INVESTIGATING COMMUNICATIONAN INTRODUCTION TO RESEARCH METHODS

SECOND EDITION

LAWRENCE R. FREYThe University of Memphis

CARL H. BOTANPurdue University

GARY L. KREPSNational C ancer Institute

ALLYN AND BACONBoston. London. Toronto . Sydney . TblEo . Singapore

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Library of Congress Cataloging'in'Publication Data

Frey, Lawrence R.Investigating communication : an introduction to research methods.

- 2nded./ Lawrence R. Frey, Carl H' Botan, Gary L' Kreps'

p. cm.Rev. ed. of: Investigating communication / Lawrence R' Frey ' ' '

[et al.]. Englewood Cliffs, N.J. : Prentice Hall, c1991'

Includes bibliographical references and index'

ISBN (invalid) 0-205 - 19826-0

1. Communication-Research-Methodology' I' Botan, CarlH'

II. Kreps, GarY L. III. Title.P91.3.F74 2000302.2',07',2-4c2r

Printed in the United States of America

20 t9 l 8 L7 16 13 12 l r l 0 09

99-344MCIP

CoNrBxrs

PREFACE tx

PART ONECONCEPTUALIZING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO THE RESEARCH CULTUREThe Importance of Knowing Research Methods 3Making Claims and Offering Evidence 6Everyday Ways of Knowing 8

Personal Experience 8Intuition 9Authority 10Appeals to Tradition, Custorn, and Faith l0Magic, Superstition, and Mysticism l1

The Research Process 12Characteristics of Research 12Research as Culture 17Research as Conversation 20

The Importance of Distinguishing Researchfrom Pseudoresearch 2IConclusion 26

CHAPTER 2 ASKING QUESTIONS ABOUT COMMUNICATIONDefining Communication 27What Constitutes Communication Research? 28Areas of Communication Research ZBBasic versus Applied Communication Research Topics

Basic Communication Research 30Applied Communication Research 33An Integrated Model of Basic and AppliedCommunication Research 36

Justifying Communication Research Topics 38Research Questions and Hypotheses 39

DescribingCommunicationBehavior 39Relating Communication Behavior to Other Variables

Conclusion 47

CHAPTER 3 FINDING, READING, AND USING RESEARCHReasons for Reviewing Previous Research 48The Search for Research 50

Types ofResearch Reports 50

27

30

40

48

IY CONTENTS

Finding Research RePorts 56"Internet and World Wide Web Resources for Research"

by Diane E Witmer 62

How Research Is Presented: Reading Scholarly

Journal Articles 66A Typicat Quantitative Scholarly Journal Article 66

WritingaLiteratureReview 69

Conclusion 74

PART TWOPLANNING AND DESIGNINGCOMMUNICATION RESEARCH 79

CHAPTER 4 OBSERVING AND MEASURING

COMMUNICATION VARIABLES 81-

Conceptual versus Operational Definitions 81

EvaluatingOperationalDefinitions 82

Measurement Theory 83

Quantitative and Qualitative Meqsurements 83

Levels of Measurement 85

M easurin g U nidimensional andMultidimensional ConcePts 94

Measurement Methods 95Self-Reports 96Others'Reports 97Behavioral Acts 98

Measurement Techniques 99

Questionnaires and Interviews 99

Observations 104Conclusion 107

CHAPTER5DESIGNINGVALIDCOMMUNICATIONRESEARCHInternal and External Validity 109

Measurement Validity and Reliability 111

Measurement Reliability 111

MeasurementValidity 115

Threats to Internal ValiditY ll9Threats Due to How Research Is Coruducted 119

Threats Due to Research Participants 121

Threats Due to Researchers 123

External Validity 125Sampling 125EcologicalValidity 133Replication 135

Conclusion I39

109

CONTENTS

CHAPTER6 RESEARCHETHICSANDPOLITICS 140Ethical Issues in Communication Research 140

The Politics of Academic Research l4IEthical Issues Involving Research Participants 146Ethical Decisions Involving Research Findings 16I

Conclusion . 165

PART THREEMETHODOLOGIES FOR CONDUCTINGCOMMUNICATION RESEARCH 167

CHAPTERT EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH 169Establishing Causation 169Exercising Control in Experimental Research IlI

Exposing Research Participants to an IndependentVariable I7IRuling Out Initial Dffirences between the Conditions 175Controlling for the Effects of Extraneous Influences 178

Experimental Research Designs 182PreexperimentalDesigns 183Quasi-ExperimentalDesigns 186Full Experimental Designs 189

Factorial Designs 190Factorial Design Statements and Diagrams 192Betwe en-Group and Within-Group ( Repeated-M easure s )Designs 194

Laboratory versus Field Experiments 195Conclusion 197

CHAPTERS SURVEYRESEARCH 198The Prevalence of Surveys 198

Applied Uses of Survey Research 198Use of Surveys in Communication Research 202

Survey Research Design 204Selecting Survey Respondents 204Cross-SectionalversusLongitudinalsurveys 208

Survey Measurement Techniques 209Designing Questions for Survey Instruments 210Questionnaire Survey Research 213Interview Survey Research 216

Using Multiple Methods in Survey Research 222Conclusion 223

CHAPTER9 TEXTUALANALYSIS 225Purposes of Textual Analysis 225Important Considerations in Textual Analysis 22j

Types ofTexts 227

1tD9

YT CONTENTS

Acquiring Texts 228Approaches to Textual Analysis 229

Rhetorical Criticism 229ConductingRhetoricalCriticism 230

Types bf Rhetorical Criticism 231

Content Analysis 236

Value of Quantitative Content Analysis 238

Quantitative Content-Analytic Procedures 239

Interaction Analysis 243Describing Interaction and Relating It to Other Variables

ConductinglnteractionAnalysis 248

Performance Studies 252"Performance as a Method" by Ronald J. Pelias 252

Conclusion 256

258

284

289

243

CHAPTER 10 NATURALISTIC INQUIRY 257

Common Assumptions Guiding Naturalistic Inquiry

Types of Naturalistic Inquiry 259

EthnographY 259Ethnomethodology 259

Critical Ethnography 260

Autoethnography 261

The Flow of Naturalistic Inquiry 262

Collecting Data in Naturalistic Inquiry 264

Naturalistic Observational Reseqrch 264

Interviewing in Naturalistic Inquiry 273

Start Making Sense: Analyzingarrd Reporting

Qualitative Data 280Analyzing Qualitative Data 280

Reporting Findings from Naturalistic Inquiry

Conclusion 285

PART FOURANALYZING AND INTERPRETING

QUANTTTATTVE DATA 287

CHAPTER 11 DESCRIBING QUANTITATIVE DATA 289

Making Sense of Numbers: Statistical Data Analysis

Describing Data through Summary Statistics 292

Measures of Central TendencY 292

Measures of Dispersion 296

Describing Data in Standard Scores 301

Describing Data through Visual Displays 305

Frequency Tables 305

CONTENTS

Pie Charts 307Bar Charts 309Line Graphs 31 IFrequency Histograms and Frequency Polygons 312

Conclusion 314

CHAPTER 12 INFERRING FROM DATA: ESTIMATIONAND SIGNIFICANCE TESTING 315Estimation 316

The Normal Distribution 316Use of Random Sampling 318Inferring from a Random Sample to a Population 3 j9

Significance Testing 323The Logic of Significance Tbsting 325The Practice of Significance ksting 329Type I Enor andType II Error 332Statistical Power 333

Conclusion 334

CHAPTER13 ANALYZINGDIFFERENCESBETWEEN GROUPS 336Types of Difference Analysis 337

Nominal Data 337Ordinal Data 342Interval/Ratio Data 344

Advanced Difference Analysis 354Conclusion 354

CHAPTER14 ANALYZINGRELATIONSHIPSBETWEEN VARIABLES 356Types of Relationships 356

UnrelatedVariables 356LinearRelationshipsbetweenVariables 357NonlinearRelationships betweenVariables 358

Correlations 359Conelation Cofficients 359Cofficient of Determination 367Multiple Correlation 368Partial Coryelation 369

Regression Analysis 369Linear Regression 370Multiple Linear Regression 371

AdvancedRelationshipAnalysis 373Conclusion 376

vlt

viii CONTENTS

PART FfVE 'RECONCEPTUALIZINGCOMMUNICATION RESEARCH 379

CIIAPTER 15 EPILOGUE: CONCLUDING RESEARCH 381

Discussing Research Findings 381Interpreting the Meaning of Research Findings 381

Identifying Limitations of the Research 389

Suggesting Directions for Future Research 394

Conclusion 395

APPENDICES 397Random Number Thble 397Chi-Square Table 398tTable 399FTable 400Pearson rTable 406Spearman rhoTable 407

GLOSSARY

REFERENCES

NAME INDEX

SUBJECT INDEX 507

408

444

499

PnBrnce

Reseqrch methods-two little words that seem to intimidate even the best college student.Indeed, when we asked a group of students the first thought that came to mind when theyheard these words, they said, "Difficult," "Time consuming," "Worth the effort?" "Bor-ing," and "C" (as in grade). Faculty members, in contrast, responded with, "The pursuit oftruth," "Planned investigation," and "Proof."

To quote the boss of the labor camp (an unfortunate analogy, we know!) in the movieCool Hand Luke, "WhaI we have here is a failure to communicate." Students don't under-stand the full value of learning about research methods. They see research as the provinceof the elite, as difficult or even impossible to master. Unforfunately, this attitude is often re-inforced by how research methods are taught. Research methods courses can become a bat-tle or proving ground, with students wishing merely to survive and then forgetting aboutwhat they learned as soon thereafter as possible.

In short, the gap between the attitudes of teachers and students is an obstacle to learn-ing about research methods that must be oyercome. To that end, our goal has been to writea text that encourages you as a student to become excited about studying research methods.Call us optimistic, but we seek to make research methods accessible rather than impossibleto learn and, hopefully, to encourage you and your teachers alike to have fun in the process.

One way we attempt to do this is by framing research methods in some potentiallyhelpful ways. First, we equate learning about research methods with learning about a newculture. Like a foreign culture, research methods have their own languages, rules, and so-cial customs. Learning about a foreign culhrre takes time and patience, and learning aboutresearch methods is no different. We, the authors, remember what our entry period into theculture of research was like; indeed, some of us did not do all that well in our first researchmethods course! Yet here we are today teaching and writing about communication researchmethods. Understanding the maturation process firsthand and being sensitive to the diffr-culty of leaming this new culture, we start at the very beginning and proceed slowly, mak-ing sure that everyone is with us along the way.

Second, in line with a communication perspective, it is helpful to think about the re-search methods culture as a series of conversations that take place among and between itsmembers and constituents. There is, for example, the conversation that goes on between aresearcher and the people he or she studies. There is also the conversation that goes on be-tween a researcher and his or her colleagues in the form ofjournal and book publicationsand convention presentations. Both conversations, and a number of others, although theyare quite different in purpose and nature, are part ofthe research process. The value of sucha perspective, then, is that it grounds the research process in communication acts andprocesses-something you, as a communication student, already understand.

Third, within any culture there are subculfures where members carry on conversationsusing particular words and phrases; in some cases, these subcultural conversations are notunderstood easily by members of other subcultures or by members of the larger culture. Forexample, if you are a surfer, you know that words llke hollow, closed-out, and sucking de-scribe types of waves, while drop-in, cut-back, and offthe-lip describe surfing maneuvers(see Scheerhorn & Geist, 1997).T}r.e research methods culture also has subcultures within

PREFACE

it; as one example, subcultures are represented by the different methodologies that re-

searchers use to study communication, such as experimental, survey, textual analysis, and

naturalistic inquiry. Hence, researchers who conduct experiments believe in and under-

stand the importance of randomization, which refers to the process of assigning research

participants to the different conditions that are part of an experiment (such as treatment and

nontreatment conditions) in such a way that each person has an equal chance of being put

into each condition so as to rule out the possibility of initial differences between the con-

ditions (see Chapter 7).Eachmethod, thus, has its own terminology and rules about how

researchers converse with the people being studied, with colleagues in the discipline and

other fields, and with the press and general public. We seek to teach you about these sub-

cultures and the conversations that occur therern.

Finally, we see researchers as being similar to detectives. Like a detective trying to

solve a crime, a researcher is trying to uncover new knowledge. The researcher-detective

starts with a topic worth studying, poses questions that need asking, and then attempts to

find the answers in a systematic manner. Research methods are, thus, the strategies re-

searchers use to solve puzzlingquestions. Like a detective, a researcher searches for evi-

dence as carefully and as systematically as possible, sorts the meaningful from the trivial,

and adopts the most likely solution or answer.

Learning about the conversations that take place in the research methods culture, in

general, and the various methods subcultures, in particular, is helped by exposure to the

ways other social detectives do it. For that reason, we provide you with many examples of

real-life communication research. By the time you finish this text, we are sure you will

agree that there are many exciting topics studied in the communication discipline and in-

triguing ways in which research is done. And while we review many classic examples of re-

search, communication is a young and growing field that seems to change almost daily. For

that reason, we concentrate on sharing with you the latest, cutting-edge research studies

conducted during the 1990s.Although a number of good research methods textbooks are available, our approach is

particularly helpful in learning this subject in five ways. First, we aim at students with little

or no familiarity with research methods. We know that research methods and findings are

often steeped in mystery and obtuse language, making it diffrcult for new learners (and

even seasoned veterans), so we try hard to demystify the research process, making it acces-

sible instead of esoteric. This does not mean that we do not deal with important, substan-

tive, and, at times, difficult material; we do, but we never forget that you are an introductory

student. Instead of throwing you into the deep end of a pool and seeing whether you swim

or drown, we prefer to take you into the water slowly, first getting your feet wet and then

immersing yourself in the pool at a comfortable rate'

Second, the primary goal of this text is to enable you to become a more knowledgeable

and critical consumer of research. We are not trying to train you as a professional re-

searcher; this is more appropriate for graduate education. Indeed, the primary difference

between undergraduate and graduate education is the extent to which students learn to en-

gage in original research as part of their graduate coursework (both in terms of taking a

number of methods courses and as the basis for a thesis or dissertation). We are aware that

you may not have to conduct research in your professional life, but, as we show in the very

fust chapter, you most certainly will have to be able to find, read, understand, and evaluate

research as part of your work life and as an informed citizen who is called on to make im-

portant decisions, such as voting for political candidates or serving onjuries. Understand-

PREFACE

ing the research process, of course, is the first step toward becoming a producer of research,so if you choose to go on to graduate school or if you are asked to conduct research as partof this or anoiher course during your undergraduate career, this text will prove invaluable.

Third, we have written this textbook explicitly for students who wish to understandhow research methods are used to study communication behavior. This approach preparescommunication majors to study, research, and analyze the real-world communication is-sues they encounter in the various careers they pursue. Most of the principles we talk about,however, cut across disciplines; thus, this text also helps you to become a knowledgeableand critical consumer of many other types of research, such as psychological, sociological,business. and medical research.

Fourth, in a national survey about the teaching of undergraduate communication re-search methods, Frey and Botan (1988) found that most professors who teach this courserequire students to read and report on communication research published in scholarly jour-nals. Many other communication coluses, as well as courses in other fields, also requirestudents to read journal articles. If you are to remain current and make use of primarysource material in this field, you must be able to find and understand the information gen-erated by scholars. Doing so, however, is far more difftcult than merely obtaining the lead-ing scholarly journals and reading them. Few research reports are written clearly and in thestandard way described in research methods textbooks. The prose is usually inflated, usingwords not found in everyday language. Students often feel bewildered by what they en-counter in these scholarly academic jounfals, so they just skim the contents of articles, andvow to avoid all further contact with them.

To combat these feelings, we provide you with the "code" in which scholarly researcharticles are written. Once you know the purpose and the meaning of each section in re-search articles, the internal logic and value of an article emerges more clearly. Accordingly,this text mirrors the format of a traditional scholarly journal article by proceeding in the fol-lowing logical manner:

1. Introducing you to the research process2. Sharing with you some of the topics communication scholars consider worth study-

ing and how research questions and hypotheses are posed3. Showing you how to find and read previous research4. Examining how researchers plan and design studies5. Explaining how researchers conduct studies using various methodologies6. Understanding how the information collected is analyzed7. Discussing how results from research are interpreted in a meaningful manner

We also provide you with the code by bolding key terms throughout the text and listingthem at the end in one ofthe most extensive and detailed glossaries you are likely to see.'We've

even cross-listed these terms, using "see" so that you can find other similar or relatedterms and "compare" to enable you to compare how the term differs from other relatedterms.

If you still find yourself having difficulty understanding primary source materials, youmay wish to consult our other text, entilled Interpreting Communication Research: A CaseSndy Approach (1992, also available from Allyn and Bacon). In that text, we use the casestudy method to walk students through actual communication research articles selectedfrom scholarlyjournals and books. Questions are posed to consider prior to reading an ar-ticle, the lines of the article are numbered, and we then analyze the article by referring to

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xlt PREFACE

specific line numbers and discussing the decisions the researcher(s) made. We also cite ad-

ditional reference material that explains in greater depth the specific methodology beilg

examined, and give an annotated bibliography of five additional research articles that use

that methodology.Finally, the field of communication is fragmented into many subspecialties. Diversity,

though rich, also means the possibility of losing sight of what others in the field are doing'

Too often textbooks aim at one particular subspecialty of the discipline (such as mass com-

munication) or promote one kind of research method (such as experimental) while giving

only lip service to some of the other research methods.

We believe that understanding various research methods fosters the complementary

integration of these various subspecialties. Each of the authors of this text has extensive ex-

perience in both teaching introductory communication research methods courses and con-

ducting research. Our various research efforts have spanned the major areas of the

communication discipline (i.e., speech communication, mass communication, and journal-

ism), the four methodologies we cover (experimental, survey, textual analysis, and natural-

istic inquiry), and the two ways of analyzing data (quantitative and qualitative). We believe

that this diversity of interest and experience has resulted in a balanced approach to this text-

book that could not possibly have been achieved had any one of us written it alone.

We have also grown in gur understanding of research methods since the first edition of

this book was written. The present edition, consequently, represents a substantive revision

of the original text. We were not content merely to change a few things around and put a

new cover on it, but instead, took the time necessary to do a thorough job. Virtually every

chapter has been significantly revised, mostly by adding new material that makes these en-

tirely new chapters (plus an entfuely new chapter in the analyzing and interpreting quanti-

tative data section), by improving the discussions in material retained from the previous

edition, and, of course, by including the most up-to-date information about the research

studies conducted in the field of communication.

In the final analysis, we encourage you to approach this textbook and this course with

an open mind. Preexisting attitudes too often obstruct learning new ones, and this certainly

can be the case with learning about communication research methods. So expose yourself

to research; as the saying goes, "Try it, you might like it!"

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Writing and/or revising a book involves an incredible number of people. We are indebted

to those who helped shape both the first edition and the present edition, and would like to

express our sincere thanks to these colleagues and friends'

We would like to thank Steve Dalphin, our f,rrst editor at Prentice Hall, for his faith in

this project from the very start; Joe Opiela, Editor-in-Chief of Humanities at Allyn and Ba-

con, who inherited this text and placed his trust in us; Paul Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Edu-

cation, Communication, and Health; and Karon Bowers, Acquisitions Editor at Allyn and

Bacon, who helped produce this edition. We also thank the superb team selected to review

the first edition for their insightful cornments, criticisms, and suggestions: Mark B' Co-

madena, Illinois State University; Michael E. Mayer, Arizona State University; Robert D'

McPhee, Aflzona State University; Marshall Scott Poole, Texas A&M University; and

Brian J. Spitzberg, San Diego State University.

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PREFACE

We also want to express our sincere appreciation to Paul G. Friedman, University ofKansas, one of the authors on the flrst edition of this textbook. Paul's help on the first edi-tion, as well aS our other methods text, was immeasurable, and although he decided for per-sonal reasons not to be a coauthor on this second edition, he still graciously agreed toreview material and provided detailed feedback. There is no doubt that this textbook is sub-stantially better because of the help he offered.

We are also indebted to a nirmber of colleagues who wrote research overviews of someareas covered in the f,trst andlor present edition and allowed us liberal use of their material:Richard L. Johannesen, Northern Illinois University, for help with rhetorical criticism;Dawn Kahn, The John Marshall Law School, for help with communication issues related ,

to the law; Kathleen E. Kendall, State University of New York at Albany, for help with po-litical communication; Leah A. Lievrouw, University of California, Los Angeles, for helpwith bibliometrics; W. Barnett Pearce, Fielding Institute, for help with framing researchmethods as conversation; Ronald J. Pelias, Southern Illinois University, for his contributionabout performance studies; Nancy L. Roth, for help with elecffonic searches; Thomas J.Socha, Old Dominion University, for help with interaction analysis; Myoung Chung Wil-son, Rutgers University Library, for help with online databases and CD-ROMs; and DianeF. Witmer, California State University, Fullerton, for her contribution about Internet aadWorld Wide.Web resources for research.

We want to thank all the students in our research methods courses over the years atIllinois State University, Loyola University Chicago, Northern Illinois University, PurdueUniversity, Rutgers University, and University of Nevada, Las Vegas, who provided us withfeedback about the first edition of this text. We are also deeply indebted to JoAnn Fricke ofLoyola University Chicago for her wonderful secretarial help with the first edition.

The authors extend special thanks to Sandra Metts of Illinois State University. San-dra's only formal commitment for the fust edition was to write the instructor's manual, butshe went over each draft of that manuscript with a fine-toothed comb and offered wonder-ful suggestions and rewrote much of the material. Her instructor's manual for the first edi-tion is one of the best ones we've seen.

'We were, indeed, fortunate, then, when Jim Query Loyola University Chicago, agreed

to do the instructor's -manual for this edition. He has produced an exceptional manual, onethat we know instructoli will appreciate very much. Thanks, Jim, for your excellent work.

In revising this text, we solicited feedback via a questionnaire from colieagues in thecommunication discipline. They offered many excellent suggestions that we incorporatedinto this edition. Special thanks for taking the time to help is extended to (in alphabetical or-der): Dennis C. Alexander, University of Utah; E. James Baesler, Old Dominion University;Thomas N. Baglan, Arkansas State University; James Barushok, Northeastem Illinois Uni-versity; Julie M. Billingsley, Rutgers University; Joseph C. Chilberg, State Universiry ofNew York College-Fredonia; Mark E. Comadena, Illinois State University; Judith M.Dallinger, Westem Illinois University; Susan Fox, Western Michigan University; PhilipGray, Northern Illinois University; Stephen C. Hines, West Virginia University; Ann House,Santa Clara University; Lawrence W Hugenberg, Youngstown State University; Jerry M.Jordan, University of Cincinnati; Richard A. Katula, Northeastem University; Dean Ka-zoleas, Tllinois State University; Sandra M. Ketrow, University of Rhode Island; Ana Kong,Govemors State University; Charles U. Larson, Northern Illinois University; Gail Mason,Eastern Illinois University; Michael E. Mayer, Aizona State University; Paul A. Mongeau,

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xlY PREFACE

othy L. Sellnow, North Dakota State University; Edward Sewell, Virginia Tech; John C.

Sherblom, University of Maine; Christine B. Smith, University of Southern Califomia;

search methods, We know this is not the easiest material to teach or the most popular with

students, but your dedication to helping students understand communication research does

make a difference in their lives'

Finally, each of us would like to thank the following people:

about communication and research methods. I also want to thank my family for their love

anci support, and my Chicago-based friends (especially Mark and Jiil and Mike and Heidi)

for once again putting up with me during the work on this second edition. This book, as be-

fore, is dedicated to Marni Cameron with all my love. -L' R. F'

Any undertaking of this size intrudes on family life and requires that some things be

put on hold. I would like to thank my wife, Jennifer McCreadie, for her comments, support'

and patience throughout, particularly in reminding me that qualitative methods hold up half

the lresearch] world. I also want to dedicate this book to my father John Botan, mother Julia

Tynell, and brother Ronald Botan, the reluctant politician in the group. -C. H. B.

I owe a great debt of gratitude to my coauthors on this book, Larry and Carl (as well as

paul Friedman), who supported me and patiently waited for my late-arriving chapter drafts

through my moves from one end of the country to the other (and back again) ' I also sincerely

thank-my loving family, Stephanie, Becky, and David, who loyally followed me from one

job to another and know that they are the ultimate source of my affection. My hope is that

this book will encourage rigorous, pluralistic, and social$ informed communication in-

quiry. -G. L. K.