APPENDIX A

SUMMARY OF METHODOLOGICAL RESEARCH RESULTS

The methodological objective of this research was to develop an

appropriate and effective exploratory approach for conducting research on emergent congressional-constituent communication systems. The results are

summarized below.

A. Exploratory Methodology

34

The study utilized an exploratory or heuristic approach which sought not to test hypotheses but instead to systematically gather information about the real-world situation being investigated, discover significant variables, and generate ideas and exploratory findings for further research. This approach employed a number of specific methodologies: interdisciplinary systems model-building (which served to integrate existing knowledge and conceptually guide all subsequent phases of the study); technology analysis

34The literature on behavioral and systems research makes clear the distinction between exploratory or heuristic and hypothesis-testing research. See, for example, Richard F. Ericson, "Glossary for Management Cybernetics," July 1970, George Washington University, p. 13; Fred N. Kerlinger, Foundations of Behavioral Research (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1964), p. 388; W. Charles Redding, "Research Setting: Field Studies," in Methods of Research in Communication, ed. Philip Emmert and William D. Brooks (Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1970), pp. 116-17; William G. Scott and Terence R. Mitchell, Organization Theory: A Structural and Behavioral Analysis (Homewood, Ill.: Irwin-Dorsey, 1972), p. 321; Robert Boguslaw, The New Utopians: A Study of System Design and Social Change (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1965), p. 13; Van Court Hare, Systems Analysis: A Diagnostic Approach (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1967), p. 17; Stafford Beer, Decision and Control: The Meaning of Operational Research and Management Cybernetics (New York: John Wiley, 1966), pp. 422-23; and Beer, Brain of the Firm: A Development in Management Cybernetics (New York: Herder and Herder, 1972), pp. 68-71.

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(which identified and analyzed emergent telecommunication channels likely to be feasible within a ten-year time frame); a sample survey (which applied a stratified judgmental procedure to select congressional respondents); and semi-structured interviews (which utilized instruments with a pictorial and worksheet format to survey the attitudes and perceptions of congressmen and senior staff).

A congressional-constituent communication systems model played an important role throughout the study. The objectives of this model were to (1) draw on relevant information in any applicable scientific discipline or field of study and thus serve as a framework for the research and literature review, (2) relate such information together in a meaningful way so as to facilitate conceptualization and understanding of the communication system, (3) help identify key variables and relationships, and (4) serve as a 35 conceptual guide for subsequent phases of the research.

The basic structure of the model derived primarily from these sources of communication theory and research: Claude E. Shannon and Warren Weaver (telecommunications engineering and mathematics), Harold D. Lasswell and Richard L. Merritt (political science), and Irving L. Janis and Carl Hovland (social psychology).36 The key model yariables were specified as follows:

35This conception of models and model-building is based primarily on Gordon L. Lippitt, Visualizing Change (Washington, D.C.: NTL Learning Resources Corp., 1973); Stafford Beer, Decision and Control, esp. chaps. 6 and 7, and Brain of the Firm, esp. chap. 6; Robert T. Golembiewski, William A. Welsh, and William J. Grotty, A Methodological Primer for Political Scientists (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1969), p. 427; and J. F. Schouten, "Behavior, Physiology and Models," in Communication: Concepts and Perspectives, ed. Lee Thayer (Washington, D.C.: Spartan, 1967), p. 181.

36Claude E. Shannon, "The Mathematical Theory of Communication," originally published in Bell System Technical Journal, July and October,

29-801 0-74-App.-18

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1.

2.

Background variables--the personal and political background characteristics and role predispositions of the communicators.

Contextual variables--the situational surroundings and political
context of the communication.

3. Communication process variables--the range of variables within the communication process (WHY WHO says WHAT through which CHANNEL to WHOM with WHAT EFFECT variables). Three subsets of process variables are: Communication input variables--the motivation, sender, and message portion (the WHY WHO says WHAT) of the communication process.

a.

b.

c.

Communication channel variables--the media (or through which
CHANNEL) stage of the process.

Communication output variables--the receiver and impact stages
(to WHOM with WHAT EFFECT) of the process.

4. Technology variables--the various configurations of current and emergent telecommunications technology.

5.

Feedback variables--the loops or channels by which the communication output is fed back--directly or indirectly--to the input.37

In sum this model was based on the "systems theory of communication" --combining concepts from the mathematical, political, and social-psychological

theories of communication.

This approach is consistent with the view of Lee Thayer that "the smallest logically indivisible unit of analysis for the

1948, and reprinted in Shannon and Warren Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of
Communication (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1949), pp. 4-5,
34; Harold D. Lasswell, "The Structure and Function of Communication in
Society," originally published in The Communication of Ideas, ed. Lyman
Bryson (New York: Institute for Religious Studies, 1948), and reprinted in
The Process and Effects of Mass Communication, ed. Wilbur L. Schramm and
Donald F. Roberts (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1971), pp.
84-99; Lasswell, Politics: Who Gets What, When, How (New York: McGraw-Hill,
1936); Irving L. Janis and Carl I. Hovland, "An Overview of Persuasibility
Research," originally published in Janis and Hovland, Personality and
Persuasibility (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959), and reprinted in
Foundations of Communication Theory, ed. Kenneth K. Sereno and C. David
Mortensen (New York: Harper and Row, 1970), pp. 222-33; and Richard L.
Merritt, "The Representational Model in Cross-National Analysis," in
Mathematical Applications in Political Science, ed. Joseph L. Bernd (Dallas:
Southern Methodist University Press, 1966), pp. 44-45.

37See Karl W. Deutsch, The Nerves of Government: Models of Political Communication and Control (New York: Free Press, 1963); and David Easton, A Systems Analysis of Political Life (New York: John Wiley, 1965).

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systematic and scientific study of communication. system. "38

is the communication The communication system in this research is the process by which

a sender with certain purposes and predispositions transmits messages in a
given context through selected channels to a receiver with certain effects.
As examples of how the complete model was developed using the general
structure and key variables, the message and channel stages are described in
some detail below. An accurate profile of the WHAT (or message) of
congressional-constituent communication was drawn up by combining existing
research results from Donald Tacheron and Morris Udall's handbook for freshman

House members, John Saloma's congressional office workload survey, Kenneth
Olson's analysis of congressional correspondence and casework, and David
Kovenock's communication audit.39 This profile of messages included:

1. General social issues--seeking or receiving constituent (or member) views, informing constituent (or member) of own views and action taken, seeking or receiving or providing information.

3. Casework and intervention--seeking or receiving requests for assistance, informing constituent (or member) of action taken, working with constituent (or member) to solve the problem.

5.

Employment, patronage, and miscellaneous--same as above.

6. Political campaigning and procedure--seeking or receiving support, assistance, and information from constituent (or member).

38 Lee

Lee Thayer, "Communication Systems," in The Relevance of General Systems Theory, ed. Ervin Laszlo (New York: Braziller, 1972), p. 110, underlining added.

39Tacheron and Udall, Job of the Congressman; findings of Saloma's survey are excerpted as "The Congressional Office Workload" on pp. 303-311; see generally Saloma, New Politics; Olson, "The Service Function;" and David Kovenock, "Influence in the U.S. House of Representatives: Some Preliminary Statistical Snapshots," paper prepared for the 1967 APSA Annual Meeting, Chicago, September 1967.

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Likewise, the broadly focused Saloma research--combined with that of Dorothy Cronheim, Tacheron-Udall, Olson, Charles Clapp, Ralph Nader, and John Bibby and Roger Davidson--provided the basis for a comprehensive qualitative profile of the kinds of CHANNELS (or media) used for constituent communication:40

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Face-to-face channels--personal conversation, small group meeting,
and large group meeting in Washington or the district.

Written or print channels--personal letter via the Washington or
district office; robotyped letter; survey or questionnaire; report
or newsletter; and signed newspaper column.

News media channels--press release to district news media; district newspaper coverage; district radio news coverage; district television news coverage.

Individual telecommunication channels--telephone call via the Washington or district office; telegraph message; "hotline" telephone call via inward WATS; and conference or speaker phone call.

Mass telecommunication channels--live or taped broadcast radio, broad-
cast television, and cablecast television report or program; radio
and television "talk show" or discussion, with or without audience

response.

C. Technology Analysis Methodology

Turning to the technology analysis, the intent here was not to conduct

a comprehensive technical-economic evaluation of all possible channels. Instead

it was

to identify those telecommunication technologies--and the associated channel configurations--which are most likely to have potential for congres

sional-constituent communication.

40Saloma, "Workload;" Dorothy Hartt Cronheim, Congressmen and Their Communication Practices, doctoral dissertation in political science, Ohio State University, Columbus, 1957; Clapp, The Congressman; Tacheron and Udall, Job of the Congressman; Olson, "The Service Function;" Ralph Nader, Congress Project: Citizen's Look At Congress (Washington, D.C.: Grossman, 1972), individual profiles on incumbent congressmen running for re-election in 1972, about 6% of the 633 survey questions related to constituent communication; and John F. Bibby and Roger Davidson, On Capitol Hill: Studies in the Legislative Process (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1967).