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Running head: CHANNEL SELECTION AND EMOTIONAL CONVEYANCE
Channel Selection and Reported Success of Emotional Conveyance in Interpersonal
Communication
Brittany Bowman, Amy McCallister, Leigh Patrick, and Lauren Rowson
James Madison University
Author Note
Brittany Bowman, Amy McCallister, Leigh Patrick, and Lauren Rowson are all
undergraduate students in the Communications Studies Department at James Madison
University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Correspondence regarding this research should be directed to Ms. Lauren
Rowson, c/o Dr. Tim Ball, SCOM, MSC 2106, Harrisonburg, VA 22807. Email
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Channel Selection and Emotional Conveyance
Abstract
The study seeks to explore the relationship between mediated communication channels
and the successful emotional conveyance of the encoder, a topic largely underexplored in
academic literature. The research question seeks to discover which method of
communication channel best satisfies the sender of the message. Participants will be both
male and female James Madison University undergraduate students ranging from 18-24
years of age. The study will include an online survey constructed to measure the students’
feelings of successful emotional translation. Data will be analyzed using analysis of
variance (ANOVA) and Cronbach’s alpha tests. The research is intended to provide
communication professionals with data that will increase their understanding of
emotional conveyance through different mediated communication channels.
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Channel Selection and Emotional Conveyance
Channel Selection and Reported Emotional Conveyance in Interpersonal
Communications
Technology in communications has undoubtedly made huge progress in the past
two decades, but has successful communication followed this new wave of media?
Communication channels have broadened in scope, changing the way humans
communicate and relate to one another. Communication channel options have
significantly expanded due to the introduction of telephones, mobile phones, email, and
text messaging. According to Sun, Hullman, and Wang (2010), people’s motivation for
using a particular medium can come from their satisfaction with previous experiences in
their preferred media channel. The question to be addressed in the proposed research
study is whether or not there is a connection between reported successes of
emotional conveyance and newly developed mediated communication channels.
Improvements, or more accurately modifications, in communication technology
have been occurring longer than most people would assume. Baym (2009) mentions,
amongst others, several historical developments in communication: pigeon training, ink,
woodblocks, pamphlets, photography, radio waves, and the telegraph. The more recent
developments of the telephone, email, and text message have established even newer
methods of conveying emotion. Although face-to-face (F2F) communication is still
widely used, and to some is considered the most effective form of exhibiting our
emotions (Van Cleemput, 2010), technological developments have created noticeable
change in how many people communicate.
One reason this topic is significant to study is because the rapid development of
communication technology has drastically changed the role of channel selection. During
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Channel Selection and Emotional Conveyance
the 1990’-s, the cost of distance phone calls dropped, and email and mobile phone
messaging became established methods of communication (Wilding, 2003). With the
ensuing popularity and availability of internet and computers, email followed the
telephone as the next widely used method of communication. The shift from telephones
to email to text messaging represents a shift from voice-based communication to text-
based communication. With the advancement in technology, one pitfall of computer-
mediated communication (CMC) is the lack of nonverbal cues and dimensions such as
facial expressions. This lack of visual cues makes conveying emotion more difficult
(Rogers, 1995). Research may provide valuable information evaluating the effects of new
technology that has caused F2F communication to become less relevant in today’s
society.
A second reason to study this topic is to further explore the different strengths and
weaknesses of the various types of communication channels and how the context of the
message is emotionally transferred. As newer technology becomes available, there will
still be some weaknesses that hold strong in older models of communication. For
example, past research has compared advantages and disadvantages between mediated
communication mediums: the telephone has auditory cues, allowing for voice
recognition, immediate feedback and response, whereas participants have to wait on
responses with email (Cortese, 2004).
On a larger scale, this study will benefit the field of communication through
further research on the effectiveness of communication channels and how the next
generation will utilize it, provided technology continues to broaden in scope. The
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Channel Selection and Emotional Conveyance
research will investigate the undergraduates’ attitudes toward current communication
channels and may provide useful information for these new communicative means.
Emotional Conveyance
The study of channel selection is not new to communication scholars. Research
on technologies within the field dates back to the invention and development of writing
(Baym, 2009). Often associated with channel selection are the selectors, that is, the
encoder and the decoder. Within this topic, focus is often placed at the receiving, or
decoding end, of the interaction. Less focus has been placed on the encoder’s perceptions
of their own communication.
The ability to convey emotion through media has been studied by communication
scholars throughout history. More recently, research has focused on what specifically
contributes to success in emotional conveyance. Schwartz and Pell (2012) studied the
combination of prosody and semantics’ on mediated communication. Prosody refers to
intonation, rhythm, and stress of a spoken message, and semantics refers to word choice.
They found that emotions were best communicated when both prosody and semantics
were present and in agreement. Schwartz and Pell’s findings do not explain why channels
that have developed and become widely popularized do not involve prosody, i.e. email
and texting.
According to Ickes and Wen (2011), thoughts and feelings are two different
things. In their research Ickes and Wen reasoned that there was a significant difference
between what people felt and what people presented as their thoughts. The proposed
research will seek to discover whether or not college aged students feel that their thoughts
and feelings alike are conveyed adequately, and if emotional congruence between thought
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Channel Selection and Emotional Conveyance
and feeling is present, which method of communication--telephone, email, text
messaging, or text messaging with emoticons--is most successful for the encoder.
Telephones
In order to gain a proper perspective of telephone use at the time when it was the
primary channel of mediated communication, some of the literature reviewed dates back
to the mid-20th century. The incorporation of the telephone into the average American
home brought with it a shift in socialization processes. According to Lansing and Heyns
(1959), the need for affiliation in interpersonal relationships correlated with local
telephone use, as does the use of the telephone for social calls. The authors also found
that the telephone was often chosen as a means of social communication in local
relationships. There is a significant lack of research, however, on how successful
telephone users felt their communication was at the time of the telephone’s initial
popularization in the United States.
The relationship between telephone and F2F communication is an area well
researched by communication scholars. Communication via telephone is the most similar
of the three methods to be explored in this study (telephone, email, SMS) when compared
to F2F communication. This increased similarity stems from the maintenance of vocal
communication in telephone conversation, which is lost in the asynchronous text-based
channels of email and SMS. Through the telephone, the sender is able to utilize vocal
inflection which can in turn be recognized by the receiver. This connects back to
Schwartz and Pell’s (2012) study on the effects of prosody, an element present in
channels that utilize vocal communication. Assuming that F2F communication is the best
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way to convey emotions (Van Cleemput, 2010), one would assume that emotional
conveyance using telephones would not deviate far from that of F2F communication.
According to Sun, Hullman, and Wang, telephone calls and F2F communication
call for a higher level of interaction between participants than channels such as email or
SMS (2010). This high level of interaction found in synchronous communication
channels mimics that of F2F communication, although missing the visual cues associated
with F2F. D’Urso and Rains (2008) found that, compared to other media, telephones
were perceived as having a higher level of “personalness,” which they further defined as
“the extent to which a medium is warm, sociable, and sensitive…” (p. 495). Based on
D’Urso and Rains findings, this aspect of communication in conjunction with the
relationship between the communicators may have an effect on which channel of
communication is used.
Epley and Kruger (2005) found in their study that telephone communication was a
more effective channel in dispelling stereotypes and expectancies when compared to
email, due to a lower level of ambiguity in vocal communication. Although this study
again reveals some reasoning behind why one medium may be chosen over another, it
does not reveal how the sender’s emotional intentions affect their channel selection.
In F2F communication, and to some extent in telephone calls, the receiver can
rely on many verbal and nonverbal cues, such as vocal inflection and tone, facial
expression, and body language. Basso and Oullier (2010) created a communication
model that ultimately defines the general process through which a communication
receiver attributes meaning to a smile including eye contact, mimicry, and the induction
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Channel Selection and Emotional Conveyance
of specific brain states. In email, these certain cues are not present. Due to the lack of
cues, message encoders must focus and pinpoint exactly what they are trying to get
across to their audience. The research to be conducted seeks to distinguish how
successful each method of communication has been in conveying emotions, from the
viewpoint of the encoder, and whether society has maintained, adjusted, or created
methods of communicating effectively.
Email is the first of this study’s selected channels to rely solely on text-based
communication. This is known as computer mediated communication (CMC) (Kalman,
Ravid, Raban, & Rafaeli, 2006). There is much debate as to whether this form of
communication is more or less effective in communicating emotions. Some argue that
people who employ CMC must make use of what they have in order to overcome the loss
of nonverbal cues (Walther, 1996). Through this reasoning communicators must
strategically use textual cues. Walther claims with the assistance of textual cues, “CMC
users can achieve relatively normal interpersonal impression or even construct impression
more favorably than they might in Face to Face interaction” (p. 365). Other language
cues can evoke a variety of personality impressions online, including extraversion (Gill &
Oberlander, 2003), power and status (Adkins & Brashers, 1995; Selfe & Meyer 1991)
and sarcasm and irony (Hancock, 2004). Kalman, Ravid, Raban, and Rafaeli (2006)
established that there was a norms-based idea that online silence is a nonverbal
chronemic cue that enhances CMC. This research amply supports that email- based
communication can be effective in creating new nonverbal cues in order to successfully
relay a message.
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Channel Selection and Emotional Conveyance
Being that an immediate response in this communication method is neither
necessary nor expected, the encoder of a message can specifically decide upon a concise
message that fully conveys their emotions. In their research, Ickes and Wen (2011)
reasoned that there is a significant difference between what people feel and what people
portray as their thoughts. Although email might give the encoder ample time to respond
adequately, it may not allow the encoder to fully express what they are feeling
emotionally. As previously referenced, Epley and Kruger (2005) found that without vocal
cues, communicators had a more difficult time detecting discrepancies in messages. This
doubt regarding the honesty of CMC interactions may influence how communicators feel
towards the efficiency of these channels in conveying emotions.
Although CMC, and more specifically email, seems to satisfy most needs of the
communicator, it has not been proven to give the same levels of satisfaction as F2F.
Previous research (Kato, Kato, & Akahori, 2007) has revealed a tendency of unpleasant
emotions to appear. Kato et al. argue that these unpleasant emotions are more likely to
occur when low levels of emotional cues are transmitted. The research of Kato et al. also
supports that low degrees of emotional cues can and do lead to misunderstandings. The
planned study seeks to discover whether emails enable better emotional display when
compared to the more dated telephone calls, or the more recent development of text
messages.
SMS/Text Message
The introduction of mobile cellular devices into mainstream society was
accompanied by the invention of the short message service (SMS), known more
commonly as text messaging or texting. Although introduced to the public in 1995,
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Channel Selection and Emotional Conveyance
society did not begin to utilize text messaging at an explosive rate until 1999 (Katz,
2002). The introduction of text messaging only three years after the invention of the
internet, and email, may be a possible reason for the delay between texting’s
introduction to society and its adoption into popular use. The implementation of
texting marks a continuance in the text-only method of communication seen in
email, but the differences between the channels may present communicators with
different emotional conveyance factors.
The transition from email to texting is marked by the use of shorter messages, and
a shorter anticipated response time. In addition, email may be reserved for more formal
interactions, such as those between acquaintances or regarding business/educational
matters (Sun et al., 2010). In another study, Kwon, Kim, and Kim (2013) found that
individuals in high-intensity relationships receiving low-intensity texts rated their
emotional experiences as negative. Their findings suggest that not only the relationship
but the content of the message affect the emotional experience associated with the
interaction. However, their study focuses on the receiver of the text, rather than the
sender. The proposed study will seek to fill this gap by gathering information from the
encoding end of communication interactions.
Emoticons and SMS
The emoticon presents another aspect of CMC that did not immediately gain wide
usage. Introduced by a Carnegie Mellon student in 1982, the original emoticon consisted
of combinations of punctuation marks or strings of characters resembling facial
expressions, “:-(” or “:-)”, for example (Ganster, Eimler, & Krämer, 2012; Krohn, 2004).
Emoticons have since diversified, and now also include smilies (graphical pictograms),
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Channel Selection and Emotional Conveyance
displaying miniature images of anything from a heart to a palm tree to a sack of money
(Ganster, et al., 2012). The use of emoticons has gained popularity with the increasing
use of mobile phones, and applications created specifically to enhance the emoticon
experience have appeared on smartphones. According to a recent study, roughly 66% of
Americans aged 18-29 own smartphones, which could point to the increasingly popular
use of emoticons and smilies (Rainie, 2012). The implementation of emoticons may make
up for the shortcomings in non-F2F communication, in that it allows emotional
conveyance through representations of facial expression.
Although the use of emoticons originated in a Carnegie Mellon University
message post, these symbols have infiltrated CMC in email, SMS, instant messaging, and
social media outlets (Krohn, 2004). The continued and increasing use of emoticons
suggests that users find the symbols effective in communicating. Ganster, et al. (2012)
point out that smilies and emoticons can serve as substitutes for the missing emotion
conveyed through nonverbal cues in F2F and some telephone communication. The
researchers further assert that smilies and emoticons can reduce ambiguity in
communication by clarifying the tone associated with the message. Pena-Sanchez also
points out that emoticons serve the purpose of specifically conveying humor or sarcasm,
which are easily lost in text-only communication channels (2008).
The literature reviewed reveals gaps in the study of channel selection and its
relationship to emotional conveyance on the part of the encoder. Research clearly
demonstrates that face-to-face communication provides the encoder with the widest
variety of tools to communicate their emotions, such as prosody and body language,
which are limited or nonexistent in mediated communication. It is still unclear how these
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mediated communication developments have affected the encoder’s ability to properly
communicate their emotions, or if the chronological development of these channels is
connected to the effectiveness of emotional expression. This study seeks to fill in these
gaps by clarifying what the relationship is between these variables.
RQ1: Is there a relationship between newly developed mediated communication
(telephone, email, SMS/text messages, and SMS/text messages with emoticons) and the
encoder’s reported success of emotional conveyance?
Methods
The goal of this study is to determine which communication channel conveys
emotions best when factored in with specific relationships. After being approved by
James Madison University’s Institutional Review Board, the study will be conducted in
the form of a survey.
Participants
After IRB approval, participants will be taken from a stratified random sample
of James Madison University undergraduate students, and invited to partake in an online
survey for the study. We will use stratified random sample in order to obtain equal
numbers of participants from each grade level. According to the James Madison
University 2012 census, the ethnicity breakdown of the population can be described as
80.85% Caucasian, 4.20% Asians, 4.03% Hispanic, 3.98% African American, .28%
Pacific Islander and .15% American Indian/Alaska Native (James Madison University,
2013). We will assume that the population breakdown for the 2013-year will have
minimal variation. The age range will likely be from 18-24 years old (SD= 2.449). The
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perceived gender breakdown will be 60% female and 40% male (James Madison
University, 2013).
An email will be produced and sent out to the entire undergraduate population at
James Madison University though the email database and from there, we will randomly
select 350 participants. Willing participants will be contributing in an online survey that
will ask for feedback regarding the use of mediated communication channels in
congruence with emotional conveyance. The online survey will include a short
questionnaire in the beginning asking questions about gender, ethnicity, age, and class
year.
Procedure
The independent variable of interest will be the selected mediated communication
channels. These include telephone, email, text messaging without emoticons, and text
messaging with emoticons. Participants will respond to a questionnaire regarding their
use of these mediated channels and which one they would prefer to achieve
communicating their desired emotion. One intervening factor that will play a role in this
independent variable will be the relationship status between the encoder (person that
sends the message) and decoder (person that receives the message). There will be four
distinct relationship types described within the survey: family, friends, professional, and
romantic.
The dependent variable of interest will be the success of the emotional
conveyance from the perspective of the encoder. Participants will indicate the success
they believe they have achieved depending on the relationship status for each of the
mediated communication channels discussed through a 5-point Likert- type scale (see
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Appendix A). This survey was not adapted from any previous research and was solely
developed by the researchers of the proposed study.
The online survey will be designed using the Qualtrics software. The survey will
consist of basic demographic questions: age, gender, class, and ethnicity. The part of the
survey that will be directed towards the research question will comprise of a 5-point
Likert-type scale including nine questions. The same nine questions will be repeated for
each of the four mediated communication channels to understand how people perceive
these channels in regards to emotional conveyance. The final set of questions will directly
ask the participant which channel would be best when communicating with each of the
four relationship types.
Analysis
The data from the study will first be processed and calculated to gather
descriptive statistics, and from there will be analyzed using analysis of variance
(ANOVA) to determine any significant differences between the groups. The ANOVA test
will be used to predict the dependent variable of emotional conveyance from a number of
independent variables, which would be the mediated communication channels. Multiple
forms of data analysis will be used due to the difference in response measurement scales.
Along with the ANOVA test, Cronbach’s alpha will be used to analyze how closely
related the emotional conveyance is to the multiple mediated channels of communication
as a group.
Validity and Reliability
Previously mentioned in the participant section, error will be reduced first by
selecting a sampling size of at least 350 or more participants to assure that there is less
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than 10% error in representativeness of population, which is about 20,000 students
(James Madison University, 2012). The measurements reliability will be tested using
Cronbach’s alpha.
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Appendix A
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