IPSC at PR Summit: Research Challenge. You Can’t Manage What you Don’t Measure

Research

Challenge

You Can’t Manage

What you Don’t Measure

Lilit Nahapetyan, IPSC

Shushan Harutyunyan, IPSC

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Who we are and why we speak about RESEARCH?

Copyright © 2015, IPSC LLC. All rights reserved.

IPSC - Institute for Political and Sociological Consulting. Founded in 2006. One of the largest Market Research, Data Proceeding and Communications Consulting Companies in Eastern Europe


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Shushan Harutyunyan,

Communications Manager, IPSC

Shushan Harutyunyan is the Communications Manager of IPSC, and provides communications consulting to IPSC corporate clients in media relations, change management and ghost-writing.

Shushan has media experience for 8 years, including chief editor's and columnist's positions in Forbes Armenia, Newsweek Poland, National Geographic Traveler, etc., as well as consulting experience for 3 years in government and corporate organizations in three EU member states and in Armenia.

She holds BA in Journalism from Yerevan State University and MA in Anthropology from Central European University.

Lilit Nahapetyan,

Research Analyst,

IPSC

Lilit Nahapetyan is a Research Analyst at IPSC - Institute for Political and Sociological Consulting. She is responsible for the paralytics of two large-scale research projects “GSI: Government Satisfaction Index” and “CNA: Community Needs Assessment”.

She has been involved in a number of marketing research projects as well, providing both quantitative and qualitative data analysis to IPSC clients.

Lilit holds MA in Political Science from American University of Armenia.


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What to expect

Why is the RESEARCH is a new «urgency»?

Barriers to Using Research

The Role of Research in PR/Communications

Types of Researches

From Data Collection to Analytics

Some practicalities with data

Literature references to take home


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Why is the RESEARCH is a new «urgency»?


Market research in The New Economy

Demand for accountability!


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Systems and tools to monitor and measure processes and results:

Management by Objectives (MBO); Key Performance Indicators (KPIs); Total Quality Management (TQM); Quality Assurance (QA); Quality Accreditation (ISO 9000); Benchmarking; World’s Best Practice; Customer Satisfaction ratings; Balanced Score Card.

□ Does any of these systems apply to Public Relations?

The historical Perspective

«Although considerable lip service is paid to the importance of program evaluation in public relations, the rhetorical line is much more enthusiastic than actual utilisation».

«The majority of practitioners still prefer to 'fly by the seat of their pants' and use intuition rather than intellectual procedures to solve public relations problems».

James Grunig, 1983.


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The Achilles Heel of Public Relations

Ketchum Nationwide Survey (945 practitioners in the US) □ most public relations research was casual and informal,

□ most public relations research today is done by individuals trained in public relations rather than by individuals trained as researchers


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Lack of objective evaluation has been an Achilles Heel of public relations that has held it back from greater acceptance within management and stood as a barrier to greater professionalism and status for PR practitioners.

Research Finding USA EU

Evaluation recognised as necessary 95.9% 98.8%

Frequently undertake research aimed at evaluating 26% 28.6%

Definitions: «What you don’t know can hurt you»

Public relations is the reputational vehicle by which your company becomes well-known and well-recpected.

Public Relations is all about changing minds.

Public Relations research is the function that links the public to the marketer through information.

So we should know what mindset our consumers BEFORE we start a PR campaign.

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I have a question :)

Do you participate in important decision making regarding polices, products and services in your company? (For in-house PR practitioners)

Do clients consult with you before launching a new something, or do they apply to you after the decision has been made (crisis has happened)?

If you were your boss, how would you access the importance of these two divisions in your company - the operations team and the communications team?


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Barriers to Using Research


1. Understanding Research

Public relations academics and practitioners need to greatly expand efforts in both formative (strategic) and evaluative research. Public relations evaluation research is much more than monitoring press clippings.

Many use the terms interchangeably and incorrectly and have little knowledge of survey design, questionnaire construction, sampling, or basic statistics and are, therefore, hamstrung in their ability to plan and manage research functions.

Public relations practitioners need to make an attitudinal shift from the view that research is a one-off activity at the end of programs to an understanding that research is an on-going integral process.


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2. Setting Objectives

PR programs too frequently have stated objectives such as:

To create greater awareness of XYZ policy or program;

To successfully launch a product or service;

To improve employee morale;

To increase sales of ABC Corporation's widgets.

With vague or overly broad objectives, it may be impossible to evaluate the effects of PR activity, irrespective of the amount of time and money available.


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3. Understanding Communication Theory

Much of what PR efforts traditionally have been designed to achieve may be unrealistic.

Public relations programs too frequently propose to change negative attitudes to positive attitudes.

According to Hedging and Wedging Theory, when a person with a firmly held (wedged) view is faced with a contrary view, he or she will, at best, hedge.

Results of communication will not always be behavioural. The outcomes of communication may be cognitive (simply getting people to think about something), attitudinal (form an opinion), or behavioural.


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4. The Multi-Disciplined Nature of PR

Public relations, and its various relatives such as public affairs, corporate relations, etc, are comprised of a number of sub-sets such as media relations, employee relations, community relations, government relations, shareholder relations, and so on.

The practice utilizes a wide range of communication tools or channels including publicity, publications, audio-visual and video programs, events, Web sites, sponsorships, etc, to communicate with target audiences.

The search for a single method of evaluation for public relations such as an equivalent to advertising TARP ratings, or a PR Index, is therefore unlikely to be fruitful, if not impossible. Public relations evaluation has to evaluate a wide range of communications and relationships.


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5. The Multi-Step Communication Process

A major breakthrough in moving towards practical methods for evaluation and measurement of public relations was recognition of the practice of communicating in terms of three stages.

Communication projects and programs should be evaluated in each stage - inputs, outputs and outcomes.


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preparation

implementation

impact

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The Role of Research in PR/Communications


The Level of Trust in Surveys within Armenian Population (1)

28.0%

33.9%

28.2%

9.9%

24.4%

21.9%

41.3%

12.5%

21.3%

18.0%

46.2%

14.6%

0.0% 50.0% 100.0%

Completely distrust

Somewhat distrust

Somewhat trust

Completely trust

2014

2012

2007

13 Copyright © 2015, IPSC LLC. All rights reserved.

The Level of Trust in Surveys within Armenian Population (2)

38.1%

53.8%

60.8%

0.0% 50.0% 100.0%

Overall trust 201420122007

14 Copyright © 2015, IPSC LLC. All rights reserved.

Conducting Research to Develop Strategy

Public relations research to develop strategy include:

Informal methods of environmental scanning:

Personal contacts

“Water cooler” conversations

Casual media scanning

Participant observation

Unstructured depth interviews

Analyzing business information

Scanning the Internet to identify rumors that could affect the organization

Formal environmental scanning:

Looking for previous research on the subject

Structured surveys using random samples of publics

Censuses of total publics

Media content or records


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Conducting Research to Monitor Programs and Evaluate Results

Three possible objectives of a public relations campaign are identified:

Informational objectives identify what the target audience should know or learn as the result of a campaign.

Motivational objectives are those that inspire “a predisposition to act”

Behavioral objectives, where members of the target audience change their behavior or opinion in a way that is aligned with the organization’s objectives.


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Sources of information for Secondary Data

Institute for Public Relations (www.instituteforpr.com) Pew Research Center for the People & The Press

(www.people-press.org) SimilarWeb: Website Traffic and Mobile App Analytics

(http://www.similarweb.com/) Alexa – Actionable Analytics for the Web

(http://www.alexa.com/) Internet World Usage Statistics

(http://www.internetworldstats.com/) Armenian Statistical Service of Republic of Armenia

(armstat.am) Ministerial and Government websites Institute for Political and Sociological Consulting (ipsc.am)


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Types of Research


Types of Public Relations Research

Qualitative research

• Words, images, themes, and categories

• Description/exploration/discovery (examine the breadth and depth of phenomenon to learn more about them)

• Particularistic findings

• In-depth understanding of respondent’s viewpoint

Quantitative research

• Numeric variables

• Description/explanation/prediction (testing specific hypotheses)

• Generalizable findings

• General understanding of respondent’s viewpoint


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Factors Determining the Choice of Research Methods

Nature of the research problem

Budget

Timing Degree of accuracy required

Importance of the findings

to the success of the

organization


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Qualitative Research Methods

In-depth Interviews (structured and unstructured)

Focus Groups

Field Observations (complete participant (e.g. mystery shopper) and complete

observer)


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Quantitative Research Methods

Content analysis Measures qualitative data (documents,

news articles and television pieces, speeches, interviews, and focus group

results) quantitatively

Surveys Involves the collection of information form

a sample individuals through their responses to questions


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Main Types of Surveys


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Computer-Assisted Self Interviewing

(CASI)

Mail surveys

Computer-assisted personal

interviewing (CAPI)

Computer-assisted

telephone interviewing

(CATI)

Face-to-face surveys

Omnibus surveys


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Quality Control

Parallel (accompanied) visits by field coordinators;

Filled-in questionnaires monitoring

Technical monitoring

Logical analysis and content monitoring

Phone call check-up;

Call backs by coordinators;

Interviewers’ control via GPS Recorders.

In IPSC in average 45% of all the questionnaires are controlled and checked depending on the duration of interviews and fieldwork and 100% of the questionnaires are thoroughly monitored.

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Some practicalities with data


Change management practices


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Modelling and forecasting the diffusion of innovation

2.5% Innovators

13.5% Early Adopters

34% Early Majority

34% Late Majority 16%

Others

Nigel Meade, Modelling and forecasting the diffusion of innovation, International Journal of Forecasting, 2006

Segmentation and targeting VS Framing and sending a message

The Importance of emotional framing

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Decision making - limbic system

Emotions - limbic system

Analyses - neo-cortex

Decision matrixes

1. Define method 2. Identify solutions 3. Evaluate options

A. Risk B. Impact C. Attainability

4. Decide 5. Communicate and explain

decision 6. Check and adjust decision

as needed 7. Plan and implement

Ask key stakeholders to: 1. Brainstorm and pick

selection criteria 2. Rank and weigh criteria Project Team identifies options & builds the matrix 1. List options to be

considered 2. Match options to selection

criteria 3. Apply weighted criteria to

selection matches 4. Rank options


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Ethics, professionalism and big data

What does the concept of professionalism mean to you?

Armature practices until they can do something right.

Professional practices until they cannot do it wrongly.


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Discussing cases


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Some literature references to take home


PR Research

Pavlik, John Vernon. Public relations: What research tells us. Sage Publications, 1987.

Broom, Glen M., and David M. Dozier. Using research in public relations: Applications to program management. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1990.

Grunig, James E., ed. Excellence in public relations and communication management. Routledge, 2013.

Grunig, James E. "Furnishing the edifice: Ongoing research on public relations as a strategic management function." Journal of Public Relations Research18.2 (2006): 151-176.

Sriramesh, Krishnamurthy, and Dejan Vercic, eds. The global public relations handbook: Theory, research, and practice. Routledge, 2003.

Macnamara, Jim R. "Research in public relations: A review of the use of evaluation and formative research." (2008).

Powell, Thomas C. "Research Notes and Communications. How Much does Industry Matter? An Alternative Empirical Test." Strategic Management Journal17.4 (1996): 323-334.


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People’s attitudes and behavior

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Kearney, Michael. "The local and the global: The anthropology of globalization and transnationalism." Annual review of anthropology (1995): 547-565.

Gupta, Akhil, and James Ferguson. "Beyond “culture”: Space, identity, and the politics of difference." Cultural anthropology 7.1 (1992): 6-23.

Mosse, George Lachmann. Nationalism and sexuality: Middle-class morality and sexual norms in modern Europe. Univ of Wisconsin Pr, 1985.

Durkheim, Emile. The rules of sociological method: and selected texts on sociology and its method. Simon and Schuster, 2014. - what is social fact (chapter)

Tiryakian, Edward A. "Collective effervescence, social change and charisma: Durkheim, Weber and 1989." International Sociology 10.3 (1995): 269-281.

McCarthy, John D., and Mayer N. Zald. "Resource mobilization and social movements." Social Movements in an Organizational Society, Transaction Books, New Brunswick, New Jersey (1987): 15-47.

De Certeau, Michel. "“Making do”: uses and tactics." Practicing History: New Directions in Historical Writing After the Linguistic Turn (2004): 217.


Thank you!

IPSC at PR Summit: Research Challenge. You Can’t Manage What you Don’t Measure

Presentations & Public Speaking

Transcript of IPSC at PR Summit: Research Challenge. You Can’t Manage What you Don’t Measure