Interpersonal and Small Group Communication Commons^™

Editor's Page, Joseph P. Mazer

Basic Communication Course Annual

Publication of Volume 30 of the Basic Communication Course Annual marks 30 since the journal’s official launch. In those decades, the Annual has featured the best scholarship on topics pertaining to our discipline’s “bread-and-butter” course, “front porch” class, or whatever metaphor you would like to use to characterize the great work that happens here. Although 30 years have elapsed, our scholarship is more important now than ever before; it is mission-critical to our country and our democracy.

As we know, the basic communication course equips students with the knowledge and skills necessary to succeed as communicatively competent citizens prepared to …

Front Cover, Title Page, Contents, Editorial Board

Basic Communication Course Annual

No abstract provided.

Interviewing To Understand Strengths, Michael R. Hass

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Interviewing clients about their strengths is an important part of developing a complete understanding of their lives and has several advantages over simply focusing on problems and pathology. Prerequisites for skillfully interviewing for strengths include the communication skills that emerge from a stance of not knowing, developing a vocabulary of strengths that allows practitioners to identify and name them, and having a “ear for strengths.” Building on this, Saleebey (2008) offers a framework of eight types of questions that allow us to explore strengths in depth with clients.

Beyond Audience Analysis: Conceptualizing Empathy For Technical Communication, Bernadette L. Cash

Technical Communication Capstone Course

The concept of empathy involves understanding others’ perspectives. Technical communication requires knowing the context of users; however, empathy is neither a prominent term nor a common subject in the accompanying literature.

This article will establish a foundation for empathy to be conceptualized for technical communication. Several definitions of empathy will be reviewed, followed by applicable resemblances from examples pertaining to audience analysis. A wide‑ranging analysis will connect features of empathy to topics from the areas of user experience, human‑information interaction, user value, business, and design thinking.

This article concludes that there is significant value in giving empathetic attention to the …

Motivations, Team Dynamics, Development Practices And How They Impact The Success Of Open Source Software: A Study Of Projects Of Code For America Brigades, Le Chang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Open data movement has nurtured the growth of civic open source software (OSS) in the recent decade. This emerging phenomenon has demonstrated a way that a community can collectively utilize technology to solve its problems.

This study is based on software projects in brigades of Code for America, which is a network of organizations that group volunteers to create digital solutions to community problems. In this study, we analyze the software engineering practices of current civic open source software development, participants' motivations and perceptions of the projects, and provide insights on the antecedents of success of the application development.

A …

Mutual Gaze Among Strangers, Allie Vaknin

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the reactions people experienced when engaged in extended eye contact with a stranger. Artist Marina Abramović and an organization entitled The Liberators International have demonstrated a spectrum of reactions, many emotionally-charged, that have occurred from the opportunity to sit across from and gaze into the eyes of a stranger. Current research on eye contact has been predominantly quantitative, with no available research that qualitatively investigates the scenario in focus. The design of this study involved interviewing 35 people who participated in "The World’s Biggest Eye Contact Experiment," where individuals paired with a …

The Effect Of Competition Presence On Relationship Retention Decisions, Kaycee Champion

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

Relationships are connections between two or more people, which determine how they behave toward one another. Romantically speaking, relationships can become more complex. With the high levels of interference from people outside the relationship added to the personality traits of each individual within, romantic relationships may suffer or face difficulties over time. Mate retention behaviors are based on a variety of factors, but this study specifically focuses on the effects of threat perception in the presence of competition for females. By surveying females in a relationship, the information on attachment styles and threat perception was collected. By using a female …

Improving Software Projects With Cloud Computing, Sunil Maddipatla

Dissertations and Theses

As organizations are experiencing regular unforgiving financial conditions, ideas, for example, outsourcing, deft and lean administration, change administration and cost diminishment are always increasing more consideration. This is on the grounds that these ideas are altogether gone for saving money on spending plans and confronting sudden changes. Most recent innovations like cloud computing guarantee to turn IT, that has dependably been seen as a cost focus, into a wellspring of sparing cash and driving adaptability and dexterity to the business. The motivation behind this paper is to first incorporate an arrangement of properties that administer the deftness benefits added to …

The Role Of Bipolar Disorder, Stigma, And Hurtful Messages In Romantic Relationships, Callie Parrish

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study explores hurtful messages received by individuals diagnosed with bipolar disorder I/II from their romantic partners. Close romantic relationships present opportunities for the utterance of hurtful messages, and the stigmatization that accompanies a mental health diagnosis could affect the attributions made surrounding hurtful messages. By applying attribution theory, the current study increases understanding of how individuals with bipolar disorder experience and attribute hurtful messages. Participants (N = 99) were adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder who had received a hurtful message from their romantic partner. Data was collected via online surveys comprised of Likert scales and short answer questions. …

The Impact Of Cultural Communication On Team Performance, Bret Hunley, Smarajit Chakraborty, Stephen Macdonald

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

The trend in today’s corporate workforce continues to move towards becoming more culturally diverse; while beneficial, to maintain competitive edge this element also increases functional challenges between working group members. In order to achieve a high performing team, it is imperative management understands the cultural and lingual differences among the individual members, and develop practices that diminish these challenges. Workforce diversity has been identified as being able to add value to the overall outcome; however, success ultimately depends on the team’s ability to interact culturally, communicate effectively, and understand the mannerisms unique to each team member’s individual culture.

Examining Geert …

Impact Of Leadership On Team’S Performance, Harshitha Gadirajurrett, Raj Srinivasan, Jake Stevens, Nihal Jeena

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

The concept of leadership is a widely discussed concept, with numerous articles and books being dedicated to the exploration and evaluation of leadership and its impact on team building, team performance and team dynamics. In this paper, we will be looking at the impact of leadership on team performance, and evaluating it through the lens of different leadership styles, focusing on the idea of Transformational Leadership. Through numerous article and journal reviews, we will seek to identify characteristics and strengths of these leadership styles as they pertain to the performance of teams within an organization.

Mom To Mom: Online Breastfeeding Advice, Jennifer D. Furkin

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Exploring online support groups has gained more and more popularity in the last decade. Investigating the type of support messages users send each other has broadened the already extensive social support framework built in the last forty years. Mothers utilize online support for various topics, and a very common topic is breastfeeding. The perception of breastfeeding has changed throughout history with shifting beliefs and societal norms coupled with solid facts about its importance in the sustaining of infants. Online breastfeeding support has been previously explored through the categorization of types of support and themes within the interactions. This study extended …

Acculturative Stress And Identity Negotiation: A Dyadic Experience, Ana X. De La Serna

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

Institutions of higher education in the United States have long been attractors for international students from all over the world. The number of international students had been constantly growing until the past couple of years. This is a concerning issue because international students play several important roles in higher education institutions. International students bring different points of view that enhance other students’ learning and institutions gain financial benefits from the presence of international students. Thus, it is important to understand how to improve the experience of international students. For the present study I used a phenomenological approach to explore the …

Selected Assignments For Interpersonal Communications, Joshua Halberstam

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

A Model Of Transcorporeal Communication: Communication Toward/With/To The Deceased, Jocelyn M. Degroot

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Research indicates that people maintain a connection with deceased loved ones, which can be healthy for the bereaved individuals. To maintain these bonds, people readily admit to communicating with the deceased. Although communication with the deceased shares similarities with traditional models of interpersonal communication, it is distinctly different. Interviews with 20 individuals revealed support for a model of Transcorporeal Communication (TcC), communication to people who do not maintain a physical presence. This communication includes the components of sender, inner-representation of the deceased as receiver, message, feedback based on what the sender believes the deceased would say, and a metaphysical element. …

What #Nowomanever Wants To Hear: The Social Construction Of Corrective Facework After Street Harassment, Emily Knapp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the social construction of women's corrective facework after experiencing gender based street harassment. A thematic analysis using open coding was used to explore, examine, and identify themes within the data. Three major themes were revealed in the data and they are 1) a resistance against a cycle of facework, 2) public spaces without accountability, and 3) disproportionate responses from men. In addition to the three themes, I will present an interpretation of Twitter as a public journal used to resist normative realities of gender based street harassment. These results are important …

Gender And Conflict In Long-Term Romantic Relationships, Emily Hamlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conflict is inevitable, but not inherently negative. All relationships face conflict with some frequency and long-term romantic partnerships are no exception. This exploratory qualitative study investigated conflict types, approaches, and affective components using digital conflict journals. Participants logged their relational conflict for one month in order to gain insight into the communication practices and conflict perceptions of couples. A conflict cycle and sensemaking framework was applied to identify patterns and best practices.

Help Me Be Healthy: Perceptions Of Social Support In An Online Weight Loss Program, Brittany Davies

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As technology changes, so do the ways in which we receive information, provide information and interact with one another. The exchange of social support is increasingly mediated by technology in the realm of health, nutrition, and fitness (Dahl, et al 2015; Wright et al 2011). Commercial weight loss and healthy lifestyle initiatives such as the Beachbody programs incorporate social media and web applications to reach a broader consumer base with individualized programming options. The present study, guided by optimal matching theory and the helper theory principle, employed online participant-observation and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with Beachbody coaches and participants to investigate …

Camp Wanake Information Dissemination: Retreatant Literature And Materials, Erica Rymer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Retreat groups are an integral part of nonprofit camp communities. Their attendance and volunteer efforts directly correlate with the success of the organization. Therefore it is necessary to understand why retreat groups visit camp environments and volunteer their time, as well as how they prefer to receive information in order for them to be best supported throughout their experience. It is key, as a nonprofit, to understand the best and most efficient methods of presenting retreatants with information, so that retention is increased and communication uncertainty is decreased. In addition, it is essential to understand the communication processes within the …

Communication Apprehension, Self-Efficacy, And Their Effects On The Utilization Of On-Campus Services, Ashley Mikolay

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

College is a vital time in a person's life and the quality of their experiences usually go beyond just the academic and for this reason it is important that we study these experiences too.

This study looked to gain knowledge about why some students choose to be involved on campus and utilize services provided by their universities and others do not. To do this we gathered data from students about their perceived self-efficacy and communication apprehension in addition to their level of involvement while in college in the hopes to either find support, or rule these traits out as factors …