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     

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.     

Funded research in communication: A chairperson's perspective

There are several benefits to developing a successful funded research portfolio, as well as several challenges inherent in funded research. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the benefits and challenges of funded research from a department chairperson's perspective. Several issues are addressed: the benefits of extramural funding; strategies for developing and sustaining a department's funded research portfolio; the impact of funding on a department's identity; the impact of a funded research program on the scholarship of a department and its graduate program; the implications of funded research for interdisciplinary cooperation; and various administrative concerns that accompany an active and extensive portfolio of funded research. The goal of this essay is to provide the reader with a more complete understanding of the positive and negative implications of funded research for a communication department.     

“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。     

协同搜索过程中用户交流内容与模式研究

[目的/意义]旨在分析协同搜索用户在信息搜索任务过程中的交流内容与模式,从而理解协同搜索用户的关注重点与搜索过程。[研究设计/方法]基于书籍交互检索平台(CLEF-Social Book Search)设计实验,共招募18名被试完成两种搜索任务,通过录音记录对话并对其进行编码和分析,总结交流内容特征和模式。结合任务类型、认知类型组合、服务器记录的搜索交互行为日志以及问卷收集的搜索体验进行了探索分析。[结论/发现]从交流内容上看,协同搜索用户主要理解与评判书目信息、商讨搜索任务计划;比起认知类型不同的用户,相同认知类型的用户在操作交互方面交流更多,在评判决策方面交流较少。交流模式依据讨论内容比重可分为理解评判型、评判主导型、均衡交流型三种,评判主导型用户的任务完成满意度最高。[创新/价值]协同搜索用户的交流反映出搜索过程中需要与同伴商讨协同的焦点,也是需要系统提供协助的重点,给协同搜索系统设计提供一定参考。本研究针对协同搜索的交流内容设计的编码系统对相关的协同交流研究也有借鉴意义。     

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.