PUBR-430 PR Campaigns Research Report – Instructions

Overview: The purpose of the research report is…

• To show the data that you collected (the answers to your research questions)
• To show how your understanding of the situation has changed and/or been affirmed by the data
• To develop your presentation of situation analysis and the client's problem
• To provide an empirical foundation for your campaign goals, objectives, and strategies
o Your research – preliminary, secondary and primary together -- should help explain why
you choose the goals, objectives and strategies that you choose for the campaign. (You
may not know the objectives, strategies, and tactics, yet, but when you give me the
strategies and tactics draft and in your final book, it should be clear that you can tie
them back to your research findings and final situation analysis to show why/how you
believe they will be effective based on facts.)

In the research report you will clearly and thoroughly describe the process and methods you used in
conducting research. You will include a summary of your situation analysis, a description of your
research questions, an explanation of your sampling procedures, a description of your instrument(s),
and a description of your process, including sampling/instrument/process challenges (if any) along the
way. Then you will provide a detailed description of your research data, including statistics,
charts/graphs, and a summary of your findings and conclusions. Your research report will be a
significant component in your final campaign book.

Format: Again, you have a great deal of freedom in how you choose to format the report. Think about
formatting your report in a way that is easy to read, attractive to look at, logical in flow, and
professional. The final length of your report will vary depending on how much data you collected and
how you report it.

Contents: Your graded assignment will consist of these components in this order:
(1) cover page, (2) table of contents, (3) executive summary, (4) problem statement and situation
analysis, (5) research report content sections, and (6) appendices.

1. Your cover page should include: your agency name, names of each team member, name of the
assignment, and your client’s name/organization.

2. Your table of contents should list the elements of your proposal with the page number each
element begins on. When you list your appendices, please list each one separately rather than
as one “appendices” entry. (e.g., Survey Instrument….p. 25; Survey Results…p. 28; Member
interview guide….p. 40; Member interview responses…..p. 41; Volunteer interview guide…p. 48;
Volunteer interview responses….p. 49)

3. Your executive summary should be 2-3 paragraphs and provides a brief description of your
research process, findings, and conclusions. The purpose of the ES is to give the reader an
overview of what's inside. If the reader went no further than this summary, they would have a
sense of what your research questions were, what your most important findings are, and how
the research impacts your view of the situation and your (future) campaign planning. This is
NOT an “introduction.” It is a super short version of what is inside the full report.
4. Your problem statement and situation analysis is similar to the situation analysis you
submitted in your research proposal, but it should be updated to focus on the information that
led you to pursue answers to your research questions. Essentially, this introduction explains
what you knew, what you didn’t know, and WHY you needed to do this primary research: What
is/are the client’s biggest needs? What did you think/believe about the situation based on your
preliminary/secondary research? What were the questions and uncertainties you had?

NOTE: If your research showed you something new, something you didn’t see before or
something that changed the way you viewed the situation, be especially sure to
describe your previous belief or knowledge gap here. Then you can mention that your
previous belief is now updated/corrected because of the research (which you will
explain in detail in the “findings” section).
For example, you might say, “We believed XXX was important to the situation,”
and then later in the findings section, you can show the contrary research data and say,
“We discovered that our previous belief was wrong; XXX is not important, but YYY proved
to be very important.” That shows the value of your research and supports your
decisions to drop “XXX” and focus on “YYY.” Then you would go into describing that new
finding in detail in the findings section.

5. Your research report content section could be 12-20 pages, depending on how much text is
required to explain your research process/methods, how much data you collected/report, and
how you choose to format it. Within your report, each content section should be clearly labeled
with headings and sub-headings.
See the detailed description of the research report content below.

6. Your appendices should be clearly labeled and include the following:

a. All of your recruitment materials (fliers, emails, phone scripts, etc.).
b. Your actual research instruments (e.g., discussion guide, survey).
c. Your “raw” data reports
i. The “report data” matrices from your surveys (e.g., from Survey Monkey) that
shows how people answered each question on the survey before you did
anything to analyze it.
ii. Any statistical reports (in full) that you ran on the data as you analyzed it (i.e.,
your cross tabs or other comparison reports you ran/produced).
iii. Extended lists of answers to interview questions with demographic info (if
available)
iv. Extended descriptions of and quotes from focus group conversations (like a
“Cliff’s Notes” version of the focus group transcripts).
v. Any other raw material and analysis that you used in the process of drawing
conclusions from your research.
Essentially, as you examine and analyze your data, you will choose some of it—the most
important items—to include in the body of your report. But the client should be able to
see all the raw data that you are looking at, too, so they can look up information for
themselves that you chose not to include in the body of your report and/or they can
evaluate whether you are reporting it correctly.
 Research report content sections
This part of the report needs to have well-written descriptions so that the reader will clearly understand
what you did. But a lot of the content in this section is going to be fairly dry, to-the-point, and
numerical/statistical.

A. Introduction
Yes, you've already told us the purpose of the research, how you understand the
problems, and what you were wanting to know. But here you are going to summarize it briefly
again. Imagine that a reader is ONLY picking up this research report section of this document
and hasn’t read the previous stuff. Your introduction will "get them up to speed" on the
situation so that your goals, questions, methods and findings have context and make sense.

B. Research goal(s) and questions

You may have already mentioned these (or alluded to them) at the end of your situation
analysis. Here you need to state them, clearly saying something like, “The goal of our research
was to discover the answers these questions. …” List the primary questions (not every question
on your survey or in your interviews, but the big picture questions that those survey/interview
questions were trying to get at), and briefly explain how having that answer to those big picture
questions helps you better understand the situation and better plan your campaign.

C. Primary research methodology and design

Whereas you described what you planned to do in your research proposal, now you
need to describe in detail what you actually did. Be sure to explain not only what you did, but
also why you made the choices you made regarding sampling techniques, method, etc. Use the
appropriate terminology.
If you used multiple methods/populations, make sure it is clear which method was
conducted with which population(s) using what sampling, etc. For each section, be sure to
justify decisions that were made. This is not the place to describe what you wish you could do,
but to tell your reader what you actually did. If you did something that failed so that you had
to adjust and try a new method, you can describe that as it explains your ultimate course of
action. For each method you did, you do need to include all of these items below.

a. Research method. Detail which research method you conducted (e.g., focus group,
survey, interview). Be sure to apply appropriate labels to this description (e.g.,
qualitative or quantitative). Describe the strengths and weaknesses of the method you
used (how was this helpful and how was it limiting or flawed) as you discuss your
decision to use it. (Really focus not just on generally weaknesses of surveys, for
example, but for YOUR OWN survey experience, what were the weaknesses you can see
in how this method worked for you or limited you in getting good information.)

b. Research population. Describe your research population, including what you knew about
the particular population prior to conducting primary research and why you chose them.
Clearly explain why the public is an important research target in regards to the overall
PR campaign. Remember, when talking about populations, here, we’re talking about
the general group you chose for research (e.g., parents of kids in the program, 5th grade
teachers, business owners in the community), not the specific people (the sample) you
actually ended up talking to from that group. It could be that your plan for the
population was good even if the specific sample you got was not that good.
c. Recruitment and sampling.
i. Discuss your recruitment strategy and sampling technique. How did you find
and recruit participants? Be as specific as possible (e.g., locations, dates/times,
incentives, types of recruitment materials). Justify your recruitment strategy.
Include all of your recruitment materials as appendices. Clearly state your
response rate you’re your method. That is, how many people did you contact to
participate compared to how many people actually participated. (Say, for
example, that you attempted to call 140 people for phone interviews, and you
actually completed phone interviews with 30 people, giving you a response rate
of 22%.) Note that you may not be able to provide an accurate response rate
for all cases. For example, when you’re trying to talk to people at an event, and
you don’t know exactly how many people are there. In that case, you need to
state that your response rate is uncertain and why. You may be able to provide
a sense of how willingly people responded when you did get to talk to them
(e.g. about 1 out of every 3 people I stopped, was willing to talk to me).
(BTW, it is okay to say you selected a particular sample because that
was the sample that the client provided for you. But you should still be able to
explain how that sample was helpful/limiting, strong/weak toward getting the
answers you needed.)

d. Instrument. Describe the design, construction, and organization of the instrument. Did
you test the questions before distributing it? What form did you distribute in (online, on
paper?) Were surveys different for different groups? Was the same questionnaire used
in all interviews/focus groups? What did you do to make sure questions were not
confusing or leading? Include the instrument(s) and any stimulus material as
appendices.

e. Data collection. Describe how the data was collected and recorded. Was data collected
all in one day or over a period of time (provide dates)? How did you make a record of
the data? Describe your data collection logistics (e.g., location, time/date, average time
of participation). Be as specific and detailed as possible in this section.

NOTE: In this section, you should not describe all your samples, then all your methods,
then all your recruiting, then all your data collection. Rather, for each method that you
use, it makes more sense to talk about all the details of one method, then go on to the
next. For example, describe your population, method, recruiting, instrument, collection
for your survey all together. Then do the same for your interviews. Then do the same for
your focus groups. So when someone reads it, they can get a clear picture of what you
did and who was involved in each piece of research.

f. Data Analysis. Here you can describe how you analyzed the data for your surveys and
interviews in one section. But of course you’ll want to separate your discussion of each
“batch” of data: Here’s how we analyzed the survey data. Here’s how we analyzed the
focus group data. Etc.
Describe the procedures (system) you used to analyze the data. Explain in
appropriate detail that the reader could follow along based on the raw data and notes
 that you turn in. Explain which items you tried to combine in cross tabs and other
connections looked for. Include the raw data and analysis notes as appendices.

D. Key findings
Report the results of your data collection. No interpretation, just describe what you
found and how/why it is significant. Use your research goals/questions as a guide for organizing
and presenting the results; that is, use subtitles throughout the findings section that reflect the
major topics you investigated (e.g., “Awareness of Company XYZ,” “Attitudes toward
Membership,” “Willingness to Donate,” etc.). Then say things like,

“This is the question we sought to answer. In the survey we asked “blah blah
blah” and here’s how people answered (show statistics and numbers). This was
important because it showed that our suspicion that XXXXX is important to volunteers is
true. This also shows us that YYY and ZZZZ are also important, something we didn’t
know before.”

And “ In the interviews we asked “blah blah blah” and here’s what people said.
Surprisingly, we see here that people focused on AAAA and BBBB rather than CCCC. This
contradicts previous information we found in our preliminary research that suggested
that CCCC was most important.”

NOTE: I have all your data in the appendix, so don’t simply copy your survey
answers and paste them here. I want you to (1) select the most important information
from all that data and highlight it here; (2) summarize, describe, and explain what that
data says and tells you, specifically as it relates to your understanding of the current
situation.

Note: For quantitative research, within each major topic section summarize
results first and then illustrate specific findings with labeled graphs, tables, or charts.
Tease out any noteworthy comparisons, contrasts, or observations. Keep in mind that
charts and graphs do not take the place of your descriptive text, rather than they
complement your text. That is, don’t say, “Here’s how people responded to this
question” and show a chart. Say, “When we asked people about XXXX, 84% of the
people responded favorably or very favorably, and only 5% responded negatively or very
negatively.” Then include a chart that illustrates those statistics. (You do not have to
have a chart for EVERY question/statistic set. But using them for important or
interesting pieces of information can help make your report more pleasing to look at
and easy to understand.)

Note: For qualitative research, summarize the specific findings per major
topic/theme and then illustrate/support findings with verbatim quotes from your
transcripts. Don’t quote everyone; summarize what you heard repeatedly or what
really stood out, then include one, two, or three quotes that illustrate your point.

Note: It can be helpful to integrate your quantitative and qualitative research

within the findings section—grouped by topic, research goals, or research questions and
NOT separated. E.g., We wanted to know this. Here’s what we learned about it in the
survey. Here’s what we learned about it in the interviews.
E. Interpretation
a. You’ve given us all the findings. Now tell us: What does it all mean? Interpret the
findings for the client. You can include your opinion, but base it on the findings backed
up with examples/specifics. DON’T leave conclusions to be drawn—spell it out for your
reader. What difference does it make that you found XXX? How does this piece of
information change or affirm what you believed in your situation analysis. As you
interpret what your research findings mean, you are putting together new, improved
sections for your situation analysis, piece by piece.
This section may be shorter than the findings or methods section, but it’s
probably the most important section. Everything you’ve done so far has led you to the
information in this section. This is where you explain how to apply the things you
learned to this specific situation. How has the situation analysis changed and why has it
changed? How does this information change the direction you will be going?

b. Discuss how the findings from your research will be used in your campaign planning. Be
specific: breakdown the elements for the PR campaign that will be based on these
findings (e.g., appropriate target publics, recommended communication channels,
recommended messages and themes, and recommended strategies and tactics, etc.).
Say, “Because we know this from our research, we know that it will be important for us
to create a message that focuses on YYYY.” Or “With this information, it’s clear that we
should NOT change XXX, because people really like it. But we should add an emphasis
on ZZZZZ to strengthen the program message for this audience.” Or “Although this public
is important to the client, we found that this other public is even more important and
should be the new primary target for recruiting messages.”

F. Limitations (1/2 to 1 page)

You need to clearly explain to the client the relevant limitations caused by your
recruitment, sampling, and research methods that might be affecting your findings. Explain how
and why you can’t be absolutely certain about your conclusions from the data because the
process, sample, instrument, analysis was limited (flawed). You may address the difference
between what you proposed to do and what actually happened (because of limited samples,
limited time, low response rates, etc.). Then discuss if/how you accounted for these limitations
in your analysis and/or presentation of the findings, and defend the usefulness of the data given
these limitations.

G. Lessons Learned (1-2 pages).

Include a brief section describing your “lessons learned” from this effort. You may
describe the unexpected opportunities/challenges that you experienced when conducting or
analyzing your research and what you did in response. For example, did you have a recorder
that didn’t work? What did you do? Did only two people show up for your focus group—how did
you handle that? Did you get a low response rate—how did or could you have recruited more
people?
NOTE: This section is only included as part of the class. You would not include this in
an actual client report. This section is your chance to demonstrate what you learned—good
and bad—about planning and conducting research. How would you attack it differently next
time? It also is a chance to talk about frustrations and brag about your problem solving skills.
Accordingly, you can speak more casually here, writing in the form of a personal essay.