Explores how magazine type has been defined and on what criteria categories of magazines have been based in communication research. Observes 4 definition strategies in 223 research reports published between 1977 and 1991. Critiques them on their apparent ability to meet five generally accepted standards for the usefulness of scientifically…

Examines online interactions between men and women on four electronic bulletin boards. Finds ways in which men's and women's online communication behaviors are similar to and different from the gender differences found in face-to-face communication. (SR)

Uses vice president Albert Gore Jr.'s book "Earth in the Balance" as a case study to examine the relationship between analogy and "presence." Argues that presence is a flexible critical construct allowing for examination of the relationship between the style, substance, and structure of arguments. Explores relationships between…

Elucidates the historical inquiry into Anglo-American mass communication studies. Argues that they can be reduced to three versions: mass communication research, the New Left, and the cultural version. Shows how the field's history writing has been caught in complex ways in its inner developments and paradigmatic struggles. (SR)

Investigates how cultural groups differ in the relative importance they attach to conversational constraints. Suggests that the perceived importance of clarity is higher in the more individualistic cultures but that the perceived importance of avoiding hurting the hearer's feelings and of minimizing imposition is higher in the more collectivistic…

Investigates the conventions that govern telephone communication through answering machines, both domestic and institutional. Finds that talk on answering machines is highly structured and highly routinized. Identifies the internal structures of both callers' contributions and machine contributions. (SR)

Analyzes television viewing behavior in a naturalistic setting, investigating channel changing and other commercial avoidance behaviors. Finds that channel changing is stimulated more by commercials than by programs and that 90% of channel changers click the switch during commercial breaks, raising serious questions about program and station…

Presents an extensive bibliography of contemporary communication literature devoted to cultural and intercultural communication. (SR)

Interviews students with high levels of communication apprehension about their communication apprehension experiences. Describes students' reasons for speech apprehension, their reactions to instructors who suggest they seek assistance, their ideal ways to be approached by an instructor, their anticipated responses to an ideal approach, and their…

Outlines the development and final form of Kenneth Burke's notion of the Preconscious and integrates it with his dramatistic method. Explains how that integration supplements previous critical insights into the immediate and long-term effects of Jonathan Edwards' powerful sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." (SR)

Documents the process of broadcasting media development in Brazil, the failure of new technologies to produce democratization, and the barriers to democratization erected by monopolization and "metastasis." (SR)

Illustrates ways that the work of some communication scholars with resistant, oppositional, and critical audiences does not, however, endorse active public life. Attempts to realign the language of critical viewing with the goals of participatory democracy by suggesting qualities of critical viewing that are conducive to achieving and maintaining…

Enumerates and juxtaposes some of the enduring empirical regularities that opinion polls have found. Details the limits of the key construct of "attitude structure." Critiques the intrapsychic model, and outlines the features of an alternative model of belief systems based on alternative methodologies. (RS)

Suggests that public opinion exists the form of interactionally developed, socially distributed folk models of the world. Suggests that actual public opinion is much more complex in its development and operation than the individualistic model of opinion formation suggests. Argues that opinion researchers need to address moment-to-moment…

Explores context in technical communication through the speech community. Asks what the relationship is among language, culture, and thought, and what knowledge is needed for effective communication. Argues that the Whorfian hypothesis answers the first question, whereas Chomsky's work on grammatical competence and Flower and Hayes' investigations…