Investigating Communication: An Introduction to Research Methods

by Lawrence R. Frey, Carl H. Botan, Gary L. Kreps

This book provides a comprehensive, balanced introduction to communication research methods. Designed for readers who have little or no familiarity with research methods, this book helps one become a more knowledgeable and competent consumer (and limited producer) of scholarly research and of the everyday research to which they are exposed by the mass media. Praised for its accessible writing and extensive real-life examples, this book takes a step-by-step approach through the communication research process. Investigating Communication shows how communication research is conducted from start to finish, with the book's organization modeled after a traditional research study. By making the material accessible rather than impossible to learn, readers become excited about studying research methods. For anyone interested in the introductory methods of communication research.

Contents:
* Introduction to Research Culture
* Asking Questions About Communication
* Finding, Reading, and Using Research
* Observing and Measuring Communication Variables
* Designing Valid Communication Research
* Research Ethics and Politics
* Experimental Research
* Survey Research
* Textual Analysis
* Naturalistic Inquiry
* Describing Quantitative Data
* Inferring from Data: Estimation and Significance Testing
* Analyzing Differences Between Groups
* Analyzing Relationships Between Variables

Genres: Communication

528 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1990

Reviews

[Larry McCloskey · Rating 1 out of 5]

THIS was painful, even as textbooks go. Written by robots who were paid by the word, this tediously bloated text was clearly designed to dissuade people from embarking on a career of communication investigation. It is, quite simply, impossible to read this book and ever want anything mentioned within to be a part of your life again.

The writing is both heavy-handed and dumbed down, which is a pretty impressive feat of writing, I suppose. The authors clearly had either no idea what audience they were writing for or each had their own audience in mind. Some of the more advanced topics, like statistical analysis, were written for time traveling cyborg rocket scientists who enjoy performing trigonometry equations while listening to the sound of the breaking hearts of college students everywhere. At the other end of the spectrum, the book spends four pages explaining how to find research literature in an academic library. The fact that the book is VERY dated doesn't help things, even though some of the topics explored are as timeless as the scars that reading this book will leave on your psyche.

In short, if your professor assigns this book, consider dropping the class and trying next semester or pursuing a different major. Or perhaps explore a career in the exciting field of drive thru window operation - some things just aren't worth it.

[Annie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was painful. And that's after accounting for the fact that textbooks are generally painful to begin with. I had learned some of these concepts before. I took stats and did well in it. And somehow I understand some of the statistical aspects even less than I did before. Sometimes it just tosses out terms without bothering to define anything. Yuck.

Plus, it's horribly outdated. Not a fault of the book itself, but for god's sake, please don't assign textbooks from 1999 in 2016. We're better than that, as a society.

Adding this because if I had to read it, I might as well count it toward my yearly book total.

[Omar · Rating 5 out of 5]

textbook on communication research