communication research reports

• Technical Support
• Find My Rep

You are here

Communication Research

Preview this book.

• Description
• Aims and Scope
• Editorial Board
• Abstracting / Indexing
• Submission Guidelines

For over three decades researchers and practitioners have depended on Communication Research for the most up-to-date, comprehensive and important research on communication and its related fields.

Important, In-Depth Research and Scholarship Communication processes are a fundamental part of virtually every aspect of human social life. Communication Research publishes articles that explore the processes, antecedents, and consequences of communication in a broad range of societal systems. Although most of the published articles are empirical, we also consider overview/review articles. These include the following:

• interpersonal
• entertainment
• advertising/persuasive communication
• new technology, online, computer-mediated and mobile communication 
• organizational
• intercultural

Why you need Communication Research

• Research and theory presented in all areas of communication give you comprehensive coverage of the field
• Rigorous, empirical analysis provides you with research that’s reliable and high in quality
• The multi-disciplinary perspective contributes to a greater understanding of communication processes and outcomes
• "Themed issues" bring you in-depth examinations of a specific area of importance, as thematically connected articles selected in the standard peer-review process are conveniently presented in a single issue
• Expert editorial guidance represents a wide range of interests from inside and outside the traditional boundaries of the communication discipline

Empirical research in communication began in the 20th century, and there are more researchers pursuing answers to communication questions today than at any other time. The editorial goal of Communication Research is to offer a special opportunity for reflection and change in the new millennium. To qualify for publication, research should, first, be explicitly tied to some form of communication; second, be theoretically driven with conclusions that inform theory; third, use the most rigorous empirical methods OR provide a review of a research area; and fourth, be directly linked to the most important problems and issues facing humankind. Criteria do not privilege any particular context; indeed, we believe that the key problems facing humankind occur in close relationships, groups, organizations, and cultures. Hence, we hope to publish research conducted across a wide variety of levels and units of analysis.

• Academic Search - Premier
• Academic Search Elite
• Business Source Premier
• CRN: Business & Industry
• Clarivate Analytics: Current Contents - Physical, Chemical & Earth Sciences
• Clarivate Analytics: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI)
• ComAbstracts
• CommSearch - Ebsco
• CommSearch Full Text - Ebsco
• Corporate ResourceNET - Ebsco
• Current Citations Express
• EBSCO: Business Source - Main Edition
• EBSCO: Business Source Elite
• EBSCO: Communication Abstracts
• EBSCO: Human Resources Abstracts
• EBSCO: Humanities International Complete
• EBSCO: Political Science Complete
• EBSCO: Violence & Abuse Abstracts
• ERIC (Education Resources Information Center)
• ERIC Current Index to Journals in Education (CIJE)
• EServer.org
• Family & Society Studies Worldwide (NISC)
• Family Index Database
• Film Literature Index
• Gale: Diversity Studies Collection
• Humanities Source
• ISI Basic Social Sciences Index
• MLA International Bibliography
• MasterFILE - Ebsco
• OmniFile: Full Text Mega Edition (H.W. Wilson)
• Political Science Abstracts
• ProQuest: Applied Social Science Index & Abstracts (ASSIA)
• ProQuest: CSA Sociological Abstracts
• ProQuest: International Bibliography of the Social Sciences (IBSS)
• ProQuest: Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
• Psychological Abstracts
• Social SciSearch
• Social Science Source
• Social Sciences Index Full Text
• Social Services Abstracts
• Standard Periodical Directory (SPD)
• TOPICsearch - Ebsco
• Translation Studies Abstracts/Bibliography of Translation Studies
• Wilson Social Sciences Index Retrospective

Manuscripts for consideration in Communication Research should be submitted electronically via Manuscript Central ( http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/commresearch ). Authors will be required to set up an online account in the SageTRACK system at this site. For general inquiries, please contact the Communication Research editorial office (email [email protected] ).

The co-editors and editorial board make every effort to review manuscripts thoroughly and promptly. One of the co-editors initially determines whether the content of the manuscript is appropriate for the journal and whether there is sufficient publication potential to proceed with anonymous reviews. Manuscripts that do not pass this initial screening are returned immediately. If a manuscript is sent out for the review process it is typically completed in eight to ten weeks. Authors are encouraged to obtain and incorporate editorial advice of their colleagues prior to submitting their work to Communication Research .

Submissions should consist of a cover file and separate manuscript file.

The cover file should include:

• The manuscript title.
• Author(s), affiliation, contact information, and e-mail address.
• Any acknowledgments.
• Author biographies (100 words maximum for all authors).

The manuscript file should:

• Include an abstract of no more than 150 words.
• List 4 to 5 keywords.
• Be de-identified: It is important that authors’ names do not appear anywhere other than on the cover file (if questions arise in specific circumstances, when de-identification might be more revealing than including the authors’ names, please contact the editorial office).
• Be submitted as MS Word files (Windows Vista users, please save files down to the pre-2007, “.doc” versions).
• Be prepared in accordance with the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association , 7th edition.
• In particular, the entire manuscript should be double spaced, and manuscripts should have 1 inch margins on all four sides.
• References should be carefully edited to ensure consistency with APA guidelines and include DOI numbers.
• Statistics and statistical analyses should be reported in line with APA guidelines including standard deviations and effect sizes when applicable.  Confidence intervals must be reported when bootstrapping is utilized.  Further, inclusion of correlation matrices as online appendix is strongly recommended (as this information facilitates meta-analyses).
• Figures and tables should be placed at the end of the manuscript file and numbered in the order they appear in text. Tables should be editable, formatted in line with APA guidelines, and have a clear title.
• An in-text callout (example: “[Figure 1 here]”) should be inserted on a separate line just after the paragraph where each figure or table appears.
• All figures should be submitted in the original program in which they were created (JPG, TIFF, or EPS; Microsoft Application Files are acceptable for line art).
• Any scanned images should be set at 1200 dpi for line art and 300 dpi for color or grayscale.
• Appendices should be used sparingly and should be lettered to set them apart from numbered tables/figures.
• Online appendices can now be used and do not count towards the 12,800 word count limit. They are hosted on the Communication Research site and linked to the article metadata and viewable in the TOC and article page itself. Upon submission, authors can denote appendices as "Online Appendix" and otherwise simply include them in the submission files, while following APA guidance for appendices.
• It is recommended that the paper is below 12,800 words in length; authors may provide supplementary materials to be published later as online appendices

Previously copyrighted material:

• Authors are responsible for gaining permission to reproduce any copyrighted material in their submissions, including images and quotations of more than 300 words.
• If another manuscript drawing on the same dataset has been submitted or published previously, please explain how it differs from this manuscript in your cover letter.
• Permission in email format is acceptable.
• Authors may also submit a Copyright Permission Request Form completed by the copyright holder.
• Payment of any fees the copyright holder may request is the author’s responsibility.
• Because obtaining reprint permission can be time consuming, it is recommended that authors begin this process as soon as possible.

Submission of a manuscript implies commitment to publish in the journal:

• Authors submitting manuscripts to the journal should not simultaneously submit them to another journal.
• Authors should not submit manuscripts that have been published elsewhere in substantially similar form or with substantially similar content.
• Authors in doubt about what constitutes prior publication should consult the Communication Research editorial office (email [email protected] ).

Language editing support:

• Authors who want to refine the use of English in their manuscripts might consider utilizing the services of SPi, a non-affiliated company that offers Professional Editing Services to authors of journal articles in the areas of science, technology, medicine or the social sciences.
• SPi specializes in editing and correcting English-language manuscripts written by authors with a primary language other than English.
• Visit http://www.prof-editing.com for more information about SPi’s Professional Editing Services, pricing, and turn-around times, or to obtain a free quote or submit a manuscript for language polishing. Please be aware that Sage has no affiliation with SPi and makes no endorsement of the company.
• An author’s use of SPi’s services in no way guarantees that his or her submission will ultimately be accepted.
• Any arrangement an author enters into will be exclusively between the author and SPi, and any costs incurred are the sole responsibility of the author.

Open Science Badges:

Articles submitted to Communication Research and accepted for publication after 7/1/2019 are eligible to earn badges that recognize open scientific practices: publicly available data, material, or preregistered research plans. You can also find information on the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/tvyxz/wiki/home/

To apply for one or more badges acknowledging open practices, please check the box(es) corresponding to the desired badge(s) in the online submission form and provide the information requested in the relevant sections. To qualify for a badge, you must provide a URL, doi, or other permanent path for accessing the specified information in a public, open-access repository. Qualifying public, open-access repositories are committed to preserving data, materials, and/or registered analysis plans and keeping them publicly accessible via the web in perpetuity. Examples include the Open Science Framework ( OSF ) and the various Dataverse networks. Hundreds of other qualifying data/materials repositories are listed at http://re3data.org/ . Preregistration of an analysis plan must take place via a publicly accessible registry system (e.g., OSF , ClinicalTrials.gov or other trial registries in the WHO Registry Network , institutional registration systems). Personal websites and most departmental websites do not qualify as repositories.

Authors who wish to publicly post third-party material in their data, materials, or preregistration plan must have the proper authority or permission agreement in order to do so.

There are circumstances in which it is not possible or advisable to share any or all data, materials, or a research plan publicly. For example, there are cases in which sharing participants’ data could violate confidentiality. If you would like your article to include an explanation of such circumstances and/or provide links to any data or materials you have made available—even if not under conditions eligible to earn a badge—you may write an alternative note that will be published in a note in the article.

If you or your funder wish your article to be freely available online to nonsubscribers immediately upon publication (gold open access), you can opt for it to be included in Sage Choice, subject to the payment of a publication fee. The manuscript submission and peer review procedure is unchanged. On acceptance of your article, you will be asked to let Sage know directly if you are choosing Sage Choice. To check journal eligibility and the publication fee, please visit Sage Choice . For more information on open access options and compliance at Sage, including self/author archiving deposits (green open access) visit Sage Publishing Policies on our Journal Author Gateway.

As part of our commitment to ensuring an ethical, transparent and fair peer review process Sage is a supporting member of ORCID, the Open Researcher and Contributor ID . ORCID provides a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes researchers from every other researcher, even those who share the same name, and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between researchers and their professional activities, ensuring that their work is recognized.

The collection of ORCID iDs from corresponding authors is now part of the submission process of this journal. If you already have an ORCID iD you will be asked to associate that to your submission during the online submission process. We also strongly encourage all co-authors to link their ORCID ID to their accounts in our online peer review platforms. It takes seconds to do: click the link when prompted, sign into your ORCID account and our systems are automatically updated. Your ORCID iD will become part of your accepted publication’s metadata, making your work attributable to you and only you. Your ORCID iD is published with your article so that fellow researchers reading your work can link to your ORCID profile and from there link to your other publications.

If you do not already have an ORCID iD please follow this link to create one or visit our ORCID homepage to learn more.

For more information, please refer to the Sage Manuscript Submission Guidelines .

• Read Online
• Sample Issues
• Current Issue
• Email Alert
• Permissions
• Foreign rights
• Reprints and sponsorship
• Advertising

Individual Subscription, Print Only

Institutional Subscription, E-access

Institutional Subscription & Backfile Lease, E-access Plus Backfile (All Online Content)

Institutional Subscription, Print Only

Institutional Subscription, Combined (Print & E-access)

Institutional Subscription & Backfile Lease, Combined Plus Backfile (Current Volume Print & All Online Content)

Institutional Backfile Purchase, E-access (Content through 1998)

Individual, Single Print Issue

Institutional, Single Print Issue

To order single issues of this journal, please contact SAGE Customer Services at 1-800-818-7243 / 1-805-583-9774 with details of the volume and issue you would like to purchase.

• Search Menu

Advance Articles

• Author Guidelines
• Submission Site
• Open Access
• Self-Archiving Policy
• Why Submit?
• About Human Communication Research
• About International Communication Association
• Editorial Board
• Advertising & Corporate Services
• Journals Career Network
• Journals on Oxford Academic
• Books on Oxford Academic

Editor-in-Chief

Yariv Tsfati  & Steven R. Wilson

Editorial board

Celebrating 50 years of Theory in Human Communication Research

To mark the journal's 50th anniversary, HCR has released a special issue reflecting on 50 years of theory in Human Communication Research , and where research can continue from here.

Read the latest content from Human Communication Research.

Highly cited articles

A selection of highly cited articles from recent years has been made free to read online.

Access articles

Email alerts

Stay up to date on the latest communications research with content alerts delivered to your email.

Publish your paper

Submit your paper to Human Communication Research .

Latest articles

Latest posts on x from hcr, latest posts on x from ica, international communication association, connect with ica.

Stay up to date with the latest news and content from ICA:

• Twitter: @icahdq
• Facebook: International Communication Association

Become an ICA Member

Join your peers, over 4,000 members globally, in seeking excellence in the communication field. Become a part ofthe ICA community today!

ICA Conferences

ICA holds a large annual conference and smaller regional conferences throughout the year.

Related Titles

• Recommend to Your Librarian
• Advertising and Corporate Services

Affiliations

• Online ISSN 1468-2958
• Copyright © 2024 International Communication Association
• About Oxford Academic
• Publish journals with us
• University press partners
• What we publish
• New features  
• Open access
• Institutional account management
• Rights and permissions
• Get help with access
• Accessibility
• Advertising
• Media enquiries
• Oxford University Press
• Oxford Languages
• University of Oxford

Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University's objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide

• Copyright © 2024 Oxford University Press
• Cookie settings
• Cookie policy
• Privacy policy
• Legal notice

This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

• View all journals
• Explore content
• About the journal
• Publish with us
• Sign up for alerts

Communication articles within Scientific Reports

Currently there are no communication articles found within scientific reports.

Try browsing wider or narrow subjects, or alternatively you can:

• Browse Communication across other nature.com journals
• Browse all Scientific Reports subjects
• Search by keywords or author

Browse broader subjects

• Social sciences

Quick links

• Explore articles by subject
• Guide to authors
• Editorial policies

• Search Close Search

escort pendik antalya escort perabet giriş

The Communicator’s Guide to Research, Analysis, and Evaluation

Download Full Guide (PDF): The Communicator’s Guide to Research, Analysis, and Evaluation Russian Translation of this Guide (Full PDF): The Communicator’s Guide to Research, Analysis, and Evaluation (Russian) Kazakh Translation of this Guide (Full PDF): The Communicator’s Guide to Research, Analysis, and Evaluation  (Kazakh)

This Guide is presented by the IPR Measurement Commission

The  Communicator’s Guide to Research, Analysis, and Evaluation  was created to help public relations leaders understand how they can apply data, research, and analytics to uncover insights that inform strategic decision making, improve communication performance, and deliver meaningful business contributions.

A five-step cyclical process based on the core components of communication research, analysis, and evaluation serves as the cornerstone of this report.

This Guide also underscores why research, analysis, and evaluation are critical in communication. Additionally, the Guide features examples and applications, a research and evaluation cadence reporting table, an outline of commtech tools for enterprises, and the top 10 “must-reads” on evaluation.

CONTRIBUTORS Mark Weiner (Primary Author),  Cognito Insights Marcia DiStaso, Ph.D., APR, University of Florida Pauline Draper-Watts, 20/20 Insights & Consulting Christof Ehrhart, University of Leipzig Alexis Fitzsimmons, University of Florida John Gilfeather, John Gilfeather & Associates Mohammad Hamid, Radian Partners Rob Jekielek, The Harris Poll Fraser Likely,  University of Ottawa & Fraser Likely PR/Comm Performance Management Jim Macnamara, Ph.D., University of Technology Sydney Tina McCorkindale, Ph.D., APR, Institute for Public Relations Chelsea Mirkin, Cision Insights Chris Monteiro, CM Consulting LLC Don Stacks, Ph.D., University of Miami

MEDIA CONTACT Nikki Kesaris Communications & Marketing Manager Institute for Public Relations [email protected]

ABOUT THE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS Founded in 1956, the Institute for Public Relations is an independent, nonprofit foundation dedicated to the science beneath the art of public relations.™  IPR creates, curates, and promotes research and initiatives that empower professionals with actionable insights and intelligence they can put to immediate use.  IPR predicts and analyzes global factors transforming the profession, and amplifies and engages the profession globally through thought leadership and programming. All research is available free at www.instituteforpr.org and provides the basis for IPR’s professional conferences and events.

All materials copyrighted by the Institute for Public Relations.

Olivia Kresic

Heidy Modarelli handles Growth & Marketing for IPR. She has previously written for Entrepreneur, TechCrunch, The Next Web, and VentureBeat. Follow on Twitter

Related Posts

Contributions to Education: Exploring the Work of the...

Join the discussion, leave a reply cancel reply.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Communication Research Reports

Subject Area and Category

• Communication

Publication type

1988-1996, 2000-2023

Information

How to publish in this journal

The set of journals have been ranked according to their SJR and divided into four equal groups, four quartiles. Q1 (green) comprises the quarter of the journals with the highest values, Q2 (yellow) the second highest values, Q3 (orange) the third highest values and Q4 (red) the lowest values.

The SJR is a size-independent prestige indicator that ranks journals by their 'average prestige per article'. It is based on the idea that 'all citations are not created equal'. SJR is a measure of scientific influence of journals that accounts for both the number of citations received by a journal and the importance or prestige of the journals where such citations come from It measures the scientific influence of the average article in a journal, it expresses how central to the global scientific discussion an average article of the journal is.

Evolution of the number of published documents. All types of documents are considered, including citable and non citable documents.

This indicator counts the number of citations received by documents from a journal and divides them by the total number of documents published in that journal. The chart shows the evolution of the average number of times documents published in a journal in the past two, three and four years have been cited in the current year. The two years line is equivalent to journal impact factor ™ (Thomson Reuters) metric.

Evolution of the total number of citations and journal's self-citations received by a journal's published documents during the three previous years. Journal Self-citation is defined as the number of citation from a journal citing article to articles published by the same journal.

Evolution of the number of total citation per document and external citation per document (i.e. journal self-citations removed) received by a journal's published documents during the three previous years. External citations are calculated by subtracting the number of self-citations from the total number of citations received by the journal’s documents.

International Collaboration accounts for the articles that have been produced by researchers from several countries. The chart shows the ratio of a journal's documents signed by researchers from more than one country; that is including more than one country address.

Not every article in a journal is considered primary research and therefore "citable", this chart shows the ratio of a journal's articles including substantial research (research articles, conference papers and reviews) in three year windows vs. those documents other than research articles, reviews and conference papers.

Ratio of a journal's items, grouped in three years windows, that have been cited at least once vs. those not cited during the following year.

Evolution of the percentage of female authors.

Evolution of the number of documents cited by public policy documents according to Overton database.

Evoution of the number of documents related to Sustainable Development Goals defined by United Nations. Available from 2018 onwards.

Leave a comment

Name * Required

Email (will not be published) * Required

* Required Cancel

The users of Scimago Journal & Country Rank have the possibility to dialogue through comments linked to a specific journal. The purpose is to have a forum in which general doubts about the processes of publication in the journal, experiences and other issues derived from the publication of papers are resolved. For topics on particular articles, maintain the dialogue through the usual channels with your editor.

Follow us on @ScimagoJR Scimago Lab , Copyright 2007-2024. Data Source: Scopus®

Cookie settings

Cookie Policy

Legal Notice

Privacy Policy

Review of Communication Research (RCR) publishes literature reviews and meta-analyses . RCR is an open-access academic journal that publishes comprehensive and authoritative reviews of the current state of the main topics and the most significant developments in the field of communication. These comprehensive critical reviews summarize the latest advances in the field, but also will root out errors and will provoke intellectual discussions among scholars. 

The journal seeks both evaluative (systematic literature reviews, narrative literature reviews, state-of-the literature articles) and quantitative (meta-analyses) papers that make a state of the art of issues in scientific communication. Integrative review articles that connect different areas of research are of special interest.

Articles are published in a continuous publication model, which means that articles are published online as soon as they are ready for publication.

Announcements

Journal transfer notification.

Dear Authors and well wishers,

 We are here to announce that the journal " Review of Communication Research" has been transferred to the Auricle Global Society of Education and Research.

Current Issue

Vol. 11 (2023)

Published: 2023-05-14

Brand Community and Symbolic Interactionism: A Literature Review

Images published by cancer patients in social media and their reception: a systematic review, managing social media for making cancer hospitals’ brands more human: a proposal model based on a literature review, audiovisual fiction, tourism, and audience studies a literature review, norms-shifting on social media a review of strategies to shift norms among adolescents and young adults online, research trends in social media’s role in political campaigns: a bibliometric analysis, the impact of post-pandemic learning loss on education development: a systematic review.

Along with Stanford news and stories, show me:

• Student information
• Faculty/Staff information

We want to provide announcements, events, leadership messages and resources that are relevant to you. Your selection is stored in a browser cookie which you can remove at any time using “Clear all personalization” below.

Speaking, writing and reading are integral to everyday life, where language is the primary tool for expression and communication. Studying how people use language – what words and phrases they unconsciously choose and combine – can help us better understand ourselves and why we behave the way we do.

Linguistics scholars seek to determine what is unique and universal about the language we use, how it is acquired and the ways it changes over time. They consider language as a cultural, social and psychological phenomenon.

“Understanding why and how languages differ tells about the range of what is human,” said Dan Jurafsky , the Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor in Humanities and chair of the Department of Linguistics in the School of Humanities and Sciences at Stanford . “Discovering what’s universal about languages can help us understand the core of our humanity.”

The stories below represent some of the ways linguists have investigated many aspects of language, including its semantics and syntax, phonetics and phonology, and its social, psychological and computational aspects.

Understanding stereotypes

Stanford linguists and psychologists study how language is interpreted by people. Even the slightest differences in language use can correspond with biased beliefs of the speakers, according to research.

One study showed that a relatively harmless sentence, such as “girls are as good as boys at math,” can subtly perpetuate sexist stereotypes. Because of the statement’s grammatical structure, it implies that being good at math is more common or natural for boys than girls, the researchers said.

Language can play a big role in how we and others perceive the world, and linguists work to discover what words and phrases can influence us, unknowingly.

How well-meaning statements can spread stereotypes unintentionally

New Stanford research shows that sentences that frame one gender as the standard for the other can unintentionally perpetuate biases.

Algorithms reveal changes in stereotypes

New Stanford research shows that, over the past century, linguistic changes in gender and ethnic stereotypes correlated with major social movements and demographic changes in the U.S. Census data.

Exploring what an interruption is in conversation

Stanford doctoral candidate Katherine Hilton found that people perceive interruptions in conversation differently, and those perceptions differ depending on the listener’s own conversational style as well as gender.

Cops speak less respectfully to black community members

Professors Jennifer Eberhardt and Dan Jurafsky, along with other Stanford researchers, detected racial disparities in police officers’ speech after analyzing more than 100 hours of body camera footage from Oakland Police.

How other languages inform our own

People speak roughly 7,000 languages worldwide. Although there is a lot in common among languages, each one is unique, both in its structure and in the way it reflects the culture of the people who speak it.

Jurafsky said it’s important to study languages other than our own and how they develop over time because it can help scholars understand what lies at the foundation of humans’ unique way of communicating with one another.

“All this research can help us discover what it means to be human,” Jurafsky said.

Stanford PhD student documents indigenous language of Papua New Guinea

Fifth-year PhD student Kate Lindsey recently returned to the United States after a year of documenting an obscure language indigenous to the South Pacific nation.

Students explore Esperanto across Europe

In a research project spanning eight countries, two Stanford students search for Esperanto, a constructed language, against the backdrop of European populism.

Chris Manning: How computers are learning to understand language​

A computer scientist discusses the evolution of computational linguistics and where it’s headed next.

Stanford research explores novel perspectives on the evolution of Spanish

Using digital tools and literature to explore the evolution of the Spanish language, Stanford researcher Cuauhtémoc García-García reveals a new historical perspective on linguistic changes in Latin America and Spain.

Language as a lens into behavior

Linguists analyze how certain speech patterns correspond to particular behaviors, including how language can impact people’s buying decisions or influence their social media use.

For example, in one research paper, a group of Stanford researchers examined the differences in how Republicans and Democrats express themselves online to better understand how a polarization of beliefs can occur on social media.

“We live in a very polarized time,” Jurafsky said. “Understanding what different groups of people say and why is the first step in determining how we can help bring people together.”

Analyzing the tweets of Republicans and Democrats

New research by Dora Demszky and colleagues examined how Republicans and Democrats express themselves online in an attempt to understand how polarization of beliefs occurs on social media.

Examining bilingual behavior of children at Texas preschool

A Stanford senior studied a group of bilingual children at a Spanish immersion preschool in Texas to understand how they distinguished between their two languages.

Predicting sales of online products from advertising language

Stanford linguist Dan Jurafsky and colleagues have found that products in Japan sell better if their advertising includes polite language and words that invoke cultural traditions or authority.

Language can help the elderly cope with the challenges of aging, says Stanford professor

By examining conversations of elderly Japanese women, linguist Yoshiko Matsumoto uncovers language techniques that help people move past traumatic events and regain a sense of normalcy.

• What is New
• Download Your Software
• Behavioral Research
• Software for Consumer Research
• Software for Human Factors R&D
• Request Live Demo
• Contact Sales

Sensor Hardware

We carry a range of biosensors from the top hardware producers. All compatible with iMotions

iMotions for Higher Education

Imotions for business.

The World Runs on Behavioral Insights

Consumer Insights

Morten Pedersen

New OSM Reference System from iMotions

Laila Mowla

News & Events

• iMotions Lab
• iMotions Online
• Eye Tracking
• Eye Tracking Screen Based
• Eye Tracking VR
• Eye Tracking Glasses
• Eye Tracking Webcam
• FEA (Facial Expression Analysis)
• Voice Analysis
• EDA/GSR (Electrodermal Activity)
• EEG (Electroencephalography)
• ECG (Electrocardiography)
• EMG (Electromyography)
• Respiration
• iMotions Lab: New features
• iMotions Lab: Developers
• EEG sensors
• Sensory and Perceptual
• Consumer Inights
• Human Factors R&D
• Work Environments, Training and Safety
• Customer Stories
• Published Research Papers
• Document Library
• Customer Support Program
• Help Center
• Release Notes
• Contact Support
• Partnerships
• Mission Statement
• Ownership and Structure
• Executive Management
• Job Opportunities

Publications

• Newsletter Sign Up

What is Communication Research?

Bryn Farnsworth

Table of Contents

Let’s start things off with a hopefully rather non-controversial assumption: you’re reading this text. Now, don’t worry, the rest of the post won’t continue to list such inanely clear truths, but this statement serves to highlight what’s occurring right now – communication.

It’s a rather one-sided process currently, with me doing the writing and you doing the reading, but the process of sending a message and that message being understood is occurring. There are endless ways of looking further at this – would you still be reading if you were on a different website? What about if you’re tired, or angry? How would whatever else you’ve read today – or ever – affect how you react to this information? This in essence is what communication research is about – how messages are sent, and how they are received.

At its broadest, communication research is concerned with identifying, exploring, and measuring the factors that surround communication, in any form and regarding any topic . Often from a theory-driven perspective, but increasingly with empirically-grounded methods. Want to know how to make political messaging more effective? Increase the appeal of advertising ? Make people adhere to a health campaign? Communication research these answers.

Below, we will discuss and define communication research further, the research that has shaped the field, and where the field is going.

Definition of Communication Research

As a field of study, communication research dates back either 2000 years or 100 years, depending on your level of pedantry. The study of rhetoric was a hot topic in ancient Greece, and shares some commonalities with the modern form, yet clearly much has changed. The field now focuses on gathering empirical data, and builds theories that help understand the complexity of communication on many levels. In a sense it has less interest in the linguistic style of debating philosophers, and more interest in the groups of people that might be listening.

History of Communication Research

One of the most influential books that helped give rise to modern communication research was “ Social Organization: a Study of the Larger Mind ” by Charles Cooley, published in 1909 [1]. Described by one reviewer as “a series of essays on fundamental sociological problems, written in delightful literary style, and with keen and sound psychological insight” and that “Professor Cooley gives, for the first time in sociological literature, strange as it may seem, full and adequate recognition of ‘communication’ as a fundamental fact in the social life” [2].

This book, with a delightful literary style , would set the stage for the work of other academics with an interest in communication, and ultimately the creation of the first academic departments with a clear focus on the field.

In 1952, Bernard Berelson released “ Content Analysis in Communication Research ” – a book that proved pivotal not only to communication researchers of the time, but also had a broader impact [3, 4]. Written in a way that was – according to one reviewer at the time – “unusually lucid for a social science publication”, the book describes the ways in which media and communication are compared, and explores the methods that are used to carry out those comparisons. The book ultimately helped shift the field towards a more quantitative, scientific approach.

In the 1960s and 1970s, social unrest brought about social change, and communication researchers looked more closely at the surrounding language. They explored the systems of thought and discourse that had traditionally been in place, how they were changing, and what that might mean for the future of communication [5]. This occurred alongside the continual expansion of mass communication methods – TV and radio continued their dominance of message-spreading in the western world.

The shift into empirical methodology continued. While theoretical discussions of communication remained (and remain) central to the field, the introduction of data-driven, quantified assessments became an increasingly routine aspect of communication research. The book “ Mass Communication Research Methods ”, released in 1998, helped cement this as standard, defining the experimental methods of the day [6].

These research methods – focus groups , observations, and surveys – have now long been central to the field, yet the next step in empirical quantification is already emerging. Continuing with the steps towards quantification and more thoroughly empirical approaches, new unbiased tools are now being used as a way to incisively measure the processes surrounding communication, to test theories, and to advance understanding further. But what does this look like?

New Methods for Communication Research

Eye tracking has become one of the most widely used technologies within communication research, largely as it “gives communication scholars the opportunity to examine more precisely how much visual attention has been paid to information” [7].

In 2016, researchers from the University of Amsterdam carried out the first retrospective study examining the use of eye tracking technology within communication research [7]. They found that the majority of studies within communication using eye tracking had focused on advertising research , yet public health, language, and computer-mediated communication were also areas that had been looked at. They also conclude that “ that eye tracking has much more potential in communication research”.

One example of this potential being seized upon is found in research by researchers from Ohio State University and the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign, who developed eye tracking metrics to assess automatic stereotyping [8]. By using a gaze-contingency task , they were able to show that stereotype-congruent fixations were decreased for those with a higher political knowledge score.

Political Communication Research

The research showed that participants who are categorized as knowledgeable about politics were more capable of “moderating automatic responses” – adding a new layer of understanding to how political communication can impact reported and actual responses. The researchers go on to state that this “implies that the influence of automatic processes on political thinking is conditional” – meaning that our response to political communication may be less automatic than previously thought.

Responsive Media Messages

While these studies have used eye tracking to measure attention, other communication research has used a combination of methods. Researchers from Texas Tech University used facial electromyography (fEMG), electrocardiography (ECG) , and electrodermal activity (EDA) in order to assess affect in response to media messages [9].

They found that fEMG data provided reliable data regarding emotional state, while heart rate data collected from ECG indicated that negative messages received more attention than positive messages. The skin conductance data collected from EDA provided data that, together with a memory test, showed that the arousal level experienced was a greater predictor of memory retention for the media exposure, as compared to the valence experienced.

Increasing Engagement

Other research has also used arousal in order to understand the response to communication (for a review of some of these studies, see [10]). For example, researchers from Indiana University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison investigated responses to the number of edits within media using EDA and ECG [11]. They find that an increase of edits within the media can increase the encoding of the message without causing too much cognitive load , suggesting that media should feature a larger number of edits (where appropriate) to increase engagement.

Free 52-page Human Behavior Guide

For Beginners and Intermediates

• Get accessible and comprehensive walkthrough
• Valuable human behavior research insight
• Learn how to take your research to the next level

[1] Cooley, C. H. (1962). Social Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind . New York: Schocken (first published 1909).

[2] Ellwood, C. A. (1910). Social Organization: A Study of the Larger Mind. Charles Horton Cooley. The International Journal of Ethics , 20 : 2 ,  228-230.

[3] Berelson, B. (1952). Content analysis in communication research . Glencoe, IL: Free Press.

[4] Bauer, M. (2000) “Classical Content Analysis: A Review,” in M. Bauer and G. Gaskell (eds.), Qualitative Researching with Text, Image and Sound — A Handbook . London: SAGE. pp. 131—150.

[5] Park, D. W., & Pooley, J. (2008). The history of media and communication research: Contested memories . New York: Peter Lang.

[6] Hansen, A., Cottle, S., Negrine, R. and Newbold, C. (1998). Mass Communication Research Methods . London: Macmillan.

[7] Bol, N., Boerman, S. C., Romano Bergstrom, J. C., & Kruikemeier, S. (2016). An overview of how eye tracking is used in communication research. In M. Antona & C. Stephanidis (Eds.), International conference on universal access in human-computer interaction . Proceedings HCII 2016, Part I, LNCS 9737 ed. (pp. 421–429). Switzerland: Springer International Publishing.

[8] Coronel, J. C., & Federmeier, K. D. (2016). The Effects of Gender Cues and Political Sophistication on Candidate Evaluation: A Comparison of Self-Report and Eye Movement Measures of Stereotyping. Communication Research , 43(7), 922-944. doi:10.1177/0093650215604024.

[9] Bolls, P.D., Lang, A., & Potter, R.F. (2001). The effects of message valence and listener arousal on attention, memory, and facial muscular responses to radio advertisements. Communication Research , 28, 627-651.

[10] Ravaja, N. (2004). Contributions of psychophysiology to media research: Review and recommendations. Media Psychology , 6, 193-235.

[11] Lang, A., Zhou, S., Schwartz, N., Bolls, P. D., & Potter, R. F. (2000). The effects of edits on arousal, attention, and memory for television messages: When an edit is an edit can an edit be too much? Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media , 44(1), 94-109.

Last edited

About the author

See what is next in human behavior research

Follow our newsletter to get the latest insights and events send to your inbox.

Related Posts

What is Social Behavior?

What is Covert Behavior?

What is Overt Behavior?

Beyond Words: Behavioral Expressions in Communication

You might also like these.

Human Factors and UX

How to Measure Stress

Work and Safety

Technological Influences on Behavior: Insights and Implications

Case Stories

Explore Blog Categories

Best Practice

Collaboration, product guides, product news, research fundamentals, research insights, 🍪 use of cookies.

We are committed to protecting your privacy and only use cookies to improve the user experience.

Chose which third-party services that you will allow to drop cookies. You can always change your cookie settings via the Cookie Settings link in the footer of the website. For more information read our Privacy Policy.

• gtag This tag is from Google and is used to associate user actions with Google Ad campaigns to measure their effectiveness. Enabling this will load the gtag and allow for the website to share information with Google. This service is essential and can not be disabled.
• Livechat Livechat provides you with direct access to the experts in our office. The service tracks visitors to the website but does not store any information unless consent is given. This service is essential and can not be disabled.
• Pardot Collects information such as the IP address, browser type, and referring URL. This information is used to create reports on website traffic and track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
• Third-party iFrames Allows you to see thirdparty iFrames.

Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Read our research on:

Full Topic List

Regions & Countries

• Publications
• Our Methods
• Short Reads
• Tools & Resources

Read Our Research On:

• Americans’ Changing Relationship With Local News

As news consumption habits become more digital, U.S. adults continue to see value in local outlets

Table of contents.

• 1. Attention to local news
• 2. Local news topics
• Americans’ changing local news providers
• How people feel about their local news media’s performance
• Most Americans think local journalists are in touch with their communities
• Interactions with local journalists
• 5. Americans’ views on the financial health of local news
• Acknowledgments
• The American Trends Panel survey methodology

The Pew-Knight Initiative supports new research on how Americans absorb civic information, form beliefs and identities, and engage in their communities.

Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. Knight Foundation is a social investor committed to supporting informed and engaged communities. Learn more >

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand the local news habits and attitudes of U.S. adults. It is a follow-up to a similar study conducted in 2018 .

The survey of 5,146 U.S. adults was conducted from Jan. 22 to 28, 2024. Everyone who completed the survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories.  Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

Refer to the topline for the questions used for this survey , along with responses, and to the methodology for more details.

This is a Pew Research Center report from the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program funded jointly by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Find related reports online at https://www.pewresearch.org/pew-knight/ .

The local news landscape in America is going through profound changes as both news consumers and producers continue to adapt to a more digital news environment. We recently asked U.S. adults about the ways they access local news, as well as their attitudes toward local journalism, finding that:

• A growing share of Americans prefer to get local news online, while fewer are getting news on TV or in print. And newspapers are no longer primarily consumed as a print product – the majority of readers of local daily newspapers now access them digitally.
• The share of U.S. adults who say they are paying close attention to local news has dropped since our last major survey of attitudes toward local news in 2018, mirroring declining attention to national news.
• Americans still see value in local news and local journalists. A large majority say local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the well-being of their local community. Most people also say local journalists are in touch with their communities and that their local news media perform well at several aspects of their jobs, such as reporting the news accurately.
• At the same time, a relatively small share of Americans (15%) say they have paid for local news in the last year. And many seem unaware of the major financial challenges facing local news: A 63% majority (albeit a smaller majority than in 2018) say they think their local news outlets are doing very or somewhat well financially.
• Majorities of both major parties say local media in their area are doing their jobs well. While Republicans and GOP-leaning independents are slightly less positive than Democrats and Democratic leaners in their opinions of local media, views of local news don’t have the same stark political divides that exist within Americans’ opinions about national media .
• Most Americans say local journalists should remain neutral on issues in their community, but a substantial minority say local journalists should take a more active role. About three-in-ten say local journalists should advocate for change in their communities, a view that’s especially common among Democrats and younger adults.

These are some of the key findings from a new Pew Research Center survey of about 5,000 U.S. adults conducted in January 2024. This is the first in a series of Pew Research Center reports on local news from the Pew-Knight Initiative, a research program funded jointly by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

Americans largely hold positive views of local news organizations

At a time when many local news outlets are struggling and Americans’ trust in the news media has waned, the vast majority of U.S. adults (85%) say local news outlets are at least somewhat important to the well-being of their local community. This includes 44% who say local journalism is extremely or very important to their community

About seven-in-ten U.S. adults (69%) say that local journalists in their area are mostly in touch with their community, up from 63% who said this in 2018. And most Americans also say their local news organizations are doing well at four key roles:

• Reporting news accurately (71%)
• Covering the most important stories (68%)
• Being transparent (63%)
• Keeping an eye on local political leaders (61%).

These are relatively positive views compared with how Americans see news organizations more broadly. For instance, a 2022 Pew Research Center survey found that fewer than half of U.S. adults say that news organizations in general do a very or somewhat good job of covering the most important stories, reporting the news accurately and serving as a watchdog over elected leaders.

What’s more, views toward local news are not as politically polarized as Americans’ opinions about the news media overall. While Republicans and GOP-leaning independents are not quite as positive as Democrats and Democratic leaners in some of their assessments of local journalists, most Republicans still say the local media in their area are doing their jobs well.

For example, roughly three-quarters of Democrats (78%) say their local media do well at reporting news accurately, compared with about two-thirds of Republicans (66%).

By comparison, the 2022 survey found that 51% of Democrats and just 17% of Republicans say that news organizations in general do a very or somewhat good job of reporting the news accurately.

Jump to more information on views toward local news organizations.

Fewer Americans are closely following local news – and other types of news

Despite these positive views toward local news organizations, there are signs that Americans are engaging less with local journalism than they used to.

The share of Americans who say they follow local news very closely has fallen by 15 percentage points since 2016 (from 37% to 22%). Most U.S. adults still say they follow local news at least somewhat closely (66%), but this figure also has dropped in recent years.

This trend is not unique to local news – Americans’ attention to national and international news also has declined.

The local news landscape is becoming more digital

The ways in which Americans access local news are changing, reflecting an increasingly digital landscape – and matching patterns in overall news consumption habits .

Preferred pathways to local news

• Fewer people now say they prefer to get local news through a television set (32%, down from 41% who said the same in 2018).
• Americans are now more likely to say they prefer to get local news online, either through news websites (26%) or social media (23%). Both of these numbers have increased in recent years.
• Smaller shares prefer getting their local news from a print newspaper or on the radio (9% each).

Specific sources for local news

The types of sources (e.g., outlets or organizations) Americans are turning to are changing as well:

• While local television stations are still the most common source of local news beyond friends, family and neighbors, the share who often or sometimes get news there has declined from 70% to 64% in recent years.
• Online forums, such as Facebook groups or the Nextdoor app, have become a more common destination for local news: 52% of U.S. adults say they at least sometimes get local news from these types of forums, up 14 percentage points from 2018. This is on par with the percentage who get local news at least sometimes from local radio stations.
• Meanwhile, a third of Americans say they at least sometimes get local news from a daily newspaper, regardless of whether it is accessed via print, online or through a social media website – down 10 points from 2018. The share of Americans who get local news from newspapers is now roughly on par with the share who get local news from local government agencies (35%) or local newsletters or Listservs (31%).

Not only are fewer Americans getting local news from newspapers, but local daily newspapers are now more likely to be accessed online than in print.

• 31% of those who get news from daily newspapers do so via print, while far more (66%) do so digitally, whether through websites, apps, emails or social media posts that include content from the paper.
• In 2018, just over half of those who got news from local daily newspapers (54%) did so from print, and 43% did so via a website, app, email or social media site.

There is a similar move toward digital access for local TV stations, though local TV news is still mostly consumed through a TV set.

• In 2024, 62% of those getting news from local TV stations do so through a television, compared with 37% who do so through one of the digital pathways.
• An even bigger majority of local TV news consumers (76%) got that news through a TV set in 2018.

Jump to more information on how people access local news.

The financial state of local news

The turmoil for the local news industry in recent years has come with major financial challenges. Circulation and advertising revenue for newspapers have seen sharp declines in the last decade, according to our analysis of industry data , and other researchers have documented that thousands of newspapers have stopped publishing in the last two decades. There also is evidence of audience decline for local TV news stations, although advertising revenue on local TV has been more stable.

When asked about the financial state of the news outlets in their community, a majority of Americans (63%) say they think their local news outlets are doing very or somewhat well, with a third saying that they’re not doing too well or not doing well at all. This is a slightly more pessimistic view than in 2018, when 71% said their local outlets were doing well, though it is still a relatively positive assessment of the financial state of the industry.

Just 15% of Americans say they have paid or given money to any local news source in the past year – a number that has not changed much since 2018. The survey also asked Americans who did not pay for news in the past year the main reason why not. The most common explanation is that people don’t pay because they can find plenty of free local news, although young adults are more inclined to say they just aren’t interested enough in local news to pay for it.

Jump to more information on how people view the financial state of local news.

Other key findings in this report

Americans get local news about a wide variety of topics. Two-thirds or more of U.S. adults at least sometimes get news about local weather, crime, government and politics, and traffic and transportation, while smaller shares (but still at least half) say they get local news about arts and culture, the economy, schools, and sports.

Relatively few Americans are highly satisfied with the coverage they see of many topics. The survey also asked respondents who at least sometimes get each type of local news how satisfied they are with the news they get. With the exception of weather, fewer than half say they are extremely or very satisfied with the quality of the news they get about each topic. For example, about a quarter of those who consume news about their local economy (26%) say they are extremely or very satisfied with this news. Read more about different local news topics in Chapter 2.

When asked whether local journalists should remain neutral on community issues or advocate for change in the community, a majority of Americans (69%) say journalists should remain neutral, reflecting more traditional journalistic norms. However, 29% say that local journalists should be advocating for change in their communities. Younger adults are the most likely to favor advocacy by journalists: 39% of those ages 18 to 29 say that local journalists should push for change, as do 34% of those 30 to 49. Read more about Americans’ views of the role of local journalists in Chapter 4.

Americans who feel a strong sense of connection to their community are more likely to engage with local news, say that local news outlets are important to the community, and rate local media more highly overall. For example, 66% of those who say they are very attached to their community say local news outlets are extremely or very important to the well-being of their local community, compared with 46% of those who are somewhat attached and 31% of those who are not very or not at all attached to their community.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter

Fresh data delivery Saturday mornings

Sign up for The Briefing

Weekly updates on the world of news & information

• Digital News Landscape
• Journalists
• Trust in Media

Introducing the Pew-Knight Initiative

8 facts about black americans and the news, audiences are declining for traditional news media in the u.s. – with some exceptions, how black americans engage with local news, local tv news fact sheet, most popular, report materials.

1615 L St. NW, Suite 800 Washington, DC 20036 USA (+1) 202-419-4300 | Main (+1) 202-857-8562 | Fax (+1) 202-419-4372 |  Media Inquiries

Research Topics

• Age & Generations
• Coronavirus (COVID-19)
• Economy & Work
• Family & Relationships
• Gender & LGBTQ
• Immigration & Migration
• International Affairs
• Internet & Technology
• Methodological Research
• News Habits & Media
• Non-U.S. Governments
• Other Topics
• Politics & Policy
• Race & Ethnicity
• Email Newsletters

ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER  Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of  The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Copyright 2024 Pew Research Center

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

The huge solar storm is keeping power grid and satellite operators on edge

Geoff Brumfiel

Willem Marx

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of solar flares early Saturday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm. Solar Dynamics Observatory hide caption

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of solar flares early Saturday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm.

Planet Earth is getting rocked by the biggest solar storm in decades – and the potential effects have those people in charge of power grids, communications systems and satellites on edge.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says there have been measurable effects and impacts from the geomagnetic storm that has been visible as aurora across vast swathes of the Northern Hemisphere. So far though, NOAA has seen no reports of major damage.

The Picture Show

Photos: see the northern lights from rare, solar storm.

There has been some degradation and loss to communication systems that rely on high-frequency radio waves, NOAA told NPR, as well as some preliminary indications of irregularities in power systems.

"Simply put, the power grid operators have been busy since yesterday working to keep proper, regulated current flowing without disruption," said Shawn Dahl, service coordinator for the Boulder, Co.-based Space Weather Prediction Center at NOAA.

NOAA Issues First Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch Since 2005

• LISTEN & FOLLOW
• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Amazon Music
• Amazon Alexa

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

"Satellite operators are also busy monitoring spacecraft health due to the S1-S2 storm taking place along with the severe-extreme geomagnetic storm that continues even now," Dahl added, saying some GPS systems have struggled to lock locations and offered incorrect positions.

NOAA's GOES-16 satellite captured a flare erupting occurred around 2 p.m. EDT on May 9, 2024.

As NOAA had warned late Friday, the Earth has been experiencing a G5, or "Extreme," geomagnetic storm . It's the first G5 storm to hit the planet since 2003, when a similar event temporarily knocked out power in part of Sweden and damaged electrical transformers in South Africa.

The NOAA center predicted that this current storm could induce auroras visible as far south as Northern California and Alabama.

Extreme (G5) geomagnetic conditions have been observed! pic.twitter.com/qLsC8GbWus — NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center (@NWSSWPC) May 10, 2024

Around the world on social media, posters put up photos of bright auroras visible in Russia , Scandinavia , the United Kingdom and continental Europe . Some reported seeing the aurora as far south as Mallorca, Spain .

The source of the solar storm is a cluster of sunspots on the sun's surface that is 17 times the diameter of the Earth. The spots are filled with tangled magnetic fields that can act as slingshots, throwing huge quantities of charged particles towards our planet. These events, known as coronal mass ejections, become more common during the peak of the Sun's 11-year solar cycle.

A powerful solar storm is bringing northern lights to unusual places

Usually, they miss the Earth, but this time, NOAA says several have headed directly toward our planet, and the agency predicted that several waves of flares will continue to slam into the Earth over the next few days.

While the storm has proven to be large, predicting the effects from such incidents can be difficult, Dahl said.

Shocking problems

The most disruptive solar storm ever recorded came in 1859. Known as the "Carrington Event," it generated shimmering auroras that were visible as far south as Mexico and Hawaii. It also fried telegraph systems throughout Europe and North America.

Stronger activity on the sun could bring more displays of the northern lights in 2024

While this geomagnetic storm will not be as strong, the world has grown more reliant on electronics and electrical systems. Depending on the orientation of the storm's magnetic field, it could induce unexpected electrical currents in long-distance power lines — those currents could cause safety systems to flip, triggering temporary power outages in some areas.

my cat just experienced the aurora borealis, one of the world's most radiant natural phenomena... and she doesn't care pic.twitter.com/Ee74FpWHFm — PJ (@kickthepj) May 10, 2024

The storm is also likely to disrupt the ionosphere, a section of Earth's atmosphere filled with charged particles. Some long-distance radio transmissions use the ionosphere to "bounce" signals around the globe, and those signals will likely be disrupted. The particles may also refract and otherwise scramble signals from the global positioning system, according to Rob Steenburgh, a space scientist with NOAA. Those effects can linger for a few days after the storm.

Like Dahl, Steenburgh said it's unclear just how bad the disruptions will be. While we are more dependent than ever on GPS, there are also more satellites in orbit. Moreover, the anomalies from the storm are constantly shifting through the ionosphere like ripples in a pool. "Outages, with any luck, should not be prolonged," Steenburgh said.

What Causes The Northern Lights? Scientists Finally Know For Sure

The radiation from the storm could have other undesirable effects. At high altitudes, it could damage satellites, while at low altitudes, it's likely to increase atmospheric drag, causing some satellites to sink toward the Earth.

The changes to orbits wreak havoc, warns Tuija Pulkkinen, chair of the department of climate and space sciences at the University of Michigan. Since the last solar maximum, companies such as SpaceX have launched thousands of satellites into low Earth orbit. Those satellites will now see their orbits unexpectedly changed.

"There's a lot of companies that haven't seen these kind of space weather effects before," she says.

The International Space Station lies within Earth's magnetosphere, so its astronauts should be mostly protected, Steenburgh says.

In a statement, NASA said that astronauts would not take additional measures to protect themselves. "NASA completed a thorough analysis of recent space weather activity and determined it posed no risk to the crew aboard the International Space Station and no additional precautionary measures are needed," the agency said late Friday.

People visit St Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay to see the aurora borealis on Friday in Whitley Bay, England. Ian Forsyth/Getty Images hide caption

People visit St Mary's lighthouse in Whitley Bay to see the aurora borealis on Friday in Whitley Bay, England.

While this storm will undoubtedly keep satellite operators and utilities busy over the next few days, individuals don't really need to do much to get ready.

"As far as what the general public should be doing, hopefully they're not having to do anything," Dahl said. "Weather permitting, they may be visible again tonight." He advised that the largest problem could be a brief blackout, so keeping some flashlights and a radio handy might prove helpful.

I took these photos near Ranfurly in Central Otago, New Zealand. Anyone can use them please spread far and wide. :-) https://t.co/NUWpLiqY2S — Dr Andrew Dickson reform/ACC (@AndrewDickson13) May 10, 2024

And don't forget to go outside and look up, adds Steenburgh. This event's aurora is visible much further south than usual.

A faint aurora can be detected by a modern cell phone camera, he adds, so even if you can't see it with your eyes, try taking a photo of the sky.

The aurora "is really the gift from space weather," he says.

• space weather
• solar flares
• solar storm

We've detected unusual activity from your computer network

To continue, please click the box below to let us know you're not a robot.

Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy .

For inquiries related to this message please contact our support team and provide the reference ID below.