Merton and Lazarsfeld: collaboration in communication research - two papers, two research instruments and two kindred concepts
2011
Abstract
This article map the cooperation between R. K.
Merton and P. F.
Lazarsfeld on communication research in the 1940s. It concentrates on the results of their collaboration.
They developped two interlinked research methods - the programme analyser and the focused interview. In communication theory they wrote together two papers and they invented a pair of sociological concepts, ''opinion leaders'' and ''influentials''.