Mapping a History of Applied Communication Research: Themes and Concepts in the Journal of Applied Communication Research

Abstract

In recognition of the National Communication Association's 100th Anniversary, this article maps the content published in the Journal of Applied Communication Research (JACR) over the last four decades to develop a picture of what applied communication research has emerged and how that research has changed through the journal's history. This study mapped 678 research articles over the four decades of JACR's existence. Results reveal a strong overall orientation towards applied research in nine interest group divisions: organizational, health, public, group, family, interpersonal, training, women, and media. Analysis of the four individual decades that span JACR's history depict a journal responsive to its sociohistorical time and place and a journal adapting and adopting more expansive definitions of whose communication (voice) and how communication (model) over time. This analysis demonstrates future opportunities and challenges for applied communication scholarship as an important part of our National Communication Association specifically and communication research generally.

Keywords:

• Applied Communication
• JACR
• NCA
• Leximancer

Notes

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[2] Kenneth N. Cissna, “Applied Communication Research in the 21st Century,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 14, no. 28 (2000): 169; D. Thomas Porter, “The Challenge of Applied Communication Research and the Journal of Applied Communication Research,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 14, no. 2 (1986): 67.

[3] Kenneth N. Cissna, “Editor's Note: What Is Applied Communication Research?,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 10, no. 2 (1982): 3.

[4] Katherine Miller, “Editorial Call, Journal of Applied Communication Research,” http://explore.tandfonline.com/cfp/ah/rjac-editorial-call.

[5] Kenneth N. Cissna and Lawrence R. Frey, “Introduction,” in Routledge Handbook of Applied Communication Research, ed. Lawrence R. Frey and Kenneth N. Cissna (New York, NY: Routledge, 2009).

[6] Kenneth N. Cissna and Lawrence R. Frey, “Introduction,” in Routledge Handbook of Applied Communication Research, ed. Lawrence R. Frey and Kenneth N. Cissna (New York, NY: Routledge, 2009), xxx.

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[9] E. G. Pauline D. Elkins and Michael C. Roberts, “Journal Of Pediatric Psychology: A Content Analysis Of Articles Over Its First 10 Years,” Journal Of Pediatric Psychology 13, No. 4 (1988); Yosef Goldenberg, “Journal Of Music Theory Over The Years: Content Analysis Of The Articles And Related Aspects,” Journal Of Music Theory 50, no. 1 (2006).

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[15] Cretchley, Rooney, and Gallois, “Mapping a 40-Year History with Leximancer: Themes and Concepts in the Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.”

[16] Smith and Humphreys, “Evaluation of Unsupervised Semantic Mapping of Natural Language with Leximancer Concept Mapping.”

[17] Miller, “Editorial Call, Journal of Applied Communication Research.”

[18] Miller, “Editorial Call, Journal of Applied Communication Research.”

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[21] Gerald R. Miller and Michael J. Sunnafrank, “Theoretical Dimensions of Applied Communication Research,” Quarterly Journal of Speech 70, no. 3 (1984): 255.

[22] Mark Hickson, “Applied Communications Research: A Beginning Point for Social Relevance,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 1, no. 1 (1973): 4.

[23] Emma Mustich, “A History of Aids Hysteria,” http://www.salon.com/2011/06/05/aids_hysteria/#.

[24] Amanda Reed, “A Brief History of Sexual Harassment in the United States,” National Organization For Women, http://www.now.org/news/blogs/index.php/sayit/2013/05/07/a-brief-history-of-sexual-harassment-in-the-united-states.

[25] Cissna, “Applied Communication Research in the 21st Century,” 169.

[26] Donald G. Ellis, “The Oneness of Opposites: Applied Communication and Theory,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 19, no. 1–2 (1991): 117.

[27] Donald G. Ellis, “The Oneness of Opposites: Applied Communication and Theory,” Journal of Applied Communication Research 19, no. 1–2 (1991): 117.

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[29] Thom File, “Computer and Internet Use in the United States: Population Characteristics” (United States Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Commerce, 2013).

[30] Associated Press, “Number of Active Users at Facebook over the Years,” http://news.yahoo.com/number-active-users-facebook-over-230449748.html.

[31] see D. O. Braithwaite and L. A. Baxter, Engaging Theories in Family Communication: Multiple Perspectives (SAGE Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA, 2006).

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[33] Karen Lee Ashcraft, Timothy R. Kuhn, and François Cooren, “1constitutional Amendments: “Materializing” Organizational Communication,” The Academy of Management Annals 3, no. 1 (2009).

[34] Robert T. Craig and Karen Tracy, “Call for Papers: ‘Building Grounded Practical Theory in Applied Communication Research,’” http://www.icahdq.org/MembersNewsletter/APR13_ART0009.asp.