Gathers data from 178 parents of adolescents to elucidate observed relationships between social class and family communication patterns. Finds parents generalize from their own experiences--particularly in the workplace--consistent with M.L. Kohn's theory of learning generalization. Finds conversation orientation to be positively associated and…

Discusses George Gallup's crusade to establish polling's scientific and cultural legitimacy that mythologized its history of "progress"; deflected doubts about its accuracy and technical procedures with a rhetoric of scientific of mystification; and celebrated the collective wisdom of "the people." Shows how Gallup's…

Presents an essay and two responses. Addresses the difficulty communication scholars have in addressing public policy regarding urban life which results, in large part, from the discipline's fractionalized, turf-bound nature. Offers recommendations for future directions in research and academic responsibility. (SR)

Seeks conditions that improve group performance on "hidden profiles." Finds that, among undergraduate student groups, group information sharing and decision-making effectiveness were higher in small groups with a low percentage of shared information, and lower when groups either were large or shared a high percentage of information.…

Looks at some recent regulations in Germany and the United States which have limited information exchange over computer networks. Details the real political application via the Internet of a specific example in the Netherlands. (RS)

Describes the development of a communication-based research project and plan to foster and maintain diversity within a large statewide public transportation agency and among its external constituents. Describes the organization structurally and historically, presents research methods and findings of a one-year organizational assessment, and…

Reviews three broad categories of research on cultural diversity in the workplace: general overviews, theoretical perspectives, and empirical research studies. Offers an explanation for the paucity of research on the topic, and suggests topics and methods for future research. (SR)

Examines under what conditions undergraduate students perceive racist speech as harmful. Studies how attribution of harm was influenced by group membership, message severity and explicitness, and medium of presentation. Finds interaction between group membership and message explicitness. Reveals out-group evaluators attributed direct racist…

Assesses the construct and concurrent validity of the Reticence Scale, a 24-item self-report measure. Compares it to other established measures and to open-ended responses to a set of questions. Finds satisfactory support for its construct and concurrent validity. Finds high correlations between dimensions of the Reticence Scale and the open-ended…

Examines the influences of variables on responses to refused requests. Finds that requesters (undergraduate students) who are more sensitive to the expression of others and have greater ability to adapt self-presentation are more likely to engage in further persuasion and less likely to engage in facework when unwillingness obstacles are…

Measures communication apprehension of 84 accounting seniors at an institution requiring significant communication skills training. Finds that the communication-skills component of the curriculum alone is not successful in alleviating communication apprehension in those students whose apprehension is above normal. Concludes that business educators…

Shows problems in the communication process between preparers and users of financial reports. Uses test techniques from linguistics and pedagogy (here, the cloze technique) to investigate two Swedish financial reports' understandability. Finds important parts of the reports were not understood by small investors. (PA)

Shows that perceived appropriateness of emotion expression is lowest for early daters' negative emotions. Suggests that partners in more developed relationships manage positive emotions less than negative emotions and less than early daters managed either negative or positive emotions. Finds that perceived appropriateness of emotion expression…

Describes a project which investigated perceived differences in the oral communication of technical information, and whether discrimination of gender based upon these perceptions is accurate. Results showed significant gender difference and that respondents largely based their perception of gender on use of technical language or jargon. Manner and…

Proposes an approach to defining units of analysis for Internet communication research. Defines the term "Internet computer-mediated communication." Uses this definition as the basis for developing a set of definitions (media space, media class, media object, and media instance) as units of analysis. Illustrates these units with some examples. (SR)