Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Planned Missing Data Designs in Communication Research

Parsons, Michael M.
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1376579676

Abstract Details

2013, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, Communication Studies (Communication).
Prominent among the many methodological challenges communication research faces are the relative lack of longitudinal research conducted in the discipline and the threats to validity that arise from the complex instrumentation necessary for inquiry into human interaction. This dissertation presented planned missing data designs (PMDs) as solutions to these challenges because PMDs can make research less burdensome, cheaper, faster, and more valid. Three studies illustrate the use of PMDs in communication research. Study one was a controlled-enrollment PMD investigation of the relationship between students' public speaking anxiety and communication competence in a semester-long longitudinal study. By using the controlled-enrollment design, this study had five measurement waves, but each participant was measured at no more than three measurement waves. Results indicated that the controlled-enrollment design was effective at minimizing participant loss due to attrition and reducing the risk of testing effects due to repeated measurements. Study two was an efficiency-type PMD replication of Infante and Wigley's (1986) verbal aggressiveness scale validation study, in which each participant was presented with only 95 items from the 147 item survey instrument. Through the use of an efficiency design, this study was able to replicate the results of the original study with a dramatically reduced time burden on the participants, indicating that efficiency-type PMDs are an effective tool for scale shortening. Study three was an accelerated longitudinal PMD replication of Rubin, Graham, and Mignerey's (1990) longitudinal communication competence study, which measured change in students' communication competence over the course of a college career. Through the use of an accelerated longitudinal PMD, data collection was completed in just over one calendar year, far shorter than the three years the original study took to collect data. A flaw in participant retention procedures prevented data analysis from being conducted, but this study did effectively illustrate the increased methodological complexities caused by PMDs. This dissertation concludes that PMDs can be of substantial benefit to communication research, and should be adopted in the discipline. Special attention must be paid, however, to the increased design complexity added by the use of these methods.
Amy Chadwick, PhD (Advisor)
233 p.
Communication
missing data; planned missing data; longitudinal; multiple imputation; communication; communication research

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Parsons, M. M. (2013). Planned Missing Data Designs in Communication Research [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1376579676

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Parsons, Michael. Planned Missing Data Designs in Communication Research. 2013. Ohio University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1376579676.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Parsons, Michael. "Planned Missing Data Designs in Communication Research." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ohiou1376579676

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ohiou1376579676
454
© 2013, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Ohio University and OhioLINK.