Psychometric Properties of the Internet Self-Efficacy Scale: An Application of Item Response Theory

The current study provides a cursory review of item response theory (IRT), and tentatively applies the IRT to examining the psychometric properties of the Internet self-efficacy instrument. The results indicated that the eight items of the scale are not of the same quality of assessing individuals' Internet self-efficacy. The reason might be that some items are to a certain degree double-barreled. A comparison of classical test theory (CTT) and IRT shows that IRT provides insight into the item-level information about an instrument. Through illustration of the IRT, the author argued for more application of this measurement technique in the field of communication research.     

Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Scale Validation in Communication Research

Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) is an under-used and often misunderstood statistical tool. CFA provides useful information about scale dimensionality and validity. This paper offers a brief and accessible introduction to the role of CFA in communication research. Some common issues with CFA including dimensionality and model fit are addressed. More frequent and informed use of CFA would likely improve the quality of measurement in quantitative communication research.     

Ten Steps in Scale Development and Reporting: A Guide for Researchers

Scale development involves numerous theoretical, methodological, and statistical competencies. Despite the central role that scales play in our predictions, scholars often apply measurement building procedures that are inconsistent with best practices. The defaults in statistical programs, inadequate training, and numerous evaluation points can lead to improper practices. Based on a quantitative content analysis of communication journal articles, scholars have improved very little in the communication of their scale development decisions and practices. To address these reoccurring issues, this article breaks down and recommends 10 steps to follow in the scale development process for researchers unfamiliar with the process. Furthermore, the present research makes a unique contribution by overviewing procedures scholars should employ to develop their dimensions and corresponding items. The overarching objective is to encourage the adoption of scale development best practices that yield stronger concepts, and in the long run, a more stable foundation of knowledge.     

Conceptual,Empirical, and Practical Issues in Developing Valid Measures of Public Communication Campaign Exposure

The ability to validly measure campaign exposure is central to claims of public communication campaign effectiveness. Surprisingly, scholars have paid remarkably little attention to questions about the validity of various ways to measure campaign exposure. This paper begins to address this gap by outlining conceptual, empirical, and practical issues in developing valid measures of campaign exposure. First, I offer a brief definition of measurement validity and describe a variety of measurement options utilized in recent, large–scale health communication campaign evaluations. Next, I outline conceptual and empirical assumptions behind these various measurement strategies. I continue with a review of research that has applied validation criteria to specific measures of campaign exposure. I conclude by offering a series of guidelines for exposure measurement and validation practices based on the evidence to date, which I caveat by describing tensions and emergent issues that researchers will need to consider in future work.     

Measuring Social Exchange Constructs in Organizations

Although social exchange has been frequently referred to as a framework for exploring employee-organization relationships, the role of potentially important exchange related variables such as communication climate and change communication are less understood. The present research aimed to assess the measurement properties of an expanded set of social exchange constructs. The measurement properties of change communication, communication climate, perceived organizational support, procedural justice, affective commitment, and cynicism toward organizational change were tested using competing confirmatory factor analytic models. After appropriately defining items and refining individual scales, confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence in support of an expanded set of social exchange constructs. Despite high correlations between some of the variables, tests for discriminant validity established that respondents (N = 500) could reliably distinguish between the full set of constructs. Furthermore, Harman's One Factor Test for common method variance suggested that the variance in the data could not be explained by a single construct. Practical implications for the use of this set of social exchange constructs in organizational contexts are discussed.     

2014-2018年国内外图书情报与档案管理学科研究热点比较分析

文章分别以50所国外i Schools联盟机构和18所国内机构的图书情报与档案管理学科研究者在2014-2018年发表的论文为研究对象,利用词频分析、中心度分析和聚类分析对研究热点进行挖掘和比较。研究发现,国外学者的研究热点主题主要集中在信息交流与行为、信息检索、弱势群体信息服务、信息教育、疾病防控和干预、医疗护理与卫生保健信息服务研究等6个方面;国内学者主要集中在大数据环境下的图书馆相关问题、基于知识图谱的文献计量分析、知识组织与传播、图书馆学和情报学学科发展动态、用户信息交流与行为、信息服务及质量评价和新媒体环境下的学术评价研究等7个方面。     

On the Use of Beats-Per-Minute and Interbeat Interval in the Analysis of Cardiac Responses to Mediated Messages

The measurement of an individual’s heart rate has many relevant theoretical implications for communication research. However, there are reasons to believe that the most common way of reporting cardiac response—beats per minute (BPM)—might not be appropriate for all methodological situations. This article presents an overview of the historical use of cardiac activity within communication research, and provides a summary of the current conceptualizations of attention and resource allocation. To fully understand the difference between BPM and interbeat interval (IBI)—an alternate method for reporting cardiac response—a comparative analysis was performed on a data set from a previously published study. This article concludes with a set of suggestions that researchers may want to consider when utilizing BPM or IBI within communication research.     

Challenges and Opportunities Associated With Social Network Research: An Examination of Emergent Methodological Issues

Those who study social networks encounter an all-too-often conundrum in academia: the richness of data sets coupled with methodological complications. This article highlights three of the most salient issues facing social network scholars and potential ways of overcoming them. By discussing the quantitative measurement of the network in question, the specific variables under examination, and the overall goal(s) of the research project, readers will understand both the costs and rewards associated with an area of communication, psychology, and sociology scholarship that has existed and thrived for more than a half century.     

EDA Positive Change: A Simple Algorithm for Electrodermal Activity to Measure General Audience Arousal During Media Exposure

Skin conductance provides an inexpensive and nonreactive measure of electrodermal activity (EDA) that is widely used as an arousal indicator. When communication research employs real-world audiovisual stimuli, the measurement sensitivity of EDA-based data can become challenging. Measures that are commonly employed to correlate EDA with continuous stimuli (the tonic skin conductance level and the frequency of skin conductance responses) are replicable for stimuli of one minute or longer. This article discusses positive changes in EDA (EPC) as a measure that integrates the frequency of skin conductance responses with their amplitude while reducing processing complexity and error. The use of EDA data from 115 subjects demonstrates that EPC is a more accurate measure of stimulus-induced arousal than the response frequency, the conductance baseline, and average skin conductance. Assets and drawbacks are discussed in the context of theoretical and practical issues.     

Shareholder communication and issue salience: corporate responses to ‘social’ shareholder activism

This study focuses on corporate engagement when shareholder activists raise concerns about social issues during annual shareholder meetings. Building upon strategic communication, social activism, and management research, the study combines Stakeholder Salience Theory (SST) and Issues Management Theory to explain corporate responses to shareholder activism. The researchers constructed a dataset of 844 shareholder actions in the U.S., all concerning environmental issues from 2006 to 2014. The analyses revealed that the urgency of the shareholder requests was the main driver of saliency. Moreover, shareholder activism strategies that engage corporations in private negotiations appeared to be effective in eliciting positive corporate responses. The findings contribute to applied communication theory and research by advancing SST with an issues management perspective in the context of shareholder activism.     

Nonlinear Unidimensionality in Communication Science: Tests,Examples, and Implications

The ability to evaluate predictions and theories hinges on accurate, error-free measurement. As a result, communication scientists seek both highly valid and highly reliable measures. Regarding validity claims, specifically, a hypothesis of content validity is typically tested via factor analysis. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) assume a linear relationship between indicators and the underlying construct. Thus, EFA and CFA miss instances of nonlinear unidimensionality, such as those encountered when a scale forms a Guttman Simplex. Given that such a measurement model is not uncommon and is difficult to detect, this article presents a method for testing the hypothesis of content validity when this kind of nonlinear relationship exists between scale items and the construct.     

国内图书馆科学数据研究述评

[目的/意义]梳理和分析国内图书馆科学数据研究现状，总结研究特点，并对今后的研究提出建议，使图书馆科学数据研究更好地服务科研发展并促进图书馆服务的转型。[方法/过程]采用文献计量与主题分析相结合的研究方法，重点是主题分析，研究分析数据密集型科研、科学数据以及科学数据监管3个基本概念，总结研究特点。[结果/结论]当前国内研究有3个基本特点：①重视科学数据问题；②研究逐步深化；③注重国外经验，本土化研究薄弱。对今后研究进行展望：①丰富研究方法，加强实证研究；②推动跨学科研究；③加强适合数据密集型科研发展需要的基础性问题研究。     

Argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness: Testing for conceptual and measurement equivalence across cultures

Research in the United States has identified argumentativeness and verbal aggressiveness as, respectively, constructive and counterproductive forms of communication predispositions. The present study tests the conceptual equivalence of the two constructs and the measurement equivalence of the Argumentativeness Scale (Infante & Rancer, 1982) and the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale (Infante & Wigley, 1986) across cultures. College students from the United States (N = 755) and Japan (N = 716) responded to a questionnaire. The results indicated that: (a) the two—factor solution of the Argumentativeness Scale and the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale was a reasonable overall fit to both samples, with some culture‐specific unreliable items; (b) orthogonality of the two constructs held for both samples; (c) the factor structures (factor loading patterns and factor variance‐covariance structures) of the two scales were partially variant across the samples; and (d) the two scales had satisfactory construct validity for the Japanese sample. Implications for research on aggressive communication in connection with Hall's (1981) theory of cultural variation, cross‐cultural conflict management, and measurement in cross‐cultural communication research are discussed.     

Critical issues in evaluating the impact of IT on information activity in academic research: Developing a qualitative research solution

The advent of the electronic library and associated information technology (IT) assisted communication and organization of information, has implications for information-seeking and research in academia. This article, while indicating emerging findings, primarily discusses methodological issues arising from the evaluation of the impact of IT-assisted information systems. Five key issues are outlined: (1) incomplete knowledge of the operating variables in this new area, (2) the complexity of the information-seeking process, (3) the largely implicit nature of research and information skills, (4) the difficulty of detecting impact of new systems on research activity, and (5) the difficulty of explaining learning and take-up of IT-assisted information systems. These issues have required the development of creative research solutions within a framework which includes the following: holistic, inductive research; a fluid, developing methodology; the use of both idiographic and nomothetic approaches; collection of data on behavior, cognitions, and emotions; techniques to bring implicit knowledge into conscious awareness, such as information access stories and research timelines; and the analysis of both research outcome and process and the investigation of strategies for learning how to use systems.     

Content Analysis of Mediated Associations: An Automated Text-Analytic Approach

Due to the fact that mediated associations are a central aspect of many mass communication theories, their measurement is of central interest for communication research. Mediated associations are defined as the repeated pairing of an object (e.g., social group, political party) with specific attributes (e.g., crime, economy). In this article, we introduce a recently developed, automated text-analytic technique. We present an application of this method in the media stereotyping domain via the content analysis of German news coverage of Islam. As predicted, the analysis revealed substantial mediated associations between Islam-related concepts and violence (e.g., “Koran + violence”), terror (e.g., “Islam + terror”), dehumanization (e.g., “Muslims + animal-related terms”), and general negativity (valence). We discuss the promises and pitfalls of this method, make software suggestions, and provide application-related information for speedy dissemination in communication research.     

Anonymity in Applied Communication Research: Tensions Between IRBs,Researchers, and Human Subjects

This essay examines the rather complex role of anonymity in communication research as revealed in the narratives submitted to this special issue. First, narratives were examined quantitatively to assess the prevalence of issues related to anonymity, with terms such as “anonymous” and “confidential” emerging most often. Next, a thematic analysis of the narratives suggests five tensions discussed in some detail: anonymity or (not and) confidentiality, over-promising and under-delivering anonymity, to sign and record … or not, named vs. anonymous vs. pseudonymous, and whether institutional review boards (IRBs) should be anonymous. The essay concludes with several applied recommendations for IRBs, researchers, and participants as they confront these tensions linked to the role of anonymity in human subjects research.     

A validation of the modified democratic e-governance website evaluation model

The recent global pandemic has highlighted the importance of efficient communication between the government and its citizens through online platforms. While approximately 90% of governments around the world have opened up their websites to provide government information and public services, many have been criticized for their quality issues. The unsatisfactory upkeep of government websites may be due to the lack of adequate guidelines and evaluation tools for public managers, which would enable them to achieve the superior goals of e-government initiatives. We posit that evaluating government websites should be done with a formative and theory-based approach instead of summative or conclusion-based ones, as a government website is a long-term mechanism to achieve the objectives of e-government programs. Accordingly, this study empirically tests the Democratic E-governance Website Evaluation Model (DEWEM) that was conceptually created by Lee-Geiller and Lee (2019). Through a series of measurement development procedures, the results present a more concise, refined and validated model consisting of 25 items under 5 factors, whose associations to the outcome of democratic e-governance were statistically significant. The validated DEWEM also shows significant correlations with citizens' satisfaction and intention to use the website. This study advances the body of evaluation research for government websites and provides public managers with credible and useful guidelines for improving their websites.     

Fostering Civic Engagement in the Communication Research Methods Course

Courses: Communication Research Methods, Senior Capstone.

Objectives: After completing this course, students will be able to: ? appreciate the role of empirical communication research in solving social and organizational problems;

? identify issues and needs in the community that can be addressed with empirical communication research;

? choose appropriate research methods for addressing different issues and needs;

? use various communication research methods to address community issues and needs;

? present research findings and recommendations to community organizations;

? demonstrate an increased commitment to active citizenship.

     

MEASUREMENT OF SERVICE AT A PUBLIC LIBRARY

Simple, efficient, unobtrusive data collection and analysis techniques were applied to study volume of use, user activity, and availability of items sought by users in a public library. Stratified sampling methods employed to measure volume of use and user activity showed that this medium-sized public library provided approximately 4,000 user service hours per week. The average visit lasted 34 minutes with 32% of all visit time spent reading library materials. Overall availability of items sought by users in the adult section was approximately 38%. The application of these measurement techniques, which can be carried out by relatively untrained staff or volunteers, to pinpoint possible improvements in library service is discussed.     

The dimensionality of the verbal aggressiveness scale

Infante and Wigley's (1986) Verbal Aggressiveness Scale (VAS) is a widely accepted and frequently used measure of trait verbal aggression. Although the scale is almost always scored as if it were unidimensional, previous factor analytic studies provide evidence that it is multidimensional with two distinct factors. The present studies (N = 194 and 177) used confirmatory factor analysis to replicate the two‐factor solution. The two‐factor model was consistent with the data, and provides a better fit to the data than the unidimensional solution. The first factor, comprised of all aggressively worded, nonreflected items, appears to measure verbal aggressiveness as intended whereas the second factor, comprised of all reverse‐scored items (benevolently worded), appears to measure a communication style related to other‐esteem confirmation and supportiveness. Given this interpretation, it is recommended that only the 10 aggressively worded items be scored. Hamilton, Buck, and Chory‐Assad, in an adversarial collaborative discussion, agree that the VAS is bidimensional, but offer an alternative conceptual model. They hold that the two factors reflect selfish individualism and prosocial cooperation.