Relational Closeness Through Simple Self Disclosure.
The purpose of the study is to evaluate and compare social penetration effectiveness between handwritten notes, and text messages. We will be communicating singularly with our participants through one of the two mediums using simple self-disclosures, and then evaluating relational closeness. The hypothesis we will be testing is, subjects receiving surface disclosures via CMC will report greater relational closeness than those receiving the same messages in writing. 10 random participants from Northwest Christian University will be asked a series of the same 8 simple, surface level questions by one of the researchers (ex: what is a hobby of yours? Where did you grow up?) by either text messages or handwritten notes. The person not asking and answering the questions will then deliver the handwritten notes. After the 8 exchanges, we will then ask the participants to fill out McCroskey and McCain’s (1974) social attraction sub scale questionnaire, The Measure of Interpersonal Attraction. This will then be used to measure the relational closeness as well their disclosures and emotional states to the researcher using their given communication method.
COMM 460 Technology, Change and Communication
Doyle Srader
Banquet Room