This timely volume provides an in-depth look at why the field of communication is so central in initiatives for social impact around the world. Editors Donal Carbaugh and Patrice M. Buzzanell bring together scholars with varied and productive approaches to communication to address the question of what distinguishes communication research from similar studies in other disciplines. The work provides an invaluable resource for defining the role of communication research in the academic community and the contributions it makes to the study of human interaction.

Donal Carbaugh is Professor of Communication and Chair of the International Studies Council (2004-present) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His most recent book, Cultures in Conversation, was designated the Outstanding Book of the Year by the International and Intercultural Communication Division of the National Communication Association. Focusing on indigenous, environmental, and cultural issues, he has served as Fulbright's Distinguished Professor and Bicentennial Chair at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and has enjoyed lecturing about the distinctive qualities of communication research around the world.

Patrice M. Buzzanell is professor in the Department of Communication at Purdue University where she earned her Ph.D. in organizational communication. Her research interests center on feminist organizational communication theorizing and the construction of gendered workplace identities, interactions, and structures, particularly as they relate to career processes and outcomes. For her edited book, Rethinking Organizational and Managerial Communication from Feminist Perspectives (Sage, 2000), she received the Central States Communication Association's Theory Book Award in 2002. She also earned the W. Charles Redding Dissertation Award from the International Communication Association in 1988. She has been highly involved in ICA and NCA, as well as the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language and Gender. She will become president of ICA in 2010.

FOREWORD

Robert Craig

CHAPTER ONE

An Introduction to Some Distinctive Qualities in Communication Research

Patrice Buzzanell & Donal Carbaugh

CHAPTER TWO

Distinctive Qualities in Communication Research: A Dialogic Approach to Interpersonal/Family Communication

Leslie A. Baxter

CHAPTER THREE

The Promise of Communication in Large-Scale, Community-Based Research

Michael Hecht

CHAPTER FOUR

Politically Attentive Relational Constructionism (PARC): Making a Difference in a Pluralistic, Interdependent World

Stanley Deetz

CHAPTER FIVE

The Importance of Communication Science in Addressing Core Problems in Public Health

Joseph N. Cappella and Robert Hornik

CHAPTER SIX

Researching Culture in Contexts of Social Interaction: An Ethnographic Approach, a Network of Scholars, and Illustrative Moves

Gerry Philipsen

CHAPTER SEVEN

Reflections on Distinctive Qualities in Communication Research

Donal Carbaugh and Patrice Buzzanell