Understanding Communication Research Methods

Stephen M. Croucher is Professor and Head of the School of Communication, Journalism, and Marketing at Massey University, New Zealand. He serves on the editorial boards of more than 10 journals and served as the editor of the Review of Communication (2022–2025), Frontiers in Communication (2019–2022), Journal of Intercultural Communication Research (2010–2019), and Speaker & Gavel (2010–2015). He has held and holds various leadership positions in the National Communication Association, the International Communication Association, and the World Communication Association. He served as President of the World Communication Association from 2019 to 2023.Daniel Cronn-Mills is Professor and Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Minnesota State University, Mankato, USA. He has authored and co-authored three books, five book chapters, and a stack of journal articles. He served as the editor of Speaker & Gavel (1997–2010) and on the editorial board of 11 scholarly journals. He has served in numerous leadership roles including the National Communication Association, the American Forensic Association, and the Communication and Theatre Association of Minnesota.

“Nobody does it quite like Croucher and Cronn-Mills when it comes to offering a clear and comprehensive undergraduate communication research methods textbook. This book helps students understand how communication theory drives methodological decisions, creativity, and defendable results. Hands down, it’s the best, most relatable textbook for undergraduate students available today.” - Jayne Violette, Professor of Communication, University of South Carolina Beaufort, USA“Croucher and Cronn-Mills is the only comprehensible book on research methods I’ve read. Other research methods books tell you what the method is—this book tells you how to do it. This textbook is now part of my permanent collection. Anyone learning about research, exploring research, or doing research needs to read this book.” - Halley Weinberger, Graduate Assistant, Minnesota State University, Mankato, USA

• Section One: Research Paradigms 1. Introduction and Ethics 2. The Social Scientific Paradigm 3. The Interpretive Paradigm 4. The Critical Paradigm (James P. Dimock) Section Two: Research Design 5. Data 6. Evaluating Research–Warrants 7. Hypothesis and Research Questions Section Three: Research Methods 8. Ethnography 9. Interviewing 10. Focus Groups 11. Content Analysis 12. Discourse Analysis (Margarethe Olbertz-Siitonen) 13. Surveys 14. Descriptive Statistics 15. Inferential Statistics 16. Experimental Design 17. Mixed Methods (Malynnda Johnson) 18. Rhetorical Criticism 19. The Process of Critique (James P. Dimock) 20. Methods of Performance (Desirée D. Rowe and Michael Tristano, Jr.)