The objectives of Chapter 9 in your text are as follows.
Formal research brings many benefits to the practice of public relations. It helps us measure our audiences’ attitudes, opinions and behaviors. It helps us determine if public relations campaigns change our audiences’ attitudes, opinions and behaviors in ways we want…or perhaps explain why our campaigns may have missed the mark. Formal research helps us measure if our messages have been delivered, acknowledged and assimilated. The most common focus of formal research in public relations is media monitoring and measurement.
Formal research offers the following benefits.
Here are the 3 types of surveys that can be applied to formal research.
While conducting a survey, here are the 7 steps.
Here are some of the methods of survey delivery. Many practitioners use a mixed-mode model to capture the strengths of two (or more methods) and to limit liabilities.
Here is a question for you.
And another…
The classic or traditional form of formal research is the experiment. Experimental conditions allow us the highest degree of control over conditions and thus help us isolate variables.
Experiments can be conducted in lab or field sites. Lab experiments offer high internal validity and low external validity. By contrast, field experiments offer high external validity but lower or no control.
Controlled lab experiments help us to isolate variables. Let’s imagine for example, a controlled experiment where audiences were shown two different ads in a marketing campaign. The dependent variable in this condition would be the audiences’ preference, what ad did they prefer?
Expanding on this example, let’s suppose our audience were shown two ads, both humorous in tone. What ad do they prefer? In our experimental treatment condition, we would show our audience two ads, one humorous and one serious. What ad do they prefer? In our control group, we would show no ads. But perhaps ask about their likeliness to purchase the product or service featured in the ads.
The textbook describes 3 experimental designs. The rigor of the design will depend on the demands of the research problem and the complexity of conditions. Of course, time and costs are factors!
Here is a question for you.
A very common form of formal research in public relations is content analysis. This is most frequently applied to media analysis. Here you examine text for tone, frequency of message, accuracy and currency of message, themes or another metric. Properly conducted, content analysis can be both objective and systematic.
Here is a final question for you.
Wrapping up, formal research is the least controversial form of research as it can be objective, systematic, reliable, representative and replicable…if properly conducted. Formal research methods such as surveys, experiments and content analysis offer both benefits and limitations. Your knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of each form of formal research will inform your work with research specialists or contractors. And that concludes our slides for week 8.
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