Mediated interpersonal communication is one of the most dynamic areas in communication studies, reflecting how individuals utilize technology more and more often in their personal interactions. Organizations also rely increasingly on mediated interaction for their communications. Responding to this evolution in communication, this collection explores how existing and new personal communication technologies facilitate and change interpersonal interactions. Chapters offer in-depth examinatio...

Social Support and Health in the Digital Age discusses how theinformation age has revolutionized nearly every facet of human communication—from the ways in which people purchase products to how they meet and fall in love. These exciting new communication technologies can both unite and divide us. People who are separated by great distances can now communicate with each other in real time, whereas parents often find themselves competing with smartphones and tablets for their children’s atte...

Teaching is changing. It is no longer simply about passing on knowledge to the next generation. Teachers in the twenty-first century, in all educational sectors, have to cope with an ever-changing cultural and technological environment. Teaching is now a design science. Like other design professionals – architects, engineers, programmers – teachers have to work out creative and evidence-based ways of improving what they do. Yet teaching is not treated as a design profession.Every d...

Based on the author′s own wealth of experience this timely, engaging book helps first-time researchers to discover the excitement of grounded theory.Fresh, innovative and clear this book traces the history and development of grounded theory method, and examines how the method is evolving for new contexts today. It sets out the principles involved in using grounded theory and explains the process and theory associated with coding in grounded theory.The book introduces us to ...

Evidence-based practice is now a core element of many governments’ approaches to policy-making and social intervention. It has become a powerful movement that promises to change the content and structure of social work and its allied professions. Its emergence has generated much debate and raised challenging questions, however, particularly at the interface of research, policy, and practice.This book provides a critical analysis of evidence-based practice in social work. It introdu...

Theoretical Foundations of Learning Environments provides students, faculty, and instructional designers with a clear, concise introduction to the major pedagogical and psychological theories and their implications for the design of new learning environments for schools, universities, or corporations. Leading experts describe the most important contemporary theories that form the foundation of the conception and design of student-centered learning environments and new applications...

The key question this book addresses is how to identify and create optimal conditions for the kind of learning and development that is especially important for effectively functioning in the 21st century. Taking a new approach to this long-debated issue, it looks at how a design research-based science of learning (with its practical models and related design research) can provide insights and integrated models of how human beings actually function and grow in the social dynamics of educati...

Questionnaires in Second Language Research: Construction, Administration, and Processing is the first guide in the second language field devoted to the question of how to produce and use questionnaires as reliable and valid research instruments. It offers a thorough overview of the theory of questionnaire design, administration, and processing, made accessible by concrete, real-life second language research applications. This Second Edition features a new chapter on how an actual ...

Systematic, practical, and accessible, this is the first book to focus on finding the most defensible design for a particular research question. Thoughtful guidelines are provided for weighing the advantages and disadvantages of various methods, including qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods designs. The book can be read sequentially or readers can dip into chapters on specific stages of research (basic design choices, selecting and sampling participants, addressing ethical issues)...

"Accurate, clearly written, and easy to understand even for the beginning researcher, with equal coverage of both qualitative and quantitative research. This is the only book to combine a textbook approach with a how-to approach."—Carol Roberts, Professor, University of La VerneAuthor, The Dissertation Journey"This is a very practical book and will be immediately usable for graduate students at any stage in their research. The multitude of exampl...

Scientific monograph »Integration of online research« methods deals withcurrently two highly debated topics in social science research: thecombination of qualitative and quantitative methods and online researchmethods. It introduces an innovative approach in combining data collectionresearch methods in the context of information communicationtechnologies.The monograph is currently one of 35 in the world, dealingwith combining qualitative and ...

"This book presents a new approach to conducting, evaluating, and presenting community and public health research... This is [a] valuable book for learning alternative ways of conducting and disseminating research."--Doody's Medical ReviewsThe Burke & Albert text is a ìmust-haveî for all community researchers in public health. It contains innovative, community-engaged research methods that are described in an easily understandable manner. Challenging the notion of ...