Scholars have called for an integration of knowledge of the jury trial process, and in response, this paper argues that the contingency rules theory of communication can integrate and advance understanding of the trial. Four common approaches to the study of the trial are outlined briefly and criticized: the jury characteristic approach, the jury…

A telephone survey of 10 Minnesota communities was conducted to examine media use. The results indicated a pattern of metropolitan dominance throughout the suburbs and general dominance of metropolitan media for nonlocal news. Dominance of the two Minneapolis daily newspapers was reflected in their circulation, followed by the two St. Paul…

By providing conventions, journals, and bibliographies as outlets for scholarship and research, speech communication associations make available resources necessary for the discipline to pursue its scholarship and serve as a distribution system for relevant research materials. An association also fulfills the important function of…

The essays contained in this volume are attempts not merely to inventory recent developments and disputes in the field of argumentation but also to sharpen them by carrying them as far as current thinking permits. The 16 essays, which show that argumentation scholars are still far from united around a single theory, are divided into four sections.…

A survey was conducted of 51 company sales managers in the Los Angeles, California, area to determine their opinion of the importance of the telephone as a sales instrument. The managers were asked a series of questions concerning their responsibilities and their attitudes toward selling by telephone. Results revealed that the managers (1)…

Six waitresses in a restaurant of a large midwestern city agreed to participate in a study of the nonverbal effects of ornamentation. The hypothesis was that diners would leave larger tips for a waitress who wore a flower in her hair than for the same waitress without a flower. During the four nights that data were collected, the waitresses…

Designed to assist social scientists interested in conducting mass communication research, this report describes a number of sources of mass communication data and information. The sources are grouped in two categories: print media (primarily newspapers and magazines) and electronic media (radio, television, and motion pictures). These categories…

A study was conducted to determine how well the advertising industry portrays the changing work roles of women. Four advertising executives were interviewed to find out their feelings about the changes in women's work roles and what action they were taking to adapt advertising to these changes, while 11 women were interviewed with similar…

The fact that little research has been conducted on the penalties for violating communication rules precipitated this study exploring the consequences of a superior lying to a subordinate and of a subordinate lying to a superior. The subjects were 82 college students who filled out attribution scales regarding the superior and subordinate depicted…

Based on an investigation of 207 of United States Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas's opinions concerning the First Amendment, this paper argues for the existence of a rhetorical genre grounded in the jurisprudence known as "legal realism." The paper begins with an overview of the philosophy of legal realism that leads to a…

The literature reporting research on message distortion in organizations is reviewed in this paper. Topics covered include: definitions of distortion/fidelity; measures of message display; measures of message interpretation; categories of distortion/fidelity derived from laboratory research; definitions of distortion/fidelity in naturalistic…

In examining the field of speech communication and its research, it is clear that most research has focused on linking (linking the individual with the human environment) and regulatory (the regulation of human behavior) behavior. However, the primary goal of human communication is mentation (the development of higher mental processes), and this…

Addresses the challenges of communication research and calls for scholars to evaluate their theories in the crucible of applied communication settings by testing and scholarship. (NKA)

Indicates that mission statement developers in both corporate and university settings need to improve the readability and the tone of their written statements in order to maximize their organizational image. (NKA)

Reveals differences across age groups in communication patterns in speaking of the loss of significant others--openness of talking about loss, stress ratings of loss, and how communication was used to cope with loss. Discusses findings in terms of self-engagement, family relations, and self-disclosure. (NKA)