Investigates differences observed among German students regarding amount of television viewing. Finds a significant negative effect of need for cognition on viewing amount. Interprets this as a manifestation of individual-psychological escapism in which the lower viewers' need for cognition is, the less pleasant they feel when they have nothing to…

Proposes and tests an affective model of policy reasoning with television use as a first stage variable in a heuristic causal chain. Tests the power of the model to explain how citizens (undergraduate students) make up their minds regarding government policies on affirmative action, with stereotypes of African Americans as the second stage,…

Investigates how readers use predication for the interpretation of referents in text and to develop a coherent model of the events described in text. Illustrates how two types of predication (scalar copredication and antipredication) induce readers to disambiguate the referents of definite noun phrases in essentially the opposite way, with…

Recounts results of project SOUL (Society of Unlimited Learning), a successful program implemented in the summer of 1968 to support black students. Provides a portrait of the unsuccessful student in the successful program. Establishes the value of speech communication education for culturally diverse students, the sustaining effect of speech…

Outlines educational needs and new ways in which the Society for Technical Communication can take an active role in helping to meet them. Outlines education's need to prepare people to function in a learning society; to manage research enterprises that enhance competitiveness; and to support educational programs that merit public trust. (SR)

Reports on a study that found that the perceived quality of coworker information and superior-subordinate communication concepts were directly related to voluntary turnover intentions, as were organizational commitment and perceived job alternatives. (TB)

Investigates social support for older adults in the computer-mediated environment. Finds that: satisfaction with Internet providers of social support was significantly higher for high Internet users than for low Internet users, whereas low Internet users were more satisfied with their non-Internet support networks than high Internet users; and…

Discusses a focal issue in the public relations field: the way that practitioners use academic theories. Offers an exploration of the possible modes of use of academic or scientific theory in public relations practice. Notes that the premise of this model is that scientific knowledge is seldom used in an unaltered form in practice. Closes by…

Tests for a channel effect by examining responses of student subjects to a news story presented in broadcast video and in print. Finds some evidence that viewers of television news are inclined to judge actors in news stories as members of categories or groups, while readers of print news tend to be more specific. (SR)

Examines interaction and computer-based communication tool usage patterns among university students who completed a set of communication assignments with either the instructor or other students as the primary audience. Finds content focused on substantive course material, the exchange format closely mirrored the assignments, and most of the…

Describes, from the point of view of a coauthor of popular management books, the pleasures and challenges of writing in this genre. Describes the experience as a rewarding opportunity to develop a theoretically informed book, based on sound case study research, that inspires people and organizations to become the best that they can be. (SR)

Articulates how the term "community" has been used to identify, describe, and construct online contexts and groups--online communities. Discusses how one particular online discussion group, SpreadNet, attempts to socially construct and negotiate the meaning of the term and how such negotiation influences the (inter)actions, values, and social…

Explores the planning processes a grassroots environmental group used to determine its goals for its Websites; examines the rhetoric of two of the group's Websites; and studies the reactions of audiences of the Websites to their Web rhetoric. Provides people working in small organizations with information about how they might improve the…

Investigates fundamental beliefs regarding cross-cultural differences in conflict styles. Indicates that assumptions regarding the relationship of culture to conflict style preferences may not be valid. Finds that, among 188 graduate students from 31 countries residing in the United States, collectivists prefer compromising and integrating more…

Surveys doctoral research in technical, scientific, and business communication from 1989-1998. Finds a robust theoretical, historical, and practical scholarly production of knowledge occurring across a broad range of departments and institutions. Identifies what academic institutions sponsor such research, and what methods researchers employ.…