The Basics of Communication Research (with InfoTrac)

by Leslie A. Baxter, Earl R. Babbie

Overview

Combining the time tested classical work of Earl Babbie with the insights of one of the most recognized and respected names in speech communication research, THE BASICS OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH is the book for the Communication research methods course. With the authors' collective experience teaching research methods and as active researchers themselves you will find this text to be the authoritative text for your course. The authors frame research as a way of knowing, and provide balanced treatment to both quantitative and qualitative research traditions in communication research and present it in a student friendly and engaging format. It provides in-depth treatment of the role of reasoning in the research enterprise and how this reasoning process plays itself out in planning and writing a research proposal and report.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780534507787
Publisher:	Cengage Learning
Publication date:	07/08/2003
Series:	Speech and Theater Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	480
Product dimensions:	7.94(w) x 9.72(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Dr. Earl Babbie is the Campbell Professor Emeritus in Behavioral Sciences at Chapman University in Southern California. He taught sociology at the University of Hawaii from 1968 through 1979 and took time off from teaching and research to write full time for eight years. He then joined the Chapman University faculty in 1987. Credited with defining research methods for the social sciences, Dr. Babbie has written several texts, including THE PRACTICE OF SOCIAL RESEARCH, as well as numerous research articles and monographs. For 25 years he has been active in the American Sociological Association, where he served on the executive committee. He is also a past president of the Pacific Sociological Association and the California Sociological Association. Dr. Babbie received his A.B. from Harvard and his doctorate from the University of California, Berkeley.

Table of Contents

Part One: INTRODUCTION TO SCIENTIFIC INQUIRY ABOUT COMMUNICATION. 1. Human Inquiry and Scientific Inquiry about Communication. 2. Basic Building Blocks in Conducting Communication Research. 3. Paradigms of Knowing in Communication Research. 4. Logic Systems and Theory in Communication Research. 5. The Ethics of Communication Research. Part Two: QUANTITATIVE COMMUNICATION RESEARCH. 6. Conceptualization and Operationalization. 7. The Logic of Sampling. 8. Survey Research. 9. Experiments. 10. Quantitative Text Analysis. 11. The Basics of Quantitative Data Analysis. 12. Inferential Statistics in Quantitative Data Analysis. Part Three: QUALITATIVE COMMUNICATION RESEARCH. 13. Participant Observation. 14. Qualitative Interviewing. 15. Social Text Analysis. 16. Qualitative Data Analysis.

Editorial Reviews

"I would highly recommend this text to any instructor teaching a communication specific research methods course. I think it provides a strong foundation for introductory students and covers each of the areas of qualitative and quantitative methodologies appropriately. Additionally it does an effective job of incorporating existing communication research from a variety of fields into each of the chapters. This provides a much needed connection for communication students to better understand the application of various methodologies to their discipline."

"This textbook frames research as a common sense, everyday activity that students already know something about, although not necessarily something that they always do well. It balances attention between both quantitative and qualitative methodologies and helps students think about how to make choice in doing research."

"Its organization introduces students to the breadth of perspective in communication research early in the book. Students are introduced to the basics of both quantitative and qualitative designs in separate chapters-rather than a single chapter that suggests that there is "one" way to create a research design. This pluralistic approach is extremely helpful in avoiding the creation of strong positivistic biases early in the semester. This helps students to be aware of the many ways of approaching research and the values of each approach."

From the Publisher