Despite the growing
popularity of electronic mail and the Internet, most people still prefer to communicate
with others face-to-face, according to two separate studies conducted at Kent Stater
University. These findings dispute reports that the personal computer has become the
preferred method of communication between people.
Researchers in Kent's School of Communication Studies
examined the appropriateness and effectiveness of six different methods of communicating
interpersonally, including fact-to-face, telephone, fax, letter, e-mail and voice mail.
These communication channels were compared and the results, and the results,
published in the Journal of Communication, revealed that people
perceive interpersonal communication to be the most effective and appropriate for both
giving and receiving communications.
"We found that a feeling of social presence is
important because of the actual presence of another person who provides immediate exchange
of both verbal and non-verbal information," said Rebecca B. Rubin,
professor of Communication Studies at Kent and one of the study's co-authors.
"The results also show that despite the
availability of alternative communication channels, the motives for using face-to-face
communication to fulfill one's own and others' needs don't diminish," Rubin added
First Add - Internet vs. Interpersonal Communication
The second study, published in
the current edition of Communication Quarterly, focuses solely
on the Internet as a functional alternative to face-to-face communication - meaning that
people should want to communicate on the Internet for the same reasons as communicating
face-to-face. The results examined the relationship between these reasons, as well
as the role of communication apprehension in determining such motives.
"We found clear evidence the Internet is not
perceived as a functional alternative to face-to-face communication," said Lisa
M. Flaherty, one of the co-authors and instructor of Communication Studies at
Kent. "The results suggest that people use the Internet to fulfill some needs
and face-to face to fulfill other needs," Flaherty said.
Both Rubin and Flaherty agree that there is an
important role for electronic communication in many people's lives. "With
today's increased channel options, dependency on face-to-face channels may be ineffective
and inefficient, especially when we think of communicating with people in distant regions
of the world" Rubin added. While both of the studies dispel popular
notions that electronically based communication is supplanting traditional interpersonal
interaction, the authors caution that research in this area is limited.
According to Rubin, "We can't forget that the use
of e-mail, the Internet and other electronic communication channels is a relatively new
phenomenon that is only just capturing large segments of the population."
Kent State University's School of Communication Studies
offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in communication and is northeast Ohio's only
doctoral program specializing in interpersonal and mediated communication. The
School's Communication Research Center is a focal point for scholarly activities in
communication regionally an nationally.
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02/26/99
