately. Alternatively, it is also fine to combine your answers to two or more
question (such as questions 1 and 2). Just make sure your responses meet the following criteria:
1. They should be typed/word-processed double spaced on white standard paper, with one inch margins on both sides, the top, and the bottom. Type your name in the top right hand corner of the first page.
2. Each response should be clearly marked so I know exactly what question or questions you are answering.
3. Responses should be typed neatly in full sentences, free of grammatical and spelling errors.
4. While the length of abstracts will vary, it is unlikely that you will be able to thoroughly respond to all of these questions in less than three pages.
Journals From Which Your Article Can be Selected:
Communication Education, Human Communication Research, Southern Communication Journal, Communication Quarterly, Communication Research Reports, Communication Monographs, Western Journal of Communication, Communication Studies
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Andrew S. Rancer   7600:384      Communication Research

Article Abstract
Example - Experimental Research
Due:
Objectives:
This assignment is designed to improve your ability to read and comprehend research articles of the sort often produced by communication researchers. Particular emphasis is placed on your ability to locate the major features of the article including the research questions or hypotheses, the basics of the methodology that the researchers used, the findings that the researcher(s) report, and the conclusion that they (or you) believe can be drawn from the article. This assignment should also improve your ability to communicate about research methodology in a written form.
Academic Dishonesty:
Including any direct quotations from the article on which your article abstract is based without the use of quotation marks constitutes plagiarism. If your abstract contains extensive quotations it will be marked down since it will not demonstrate that you understand what the authors of the article are saying. Any student found plagiarizing on this assignment will receive a 0.
Procedures:
1) Locate and copy an article from one of the communication journals listed below which uses an experiment or the experimental method as its primary research methodology. You will turn in a copy of the article with your analysis.
2) Read through your article, beginning with the abstract and continuing through the entire article. You may want to do this several times.
3) Find answers to the following questions:
1. What are the researcher's predictions or research questions?
2. What reasoning led the researchers to draw these hypotheses or ask these questions?
3. What are the researchers independent and dependent variables?
4. What kind of experiment did the researchers use to test their predictions or ask their research questions. You should be able to identify the precise type of experimental design. Is it a true or quasi experimental design? Is it a factorial design? If so, what type?
5. Who, and how many people did they use in their sample?
6. Were all the requirements for a true experiment met? Your response should summarize how each condition was or was not met.
7. What did the researchers learn about each of their hypotheses and research questions? Were their predictions confirmed?
8. What conclusions do the researchers draw from their results?
9. Are there any additional conclusions that you would draw for the results that
Andrew S. Rancer   7600:384      Communication Research
 

the researchers report. In particular, how would you assess the external validity of the researchers' findings? What threats to either internal or external validity do you perceive?
4) Type up your answers to these questions. You may choose to answer each question separately. Alternatively, it is also fine to combine your answers to two or more questions (such as questions 1 and 2).
Journals From Which Your Article Can be Selected:
Communication Education, Human Communication Research, Southern Communication Journal, Communication Quarterly, Communication Research Reports, Communication Monographs, Western Journal of Communication, Communication Studies