Conducting research is crucial to the creation and evaluation of communicative artifacts; good research ensures that communication professionals make appropriate decisions when writing or designing, and that they can justify those decisions with data. In this course, students are introduced to a variety of research methods used by communication professionals to create and evaluate artifacts appropriate for the intended user groups. Methods discussed, explored, and performed by students may include: conducting a random sample; questionnaires; surveys; focus groups; user interviewing; comprehension tests; testing documents through think-aloud protocols; task, job, and workflow analysis; scales and measures; business inquiry; organizational assessment; competitive analysis; reporting and interviewing; locating and evaluating public records; locating and evaluating empirical research. The course will instruct students on choosing the right research method for the communicative task at hand, and how to report their results. Classroom formats will include lectures, discussions, and in-class presentations.
