THREE principal bases of selection were employed for materials here reviewed. First, items central to speaking and communication as a social act were included. Other chapters in this issue deal with listening, linguistics, communication theory, and speech disorders. Second, items which were speculative, discursive, theoretical, or anecdotal in approach were omitted. Finally, publications relatively accessible to the reader were emphasized. Unpublished dissertations and items in foreign journals were considered generally unaccessible.The research selected for review was organized into four broad categories: (a) bibliographies and reviews; (b) tests, measurements, and instruments for research; (c) quantitative studies; and (d) historicalcritical studies.
Bibliographies and ReviewsAuer (3), Knower (67), and Dow (33) continued their indexes and abstracts of doctoral dissertations. Gray (45) compiled an index of doctoral dissertations in areas contiguous to speech. Bass (5) reviewed research in leaderless group discussion. Karstetter (62) and Kelley and Thibaut (64) reviewed studies in group dynamics. Hovland (59) summarized the major studies on mass media of communication. Black (9) reviewed recent research on intelligibility.Caplan and King (19) compiled an extensive bibliography of studies dealing with pulpit eloquence from 1500 to the present. Haberman and others (51) continued their annotated bibliographies of studies in rhetoric and public address. Gunderson (49) compiled a bibliography of studies in historical journals relevant to public address. Auer (2) prepared a bibliography of studies in American public address. Eubanks, Baker, and Golden (36) developed a bibliography stressing studies relevant to the Southern states.
Tests, Measures, Instruments of ResearchEfforts to develop the instruments of research appeared to be considerably more limited than studies devoted to the testing of hypotheses. In the area of discussion and small-group behavior, two formulas were developed to quantify some outcomes of discussion. Matthews and Bendig (77) developed an Index of Agreement designed to quantify the degree of agreement among discussants. The index is computed simply. Dickens (30) presented and discussed the usefulness of a measure of the "spread of participation" occurring in a discussion.