COVID-19: Our current lab operations may differ due to COVID-19. Please contact us with any questions.
WHO WE ARE
The Public Interest Communication Research Laboratory housed in the Media Innovation Center in the Reed College of Media at West Virginia University is a facility dedicated to conducting empirical research on strategic communication for the public interest.
We collaborate, share results and ideas, test and build theory, identify and seek grant opportunities and more. Ultimately, our leaders, affiliates, partners and student members work together to conduct research that is methodologically rigorous, theory-based and practically relevant.
Our work tends to fall into four broad areas (click on each area to learn more):
WHAT WE DO
Lab members undertake quantitative and qualitative social science studies with prosocial outcomes. Research in this lab investigates multiple types of media and mass communication in relation to various psychological, cognitive, affective and behavioral outcomes with implications for serving public interest.
Our lab houses researchers with expertise in many areas such as risk, crisis and disaster communication; public relations and public affairs; public communication ethics; nonprofit communication; media effects; mass communication theory; health communication; emerging technology and social, digital and mobile media; and advertising.
We work to train leading undergraduate and graduate students to continue the legacy of pursuing social science for social change.
Building a Field: Social Science for Social Change
Public interest communication (PIC) merges theory and practice by examining the development, implementation, and evaluation of science-based strategic communication efforts to achieve and sustain a public’s attitudinal and/or behavioral changes regarding a public interest issue beyond the particular interests of any single organization.
WVU Public Interest Communication Research Laboratory 