COM
454
HONORS
COMMUNICATION CAPSTONE
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Last updated January 28,
2020 |
HONORS:
COMMUNICATION CAPSTONE
RESEARCH METHODS
RESOURCES
FOUR PRIMARY
RESEARCH METHODS
Questions
to Ask...**
As
you read communication studies that use
one
of these four methods
Twenty Questions to Guide Evaluation
of Four Research Methods
(Selected from: Frey,
Botan, Friedman, and Kreps (1992), Interpreting Communication Research:
A Case Study Approach. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Allyn and Bacon.)
EXPERIMENTAL
RESEARCH
How precise are the
hypotheses?
Is each a clearly worded,
simple, single cause-effect prediction? |
| Are the hypotheses
interesting
or are they self evident? |
Were subjects randomly
assigned to the experimental groups?
Did everyone studied
in the experiment have an equal chance of being assigned to the different
experimental conditions? |
| Was the manipulation
of the independent variable "life-like" enough to allow the researcher
to generalize the findings beyond the confines of this particular experiment? |
| Were important extraneous
variables that may confound the findings controlled for? Might the
findings be due to other events that occurred between the time the
subjects experienced the independent variable and when they were measured
on the dependent variable? |
SURVEY
QUESTIONNAIRE AND INTERVIEW RESEARCH
| Is there a response
bias in the sample? Could there be differences between those who participated
and those who did not? Was the response rate sufficient for the
purposes of the research? |
| Was the choice of
a questionnaire or an interview appropriate for answering the
research question posed? |
| Were the questions
worded clearly and leading questions avoided? |
| Were respondents guaranteed
anonymity? |
| Did the interviewers
receive sufficient training? Did they probe effectively? |
TEXTUAL
ANALYSIS: RHETORICAL CRITICISM
| Were the most appropriate
texts selected for analysis? |
| Is the researcher sure
that the text selected are complete and accurate? What might
be left out of these tests, and how might any omissions affect the results? |
| What type of
rhetorical
criticism was it: historical, Neo-Aristotelian generic feminist, metaphoric,
narrative, dramatistic, fantasy theme analysis? |
| Did the critic produce
a compelling argument about the meaning of the text? |
| In the final analysis,
did the essay produce a richer understanding of human persuasion? |
ETHNOGRAPHIC
RESEARCH
| What justified observation
or interviews as the appropriate methods to use? Were the observations
conducted on-site, where people are communicating naturally? |
| Did the observers exhaustively
record all the communication behavior related to the research questions? |
| Are the findings described
in sufficiently rich and vivid detail (a "thick description") so
the reader may visualize the communication behavior observed and the context
in which it occurred? |
| What assurances are
provided that inferences are grounded in the data, not imposed or biased
by the researcher's a priori assumptions? |
| Do the article's findings
"put you in the respondents' shoes," so that you now have a better sense
of how people in the group being studied act, think speak and/or react
to others? |
**From
page 16; Griffin, E. (1997), A first look at communication theory
(3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
|