Chapter3

This is PR 11th Edition Newsom, Turk and Kruckeberg

Chapter 3

Research: Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating


Objectives

• To understand the role of research in public relations practice

• To appreciate the need for ongoing research and the cyclical pattern of PR research

• To realize when it is best to go outside to an individual or firm for research needs

• To evaluate secondary research and determine its use in a PR situation

• To know how to do primary research for PR fact finding


Research is Fundamental

• Every PR activity begins with analyzing some facts, gathered through research

• Initial research is often secondary: making use of facts and data already collected

• Primary research, gathering new information, often follows


Formal vs. Informal Research

• Informal: less rigorous and perhaps less pre-testing, but still structured with research designs and protocols

• Formal: more rigorous, more structured– May be qualitative or quantitative


Research Basics

• Record keeping: files, archives• Records needed for organization itself, for

personnel, for organizational activities and publications

• For ease of retrieval, records must be kept in a logical, well-organized and easily retrievable form


Research Sources

• Scholarly– Done by academic institutions

(students, faculty)– Sometimes funded by government,

foundations or professional associations

– Often published in scholarly or professional journals and made public


Research Sources (cont.)

• Government– Widely available, often free in print or on

Web– Local, state and federal



• Commercial– Done by research, advertising and PR

firms, marketing companies– Usually proprietary, so not published,

although some may be given limited access to data

– Commercial organization may release data if it reflects favorably on the organization



• The Web– Organizational sites most dependable– Search engines help fine-tune finding

the information you are seeking– Diligence in determining validity,

reliability of Web information is critical



• Mass media and professional publications– Often applied research– Much scholarly research published

here


• Telephone interviews– Landlines give inadequate results– Mobile phone interviews are costly– Electronic surveys are easier to

manage



Research on Trends, Issues

• Useful for both planning and monitoring PR activities, programs

• Helpful to know the environment into which your message will be moving

• Environmental scanning helps determine strategy and plan

• Evaluation once program is implemented determines if environment has changed


Research on Publics

• Use of demographics• Use of psychographics• Use of geodemographics• Use of ongoing research because publics

not static and priorities change


Research on Media

• Learn where your publics get their information

• Learn which media have content and readership compatible with your message

• In addition to mass, trade media also important sources of information

• Shift to social and digital media for information

• Personalization of media choices


Research on Media Audiences

• Subscriber information• Circulation figures• Ratings of TV programs• Radio and on-line video monitoring


Cycle of PR Research

• Preliminary research in planning stage• Research for pretesting messages,

surveys• Research for fine-tuning• Research for final evaluation


Informal Research

• Generally conducted without rules, procedures that would permit someone to replicate

• Unobtrusive measures, e.g., color-coded tickets to an event

• Communication or opinion audits (evaluate response to all of an organization’s communication efforts)

• Analysis of clippings, transcripts of media coverage (quantity, quality of coverage)


Informal Research Risks

• Validity of sources• Inability to replicate• Difficulty of upholding ethical standards• Depending too heavily on intuition or

experience for making critical decisions


Formal Research

• Qualitative– Measures by describing– Conducted either in lab or “in the field”– Honesty, confidentiality and objectivity are also

important values• Quantitative

– Measures by counting– Conducted either in lab or “in the field”– Honesty, confidentiality and objectivity are also

important values


Steps in Formal Research

• State the problem• Select a manageable and measurable

portion of the problem to address• Establish definitions to be used• Conduct a search in published literature for

relevant information• Develop a hypothesis


Steps in Formal Research (cont.)

• Design the experiment or study. This involves defining the population you wish to study and then choosing a sampling method

• Obtain the data• Analyze the data• Interpret the data to make inferences,

generalizations• Communicate the results


Types of Qualitative Research

• Historiography, case studies and diaries• In-depth interviews• Focus groups


Types of Quantitative Research

• Textual analysis• Content analysis• Survey research• Sampling (probability, nonprobability)

– Accidental– Purposive– Quota/stratified


Stages of Research Questions

• Preliminary, exploratory: “I wonder”• Prediction: “I think”• Hypothesis testing


Testing Hypotheses

• State your hypothesis• State the opposite of your hypothesis (the

null hypothesis)• Determine the probability that null

hypothesis could be true• Reject null if that probability is slight• If probability is significantly larger, don’t

reject the null – but neither can you “prove” the hypothesis


Sampling Audiences

• Cross-section surveys– Probability sample (random)– Quota sample (by known characteristics)– Area sample (by geography)

• Survey panels– Consumer panels to test products, ads– Usually selected on cross-sectional basis, but

quota– May not physically meet but instead participate

through teleconferencing, mail


Questionnaires

• Most familiar data-gathering device for surveying audiences

• Face-to-face• By computer• By social networks• By direct mail• By list• Respondent’s interest in subject influences

rate of return


Questionnaire Tips

• Best way to get a good response rate is to write a good questionnaire

• Closed-ended questions easier to code and tabulate than open-ended, but may yield less insightful data

• Questions should be logically ordered and separate: not several questions imbedded in one giant question


Questionnaire Tips (cont.)

• Provide clear instructions so the respondent knows what to do to respond

• Always pretest• Cultural, governmental differences abound

across borders: some types of questions are inappropriate in certain situations and locations, and some governments prohibit the asking of certain kinds of questions


Questionnaire Formats

• Semantic differential scales: measure variations in intensity, often using adjectives that are the opposite of each other– Pleasant – unpleasant– Fair – unfair– Exciting – dull– Accurate - inaccurate


Questionnaire Formats (cont.)

• Summated ratings– Strongly approve – strongly disapprove– Strongly agree – strongly disagree

• Scale analysis– Dichotomous questions– Multiple choice questions


Delphi Studies

• Respondent-generated questionnaire• Begins with open-ended questionnaire• Verbatim responses tabulated and reported, and

circulated among all respondents who are asked to rate or rank the responses

• Responses placed into categories based on their ratings or rankings

• Categories are then rank-ordered by all respondents

• An interactive, repetitive process


Research Applications

• Identify problems• Analyze problems• Develop programs and guide their

implementation• Measure results of programs


Research is a Cycle

• Begins to assist in planning• Moves on to testing and revising

hypotheses• Leads to further fact finding and

assessment• Shifts to monitoring ongoing programs• Concludes with final evaluation that

provides input to help in the planning cycle of the next program

Chapter3

Documents

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