Communication research on a broader age: An introduction to the special forum on funded research in communication

This essay introduces the special forum on funded research in communication. It briefly discusses the relationship of funded research with theoretical and methodological development in the communication discipline and the impact of receiving grant support on the professional life of an academic and on collegiality, resources, and university recognition for a department of communication. It also addresses the potential impact of funded research for strengthening the role and visibility of the communication discipline in the social sciences, and for increasing the impact of communication scholarship on policy.     

Communication research on a broader age: An introduction to the special forum on funded research in communication

This essay introduces the special forum on funded research in communication. It briefly discusses the relationship of funded research with theoretical and methodological development in the communication discipline and the impact of receiving grant support on the professional life of an academic and on collegiality, resources, and university recognition for a department of communication. It also addresses the potential impact of funded research for strengthening the role and visibility of the communication discipline in the social sciences, and for increasing the impact of communication scholarship on policy.     

Symbolic convergence and special communication theories: Sensing and examining dis/enchantment with the theoretical robustness of critical auto ethnography

This study answers 4 research questions as it explicates the SCT's ability to explain how special communication theories come into being as the product of rhetorical visions that contain the norms, conventions, and customs for exemplar participation in a specific communication style. This study demonstrates that the concept of rhetorical vision yields insights into the creation, rise, and potential for demise of a style‐specific, special theory of communication named the critical autoethnography special theory (CAST). The study reports that the CAST itself is a symbolically created product of the critical autoethnographic rhetorical vision (CARV). The study's findings indicate that CARV's life‐cycle is congruent with those of other rhetorical visions and would predict that the CARV may well implode upon itself as it contains the seeds of its own destruction.     

Funding international communication research

The purpose of this paper is to derive certain lessons learned about funded international communication research. Like other types of funded research, funding for international communication research is increasing as funding agencies perceive the value of communication research. Much international communication research is interdisciplinary in nature, and benefits the American university in broadening intellectual concerns to a more worldwide perspective. The Internet is changing the nature of certain types of international communication research by providing rapid, low-cost access to overseas respondents in data-gathering, and by raising new issues to be investigated. Also, the rise of this new communication technology calls the potential of communication research to the attention of funding agencies.     

Has Communication Research Made a Difference? A Response to the Respondents

This response is part of a joint Communication Monographs and Journal of Applied Communication Research special project titled, “Has Communication Research Made a Difference?” The responses to the joint forum can be found in Communication Monographs, Volume 77, Issue 4, and the Journal of Applied Communication Research, Volume 38, Issue 3.     

《列子》佛教故事与文化传播的学术反思

历史文献既有它可靠的一面,也有其不可靠的一面。文化传播的特点之一就是途径的多样性和方式的灵活性。如果我们仅仅拘囿于历史文献所记,就会忽略那些不为史家所关注而实际上又存在的传播途径和传播方式。文章以《列子》中的佛教故事为例,反思学术研究中所忽视的一种现象:在异域文化的交互流播中,我们是否忽略了民间交流的存在,忽视了它在文化交流发展中的重要作用。     

A Rationale for Scholarly Examination of Institutional Review Boards: A Case Study

In recent years, institutional review boards (IRBs) have become an increasingly significant part of the research process for communication scholars. This essay provides a rationale for scholarly examination of IRBs. Using the review process for this special issue as a case study, it identifies a number of ironies that provide justification for this special issue.     

A Rationale for Scholarly Examination of Institutional Review Boards: A Case Study

In recent years, institutional review boards (IRBs) have become an increasingly significant part of the research process for communication scholars. This essay provides a rationale for scholarly examination of IRBs. Using the review process for this special issue as a case study, it identifies a number of ironies that provide justification for this special issue.     

Organizational Power and the Institutional Review Board

In this essay, we respond to the narratives and essays in this issue by examining organizational power issues related to researchers and institutional research boards (IRBs). Rather than taking a singular perspective on power, we use multiple perspectives and suggest that the cumulative analyses provide the best understanding of IRBs and organizational power.     

Organizational Power and the Institutional Review Board

In this essay, we respond to the narratives and essays in this issue by examining organizational power issues related to researchers and institutional research boards (IRBs). Rather than taking a singular perspective on power, we use multiple perspectives and suggest that the cumulative analyses provide the best understanding of IRBs and organizational power.     

“美国式的研究”才是高质量的研究?——浅谈新闻与大众传播研究方式

本文通过对美国新闻与大众传播研究方式和研究方法的分析,说明美国新闻与传播学界并没有划一的“美国式的研究”。美国学界鼓励采用多种研究方式和方法。所谓的“美国式的研究”不是真正高质量的研究。只有那些在理论上有传承和创新、基于第一手资料和数据、研究结果能产生人类尚不了解的新知识的研究才是真正高质量的研究。     

Advancing communication as a science: Research opportunities from the federal sector

The centrality of communication in health promotion is described in Healthy People 2010: Objectives for Improving Health, which noted that "health communication can contribute to all aspects of disease prevention and health promotion." In this paper we build on this argument by suggesting that communication science can be advanced by pursuing a "big-science" strategy where important and challenging questions about the role of communication in modern life are studied through rigorous research designs and research findings are applied to addressing significant social issues and problems. A significant dimension of a "big-science" strategy is the pursuit of programs of research using longitudinal designs and large samples with adequate controls. Given that such large-scale studies necessarily involve funding, we review some major funding initiatives and programs in different agencies of the federal governmental.     

Quality Is Thy Name

In the current study the authors investigate victims' response to a natural disaster crisis event. Crisis communication research has often considered organizations, but neglected the voice of the victims. Similarly, most crisis research emphasizes the negative outcomes of crisis. Positive communication research and sensemaking theory provide insight into the experiences of crisis victims. Twenty-nine individuals were interviewed from one community in Western Kentucky following a massive ice storm that occurred during January 2009. The remembering emphasis of sensemaking was salient in this study. Victims remembered their overall experience through positive terms and positive interpersonal communication. Communities and organizations alike can use this research to consider how their members may respond to crises and create messages based on these results.