1. THINK Public Relations
Wilcox/Cameron/Reber/Shin

2. Ch 5: Research and Campaign Planning

3. Overview The four essential steps of effective public relations
Research: The first step
Research methods
Planning: The second step

4. Four Essential Steps of Effective Public Relations
Research
Planning
Communication
Measurement
Chapter 5 describes the first two of these four steps—research and planning

5. Research: The First Step
What is research?
A form of listening
Essential to any public relations activity or campaign
Questions to ask before research design
What’s the problem?
Kind of information needed?
How will results be used?
Public (or publics)?
Who should do it?
How will data be analyzed/reported/applied?
Timetable?
Budget?

6. What Do You Think?
Identify at least five ways that research is used in public relations.

7. Using Research Ways to use research
Achieve credibility with management
Define/segment publics
Formulate strategy
Test messages
Prevent crises
Monitor competition
Generate publicity
Measure success

8. Research Methods Types of Research Secondary research Primary research
Existing information
Primary research
New/original information
Qualitative
Exploratory, rich data, often not generalizable
Focus groups, in-depth interviews, observation
Quantitative
Descriptive/explanatory, often generalizable
Mail surveys, telephone polls

9. What Do You Think?
What are the advantages of using a telephone survey?
Why can a phone survey be problematic?

10. Qualitative vs. Quantitative

11. Research Techniques Organizational materials
Library and online databases
Internet
Content analysis
Interviews
Focus groups
Copy testing
Scientific sampling methods

12. Random Sampling
Everyone in the target audience has an equal chance of being selected.
Nonprobability sample is not random.
Most precise random sample is selected from list naming everyone in the target audience.

13. Sample Size
Usually a sample of 250 to 500 people will provide data with a 5 to 6 percent margin of error.
A sample of 100 people will provide about a 10 percent margin.

14. Sample Size Matters

15. Reaching Respondents Mail questionnaires Telephone surveys
Personal interviews
Piggyback surveys
Web and surveys
(human subjects note)

16. Planning: The Second Step
Planning must be strategic and systematic.
Planning involves the coordination of multiple methods.

17. Approaches to Planning
MBO
Ketchum’s Strategic Planning Model: Facts, goals, audience, key message

18. Eight Elements of a Program Plan
Situation
Objectives
Audience
Strategy
Tactics
Calendar/timetable
Budget
Measurement

19. Achieving credibility with management, defining audiences and segmenting publics, formulating strategy, testing messages are some reason why PR professionals use:
research

20. The use of existing information in books, articles, and electronic databases is known as _____ research
secondary

21. What would be some typical types of qualitative research?
focus groups, in-depth interviews, observation, role-playing studies…

22. As a research technique, ______ are widely used to help identify attitudes and motivations of important publics and To formulate or pretest message themes.
focus groups

23. When everyone in the target audience has an equal chance of being selected for the survey, this is
random sample

24. The most precise random sampling is usually done from:
lists that essentially includes everyone in the targeted audience.

25. The first element in a public relations plan is a:
situation analysis

26. What are some of the questions should one ask when establishing a program objective?
Does it really address the situation? Is it realistic and achievable? Can its success be measured in meaningful terms?

27. What are the elements of Ketchum’s Strategic Planning Model?
See Page 104

28. A budget is usually divided into what two categories?
staff time and out-of-pocket expenses

29. Analysis of key messages, number of brochures distributed, or market share increase are all examples of what stage in the public relations planning process?
Measurement

30. Public relations programs should be directed to what kinds of audiences or publics?
specific and defined

31. The systematic and objective categorizing of content is known as:
content analysis

32. Quantitative / qualitative
______research usually produces “hard” data while ____ research is said to produce “soft” data
Quantitative / qualitative