When we talk of research in Communication, we usually approach it from a positivistic standpoint. In this regard, we consider three questions: ontological, epistemological and axiological ones. By way of ontology, we ask who is doing the research; in other words, what the instrument of research is. By way of epistemology, we ask how it is we will gather data and conduct analysis; in other words, the method of research. And by way of axiology, we are concerned about values. Should we be concerned about values and ethics in the conduct of research, especially research concerning human persons? Research in communication is a growing field of endeavor, and is useful in making communication studies scientific.
There are two broad fields of communication research: quantitative, and qualitative. One way to differentiate between the two is to call quantitative research the one dealing with numbers and statistics and math, while qualitative is the one dealing with words and explanatory sentences and so forth. Another way to differentiate between the two is to call quantitative research survey, the one dealing with preparing questionnaires and administering them to respondents; gathering responses and constructing tables and statistics to analyze data collected; in other words, intrusive research, while qualitative research would proceed by way of ethnography and observation, and interpretation, which would not be intrusive.
The characteristics of communication research - indeed, any research - are as follows: objectivity, replicability, reliability, utility and verifiability. By objective, it must be true research and not simply a person's opinion. By replicability, it must lead to the same result if another person attempted it; in other words, it must be methodical. By reliability, the method used must be trustworthy; and by verifiability, the results must be valid. There is also something called triangulation. This is the process of conducting corollary research to verify results from a previous research. There are various types of triangulation, such as: researcher triangulation, where another researcher conducts the same research to verify the previous researcher's results. There is method triangulation, where the same researcher uses another method to verify results obtained via use of a different method, say qualitative to verify quantitative; there is also subject triangulation, and so forth. True research in other words must be valid. And it should be useful to the community; useful for solving social and other problems, to justify their being carried out in the first place.
Take for example, a research on the consumption behavior of people living in an apartment building. A researcher could prepare a questionnaire to ask questions like: What do you consume in a week? How much do the items you consume in a week cost, and so forth. The researcher would then distribute the questionnaire to the residents of the apartment building. After they have responded, the researcher would collect and analyze quantitatively by means of tables and graphs and statistical tools. Or, the researcher could simply go through the dumpster and see what empty cans and wrappers and so forth the residents have discarded and tell from those what sort of consumption was taking place. The former would be quantitative and intrusive; the latter would be qualitative and non-intrusive. The researcher could even use both methods to triangulate one another (method triangulation), and then apply the results in planning for behavior modification (utility). The researcher could also allow someone else use his or her method(s) and see if they arrive at the same results (researcher triangulation), and then take appropriate steps to apply the research, and justify its being conducted in the first place.
Research concerning human persons should be carried out with care, because in the past, some people have conducted unethical research involving human persons, research that has demeaned human persons, such as in Nazi Germany, and research motivated by racial hatred in other parts of the world. Today, in many universities, approval boards are set up to make sure that researchers intending to conduct studies involving human persons are held to high axiological and ethical standards. By way of ontology again, we see that in quantitative research the instrument is usually questionnaires and non-personal tools. In qualitative or interpretive research it is the observation of the researcher himself or herself that is the instrument. This is why triangulation is useful. Deductive and inductive methods are used to go from data arrangement to inference making in research. Both methods have flaws and advantages, and again, this is where triangulation comes in handy. Research in any case is useful for prediction and modification of human behavior.
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