This text covers basic research issues and both quantitative and qualitative approaches to communication research. The guiding principle of the text is that methodological choices arise from ones research questions and hypotheses; thus, the text focuses first on the research process, and then discusses the methodological tools for understanding and conducting basic communication research projects. In the third edition, every chapter includes examples based on research from 2002 and thereafter, and revisions improve the balance of quantitative and qualitative research perspectives as well as of data collection and analytical procedures.