Investigation of Prioritizing Research Topics in Professional Communication

摘要

This research explored which areas and methods of research need to be identifiedand developed to most effectively communicate business and technical information. The research was sparked by the current literature which indicates that a gap exists between academicians, who do most of the research, and practitioners, who utilize the research results. This effort was intended to address possible causes of this problem by establishing the importance of nine research topic areas, six data collection methods/sources, and three data analysis methods for both academicians and researchers and other demographic characteristics. The research concludes that the participants generally agreed on which factors were most important. Findings indicated that researchers and practitioners tended to agree on data analysis methods and data collection methods/sources but did show some disagreement on research topic areas. The research also uncovered evidence that demographic characteristics such as level of degree, area of degree, job, and English as a first language may influence which factors are considered to be most important to the professional communication process.