RESEARCH

Vulnerable transitions, mediated lives.

“What happens to our sense of self, trust, and relationships when our most vulnerable life transitions are mediated by technology and strangers?”

“What happens to our sense of self, trust, and relationships when our most vulnerable life transitions are mediated by technology and strangers?”

My research explores how people become themselves through digital systems: how they build trust, interpret social expectations, negotiate identity, and seek connection when platforms, algorithms, and AI become part of everyday life.

My research explores how people become themselves through digital systems: how they build trust, interpret social expectations, negotiate identity, and seek connection when platforms, algorithms, and AI become part of everyday life.

Two connected research agendas

Two connected research agendas

ONGOING RESEARCH

The AI Disclosure Dilemma in Education

The AI Disclosure Dilemma in Education

This mixed-methods agenda examines how first-generation students use generative AI to navigate the hidden curriculum, how AI disclosure affects judgments of credibility and trust, and how faculty are evaluated when AI mediates their communication. It grows from grant-funded research with students, faculty, and administrators at a Hispanic-Serving Institution. Findings are not presented here because the agenda is ongoing.

DEVELOPING PROJECT

The Mediated Matrescence Project

The Mediated Matrescence Project

This developing project asks how older first-time mothers use social media, online communities, tracking technologies, and AI while navigating identity transition, medicalized stigma, uncertainty, support, and credibility. It is presented as a developing research direction, not as a completed study or a set of findings.

10+ YEARS OF MIXED-METHODS RESEARCH

Methodological Expertise

Surveys

Experiments

Interviews

Digital Ethnography

Content Analysis

Discourse Analysis

Focus Groups

Mixed-Methods Research

Research leadership and ethics

Dr. Ro has served as principal investigator on two university research grants supporting a multi-stakeholder study of generative-AI adoption. She also serves on the University Institutional Review Board, evaluating study design, consent, privacy, risk, and participant protection.

COMPLETED RESEARCH

Published work on platforms, credibility, and mediated relationships.

Published work on platforms, credibility, and mediated relationships.

Completed studies include experimental and interview research on online dating and courtship, platform design and decision-making, false-information cues and perceived information quality, professional online dating assistants, Muslim American women’s use of online matchmaking, and commissioned focus-group research on organ-donation attitudes among underrepresented communities.

COMPLETED RESEARCH

Peer-Reviewed Publications

Publication links open DOI or publisher pages in a new tab. Availability varies by publisher and does not necessarily indicate free full-text access.

2023

Health Communication

Griffin Padgett, D. R., Toman, L., Rochadiat, A. M. P., & Parekh, V.

The Howard Journal of Communications

Focus-group research examining ethnoracial attitudes, perceptions, and communication barriers related to organ and tissue donation.

APA citation

Griffin Padgett, D. R., Toman, L., Rochadiat, A. M. P., & Parekh, V. (2023). The gift that keeps on giving: Ethnoracial attitudes toward organ and tissue donation. The Howard Journal of Communications, 1–19.

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2021

Misinformation

Jahng, R., Stoycheff, E., & Rochadiat, A.

Mass Communication & Society

An experimental study examining how “fake news” cues in online comments influence people’s judgments of information quality and their willingness to verify information.

APA citation

Jahng, R., Stoycheff, E., & Rochadiat, A. (2021). They said it’s “fake”: Effects of discounting cues in online comments on information quality judgments and information authentication. Mass Communication & Society, 24(4), 527–552.

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2020

Digital Relationships

Rochadiat, A. M. P., Tong, S. T., & Corriero, E.

Oxford Handbook of Mobile Communication

A book chapter examining how mobile communication technologies shape intimacy, relationship development, and everyday romantic interaction.

APA citation

Rochadiat, A. M. P., Tong, S. T., & Corriero, E. (2020). Intimacy in the app age: Romantic relationships and mobile technology. In the Oxford Handbook of Mobile Communication. Oxford University Press.

Publisher Link Coming Soon

2020

Platforms

Rochadiat, A. M. P., Tong, S. T., Hancock, J., & Stuart-Ulin, C.

Social Media + Society

An interview-based study of professional online dating assistants and the hidden labor involved in managing identity, attraction, and communication on behalf of clients.

APA citation

Rochadiat, A. M. P., Tong, S. T., Hancock, J., & Stuart-Ulin, C. (2020). The outsourcing of online dating: Investigating the lived experiences of online dating assistants working in the contemporary gig economy. Social Media + Society, 6(3).

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2020

Trust

Jahng, R., Lee, H., & Rochadiat, A. M. P.

Public Relations Review

Research exploring how public-relations professionals identify, evaluate, and respond to misinformation through practices of information authentication.

APA citation

Jahng, R., Lee, H., & Rochadiat, A. M. P. (2020). Public relations practitioners’ management of fake news: Exploring key elements and acts of information authentication. Public Relations Review, 46(2).

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2017

Identity

Rochadiat, A. M. P., Tong, S. T., & Novak, J.

New Media & Society

A qualitative study examining how Muslim American women use online matchmaking while negotiating religious identity, cultural expectations, privacy, and courtship.

APA citation

Rochadiat, A. M. P., Tong, S. T., & Novak, J. (2017). Online dating and courtship among Muslim American women: Negotiating technology, religious identity, and culture. New Media & Society.

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