Interpretive Inquiry as Qualitative Communication Research

Qualitative communication research approaches vary from grounded theory and participant-observation to Q-sort, content analysis, and ethnographic inquiry—to name but a few. What often rests outside the qualitative rubric is the hermeneutic tradition of interpretive scholarship. This essay unites interpretive inquiry and qualitative research in summary fashion by outlining a macro understanding of qualitative communication inquiry, an interpretive approach to communication scholarship within a philosophical tradition entitled philosophical hermeneutics, and finally a public roadmap of how to understand and engage interpretive inquiry as a form of qualitative research in communication. This essay advocates interpretive inquiry as an additional contributor to the ongoing tradition of qualitative research in communication.     

The Ethnographer of Communication at the Table: Building Cultural Competence,Designing Strategic Action

Ethnographers of communication are increasingly working within interdisciplinary teams to address social problems in communities, corporations, and governments. This special forum brings together ethnographers of communication to reflect on the opportunities, tensions, and challenges involved in using the ethnography of communication to seek workable solutions to social problems with fellow scholars, practitioners, and community members. Through empirical case studies, contributors demonstrate how the ethnography of communication is used to build cultural competence and design strategic action.     

图书情报学中定性和定量研究方法的科学哲学基础及双重整合原理探析

在由本体论、认识论、价值论构成的哲学内核中,方法论连接本体论和认识论,认识论决定方法论并主导科学技术。在科学哲学的科学发展范式框架下,指出科学应符合逻辑性、可检验和定量化三性原则。图书情报学作为一门经验科学,在哲学上归属认识论主导,其发展特性应符合科学三性原则,研究程式适用2S2R模型。倡导在图书情报学研究中适取定性或定量方法,并提出以广义二重证据法思想实现定性方法和定量方法、实证检验与理论推演的双重整合。图2。表1。参考文献18。     

Qualitative Inquiry and the Future of Health Communication Research

This article examines the ways that qualitative inquiry, especially when used in concert with quantitative inquiry in multimethodological designs, can contribute to the research challenges of health care and health promotion. It explores methodological diversity in health communication research and illustrates how survey, textual analytic, and ethnographic research are utilized in health communication research. The article concludes with a discussion of how multimethodological research designs have been successfully employed to examine complex health communication models, theories, and processes.     

图书馆哲学探究

从图书馆哲学概念和研究意义出发,利用已有的图书馆哲学研究成果,就“图书馆哲学”这一术语的提法、图书馆哲学与图书馆学理论基础的关系、用哲学的逻辑思维探讨图书馆哲学的必要性、图书馆哲学把教育哲学纳入讨论范围的必要性、图书馆学术研究应不应该以哲学理念作为始点、人文关怀与图书馆哲学的统一性以及图书馆哲学的深入应用与发展——图书馆2．0等几个问题提出了初步的看法,并倡导发扬哲学的批判精神。     

Speaking into Silences: Autoethnography,Communication, and Applied Research

Editor's Note: Given the rare use of autoethnography in the field of communication, I invited Dr. Tillmann to discuss autoethnography as a valuable tool in applied communication research. This discussion serves as a prelude to her essay “Body and Bulimia Revisited: Reflections on ‘A Secret Life.’”

In 2004, two articles in the Journal of Applied Communication Research (Ashcraft & Tretheway, 2004; Goodall, 2004) celebrated the merits of auto- and narrative ethnography, methods of research grounded in lived experience and evocative modes of representation that seek to engage readers emotionally, aesthetically, ethically, and politically. Despite these and other persuasive calls for auto- and narrative ethnographic works, few have been published in communication journals. More than four years ago, JACR offered readers arguments for this kind of scholarship, yet no full-length autoethnography appeared in its pages—until now. This essay, a prelude to its companion, “Body and Bulimia Revisited,” speaks into that silence.     

Making the Most of Our Conferences and Associations: An Important Component for Communication Research,Teaching, and Service

As part of the tradition of outgoing Central States Communication Association Presidents and Executive Directors providing a spotlight column in Communication Studies, I focus on the practical value of academic conferences for the development of knowledge, enhancement of teaching and mentoring practices, and as an outlet for learning about and doing service. Communication is a practical discipline where the research has a potential to make profound and positive differences. The interaction that is allowed at conferences presents an opportunity for communication pedagogy, research, and service to transform in meaningful ways. In addition to practical advice for making the most of a conference experience, some of the most recent developments for CSCA are highlighted. The essay then ends with a personal note.     

Evolution and Diffusion of the Michigan State University Tradition of Organizational Communication Network Research

This article documents the 30‐year history of communication network research at Michigan State University (M.S.U.), providing a case study of the evolution and diffusion of an academic innovation. Three past and continuing issues for network scholars are identified: a lack of professional reward for developing user‐friendly computer programs, unresolved methodological problems, and a need for better theoretical and conceptual frameworks. The narrative also illustrates the difficulty communication as a discipline has in impacting broader intellectual traditions. The story begins with the first doctoral dissertation (Schwartz, 1968 Richards, W. D. and Barnett, G., eds. 1993. Progress in communication sciences: Advances in communication network analysis, Norwood, NJ: Ablex.  [Google Scholar]) and the first network analysis software program in 1970 (Richards’ Negopy), continuing to the last dissertation (Susskind, 1996 Susskind, A. M. 1996. The impact of an organizational downsizing effort on survivors’ communication network relationships and attitudes, East Lansing: Department of Communication, Michigan State University. Unpublished doctoral dissertation [Google Scholar]), and ending in 1998 when J. David Johnson left the M.S.U. faculty. Other major players in the M.S.U. network tradition included David K. Berlo, Eugene Jacobson, Everett M. Rogers, Vincent Farace, Peter Monge, and Erwin Bettinghaus. Ironically, Schwartz and Susskind met in 1998 while Schwartz was preparing to retire from Cornell University and Susskind was starting as an Assistant Professor in a different department, thus providing closure to the M.S.U. network.     

Trends in Organizational Communication Research: Sustaining the Discipline,Sustaining Ourselves

This paper began as a keynote address delivered at the 16th annual Organizational Communication Mini‐Conference hosted by Western Michigan University. In it, I identify topical trends in organizational communication research, noting ways in which these trends are flexible, enduring, diverse, and problem‐centered. I go on to invite current doctoral students to join us in developing these trends further. Specifically, I discuss how we might engage research in ways that sustain the vitality of the discipline as well as our own personal vitality. I conclude by offering a list of key articles that could serve as starting points in the on‐going conversation centered around organizational communication.     

The Experience of Time at Work: Relationship to Communication Load,Job Satisfaction,and Interdepartmental Communication

This study examined 393 organizational members' reported communication load, job satisfaction, and interdepartmental communication satisfaction in relation to their experience of time along eleven dimensions—flexibility, linearity, pace, punctuality, delay, scheduling, separation, urgency, scarcity, and future and present time foci. Results indicate that organizational members who experienced their time as more delayed, more flexible, and more oriented toward the future tended to report higher levels of communication load. Additionally, members who characterized their work as more punctual and oriented toward the future were more satisfied with their jobs, while those who experienced work as faster paced were less satisfied. Finally, the organizational members most satisfied with communication among departments reported their work patterns as more linear and more strongly oriented toward the future, while members who reported their work as more delayed were least satisfied with such interdepartmental interactions.     

Nonverbal Communication in Friends

Objective: To demonstrate how relational levels of meanings are communicated through nonverbal behaviors in a cultural context

Courses: Interpersonal Communication, Gendered Communication, Nonverbal Communication     

论跨文化传播的研究路径

本文关注的问题是跨文化传播的研究路径,基本观点是,跨文化传播领域的知识生产,应该以本土跨文化实践中的研究问题为出发点,运用多种学科的理论资源来建构跨文化传播的中层理论,而不主张以学科嫁接的方式建构脱离本土实际的宏大理论。文章首先回顾了跨文化传播研究的历史,认为这个领域是基于社会实践的需要而产生的;继而论证了跨文化研究领域中的学科嫁接式知识生产的不可能和没必要,然后以研究过程的图式为基础论证了从不同学科相关知识生产中挖掘出能为跨文化传播研究所用的知识理论资源的可能性,最后提出从研究问题出发建构跨文化传播的中层理论的设想。     

Communication in Emergency Medicine: Implications for Patient Safety1 This study was funded by a generous grant from the National Patient Safety Foundation.

Emergency medicine is largely a communicative activity, and medical mishaps that occur in this context are too often the result of vulnerable communication processes. In this year-long qualitative study of two academic emergency departments, an interdisciplinary research team identified four such processes: triage, testing and evaluation, handoffs, and admitting. In each case, we found that narrative rationality (the patient's story) was consistently subjugated to technical rationality (actionable lists). Process changes are proposed to encourage caregivers to either reconsider their course of action or request additional contextual information. A heightened awareness of the bias for technical over narrative rationality and a better recognition of uncertainty in emergency medicine communication are important first steps toward anticipating potential failures and ensuring patient safety.     

自由传播为原则,限制传播为例外——媒介传播公共信息的基本原则

我国信息公开条例只规定了政府信息公开应遵循公正、公平、便民的原则,暂时回避了国际法上公开为原则,不公开为例外的基本原则。为完善我国信息公开制度,本文从政府义务相对方的角度提出并论证了媒介传播公共信息以自由传播为原则,限制传播为例外作为基本原则的理论依据及其基本内涵。确立此原则,能使媒介的发展更符合媒介运作规律和民主化社会的要求,保证信息来源的多样性,有效地促进信息的自由流动和有效整合。     

Mothers,Sons and Testicular Cancer: An Exploratory Investigation of Health Communication

This study highlights the importance of parent-child communication of sensitive health-related issues, specifically the importance of cancer prevention discussions. For females, communication about breast cancer has been desensitized; yet, testicular cancer is not being discussed among males, even though it is highly curable when caught early. Testicular cancer primarily impacts males ages 15–40, so introducing the conversation early is important. In this exploratory study, mothers (N = 22) participated in three focus group discussions and described communication with their sons about general health issues and testicular cancer. While the mothers discussed a number of health issues with their sons, they did not mention testicular cancer and believed their sons knew very little about testicular cancer. Mothers' communication about testicular cancer with their sons was characterized by uncertainty and ambiguity. Findings from this study shed light on how little mothers know about testicular cancer as well as the need for comprehensive testicular cancer campaigns that target intervening publics.     

美国风险沟通研究:学术沿革、核心命题及其关键因素

美国风险沟通研究兴起于20世纪80年代中期。本文探讨了它产生的现实社会文化背景及其学术沿革,试图厘清风险沟通研究与风险管理研究、危机传播研究、公共关系研究的关系。风险沟通的功能定位经历了由单向告知到公共参与的转变。风险沟通的核心命题是风险=危害+愤怒,该研究非常关注公众的风险感知。风险沟通的关键因素是建立信任,该研究在理论探讨和操作指南两个层面上对信任问题进行了开掘。