Profile

Research Profile: Online/Offline

From a communication science point of view the department is engaged in online communication and the impact on individuals, organizations, media, and society. We consider online and offline as corresponding parts in an integrated world of communication and media. Many trends in the online world have their origins in the ‘real’ world, but considerably change and affect the offline world to some extent.

Subjects of Research

Our subjects of research are:

  • Media change & media convergence
  • Social media & user-generated content
  • Algorithmic personalization, filter bubbles & echo chambers
  • Online journalism, alternative media & media quality
  • Public sphere, public opinion & polarization
  • Strategic communication, advertising, public relations & performance measurement
  • Media use & media literacy, audience research
  • Disinformation, fake news & conspiracy theories
  • Media effects research, opinion formation & persuasion
  • Cultural communication, environmental communication


We apply and further develop qualitative and quantitative empirical methods:

  • Media & online content analyses
  • Online experiments & Online surveys
  • Qualitative interviews & focus groups
  • Combinations of methods

Basic Research and Practical Projects

We aim for a well-balanced mix of theory driven basic research on the one hand and practical research and consulting projects on the other hand. Especially the combination of academic quality and practical relevance is important for us. Therefore we cooperate with media companies and communication agencies of many kinds. Together with our practice partners we offer projects in teaching and researching. Everyone involved can benefit from these projects:

  • The cooperation partners benefit from our professional competence and our solid methodical research.
  • Students benefit from the practical experiences in projects and theses with practical relevance.
  • And last but not least we ourselves benefit from gaining new ideas and constantly meeting new challenges.

Preparing research results for practitioners in a short and concise way is the mission of PRtransfer. PRtransfer is a blog in which Hohenheim Master's students report on studies and findings on strategic communication that are relevant to practice.