The activities involved in coding conversation sequences and the lack of attention given to their systematic validation within the field of speech communication are discussed in this paper. The paper first reviews briefly the assumptions underlying relational coding and the implications of viewing these activities as practical accomplishments. It…

This paper presents a new mathematical approach, fuzzy mathematics, for defining, classifying, and analyzing concepts within communications. Fuzzy mathematics is based on the premise that real world phenomena contain characteristics that overlap any artifically created category system or classification rules. Therefore, set membership is…

Describes the rationale and method of research in natural settings explaining the concept of systematic observation and discusses the uses of this type of research in the classroom. (MH)

This paper proposes the use of interaction process analysis to study negotiation behaviors. Following a review of current literature in the field, the paper presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of both labor/management and social negotiation processes. Central to the framework described are two systems of activities that together…

Examines whether the use of a particular unit of interaction behavior enhances reliability in interaction analysis research. (Author)

Hans-Georg Gadamer's development of the hermeneutic question points to the need for a hermeneutic consciousness in the United States appropriate for human communication research. Communication studies in the United States have taken a route very different from hermeneutics. They are based on attempts to understand the subjective intentions of a…

Taking the viewpoint of the receiver, this paper explores some differences between interpersonal transactions people have with each other and with the mass media. After addressing an orientation held by many communication scholars that the process of mass communication and interpersonal communication differ only in degree, the paper focuses on a…

Repeats an earlier study by the authors concerning informants' ability to report their communication accurately and confirms results indicating that people do not know those with whom they communicate. Expands the original experimental design and offers recommendations for future research. (MH)

The article describes and illustrates data collection methods useful in establishing social interaction objectives for improving the quantity and quality of parent social interactions with their handicapped infants. Among these are visual analysis of relationship patterns across intervention sessions, and the use of percentage for describing…

The papers in this collection were initially presented in two successive conferences that dealt with the collection, use, and reporting of spoken language for educational research. The ten papers deal with the method and procedures used in studying talk in a school situation; an analysis of the interaction between the researcher and a group of…

The application of hermeneutic theory to the study of the oral history interview is proposed in this paper. The first section of the paper indicates why the oral interview is central to the approach of the oral historian; it then defines oral history as a communicative process and suggests an approach to investigating the oral interview that uses…

This study tested two primary hypotheses concerning the effects of mispronunciation on the ratings of source credibility. First, as the number of mispronunciations presented by a speaker increases, audience ratings of source credibility will decrease. Second, the effects hypothesized in the first statement will be stronger for audiences at a more…

Suggests that an analysis of spontaneous speech collected in a simulation can provide insight into the way messages are produced and understood. Describes an experiment which used this technique to study the linguistic performance and communication strategies in anglophone children learning French. (SED)

Recent research into the "forty-nine" songs and singing of the Kiowa Indians in southwestern Oklahoma is described in this paper. The paper first outlines the value of a process oriented approach to communication analysis that accents three primary variables: indexicality (the inherent situational nature of communicative acts),…

One hundred studies on small group communication that were published in speech communication journals from 1969 to 1978 are summarized and critiqued in this paper. The literature is classified into three new lines of research (critical variable, process, and tangential) and three continuing lines of research (leadership, discussion, and pedagogy).…