Almost 40 years ago, the notion that communication is central to creating and sustaining (and ending) high-quality interpersonal relationships seemed to be a radical idea, but today, who does not know this to be the case or how important communication is for making high-quality decisions in groups/teams, fostering productive and satisfying work…

This article defines research centers as associative enterprises for solving scholarly and societal problems that cannot be adequately addressed by individuals. The authors identify more than fifty research centers in rhetoric and writing, past and present, and argue that they function as change agents by emphasizing collaboration and conducting…

This paper offers a practical guide to use null hypotheses significance testing and its alternatives. The focus is on improving the quality of statistical inference in quantitative communication research. More consistent reporting of descriptive statistics, estimates of effect size, confidence intervals around effect sizes, and increasing the…

Within the last 12 years, email has emerged as the most commonly used form of written communication in the corporate workplace. Several factors have contributed to the widespread use of email. This form of communication is generally rapid, is more economical than distributing or mailing printed documents, and permits simultaneous communication…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of symbolic expressions (e.g., "BTW," "LOL," "UR") in an SMS text messaging corpus consisting of over 10,000 text messages. More specifically, the purpose was to determine, not only how frequently these symbolic expressions are used, but how they are utilized in terms of the language functions…

This study investigates the effect of the presentation of social network diagrams on virtual team members' interaction behavior via e-mail. E-mail transaction data from 22 software developers in a Korean IT company was analyzed and depicted as diagrams by social network analysis (SNA), and presented to the members as an intervention. Results…

Although textbooks are filled with practical communication advice, many students overlook the importance of basing practical advice about communication on quality research. This oversight is important for two reasons. First, given the explosion of self-help remedies focused on communication, students should learn to distinguish between…

Four studies explored the communicative behaviors of people who outperform others in a relevant or irrelevant field and the impression formed of these outperformers by the outperformed people. In line with the premises of the self-evaluation maintenance model (A. Tesser, 1988) and the STTUC framework (J. J. Exline & M. Lobel, 1999), Studies 1 and…

The paper reviews the current state of research into the long-disputed concept of intercultural competence by evaluating its varying definitions in German debates. The superficial clarity of the concept is unmasked to reveal fundamental differences in the answers given to questions like: what is the goal of intercultural competence; is…

It is well-established that language skills are amongst the best predictors of educational success. Consistent with this, findings from a population-based longitudinal study of parents and children in the UK indicate that language development at the age of two years predicts children's performance on entering primary school. Moreover, children who…

Facilitating successful focus groups requires both science and art. One element that can fully challenge focus group facilitators includes how to handle the unfocused focus group. This article describes "unfocus" and the benefits and disadvantages of unfocus in focus groups. Lessons learned from and approaches taken on this journey are shared to…

An abundance of academic research has focused on identifying, explicating, operationalizing, and analyzing variables used to understand the dynamics of customer service. Despite this scholarly attention, applied researchers and the popular press have long reported consumers' dissatisfaction with the service received during their customer…

If communication research is to make a greater difference in society, change is needed in the ways that communication scholarship is taught to and produced by students. To do so, I contend that changes must occur in two areas. First, change must occur at the undergraduate level where students must be given the opportunity to become directly…

For more than 50 years, business professionals and some researchers have held that effective listening is a highly desirable workplace skill (Cooper, 1997; Husband, Cooper, & Monsour, 1988; Nichols & Stevens, 1957; Rogers & Rothlisberger, 1952; Sypher, 1984). However, listening as an organizational variable continues to be seen as a "soft" skill…

Verbal report protocols have been considered as direct representations of individual cognitive processes. The present study examined the social nature of verbal reports, particularly focusing on whether and in what ways concurrent think-aloud (TA) protocol data are recipient-designed. The results of this study suggest that verbal reports elicited…