An Integrated Approach to Communication Theory and Research

This volume provides an integrated overview of communication study for the student. In preparing to teach introductory graduate courses the authors could not find a single text that provided both theoretical coverage of the broad scope of communication study, as well as a text that integrated the theory with the research. This book puts theory into research and explains how research operates within theory. To explicate the integration process, the chapter contributors – experts in their respective areas – offer samples in the form of hypothetical studies, published studies, or unpublished research, showing how theory and research are integrated in their particular fields.

The book is different from other texts available for the graduate student or faculty member who wants a good overview of not only the field, but also sample research stemming from its various component parts. The material presented is designed to further understanding among scholars and students regarding the mass/human communication divide, as well as different approaches to integrating theory and research in different areas of communication. The editors hope that this volume will pique scholarly interest, and challenge theorists and researchers to look at the broader scope of communication study, and begin to work together in formulating a truly grounded communication approach to communication theory and research.

Don W. Stacks (Ph.D., University of Florida, 1978) is Professor of Communication and Director of the Public Relations Program at the School of Communication, University of Miami. He is the author of six books on communication topics, a member of the Arthur W. Page Society, and serves as a Trustee or Board member for the Institute for Public Relations, Association for Education in Journalism & Mass Communication, and International Public Relations Association. He has received numerous awards and was recently voted as a Research Fellow by the Eastern Communication Association, as well as the Jackson, Jackson & Wagner Behavioral Science Prize winner and named as a winner of the Provost’s Award for Scholarly Activity.

Michael B. Salwen (Ph.D., Michigan State University, 1985) was Professor of Communication at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, FL. His research focused on the social effects of mass communication and international communication. He’s worked as a reporter for several local newspapers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He developed a keen interest in the third-person effect and sought to identify and predict the underlying factors of this perceptual process with different mass media issues. He was a prolific scholar, authoring and editing several books, and was an associate editor for Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly.