Computer-assisted concept analysis of HCR's first 25 years

Human Communication Research's (HCR) silver anniversary provides an occasio n for an examination of the journal's history of publication. This was acco mplished using new procedures for computer-assisted content analysis of tex t. Titles of 634 HCR articles were normalized using linguistic reduction, e limination of common words and terms with indiscriminate meaning, and token ization of phrases and compound concepts. The resulting 86 most frequently occurring tokens were submitted to hierarchical cluster analysis to study c onceptual linkage. Concepts represented in HCR articles were found to group into five large clusters: media,family, conflict, and learning; culture, s ocial organization, and self; gender and language; cognition, conversation, persuasion, and influence; and group decision making. Support and clarific ation are provided for findings that HCR serves as a liaison journal betwee n mass and interpersonal communication. It is suggested that HCR's history of publication manifests a theory of communication that is rooted in social psychological traditions.