The document discusses research methods used in public relations, including formative and summative research, situation analysis, segmentation of publics, quantitative and qualitative research approaches, and reliability and validity. It also examines using utilitarianism as an ethical framework for public relations research.

1. Research
Chapter 5

2. Key learning outcomes
• Explain the role of formative and summative research in the R-
P-I-E cycle.
• Describe the contents of a situation analysis.
• Strategically segment publics.
• Compare the costs and benefits of various research methods.
• Differentiate between reliability and validity.
• Evaluate utilitarianism as an ethical principle for public
relations research.
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
2

3. Research in the R-P-I-E cycle
• Researching
• Planning
• Implementing
• Evaluating
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
3

4. Research in the R-P-I-E cycle
• Formative research
When research comes at the beginning of the planning
process, or during the implementation of a plan, it is
known as formative research.
• Summative research
Summative research is when you’ve reached an end or
stopping point in your campaign and you want to
answer the question, “Did it work?”
• Situation
An effective situation analysis leads to a clear, concise
problem or opportunity statement on which the client
or organization and the team representing them agree.
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
4

5. Research in the R-P-I-E cycle
• SWOT analysis
SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats.
• Resources for situation research
Gaining a deeper understanding of a situation requires
digging for information of substance beyond an
Internet search.
• Organization
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
5

6. Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
6

7. Research in the R-P-I-E cycle
• Mission statements provide a sense of the
organization’s values and culture.
• Resources for organization research include
written documents to aid learning about an
organization:
• Any written history
• The organization’s charter and bylaws
• A flow chart or other description of the
organizational structure
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
7

8. Research in the R-P-I-E cycle
• Publics: understanding not just the interests of your own
organization, but also the interests of your publics
• Internal and External
• Employees and members are almost always thought of
as internal publics.
• External publics are outside of the organization.
• Theory: latent, aware, active
• Grunig’s situational theory of publics
• According to Kurt Lewin, “There is nothing so practical
as a good theory.”
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
8

9. Case Study
Applying the Situational Theory
of Publics: Net Neutrality
Net neutrality is the idea that a free
and open internet “means that
Internet service providers may not
discriminate between different kinds
of content and applications online,”
according to Free Press’s “Save the
Internet” Campaign.
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
9

10. Other ways of segmenting
publics
• Primary public
• Secondary publics
• Tertiary publics
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
10

11. Other ways of segmenting
publics
Resources for research on publics
• Results of prior surveys
• Publicly available databases, including census data
• Market research reports
• Media lists
• News stories or online reports about key publics
• Social media accounts of representatives of key publics
• Records an organization has kept on past communication with
key publics
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
11

12. Quantitative research
• When numbers and statistics accompany the results of research, it
is considered quantitative.
• Surveys
• Experiments
• Treatment and control groups
• Content analysis
• Words or symbols
• Characters
• Time and space
• Items
• Content analysis also can reveal themes and underlying
messages in communication. Stacks calls this latent content.
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
12

13. Qualitative research
Qualitative research answers open-ended questions that can’t be
answered with numbers alone.
• Interviews
• Focus groups
• Direct observation
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
13

14. Secondary and primary research
• When public relations strategists explore census data, read
market research reports, search for blogs or news stories on
the Web or review research from past case studies, they are
conducting secondary research.
• Primary research is when you design research and collect your
own data for communication planning.
• Secondary research is when you reuse research and data that
has already been collected.
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
14

15. Formal and informal
research
• You can conduct informal surveys, informal experiments, and
informal content analysis.
• Two of the biggest factors driving decisions about research are
reliability and validity.
• Reliability refers to how well a particular research technique can
be applied multiple times and yield comparable data.
• Validity refers to the accuracy of a measurement or observation
in reflecting what the researcher intends to measure or observe.
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
15

16. Ethics
Utilitarianism
In democracies, ideas are often judged based on the question of
which course of action will do the greatest good for the greatest
number of people. In philosophy, this approach to decision
making is called utilitarianism.
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
16

17. Summary
• Explain the role of formative and summative research in the R-
P-I-E cycle.
• Describe the contents of a situation analysis.
• Strategically segment publics.
• Compare the costs and benefits of various research methods.
• Differentiate between reliability and validity.
• Evaluate utilitarianism as an ethical principle for public
relations research.
Kelleher,PublicRelations,1e
OxfordUniversityPress
17