Doing Research on Women's Communication: Perspectives on Theory and Method

A critique of conventional approaches to communication research, the authors argue that the impact of gender on research practives has been ignored. By exploring gender issues, and conducting applied research in the areas of mass and interpersonal communication, therapeutic interaction, and rhetoric, they critique traditional scholarship and offer novel alternatives. The authors take intact theories and methods and show their applicability (or lack thereof) to the study of women's communication. The adaptations allow researchers to conduct more accurate, sensitive, and theoretically sound analyses of womens' communication than those promoted by traditional paradigms.