Examines narrative telling by children, and the transition in development from the capability of talking in the "here and now" to the capability of telling about the "there and then." Seemingly, very young children can produce narratives in an unscaffolded context to adults unfamiliar with these experiences. (23 references) (GLR)

Describes the focus group interview as a technique for data collection for researchers interested in a variety of educational issues. Describes and discusses a series of steps for implementing the focus group interview technique. (MG)

Reports the results of a survey of business school administrators about communication course practices and preferences. Finds a trend for management departments within business schools to offer communication courses. (MG)

Analyzes the content of campaign advertising in seven states. Focuses attention on: the media mix by which state candidates communicate; the electoral conditions most likely to elicit policy content in advertising; and the pictures of state and federal legislatures which emerge from this communication. (RS)

Pursues Kenneth Burke's conceptions of piety and appropriateness. Argues for propriety as the master term of rhetorical completion, assimilating style and argument to a common goal. Suggests in a case study of Voltairine de Cleyre's speech, "The Fruit of Sacrifice," that even radical text might be self-justifying by creating its own…

Four experiments investigated six-year-olds' understanding of the say-mean distinction in referential speech. Concludes that young children are ineffective at using others' informational states in deciding whether a literal or nonliteral message interpretation is appropriate. (RH)

Discusses the meanings of the terms "table,""graph, "chart" and "diagram" in relation to four types of technical graphics. Describes the appropriate use of each graphics type in relation to the uses of other graphic types, and illustrates the kind of information each type most effectively represents. (KEH)

Distinguishes between medical interaction and health communication, maintaining that the latter is found in four major determinants of American health: individual behavior, social relationships, physical environment, and economic status. Argues that the chief malady of low-income people is powerlessness, and asserts that they must be empowered to…

Examines consensus as a function of group members' decision rule orientations. Finds that for groups that interacted verbally, consensus was more likely between groups composed of members with matching (rather than differing) rule orientations. Discusses implications for group consensus and the decision rule orientation construct. (MM)

Describes three efforts to design research on innovation in organizations, each on a progressively more macrooriented tier (from the innovation project as the unit, to the organization, to the extraorganizational environment), along with the theoretical and empirical assumptions behind these efforts. (SR)

Reviews studies on the impact of organizational factors on the adoption of innovations along three dimensions (innovation type, innovation radicalness, and stages of adoption), finding considerable agreement. Proposes a research agenda for future studies. (SR)

Examines the differences in perspective and training of nurse practitioners and physician assistants, and effects of these on their interactive strategies with patients. Shows how the macro issue of differences in occupational perspective can be incorporated into micro studies of the form and content of talk in social interactions. (SR)

Responds to Donald Dean Morley's reply (same issue). Discusses his claims about the use of multiple-message designs, the analysis of multiple-message designs, and generalization on logical grounds. (MS)

Reports that relatively few people use their home as a primary work site and that those who do (substitutors, self-employed, and supplementers) balance their needs for employment flexibility against their needs for income. Discusses differing motivations and satisfactions, and the wage gap between home workers and conventional workers. (SR)

Describes how speech acts in the beginning of many telephone conversations signal and resolve problems. Examines data from telephone conversations using "call-waiting" to show how ambiguity may provide resources for problem solving. (MM)