Assessing Motivation to Communicate - National Communication ...

IV. LOGISTICS AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE INSTRUMENTSUsing Web-based instrumentsElectronic versions of the Personal Report of CommunicationApprehension (PRCA-24) and the Willingnessto Communicate (WTC) and a software program thatautomatically scores each of the instruments are availableon the Internet at http://www.uccs.edu/~webdept/excel/comm_prepost/index.php. To administer the instruments,send respondents to take the instrumentsonline to this website. Users will type in their e-mailaddress and name and then click “login” (Don’t worryabout the class — only one can be chosen — “AssessingMotivation to Communicate”). This will take usersto the page where they can choose to take a test (one oftwo). As soon as the respondent completes each instrument,the program scores and presents the results. Theresults may be printed out and retained for data analysispurposes by the test administrator. A link at the bottomallows the user to return to the “index” (choice oftests page) where they can then take the other test. Thebackend stores the data based on email address andname. Each respondent must use a unique e-mail address.Individual item scores, group scores, and totalswill be downloaded to an Excel file that will be housedon a server at the University of Colorado at ColoradoSprings (UCCS). Should the test administrator requireindividual items scores, please send an e-mail requestto Shawn Morgan (smorgan2@uccs.edu), instructorat UCCS and the system administrator. The requestshould include all of the e-mail addresses from eachrespondent.Providing background to students aboutthe instrumentsBefore administering the instruments to students, use theinformation in the BACKGROUND and FACT SHEETsections of this program to explain what the instrumentsassess and why it is important to learn about one’s ownmotivation to communicate. Include definitions and descriptionsof: communication competence as motivation,knowledge, and skills; communication apprehension (andpublic speaking anxiety if the students are taking a publicspeaking course); and willingness to communicate.Creating a “safe environment” for administrationof the instrumentsWhen administering these two instruments, it iscritical to create a safe and supportive environment inwhich the students fill out the instruments and learntheir scores. Given that some students may score high incommunication apprehension or low in willingness tocommunicate, it is necessary that scores be confidentialbetween the administrator and the student. In addition,students should be advised that there is not a right orwrong score; rather, the scores are diagnostic and serveto highlight aspects of communication motivation thatmay need some attention and development.V. ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF RESEARCH ARTICLESThe two assessment instruments contained in thisprogram have been used extensively for years by communicationscholars as well as researchers from manyother academic disciplines. The following academic articlesare annotated here in order to provide the readerwith some sense of how the instruments have provenuseful to others. The articles are categorized chronologicallywithin three categories. Studies that used thePersonal Report of Communication Apprehension arepresented first, then those that used the Willingness toCommunicate, and then studies that made use of bothinstruments. Some of the annotated articles used the instrumentsin research studies while others focus on thedevelopment and testing of the psychometric propertiesof the instruments. The annotations are immediatelyfollowed by a copy of the National CommunicationAssociation’s official guidelines and criteria for the assessmentof oral communication.Personal Report of CommunicationApprehension (PRCA)McCroskey, J., Beatty, M., Kearney, P. & Plax, T. (1985).The content validity of the PRCA-24 as a measure ofcommunication apprehension across communicationcontexts. Communication Quarterly, 33(3).14 Assessing Motivation to Communicate