Doctoral Research in Technical, Scientific and Business Communication, 1989-1998
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/stc/tc/1999/00000046/00000004/art00009
  access restricted (by the publisher) to members/subscribers/customers only
  peer-reviewed

Rainey, Kenneth T.
Technical Communication Online
1999

Abstract:

This article is an update of the article by Rebecca S. Kelly and me in an earlier issue of Technical Communication (Rainey & Kelly 1992). My purpose here is the same as we had then: …we focus on making known the wide variety of doctoral research in professional communication emanating from many academic institutions. Specifically, we look at doctoral research in professional communication with a view to learning what academic institutions sponsor it, what methods researchers employ, and what topics doctoral candidates explore. (553) In this article, I use 'professional communication' to mean technical, scientific, and business communication.) In what follows, I first summarize the findings of this current search and then discuss the method of collecting information. Next, I identify the academic institutions that have doctoral programs in technical, scientific, and business communication, what methodologies the researchers use, and what topics they have researched in the period since 1989.