The pedagogical use of family measures: “My, how you've grown!”

Abstract

Given the rich family histories that most students bring to the family communication classroom, teaching the “applied” portion of family communication research is usually a relatively easy task. It is sometimes more difficult, however, to integrate research and theory in a way that provides students with an understanding of the complexity of the family system. One way to begin to integrate research findings and methods into the family communication classroom is to introduce measures of family communication. Such measures can be used to explain a study, to illustrate a particular methodology, or to stimulate discussion on certain aspects of family communication. This article presents a framework for understanding family communication and reviews a number of family measures suitable for use in the communication classroom. Using the framework as a guide, potential discussion topics and class activities in family communication are outlined.