Forum Introduction: Has Communication Research Made a Difference?

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Notes

Celeste M. Condit is Professor, Department of Speech Communication, at University of Georgia. Correspondence to: Celeste M. Condit, Speech Communication, 110 Terrel Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, 30602, USA. Email: [email protected]

Matthew W. Seeger (Ph.D., Indiana University 1982) is currently Professor and Chair in the Department of Communication at Wayne State University. His research concerns crisis and emergency risk communication, interagency coordination and informational needs during crisis, and communication ethics. Correspondence to: Matthew Seeger, Department of Communication, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI 48282, USA. Tel: [phone]; E-mail: [email protected]. The author would like to thank Timothy L. Sellnow and Dennis S. Gouran for their very helpful comments on earlier drafts.

1. I am not arguing that all research must explicitly have applicability to solving social problems. Although Stokes (1997) describes scholarship for the scholar's sake as “sterile,” I do not believe it is possible for scholars to project how even the most basic of research, in the most humanistic of traditions will ultimately be applied. One conceptualization of academic institutions uses the metaphor of an intellectual ark that keeps alive obscure bodies of knowledge that may someday be of use. In this sense, scholarship has inherent value independent of its use.