Lecture: Communication Research Method

One stereotype about college students is that they do not have a lot of extra money to spend. As a result, we have witnessed our students conduct communication research in order to increase their cashflow, and most of them didn't even know they were doing it. What do we mean by this? Many of our students are allotted a certain amount of money by their parents, financial aid, and jobs to pay for school, housing, and extracurricular activities. When money starts to become scarce, many of our students go to their parents to see if they will provide more money. What does this have to do with communication research? Because when these same students have asked for money from their parents in the past, they theorize what communication messages might work in order to get more.

After this Lecture, you should be able to:

• Understand what we consider as Communication research.
• Explain how Communication research is done.
• Identify motivational factors that influence Communication research.
• Explain the three broad approaches to Communication research as well as specific research methodologies.

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