Thinking Like a Researcher: An Engaged Introduction to Communication Research Methods

Thinking Like a Researcher: An Engaged Introduction to Communication Research Methods challenges students to assume the role of a researcher to learn how to solve problems and analyze relevant, real-world situations.

The book presents students with an array of research problems as seen through the eyes of four different types of researchers: a college newspaper staff member; an intern at a city government health agency; a political campaign intern; and a recent college graduate working at a public relations firm. Students adopt these roles and, in doing so, learn how to apply research methods to a specific problem, analyze the resulting data, and produce written research to communicate their findings.

The text is organized around extended examples that frame pairs of chapters. The first chapter in each pair deals with methods ("What would you do to gather data to answer the question?") and the second with analysis ("What do you do with the resulting data?"). Throughout, students are prompted to fill in blanks, provide responses, and guess the answers to questions. They learn how to use appropriate and accessible tools to run analyses on real data and cultivate results.

Featuring a uniquely intuitive and immersive approach, Thinking Like a Researcher is an exemplary textbook for introductory courses in communication research and statistics.

Jake Harwood (Ph.D., University of California at Santa Barbara) is a professor of communication at the University of Arizona, where he teaches courses in research methods and statistics, intergroup communication, communication and music, and intergenerational communication. He is the author of Understanding Communication and Aging and Communication and Music in Social Interaction. He has published more than 100 articles in such journals as Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Communication, and Communication Monographs.