Sixty years of quantitative communication research summarized:

Stephen A. Rains, Timothy R. Levine & Rene Weber (2018) Sixty years of quantitative communication research summarized: ..., Annals of the International Communication Association, 42:2, 105-124

Article Link Annotated Link

ABSTRACT

In an effort to better understand the state of knowledge production in the field of Communication, we examine the results of 149 meta-analyses exploring human communication phenomena. The meta-analyses summarize more than 60 years of quantitative research involving more than 8 million participants. The mean effect estimate is r = .21, and three-quarters of the meta-analyses reported an estimate of less than r = .29. Several trends in the findings from the meta-analyses are examined. The results underscore the notion that communication is a complex and highly contingent phenomenon and highlight some specific instances in which communication variables and processes produce (in)substantial effects. Taken as a whole, this project offers insights about the status of quantitative communication research and the collective efforts of scholars working in our discipline.

Objectives:

1. Examining trends in meta-analyses focusing on magnitude and distribution ($r=0.21, sd = 0.15$), positively skewed and leptokurtic

2. Synthesizing the substantive results : Table 2 and Table 3. Table 2 divides results in 6 topic group (persuasion, media, interpersonal, instructional, health, organizational)