kommunikaatiotutkimus

kommunikaatiotutkimus is the academic field that studies how people create, transmit, interpret, and respond to messages in diverse social contexts. It is interdisciplinary, drawing on linguistics, sociology, psychology, media studies, information science, and pedagogy. The field investigates both the processes of communication and their effects, including how language and nonverbal cues shape understanding, how messages persuade, and how media environments influence public opinion and behavior.

Research covers interpersonal communication (face-to-face and digital), organizational communication, mass media, and online communication, as well as intercultural and health communication. Other focus areas include discourse, rhetoric, persuasion, information flows, and the social shaping of technology.

Methodologies are varied, encompassing qualitative approaches such as discourse analysis, ethnography, interviews, and case studies, alongside quantitative methods like surveys, experiments, content analysis, and network analysis. Mixed-methods designs are common to capture complexity.

In Finland, kommunikaatiotutkimus is conducted at universities and research institutes within departments of linguistics, sociology, media studies, psychology, and information studies. The research contributes to education, journalism, public policy, marketing, and the design of digital communication systems, as well as to broader understanding of social interaction in a digital era.

While the field aligns with international communication studies, it also emphasizes Finnish and Nordic contexts, language, media ecosystems, and regional communication practices. The term kommunikaatiotutkimus is used in Finnish-language scholarship, while international work often uses “communication studies” or “communication research.”