Textbook in PDF format

Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry teaches students the basics of communication research in an accessible manner by using interesting real-world examples, engaging application exercises, and up-to-date resources. Best-selling author Donald Treadwell and new co-author Andrea Davis guide readers through the process of conducting communication research and presenting findings for scholarly, professional, news/media, and web audiences. The Fourth Edition continues to emphasize the Internet and social media as topics of, and tools for, communication research, and incorporates new content on online methodologies, qualitative research, critical methodologies, and ethics.
Getting Started: Possibilities and Decisions
First Decisions: From Inspiration to Implementation
Ethics: What Are My Responsibilities as a Researcher?
You Could Look It Up: Reading, Recording, and Reviewing Research
Measurement: Research Using Numbers
Sampling: Who, What, and How Many?
Summarizing Research Results: Data Reduction and Descriptive Statistics
Generalizing From Research Results: Inferential Statistics
Surveys: Putting Numbers on Opinions
Experiments: Researching Cause and Effect
ChaQuantitative Understanding of Content: Content Analysis
Qualitative Understanding of Content: Rhetorical and Critical Analyses, and More
Qualitative Understanding of Communication Behavior: Interviews, Focus Groups, and Ethnography
Research Results In Print and Online: Writing and Presenting for Scholarly and Other Publics