An Analysis of Textbooks in Interpersonal Communication: How Accurate are the Representations?

Textbooks are a source of information for the students that read them. As educators and scientists, we expect that textbook authors report relevant and accurate information. Authors review, critique, and revise textbooks to provide more accurate and understandable material. The normal course of events for textbooks is that each subsequent edition is supposed to provide an improvement in the content. Textbooks are revised for many reasons and to accomplish a variety of purposes, including clarity, addition of material, deletion of material, inclusion of topics, and simplification of material. The goal of this ongoing effort is to improve the information available to teachers and students.