1. Introduction to Public Relations
Week 6:
Research: Understanding Public Opinion
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2012 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.

2. 5-2
PART TWO: THE PROCESS
Week 6 Chap. 5, focus is…
RESEARCH STRATEGIES
We will study why
research is important in
public relations and the
techniques used to
conduct this research in
order to obtain valid
results.

3. 5-3
Today’s Learning Objectives are…

Know what types of research techniques are used
by public relations practitioners

Know how to conduct research for public relations
campaigns.

Understand why research is important.

4. 5-4
What Is Research?
Research in public relations is a cyclical process through
which practitioners:
•
•
Monitor the environments of organizations and their publics.
•
•
Measure the productivity of public relations efforts.
Identify and track events and trends that may influence public
relationships.
Provide data to enhance the program’s efficiency and
effectiveness.
In short – Research means “gathering information” & can be Formal (scientific)
OR Informal (nonscientific)

5. 5-5
What Research
Can Do
1) Monitor
Environment
2) Identify & Track
Events
3) Measure
Productivity
4) Enhance Efficiency
& Effectiveness

6. 5-6
The Role of Research
Research enables practitioners to:
•
Identify and define publics involved in specific
problems.
•
Pretest messages and media to ensure that programs
will produce the best possible results.
•
•
Evaluate the results of programs and campaigns.
Design and execute follow-up activities.

7. 5-7
Questions to Begin Research
• What preliminary
research is needed?
• Which formal
research techniques
do you need?
• Survey
• Content analysis
• Experimental
• Other

8. 5-8
Preliminary Research
We often begin by doing Informal (secondary/nonscientific)
research such as:
•Libraries
•Databases
•Internet
•Electronic Publications
•Government Documents and websites
•Professional Organizations
For more in depth information, read Lattimore et. al (2013,
4th Ed.), from pages 98 - 102

9. 5-9
Libraries
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Academic journals
Government documents
Directories and reference works
Professional and trade publications
Newspapers and periodicals

10. 5-10
Databases
• Academic Universe [consisting primarily of periodicals]
• Dialog [a gateway to hundreds of databases – the
industry’s largest]
• ERIC [a repository for academic research]
• JSTOR [a digital library of academic journals, books,
and primary sources]

11. 5-11
THE INTERNET
PROVIDES ACCESS TO
…
• Search engines
• Online publishers/encyclopedias (Wikipedia,
About.com, Ask.com etc.)
• Governmental agency databases
• Professional and business web sites
• Corporate web sites
Watch: Using Google Consumer Surveys for PR research

12. 5-12
Governmental Agencies
•
Information compiled by governmental agencies at
all levels is accessible via the Internet. Included are
databases from…
•
•
Legislative bodies such as the…
• U.S. Congress
• state legislatures
• both county and municipal lawmaking bodies
Regulatory agencies at all levels:
• Federal Food and Drug Administration
• local zoning boards

13. 5-13
Professional And Business
Organizations
Many organizations maintain Web sites that
may contain …
• Survey data dealing with their industries and/or
members.
• Archives of their publications and other materials.
• Links to other sites or files containing information of
value to practitioners.

14. 5-14
Preliminary Research
Techniques
•
Analyzing file records or news clippings
•
Interviewing key contacts (salespeople) or centers of
influence
•
Organizing committees or study panels
•
Using focus groups or national polls
•
Practicing ‘casual monitoring’ through phone calls, email, letters

15. 5-15
Using Recorded Information
Personnel
Records
Sales Records
Production
Records
Sales Records
Here are some various
types of organizational
records.
You could also include
attendance records.

16. 5-16
Regulatory, Governmental Records
Every organization operates under Federal,
state, county and municipal regulations.
Regulation generates two types of records:
•
•
From Putrajaya…
Those maintained by
organizations to comply with
regulations.
Those maintained by
governmental and regulatory
bodies.
Most are available for public inspection
under state and Federal ‘sunshine’ laws.
…to State/Local Councils

17. 5-17
Centers of Influence
•
•
•
Elected and appointed officials of all governments
•
Clergymen, educators and leading members of other
disciplines
Executives and owners of business organizations
Elected leaders of civic, fraternal and community
organizations
These are key contacts for a PR practitioner, and are known as opinion
leaders in the community, industry or organisation

18. 5-18
SPECIAL COMMITTEES IN
PUBLIC RELATIONS
Decision makers and opinion leaders can be
assembled regularly or on an ad hoc basis to help
organizations:
•
Identify issues before they
•
•
become problems.
Suggest alternative courses of
action.
Provide objective views of
matters that are difficult for
‘insiders’ to evaluate.

19. 5-19
FOCUS GROUPS ARE …
•
•
Most commonly used in qualitative
research.
Usually composed of small numbers of
individuals…
•
who share one or more demographic
characteristics

20. 5-20
Use Open-ended Questions with
Focus Groups
•
•
Interviewed using openended questions to
prompt interaction and
gain insight into their
attitudes, opinions and
beliefs.
Usually videotaped so
that researchers can
examine nonverbal as
well as verbal
expressions.

21. 5-21
Casual Monitoring
•
Public relations practitioners often monitormonitored that
Print and electronic news reports, information
routinely comes to their attention, including:
for quantity and quality of coverage.
•
Incoming mail, telephone calls, sales reports
and other documents.
•
Content of business and industry publications,
trade association reports, and the like.

22. 5-22
MOST USED RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
Informal research techniques are most often used by
practitioners. The six listed most often in one study:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Literature searches and electronic retrieval
Publicity tracking
Telephone/mail surveys with simple cross-tabs
Focus groups
Communication audits
Secondary analysis studies

23. 5-23
Formal Research Techniques
•
•
•
Survey Research--this is the
formal tool used 90% of the
time in public relations.
Content Analysis--statistical
sample of content
Experimental--Used some
with control groups.
Each technique offers
potentially different results
that vary in reliability.
For more in depth information, read Lattimore et. al (2013,
4th Ed.), from pages 103 - 105

24. 5-24
Survey Research
• Most survey research
is designed to…
• Identify and/or categorize members
of one or more publics.

25. 5-25
Content Analysis
Content analysis is a process through which
information can be converted into quantitative
data. The process applies equally to:
• Printed materials of all kinds
• Transcripts of broadcast information
• Transcripts of focus group interviews
How does it work?

26. 5-26
CONTENT ANALYSIS: A THREE-STEP
PROCESS
1.
Representative samples are drawn from sets of documents
or other sources
(e.g. 8 news articles from 5 major newspapers on
Nestle’s
CEO commenting that access to water is
not a human right)
2.
Selected items are searched for key words and sorted by
such factors as length, tone and position in the publication
(e.g. front page news in 3 media, 2 half-page
articles, a small column in 3 others, keywords/phrases
such as “CEO is greedy/inhuman in 4 media articles,
3 agree that water should be commercialised and
privatised, and 1article is neutral)
3.
Resulting data are analyzed over time or in comparison to
other data sets (e.g., for contrary opinions, negative
backlash, supportive parties)

27. 5-27
Experimental Research
Experimental research encompasses…
• Laboratory experiments conducted in controlled
environments to minimize external factors
• Field experiments, in which control is sacrificed to
observe reactions to real environments.

28. 5-28
Experimental Research
Pretests Channels
Experimental research in public
relations usually deals with pretesting communication channels
and their content, as in brochures
and newsletters to determine their
effectiveness and also garnering
valuable feedback.

29. 5-29
Survey vs. Experimental Research
• Survey research in public relations examines the
attitudes and opinions of audience members.
• Experimental research in public relations usually deals
with pre-testing communication channels and their
content, as in brochures and newsletters.

30. 5-30
Populations and Samples
Systematic research almost always deals with
samples drawn at random from specified publics.
Random sampling is …
• Based in probability theory
• Used to ensure that results can be generalized to the
larger population

31. 5-31
Five Types of Sampling
 Simple random sampling allows each member of a population
an equal chance to be selected
 Systematic sampling uses a list or directory to select a random
sample
 Stratified random sampling, in which the population is divided
into two groups and samples are drawn from each
 Cluster sampling, in which groups rather than individuals are
selected at random
 Quota sampling, in which fixed numbers of individuals are drawn
from sub-groups
For more in depth information, read Lattimore et. al (2013,
4th Ed.), page 107

32. 5-32
More Research Terms
Research.mp4
Click on the picture above to hear Rick Fischer, Professor of Public
Relations at the University of Memphis, explain some more research
terms in PR.

33. 5-33
ANOTHER RESEARCH OPTION…
• PR practitioners often
outsource for their
research needs.
• Marketing Research
Services, Inc. is an
example of a research
contractor. The Nielsen
Company is another
popular option.

34. 5-34
IN SUMMARY…
Research is an important part of any public relations
effort. Public relations professionals must be able to
measure the effects of their work and make reasonable
predictions about future success if they wish to influence
managerial decisions in most organizations today.
Public Relations Practitioners have many research
techniques available to them to study their publics and
find out the best way to communicate their messages.

35. Tasks to Accomplish this week…
• Your 3rd Online Quiz will start Monday, 30th December,
from 12pm onwards.
• Individual task – Researching Issues for PR Campaigns
(instructions on the next slide)

36. Tasks to Accomplish this week…
Researching Issues for PR Campaigns: Complete the following
tasks below in a Word Document and send to me by Saturday 4th
January before 6.00pm 1)BMW Malaysia hired your PR company to run a PR campaign on
road safety for children in Malaysia. You will need to gather information
on the latest accident statistics to help you in planning an effective PR
campaign. Based on this week’s lecture, what are the research
methods you will use to do this?
2)McDonald’s Malaysia has recently devised a new burger and has
instructed its PR department to engage with customers to get feedback
on the new burger before it is announced to the public. Promotional
materials for the new burger has also been made and you would also
like to gauge the effectiveness of these materials. What would be the
best methods for you to gather the required information? Give 3
examples.

37. Tasks to Accomplish this week…
3)
HSBC Bank and Stanchart are rival UK-based banks who are
competing with each other to take over and acquire RHB Bank, a
local Malaysian bank. A lot of media attention has been focused on
this issue, highlighting both the positive and negative impact should
the major concerns among not just the customers, but the 3,000
employees of RHB Bank. RHB Bank has engaged your PR
consultancy to:
i.
ii.
iii.
gauge and find out what the media has been saying about the merger so that
it can assign its internal PR department to issue the appropriate response.
Assess the reaction of the existing RHB customers about the impending
merger and determine whether they are supportive or against the merger, and
what were their immediate concerns.
Lastly, obtain feedback from RHB’s current employees to ascertain their
general feeling and concerns about the merger so that they can help address
their employees’ fears and anxieties over the merger, especially after a
rumour has spread that 1,000 employees from RHB will be retrenched once
the merger is complete. They would also like to ascertain which bank, HSBC
or Stanchart, that their employees are more positive and confident with.
List and explain the best research methods you can adopt to get
information for each of the 3 tasks that RHB wants you to do.