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Summary
Quantitative Research Methods for Communication: A Hands-On Approach, Third Edition, is a comprehensive and engaging guide to quantitative research. Drawing on their extensive research and teaching experience, the authors encourage students to take an active, hands-on role in the learning process. After giving students the tools they need to locate, conduct, collect, and present their research, the text provides them with the opportunity to immediately apply these skills in research scenarios.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 An Introduction to Communication Research The History of the Social Sciences The Nature of Communication Understanding the Book's Format Research outside the Walls of Academia
Chapter 2 Empirical Research Ways of Knowing Epistemology Ordinary vs. Scientific Ways of Knowing
The Scientific Approach to Communication Research Scientific Method Theories Predictions/Hypotheses Observations Empirical Generalizations
Conclusion Research outside the Walls of Academia
Chapter 3 Research Ethics Defining Ethics Good means-Good End: Ethical Behavior Bad Means-Bad End: Unethical Behavior Bad Means-Good End: Machiavellian Ethic Good Means-Bad End: Subjective Ethic
The Belmont Report's Effect on Research Ethics Informed Consent Principle of Beneficence Justice
Specific Ethical Issues for Research Data Accuracy Data Sharing Duplicate Data Publication Post Hoc Hypothesis Revision Participant Identity Disclosures Authorship Credit Conflicts of Interest Plagiarism Source Not Cited Types of Plagiarism Source Cited Types of Plagiarism
Ethical Research outside Academia Conclusion
Chapter 4 Searching for Previous Research and APA Style Step One: Identifying the Topic
Step Two: Clarifying the Research Question and Generating Key Terms Stating the Topic in the Form of a Research Question Identifying Key Terms and Synonymous Terms
Step Three: Locating Sources of Information Types of Information Sources Locating Information Sources Handbooks and Subject Encyclopedias Electronic Databases The World Wide Web Working with Librarians Evaluating Web Sources
Step Four: Organizing and Evaluating Information
Step Five: Citing Sources of Information Using the APA Format What Information Needs to be Referenced? Citing Sources of Information Parenthetical Citations Quotations and Paraphrases
APA Paper Formatting Creating a Title Page Creating an Abstract Creating the First Page Creating the Reference Page Conclusion
Chapter 5 Research Structure and Literature Reviews The Abstract
The Introduction Attention-Getter Using Statistics or Claims Posing a Rhetorical Question Using an Acknowledged Fact Using a Story or Illustration Quoting or Acknowledging a Source Link to Topic Significance of Topic Espousal of Credibility Thesis and Preview
Literature Review Five Reasons FOR Literature Reviews Previous Research Chronological Cause and Effect Compare and Contrast Problem-Cause-Solution Psychological Categorical/Topical General to Specific Specific to General Known to Unknown
Preparing a First Draft Step 1: Identify Your General Topic Step 2: Determine the Type of Study you are Conducting Step 3: Determine what Variables You will Examine Step 4: Search for Primary Sources Step 5: Obtain Full Text References Step 6: Look for Other References in Obtained Materials Step 7: Narrow Your List of References Step 8: Organize References by Major and Subtopics Step 9: Look for Gaps in Your References Step 10: Find References to Fill Gaps Step 11: Create a Literature Review Outline Step 12: Write Conclusion
Chapter 6 Variables How Are Research Projects Developed? Variables: Units of Analysis
Types of Units
Aspects of Variables Variable attributes Variable values Understanding relationships and Differences Relationships Differences
Communication Variables Nominal Variables Ordinal Variables Interval Variables Common Interval Variable Measures Communication Apprehension Ethnocentrism Humor Assessment Nonverbal Immediacy Sociocommunicative Orientation Willingness to Communicate Beliefs and Attitudes Ratio Variables
Writing Up Scales Using APA Style Participants Procedures Instrumentation Conclusion
Chapter 7 Measurement Numbers and Things
Review of Measurement Levels Nominal Ordinal Interval Ratio
A History of Measurement Likert scales Semantic differential
Measuring Communication Personality Traits/States Beliefs and Attitudes Knowledge
Developing Your Operationalization Conceptualization Operationalization
Constructing Questions
One Measure, Multiple Factors Finding Mental Measures
Measurement and Statistical Analysis Research Outside the Walls of Academia Conclusion
Chapter 8 Reliability and Validity Reliability Scalar Reliability Test-Retest Reliability Alternate Forms Reliability Split-Half Reliability Cronbach's Alpha Reliability Computer Printouts of Cronbach's Alpha SPSS and Cronbach's Alpha Excel and Cronbach's Alpha APA Discussion Alpha Reliabilities from this Book Reliabilities in the Real World
Improving Reliability of Measurement
Validity Face or Content Validity Criterion Validity Predictive Concurrent Retrospective Construct or Factorial Validity
Validity Threats
Problems with Measurement
Research Outside the Walls of Academia
Conclusion
Chapter 9 Survey Research When to Use a Survey Do You Know What You Want to Ask? Do You Really Need to Collect New Data? Do Your Participants Know Anything or Will They Even Tell You?
Is Your Goal Generalizability?
How to Conduct Survey Research STEP 1: Picking Your Questions Nominal Level Questions Ordinal Level Questions Interval Level Questions Ratio Level Questions Open-Ended Questions STEP 2: Creating Clear Instructions STEP 3: Study Design STEP 4: Data Processing and Analysis STEP 5: Pilot Testing Use Actual Survey Population Members Anticipate Survey Context Test Parts of the Survey Determining a Pilot Sample Size Ask Questions After Someone Completes the Survey
Disseminating Your Surveys Interviewing Face-to-Face Interviewing Telephone Interviewing Self-Administration Mass Administration Mailed Administration Internet Administration Advantages and Disadvantages of Self-Administered Surveying
Problem Areas Associated with Survey Research Response Rate Unit Nonresponse Item Nonresponse Effects of Nonresponse Improving Response Rates
Translating Surveys into Other Languages Semantic Equivalence Conceptual Equivalence Normative Equivalence Simple Direct Translation Modified Direct Translation Translation/Back-Translation Parallel Blind Technique Random Probe
Using the Research Project Worksheet Question Design Setting Participants Specific Characteristics Recruitment Consent Variables Independent Variables Dependent Variables Hypotheses/Research Questions Statistical Testing Tentative Study Title Principal Researcher(s)
Measurement outside of Academia Conclusion
Chapter 10 Content Analysis Conducting a Content Analysis Theory and Rationale conceptualization Operationalization Coding schemes Sampling Training and Pilot Reliability Introduction to Coding Book Sample Coding Coding of Initial Data Initial Reliability Retraining Final Coding Final Reliability Tabulation and Reporting Conclusion
Chapter 11 Experimental Design What Are Experiments and Why Do We Do Them? Rationale for Experimental Research Aspects of Experimental Design Random Assignment Manipulation of the Independent Variable Measurement of the Dependent Variable Controlling an Experiment Conducting an Experiment Introducing the Experiment and Obtaining Consent Random Assignment Manipulate the Independent Variable Measure the Dependent Variable Debriefing
Threats to Experimental Validity Historical flaw Maturation Testing flaw Regression to the Mean Selection Threat Attrition
Common Experimental Designs Preexperimental Designs One-Shot Case Study One-Group Pretest Posttest Design Static Group Comparisons Quasi-Experimental Designs Pretest-Posttest Design Time Series Multiple Time Series Switching Replications Design True Experimental Designs Pretest-Posttest Design Two-Group Posttest-Only Design Randomized Switching Replications Design Solomon Four-Group Design
Final Thoughts on Experiments Conclusion
Chapter 12 Big Data What is the Data in Big Data? Human Generated Data Machine Generated Data
Big Data? Big Data Explained Laney's 3Vs Volume Velocity Variety Four More V's Veracity Variability Visualization Value
Big Data and the Cloud Understanding the Cloud The Cloud and Data Big Data in the Cloud
Big Data Analysis Data Mining Monitoring & Anomalies
Communication and Big Data
Big Data Ethics Privacy Identity Ownership Reputation
Chapter 13 Sampling Methods Why Use a Sample? Population Sample The Sampling Process Selecting a Sample Design
PROBABILITY SAMPLING Simple Random Samples Stratified Random Samples Cluster Samples Systematic Samples
Common Sense Sample Recruiting Ethical Recruitment
Conclusion
Chapter 14 Hypothesis Testing Hypotheses One-Tailed Hypotheses Two-Tailed Hypotheses Research Questions Directional Research Questions Nondirectional Research Questions Alternative & Null Hypotheses
Hypothesis Testing Case Study Hypothesis Testing in the Case Study
From Random Samples to a Whole Population
Testing for Significance Step 1: Set the Probability Level Step 2: Conduct a Statistical Test Step 3: Comparing Calculated and Critical Values
Testing for Power
Effect Sizes
Understanding Error The Confidence Interval Power Type I Error Type II Error
Conclusion
Chapter 15 Descriptive Statistics The Benefits of Statistics
Descriptive Versus Inferential Statistics
Measures of Central Tendency Mean Median Mode Frequency Distributions SPSS and Frequency Distributions Excel and Frequency Distributions Frequency Distributions and Charts Skewness & Kurtosis
Measures of Variability Range Sum of Squares Variance Standard deviation
Data Set Variability Conclusion
Chapter 16 Chi-Square Test of Independence Case Study Introduction
Chi-Square Background Information
Step-by-Step Approach to the Chi-Square Test of Independence
Computer Printouts of the Chi-Square Test of Independence SPSS and Chi-Squares Excel and Chi-Squares APA Write-Up Discussion of Findings Post-Hoc APA Write-Up
Biological Sex and Book Edition
Discussion of Brummans and Miller's Article Article Purpose Methodology Results
Chi-Squares outside Academia Conclusion
Chapter 17 Independent Samples t-Tests Case Study Introduction
Independent Samples t-Test Background Information
Step-by-Step Approach to the Independent t-Test
Computer Printouts of the Independent t-Test SPSS and t-Tests Excel and t-Tests APA Write-Up (SPSS) APA Write-Up (Excel) Discussion of Findings
Biological Sex and Communication Apprehension APA Write-Up (SPSS) Discussion
Calculating Effect Sizes
Discussion of the Weber, Fornash, Corrigan, and Neupauer Article Article Purpose Methodology Results
Paired t-Tests
t-Tests outside Academia
Conclusion
Chapter 18 One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) Case Study Introduction
One-Way ANOVA Background Information
Step-by-Step Approach to the One-Way ANOVA
Computer Printouts of the One-Way ANOVA SPSS and One-Way Anovas Multiple Comparison Tests Excel and One-Way Anovas APA Write-Up (Without Chart) APA Write-Up (With Chart) Discussion of Findings
Political Affiliation and Humor Assessment APA Write-Up Discussion
Discussion of the Boiarsky, Long, and Thayer Article Article Purpose Methodology Results
One-way ANOVAs outside Academia
Conclusion
Chapter 19 Correlation Correlation Background Information Types of Relationships Correlation Not Causation Correlation Assumptions
Case Study Introduction
Step-by-Step Approach to the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation
Computer Printouts of the Pearson Product-Moment Correlation SPSS and Pearson Product-Moment Correlations Excel and Pearson Product-Moment Correlations APA Write-Up Discussion
Relationships Between Communication Apprehension, Willingness to Communicate, and Beliefs About Public Speaking APA Write-Up A Note about R
Reading Large Correlation Tables
Discussion of the Chesebro Article Article Purpose Methodology Results
Discussion of the Punyanunt Article Article Purpose Methodology Results
Correlations outside Academia
Conclusion
Chapter 20 Regression Case Study Introduction
Regression Background Information
Step-by-Step Approach to a Linear Regression
Computer Printouts of the Linear Regression SPSS and Simple Linear Regressions Excel and the Simple Linear Regression APA Write-Up Discussion
Relationships Between Communication Apprehension and Beliefs About Public Speaking APA Write-Up
Understanding Multiple Linear Regressions APA Write-Up Discussion
Discussion of the Wrench and Booth-Butterfield Article Article Purpose Methodology Results
Discussion of the Rocca and Vogl-Bauer Article Article Purpose Methodology Results
Regressions outside Academia
Conclusion
Chapter 21 Advanced Statistical Procedures Difference Tests Factorial Anova Example Explanation APA Write-Up Discussion Analysis of Covariance Example Explanation APA Write-Up Discussion Multivariate Analysis of Variance Example Explanation APA Write-Up Discussion Repeated Measures Anova Example Explanation APA Write-Up Discussion
Relationship Tests Path Analysis Example Explanation APA Write-Up Discussion Structural Equation Modeling Example Explanation APA Write-Up Discussion Factor Analysis Example Explanation APA Write-Up Discussion Canonical Correlations Example Explanation APA Write-Up Discussion
Conclusion
Chapter 22 Presenting Research Writing a Discussion Section Providing a Summary of Major Findings Providing an Interpretation of Findings Discussing the Relationship Between Findings and Previous Studies Acknowledging Limitations Discussing Implications and future directions
Writing the Abstract
Presenting at Conferences
Divisions and Interest Groups Submitting Research for Conference Review Types of Conference Presentations Paper Presentations Poster Presentations Scholar-to-Scholar Posters Panel Discussions
Publication Journal Review Process Submission Process Review Process
Research outside the Walls of Academia Writing for Business Research and the General Public Writing Statistical Stories Infographics Conclusion
Appendix A Qualitative Research
Appendix B Textbook Questionnaire
Appendix C Open-Source Statistical Software Alternatives