A study investigated the influence of communication apprehension on preference for channel of communication: face-to-face meeting, telephone call, or written note. Subjects, 68 college and vocational-technical school faculty, were interviewed on a variety of topics, including telephone apprehension (TA); and completed written tests for speech apprehension (SA), communication apprehension (CA), and writing apprehension (WA). The results showed that 25% enjoyed using the phone and used it at every opportunity, 68% used the phone whenever they had to, and 6% disliked the phone but used it when necessary. Responses to vignettes that required the subject to identify his or her preferred communication channel in a given situation indicated that respondents preferred face-to-face meetings over either telephone calls or notes, and this tendency was especially pronounced for conflict vignettes. There was also a tendency for subjects to prefer receiving face-to-face messages more often than they preferred sending them. The results indicated that communication channel preferences are related to communication apprehension. Telephone use was accounted for in part by TA, choices between paired channels (talk vs. phone, writing vs. phone) were affected by TA or WA, and vignette channel preferences were accounted for in part by relative comfort with face-to-face communication. (Copies of the survey instruments are appended.) (HTH)