Robert E. Carlson

Attitudes toward Communication and the Assessment of Rhetorical Sensitivity.

This series of studies operationalized the concept of rhetorical sensitivity first discussed by Hart and Burks in 1972. A measuring instrument (RHETSEN) was developed and the attitudes‐toward‐communication held by several thousand individuals were thereby assessed. RHETSEN was found to have sufficient reliability and validity. When a national sample of college students responded to RHETSEN, it appeared that their feelings about encoding messages were related to their various sociocultural backgrounds. When a large group of adult nurses took the test, their responses seemed associated with their particular professional duties and life experiences.

Communication and connectedness in the classroom: Development of the connected classroom climate inventory

This article presents the rationale for and development of the Connected Classroom Climate Inventory (CCCI) designed to measure connectedness among students in the university classroom. The original inventory contained 20 items plus four validity items. Based on factor analysis and reliability analysis, two of the original 20 items were dropped from consideration. The resulting 18‐item CCCI scale was found to contain a single factor, to have an overall reliability of alpha = .94, and to show initial evidence of validity. The CCCI showed no scale score differences among class sections or based on teacher/student sex. These findings and implications for future communication research are discussed.

Computer Anxiety and Communication Apprehension: Relationship and Introductory College Course Effects

College students enrolled in either an introductory level computer course or a basic public speaking course completed the Computer Attitude Scale (measuring computer anxiety, liking, confidence, and usefulness) and the Personal Report of Communication Apprehension — 24 (a measure of communication apprehension) during the first and last weeks of a semester. Pre-and post-course measures were obtained from 181 students (90 speech and 91 computer students). Among the major results of the study were the following. A small significant positive relationship (r = .22) was found between computer anxiety and communication apprehension. The examined introductory computer and public speaking courses appear to have no effect on common elements between the two types of anxiety. However, completion of the basic public speaking course lowered communication apprehension; completion of the basic computer course increased computer anxiety. A recommendation is made that the issue of anxiety be acknowledged and addressed in introductory computer courses.

Classroom public speaking assessment: Reliability and validity of selected evaluation instruments

In this article, the researchers investigate reliability and validity of a variety of speech evaluation instruments used in public speaking classes. Raters from diverse backgrounds and experience evaluated videotaped speeches using various evaluation forms. Results indicate student speeches can be evaluated reliably and validly using any of a number of different evaluation forms that address the fundamental speech constructs of content and delivery. In addition, lack of extensive rater training and experience do not appear to have a major negative impact on the evaluation process.