Abstract
This study investigated how the intimacy level of the partner (high or low) influence the perception of the qualities of three distinct communicative modes - face-to-face, cellular-phone, and cellular-phone-mail. A questionnaire survey was conducted on 301 college students. Three factors composing the perception of qualities of communication were extracted, including interpersonal pressure, affinitive feeling, and information transfer. A 2×3 ANOVA was conducted to probe for differences between the three communicative modes combined with high and low-intimacy partners. Significant interaction effects between intimacy and mode were discovered, as well as differences in the causal relationship between intimacy and perception by mode. The present results suggest the importance of the interaction partner in any evaluation of the qualities of communication varying mode.
