Communication Research Methods

Ideal for research methods courses covering multiple methodologies, Communication Research Methods is the only text that uses a research-as-argument approach to help students not only become more effective researchers, but more insightful consumers of research.Merrigan and Huston treat communication research comprehensively, discussing a broad range of traditional and contemporary methods and considering ethics in designing, conducting, and reporting research.NEW TO THIS EDITIONThe claims, data, and warrants chapters found in prior editions have been replaced with two new chapters that contextualise research arguments for quantitative social science (Ch. 4) and interpretive/critical research (Ch.11)A new chapter on interviews and focus groups (Ch. 12) will improve students' abilities to conduct interviews and code evidence based on repetition, recurrence, and forcefulnessThe ethics chapter (Ch. 3) now includes links to the ethical codes of conduct for 10 professional associations relevant to communication researchers in academia and industryConversation Analysis (Ch. 10) and Discourse Analysis (Ch. 14), have been separated to more clearly represent the paradigmatic differences in those ways of studying language-in-useThe chapter titles for all chapters in Parts II and III have been extended to help students more quickly compare those methods, and the text has been reorganised to match the first edition's order of paradigmsAll chapters include updated examples and more links to industry research.KEY FEATURESEach chapter begins with a short, reader-friendly introduction and student learning outcomes entitled 'What Will You Get from this Chapter?'Shows students how research skills will matter in their roles at work, as consumers, parents, and voters, in healthcare and community contexts during school and after graduationHighlights the role of different methodologies for making different types of research arguments.This title is available as an eBook. Visit VitalSource for more information or to purchase.