Media Use and Effects in Social Networks (Focus on Adolescents)
My approach to research on mass media use and media effects can best be described by an adaptation of the famous Lasswell formula to distinguish different aspects of mass communication research. Lasswell asked the question "Who says what to whom via which channel with what effects?" (1948). Chaffee adapted this question to underline his research focus on the recipients by asking "Who hears what from whom via which channel with what effects" (1986). This inspired me to ask the question "Who talks about which media content to whom in which context for what purpose and with what effect?" (2008). My research therefore not only focuses on individual media use and media effects. In most of my research projects I try to include the social context to understand individual and group behavior with respect to mass media. Please refer to the research, publication, and teaching sections of this website to learn more about my work in this field.
Health Communication (Focus on Communication Campaigns)
My research on health communication focuses on the design and evaluation of communication campaigns. The notion of communication campaigns encompasses (a) design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of (b) systematic and purposeful (c) communication attempts (d) to inform, persuade, or motivate behavior changes (e) in well-defined audiences, (f) concerning social ideas, purposes, or practices, (g) namely in a positive and socially desirable way (Bonfadelli/Friemel 2005; 2010). My work in this field includes a monograph on communication campaigns as well as several consulting and evaluation of several communication campaigns in Switzerland. Please refer to the research, publication, and teaching sections of this website to learn more about my work in this field.
Political Communication (Focus on Knowledge Gap and Public Opinion)
Today’s political system depends strongly on mass media. My research on political communication focuses on voters’ knowledge acquisition and opinion formation in political campaigns. Most of this research is embedded in a major research program of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Please refer to the research and publication sections of this website to learn more about my work in this field.
Social Network Analysis (Focus on Networks of Interpersonal Communication and Knowledge Networks)
The network term has experienced an inflationary usage over the last two decades, both among scholars and in the wider public. The network metaphor has been increasingly used to explain various social phenomena such as friendship or opinion formation, technological innovation or global development. From a scientific perspective, it is widely understood today that social entities such as consumers, voters, firms, organizations or whole states with their choices and behavior form network structures that, in turn, condition again choices and actions of these social entities. Parallel to the increasing use of network concepts, the research stream of Social Network Analysis (SNA) has expanded and spans today myriad scholarly fields including biology, anthropology, sociology, history, social psychology, political science, human geography, economics, communication science, and others. Theories, methods, and applications from SNA have proven to be useful in studying the behavior of groups of individuals, organizational structures, information processing, or political processes. My work on social network analysis focuses on interpersonal communication networks with respect to mass media contents. More specific this includes the effect of social networks on individual mass media use and the reverse effect of mass media on social networks. Furthermore, I am interested in knowledge networks on the topics of health and politics. Please refer to the research, publication, and teaching sections of this website to learn more about my work in this field.
Media Psychology (Focus on Social Psychology)
My work on media psychology focuses on the social psychological aspects of mass media use. As outlined in the above mentioned research topics I am especially interested in the effects of the social context on individual media use as well as the effect of individual media use on ones social context. More specifically I am interested in the question why media content are such prominent in every day conversations. Why do people refer to mass media? Is it to integrate themselves into a social group or to distinguish from others? What are the psychological motives and the sociological effects of mass media in today's society? Please refer to the research, publication, and teaching sections of this website to learn more about my work in this field.