Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Chapter One
Public Relations & Research
Research is the beginning of a process that
seeks to bring about a specific objective
You may be familiar with many of PR processes
discussed in other PR courses. For example:
Marston’s RACE model (Research, Action,
Communication, Evaluation)
Hendrix’s ROPE model (Research, Objectives,
Program, Evaluation)
Cutlip, Center & Broom’s four-step process (Defining
PR Problems, Planning & Programming, Taking
Action and Communicating, Evaluating the Program)
History of Public Relations
Research
It’s often argued that public relations
practitioners fear research, though
practitioners have always relied on research to
some degree
What’s Changing in Modern PR
Research?
1. Modern PR strives to deliver show how PR
activities are influencing the bottom line.
Observing of Systematic
people, events or gathering,
objects of interest analyzing, and
as they occur evaluating of data
Typically use via some
qualitative methods methodology
May use
quantitative or
qualitative methods
Why Conduct PR Research?
Without research, PR practitioners are
essentially guessing when it comes PR
problems and PR campaigns / programs
This results in a greater risk of being unable to
predict outcomes accurately
Without research, we can not assess:
Where a problem begins
How it evolves
What the end product will be
Research & Decision Making
As PR has transitioned from a technical to a
management function, the role of research has
become increasingly important
Management decisions are influenced by many
factors — acquiring and analyzing data are
instrumental to the decision-making process
How is Research Used?
Research is used to:
Track, measure, assess and evaluate PR actions
To monitor trends and developments as they
occur
Research is essential to the assessment and
measurement of PR messages and campaigns
Helps PR practitioners know what’s working,
what’s not working and what corrective strategies
we need to employ
Research & Evaluation
Evaluation is conducted during all parts of the
PR process, including:
At the pre-campaign research phase
During the actual campaign
At the end of a campaign
Evaluation Throughout the PR
Process
Methodological Approaches to
Data
Research encompasses two methodological
approaches to data
Informal – observations, taken from the
researchers experiences
Formal – a more objective approach to data,
surveys and polls, social scientist
Each methodology has advantages and
disadvantages
What is Quantitative Research?
Quantitative
Research: The
objective, systematic
and controlled
gathering of data
What is Qualitative Research?
Qualitative Research:
relies on the subjective
evaluations that provide
researchers with an in-
depth description and
understanding of a
particular subject or
event
Quantitative vs. Qualitative
Research
Quantitative Research Qualitative Research
Data Collection
• Controlled • Uncontrolled
• Objective • Subjective
• Systematic Observation • Random Observation
Data Assessment
• Can be reliably measured • Cannot be measured reliably
• Validity can be measured • Validity is assumed
• Is deductively interpreted • Is inductively interpreted
Outcomes
• Description • Description
• Understanding • Understanding
• Prediction
• Control
Quantitative vs. Qualitative
Research
Quantitative research creates population norms
Qualitative research provides in-depth
understanding that is found outside of population
norms
Quantitative and Qualitative methods
compliment one another
When combined, we can both predict how groups
acted or reacted and provide richer detail and
understanding as to why they reacted a certain way
Triangulation: Using more than one research
method in order to provide a better understanding of
the problems under study
Introducing Theoretical & Applied
Research
Two basic types of research
Theoretical – seeks to provide an underlying
framework for the study of public relations
Applied – seeks to use theory-driven research in
business world situations
How Does Theoretical Research
Work?
The theoretical researcher's ideas are put to the test in
laboratory settings
This means the researcher is trying to test research questions
in as “pure” a condition as possible
The researcher establishes which variables cause changes
in other variables
There is little theoretical research performed in the PR field,
though this is changing due to an increased emphasis on
demonstrating how PR contributes to the “bottom line” (i.e.
return on investment, ROI)
How Does Applied Research
Work?
Theoretical research findings are used by the applied
researcher
The applied researcher practices strategic research
and evaluation research
Evaluation provides a baseline at a campaign’s start
and allows researchers to set benchmarks
against their research
Benchmarks enable researchers to determine how their
campaign / program results compare to the industry or
other companies
The Theoretical Researcher as the
Architect
The Theoretical Researcher as
the Architect
Creates abstract plans that
determine what the structure
should look like
Creates the framework for
methodology
Questions of Fact
Questions of Fact: seek to compare across
or between groups
QoF arise from questions of definition
Answer questions dealing with quantity — how much, how
many
Questions of fact can be verified or refuted through observation
(i.e. quantitatively)
Not capable of being answered through qualitative research
Often used when:
We want to know whether a communication strategy has produced
change in how a public views a product
Whether a communication vehicle (how the message was delivered)
has made a difference in the perceptions of an organization’s
Questions of Value
Questions of Value: ask “how well” or
“how good” something is
Can be answered quantitatively or qualitatively,
but are best answered qualitatively
Answering QoV quantitatively means that
researches must rely on attitude measure
Answering QoV qualitatively allows researchers
to ask individuals what they think of the
research object being measured and why
Questions of Policy
Questions of Policy: ask what should be
done
QoP are always strategic
Are almost always categorized as applied research