Chapter 5: Research

Research is the most important to PR because it is used to... Achieve credibility with management Define audiences and segment publics Sway public opinion Monitor the competition Formulate strategy

Survey Research Can generate publicity for companies or assess how the general population feels about this company Involves the collection of information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions. Cheep and requires very little time Most popular form of inquiring information

Offensive survey prank USA street survey

Informal Research Methods Archive Library Online database Literature search Social media

How can Internet be used as research tool for PR?

Possible answers... View companies or a groups website Video and or audio content Social media to request information from others Discussions, blogs, and news groups

Qualitative Research Relies less on numbers & statistics-instead interprets text, for themes or insights ▪ Probing attitudes and perceptions ▪ Assessing penetration of message ▪ Testing clarity/effectiveness of material

Qualitative Research Techniques ▪ Content Analysis –The systematic/objective counting or categorizing of information –Often used to measure amount of media coverage and content –Simple to scientific, random sampling to specific subject categories ▪ Interviews –Conducted different ways –Talk to colleagues or other organizations –Intercept/convenience interview ▪ Short interviews conducted at malls or meetings ▪ Unscientific/unreliable ▪ DOES give some sense of exposure or current thinking

Qualitative Research Continued ▪ Focus Groups –Widely used in advertising, marketing, and public relations –Formulating or pretesting themes and strategies before full campaign –Useful for identifying range of opinions among participants –Results are unable to be summarized by percent's or projected onto entire population. ❖ 8-12 people, represent characteristics of target audience ❖ Use non directive interview techniques ❖ Encourage participants to speak freely and give candid reactions

Continued.. e ▪ Copy Testing –Ensure target audience can understand material –Representatives of target audience read/view draft of material before mass produced/distributed ▪ Ethnographic Techniques –Observation of individual or group behavior ❖ standing at company bulletin board to see how many people stop and read it ❖ Role playing

Quantitative Research ▪ Conduct polls and surveys using highly precise, scientific sampling methods ▪ Sampling based on two important factors: –Randomness-ensures subject pool is not biased –Large number of respondents-ensures results can be generalized to entire pop. Being studied

Random Sampling ▪ Everyone in target audience has equal or known chance of being selected for survey ▪ Also known as Probability Sampling ▪ A non probability survey is NOT random

Sampling Size ▪ Sample size is always a big question ▪ Ave. national poll surveys 1500 people, margin of error is within 3 points 95% of time ▪ In PR primary purpose of poll is to indicate attitudes and opinions ▪ A poll of will give relatively accurate data, with a variance of 5-6%

Questionnaire Construction/ Guidelines

Reaching Respondents ▪ Mailed questionnaires ▪ Telephone Surveys ▪ Personal Interviews ▪ Omnibus or Piggy Back Surveys ▪ Web and surveys ▪ Pros and cons

Pro’s and Con’s ▪ Mail –Control costs –Correct person receives survey ▪ Telephone –Immediate response, less intrusive –Up to 60% response rate ▪ Personal Interviews –More intensive and responsive ▪ Piggy Back –Reach larger audience ▪ Web/ –Large scale samples/short amount of time –Economical –Data analyzed continually ▪ Mail –Low response rate ▪ Telephone –Difficulty acquiring numbers –Area codes do not represent area –Call legitimacy ▪ Interviews –Expensive: requires trained staff and travel ▪ Piggy back –Few questions –Cannot pick respondents ▪ Web/ –Not control over size of sample or selection –Probability sampling not achievable

Additional Information