The Impact of Methodological Diversity on Productivity, Views, and Citations: An Empirical Examination of Communication and its Most Productive Scholars

Abstract

Diversity has traditionally been considered a central value in social research. However, the growing pressure to publish and the hyper-specialization of knowledge have compelled researchers to systematically focus on specific research approaches and methods, potentially limiting research pluralism. Drawing upon data from the field of communication in 2021, the aim of this study is twofold: (1) to examine the most common research approaches and methods of data collection and their diversity, and (2) to understand how the most productive scholars are clustered by research approach and methodological diversity and how these clusters influence productivity, views, and citations. Our findings show the dominance of quantitative approaches and surveys both in the field and among the most productive scholars, with low methodological diversity among top scholars. The results additionally show that the most productive scholars fall under three profiles: specialists, eclectics, and pluralists. These results also suggest, counterintuitively, that eclectics are significantly more productive than specialists.