Routledge Handbook of Applied Communication Research

The Routledge Handbook of Applied Communication Research provides a state-of-the-art review of communication scholarship that addresses real-world concerns, issues, and problems. This comprehensive examination of applied communication research, including its foundations, research methods employed, significant issues confronted, important contexts in which such research has been conducted, and overviews of some exemplary programs of applied communication research, shows how such research has and can make a difference in the world and in people’s lives.

The sections and chapters in this Handbook:



explain what constitutes applied communication scholarship, encompassing a wide range of approaches and clarifying relationships among theoretical perspectives, methodological procedures, and applied practices
demonstrate the breadth and depth of applied communication scholarship
review and synthesize literature about applied communication areas and topics in coherent, innovative, and pedagogically sound ways
set agendas for future applied communication scholarship.


Unique to this volume are chapters presenting exemplary programs of applied communication research that demonstrate the principles and practices of such scholarship, written by the scholars who conducted the programs.

As an impressive benchmark in the ongoing growth and development of communication scholarship, editors Lawrence R. Frey and Kenneth N. Cissna provide an exceptional resource that will help new and experienced scholars alike to understand, appreciate, and conduct high-quality communication research that can positively affect people’s lives.

Lawrence R. Frey (PhD, University of Kansas, 1979) is a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on applied communication, quantitative and qualitative research methods, and group interaction. His applied communication scholarship focuses on communication activism, social justice, community studies, and health communication. He is the author or editor of 15 books, 3 special journal issues, and more than 65 journal articles and book chapters; and the recipient of 14 awards for scholarship, including the 2000 Gerald M. Phillips Award for Distinguished Applied Communication Scholarship from the National Communication Association (NCA).

Kenneth N. Cissna (PhD, University of Denver, 1975) is a professor and chair of the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in interpersonal communication, group communication, and dialogue theory and practice. He has published scores of scholarly book chapters and journal articles, and five books. He served as editor of the Journal of Applied Communication Research and of the Southern Communication Journal, and is past president of both the Florida Communication Association and the Southern States Communication Association (SSCA). His awards include SSCA’s 2007 T. Earle Johnson—Edwin Paget Distinguished Service Award and NCA’s 2008 Gerald M. Phillips Award for Distinguished Applied Communication Scholarship.

Introduction (Kenneth N. Cissna, Lawrence R. Frey).
Part I: Foundations of Applied Communication Research.
1. The Development of Applied Communication Research (Kenneth N. Cissna, William F. Eadie, Mark Hickson, III).
2. Across Applied Divides: Great Debates of Applied Communication Scholarship (Lawrence R. Frey, SunWolf).
3. Practical Theory in Applied Communication Scholarship (J. Kevin Barge, Robert T. Craig).
Part II: Methods of Applied Communication Research.
4. Using Quantitative Methods to Conduct Applied Communication Research (Jim L. Query, Jr., Kevin B. Wright, Patricia Amason, Kristen Campbell Eichhorn, Melinda R. Weathers, Martha Womack Haun, Eileen S. Gilchrist, Laura Bochenek Klein,Valerie Pedrami).
5. Rhetorical Methods of Applied Communication Scholarship (Celeste Condit, Benjamin R. Bates).
6. Ethnography in Applied Communication Research (Laura L. Ellingson).
7. Discourse Analysis: The Practice and Practical Value of Taping, Transcribing, and Analyzing Talk (Karen Tracy, Julien C. Mirivel).
Part III: Issues in Applied Communication Research.
8. Positioning Gender as Fundamental in Applied Communication Research: Taking a Feminist Turn (Patrice M. Buzzanell, Rebecca Meisenbach, Robyn Remke, Helen Sterk, Lynn H. Turner).
9. Race as Political Identity: Problematic Issues for Applied Communication Research (Anne Mayden Nicotera, Marcia J. Clinkscales, Laura K. Dorsey, Marnel N. Niles).
10. Technology is Applied Communication Research (Leah A. Lievrouw).
11. Managing a World of Problems: The Implications of Globalization for Applied Communication Research (John Parrish-Sprowl).
12. Applied Communication Ethics: A Summary and Critique of the Research Literature (Matthew W. Seeger, Timothy L. Sellnow, Robert R. Ulmer, Julie M. Novak).
Part IV: Contexts of Applied Communication Research.
13. Family as Agency of Potential: Toward a Positive Ontology of Applied Family Communication Theory and Research (Thomas J. Socha).
14. Organizational Communication and Applied Communication Research: Parallels, Intersections, Integration, and Engagement (David R. Seibold, Daisy R. Lemus, Dawna I. Ballard, Karen K. Myers).
15. In the Public Interest: Communication in Nonprofit Organizations (Eric M. Eisenberg, Beth Eschenfelder).
16. Health Communication as Applied Communication Inquiry (Gary L. Kreps, Ellen W. Bonaguro).
17. Communication in the Helping Professions (Katherine I. Miller, Jennifer Considine).
18. Aging and Applied Communication Research (Jon F. Nussbaum, Jennifer E. Ohs).
19. Applied Political Communication Research (Lynda Lee Kaid, Mitchell S. McKinney, John C. Tedesco).
20. Applied Communication Research in Educational Contexts (Ann L. Darling, Liz Leckie).
21. Communication for Participatory Development: Dialogue, Action, and Change (D. Lawrence Kincaid, María Elena Figueroa).
Part V: Exemplary Programs of Applied Communication Research.
22. Drug Resistance Strategies Project: Using Narrative Theory to Enhance Adolescents’ Communication Competence (Michael Hecht, Michelle Miller-Day).
23. Applied Research on Group Decision Support Systems: The Minnesota GDSS Project (Marshall Scott Poole, Gerardine DeSanctis).
24. Fear Appeals and Public Health: Managing Fear and Creating Hope (Kim Witte, Anthony J. Roberto).
25. The Multiple Faces of the Public Dialogue Consortium: Scholars, Practitioners, and Dreamers of Better Social Worlds (Kimberly Pearce, Shawn Spano, W. Barnett Pearce)