| A few years ago, a bold graduate student in communication, Jack Sargent (now a
faculty member and contributor to this book) asked me, and several other experienced
researchers who study nonverbal behavior, to be part of a conference panel.
At that time, Jack was interested in doing a study that used coding and rating techniques
to measure nonverbal cues, and he could not find a current published
source to help him. So he gathered us together in Denver, Colorado, and asked us a
series of questions. It was useful for Jack but also for those of us on the panel—and
hopefully for the audience as well. All of us realized that much of the work we had
been doing involved creating and re-creating measures to assess the aspects of nonverbal
behavior in which we were most interested. We all concurred that having a
more cohesive discussion of research choices specifically for the investigation of
nonverbal phenomena seemed important. That is the primary aim of this book.
All of us who study—or wish to include—nonverbal cues in their scholarship
know the myriad ways that nonverbal behavior can be conceptualized. Depending
on how we think about the nature, functions, and meanings of nonverbal cues, we
are likely to go about investigating them in a certain way. The complexity and ambiguity
of nonverbal processes and products allows for a plethora of research opportunities.
It also provides for so much variety that it may be difficult sometimes to
compare research findings. An additional aim of this volume, then, is to encapsulate
some of the primary means by which researchers assess nonverbal cues with the
hope that these may be used by others as well. |
