A study determined if an individual's approach to conflict management could be altered by completing a college conflict resolution class. Subjects enrolled in a 3-hour, 16-week college conflict resolution course at a medium-sized, midwestern university. The pretest condition consisted of 15 females and 13 males, of whom 10 were undergraduate and…

A study investigated properties of children's naturally occurring arguments. The arguments were sampled from transcripts of 20 discussions held in 4 fourth-grade classrooms. The principal findings were that children's arguments are filled with seemingly vague referring expressions; that the arguments sometimes do not contain explicit conclusions;…

A study analyzed the choreography of turn-taking and cohesion in classroom computer-mediated communication (CMC) to assess its efficacy as a linguistic intervention. Of the kinds of discussions made possible by CMC, it is the pseudonymous, synchronous conversation that most attracts those who would aspire to the project of changing linguistic…

A study examined the beliefs and attitudes of students, coaches, and judges on the use of manuscripts at the college level in oral interpretation events (prose, drama, program oral interpretation, dramatic duo, and poetry). Survey data were collected from students, coach-judges, and hired judges participating in a Midwestern forensics tournament…

This paper examines the many assertions made in the health communication literature about the importance of communication as an essential process in promoting effective health care. If these assertions are true then researchers should be able to demonstrate the ways that communication influences the accomplishment of health care goals--how…

A study explored how students challenged teachers in order to seek information, how often they employ certain strategies, and at what point in the semester they used certain strategies. Subjects were students in four classes with a maximum enrollment of 25 each from two southwestern universities. Half of the participants were enrolled in a hybrid…

Breaking from traditional adult-centered models of interpersonal conflict by privileging children's experiences, a study examined children's experiences of and reactions to conflict. As part of an assessment for establishing a school-based peer mediation program, focus group interviews were conducted with second graders through high school…

This paper argues that while organizational research includes a diverse array of naturalistic approaches, a gap exists in the organizational literature that can only be filled by the ethnography of communication (EC). The paper proposes that, instead of using speech to do qualitative research, speech itself should be studied as the topic of…

An article on interethnic communication by J. Martin, M. Hecht, and L. Larkey in "Communication Monographs" (1994) suggests some important issues for understanding the potential impact of culture on communication practices--researchers might examine such variations in communication in future research. "Culture" is an ambiguous…

Satire is a genre long extant if not especially beloved in human history. Practitioners of the art claim the intent to persuade and educate through their works. Many quantitative studies have tested the persuasive effects of satire. In research on persuasion, A.D. Annis (1939) compared the effects of editorials and editorial cartoons and concluded…

Despite over 30 years of review and analysis, researchers still are unclear as to what W.H. Crockett's Role Category Questionnaire (RCQ) of interpersonal differentiation actually measures. Among the constructivists, at least four different explanations have been advanced. The "orthodox" interpretation holds that the RCQ constitutes a…

The Organizational Communication Culture (OCC) method, designed by Charles A. Bantz (1993) was utilized as the primary method for analyzing messages coming from the administration of California State University, Northridge, after the earthquake. Bantz feels that communication interactions in an organization bring meanings and expectations to that…

This annotated bibliography lists recent Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) documents (that is, documents published between 1984-1989) related to the areas of public relations and speech communications. The 34 citations include brief statements of the contents of the documents, all of which are listed in the monthly publication…

R. Hart and D. Burks (1972) indicated that rhetorical sensitivity (RS) is a cognitive orientation to communication competence that stresses the importance of appropriate adaptation and flexibility in interpersonal communication interactions. In 1980, Hart, Carlson and Eadie developed an instrument called RHETSEN scale, a 40-item questionnaire. The…

An exploratory study investigated the interpersonal meaning of karaoke to its participants in East Asia. Current research suggests that the popularity of karaoke in East Asia is associated with the cultural value of harmony and the indirect mode of communication in this region. Subjects, 51 East Asian undergraduate-level students who had…