Research is essential for public relations to understand how the public perceives an organization and to plan and evaluate PR programs. There are three main types of PR research: applied research which examines specific issues and develops campaigns, basic research which examines underlying processes, and introspective research which examines the field of PR itself. Research informs all aspects of the PR process from defining problems to planning, implementing, and evaluating programs. Evaluation research in particular judges the effectiveness of programs and identifies ways to improve future efforts.

1. 1
Question 5.Public relation research
Introduction
Research is essential element in public relation. Public relations are the act of
communicating to the public in order to create an acceptable image of the company
in which we are working for. This means a public relations professional need to
understand what the public considers an acceptable image, which is often done
through research. It provides the initial information necessary to plan public
relation action and to evaluate its effectiveness. Without research, public relations
would not be a true management function.
Public relations
Public relations (PR) are the practice of deliberately managing the spread
of information between an individual or an organization (such as a business,
government agency, or a nonprofit organization) and the public.
Public relations are used to build relationships with employees, customers,
stockholders, voters, or the general public.
Public relations research
Public relations research is a simple use of communication to persuade public.
Public relations research is an essential part of public relations management.
Types of Public relations research
There are three types of public relations research. These are in the following:
1. Applied research
2. Basic Research
3. Introspective Research
The descriptions of these are given below:

2. 2
1. Applied research
Applied research examines specific practical issues; in many instances, it is
conducted to solve a specific problem. There are two branch of applied research.
These are:
Strategic research
It is a branch of applied research. Strategic research is used to develop public
relations campaigns and programs.
Evaluation research
A second branch of applied research is evaluation research. It is conducted to
assess the effectiveness of a public relations program.
2. Basic Research
Basic research in public relations creates knowledge that cuts across public
relations situations. It is most interested in examining the underlying processes and
in constructing theories that explain the public relations process.
3. Introspective Research
The third major type of public relations research is introspective research, which
examines the field of public relations.
RESEARCH IN THE PUBLIC RELATIONS PROCESS
A leading public relations textbook (Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2006) presents a
four-step model of the public relations process:
1. Defining public relations problems
2. Planning public relations programs
3. Implementing public relations programs through actions and communications
4. Evaluating the program
The descriptions of these are given below:

3. 3
Defining Public Relations Problems
The first phase in the process consists of gathering information that helps define
and anticipate possible public relations problems.
Several techniques are useful at this stage: environmental monitoring (also called
boundary scanning), public relations audits, communications audits, and social
audits.
Environmental Monitoring Programs
Researchers use environmental monitoring programs to observe trends in public
opinion and social events that may have a significant impact on an organization.
Generally, two phases are involved. The early warning phase, an attempt to
identify emerging issues, often takes the form of a systematic content analysis of
publications likely to signal new developments.
The second phase of environmental monitoring consists of tracking public opinion
on major issues.
Public Relations Audits
The public relations audit, as the name suggests, is a comprehensive study of the
public relations position of an organization. Such studies are used to measure a
company’s standing both internally (employee perceptions) and externally
(opinions of customers, stockholders, community leaders, and so on).
The first step in a public relations audit is to list the segments of both internal and
external groups that are most important to the organization.
The second step is to determine how the organization is viewed by each of these
audiences.
Communication Audits
The communication audit resembles a public relations audit but has narrower
goals; it concerns the internal and external means of communication used by an
organization rather than the company’s entire public relations program.

4. 4
Kopec (n.d.) presents a step-by-step guide for conducting both an internal and
external communications audit. For the internal audit, he suggests the following
steps:
1. Interview top management to pinpoint communication problems.
2. Content analyzes a sample of all the organization’s relevant publications and
other communication vehicles.
3. Conduct focus groups and intensive interviews with employees that examine
their attitudes toward company communications. Use this information to develop a
survey questionnaire.
4. Conduct the survey.
5. Analyze and report results to employees.
An external communications audit follows the same procedure, but the focus
groups, interviews, and survey are done among audience members, shareholders,
and other external groups.
Two research techniques generally used in conducting such an audit are readership
surveys and readability studies.
Social Audits
A social audit is a small-scale environmental monitoring program designed to
measure an organization’s social performance—that is, how well it is living up to
its public responsibilities.
Social audits are the newest form of public relations research and the most
challenging.
Planning Public Relations Programs
After gathering the information from the various methods of environmental
scanning, the next step in the process is to interpret the information to identify
specific problems and opportunities that can be addressed by a systematic public
relations program.

5. 5
Implementing Public Relations Programs
The most common type of research during the implementation phase consists of
monitoring the efforts of the public relations program.
Two of the most frequently used monitoring techniques are gatekeeping research
and output analysis.
Gatekeeping Research
A gatekeeping study analyzes the characteristics of press releases and video news
releases that allow them to “pass through the gate” and appear in a mass medium.
Output Analysis
Output analysis measures how well the organization presents itself to others and
the amount of exposure or attention that the organization receives. Several
techniques can be used in output analysis. One way is to measure the total number
of stories or articles that appear in selected mass media.
Evaluation Research
Evaluation research refers to the process of judging the effectiveness of program
planning, implementation, and impact.
Baskin, Aronoff, and Lattimore (1997) suggest that evaluation should be involved
in virtually every phase of a program. Specifically, they propose the following
specific phases:
1. Implementation checking. This phase investigates whether the intended target
audience is actually being reached by the message.
2. In-progress monitoring. Shortly after the campaign starts, researchers check to
see if the program is having its intended effects. If there are unanticipated results or
if results seem to be falling short of objectives, the program might still be
modified.
3. Outcome evaluation. When the campaign is finished, the program’s results are
assessed. These findings are used to suggest changes for the future.

6. 6
Conclusion
Research is essential element in public relation. Research is thorough and
systematic investigation aims to discover or add knowledge or facts or general
rules. Research is the main to any successful public relations, communications
and/or marketing efforts, not only in the business world, but also in the non-profit
and government sectors.
Measuring the Effectiveness of Internet Advertising
The Internet offers a unique advantage over traditional media—the potential for
directly measuring results. Advertisers have always had problems linking exposure
to a given advertisement and a sale.
With the Internet, however, things are different. In addition to simply viewing a
banner ad on a website, consumers can click on that ad and be given more specific
information about a product and even buy it online. Not surprisingly, in addition to
wanting to know how many times websites are visited, advertisers want
information about what viewers do when they are there.
The first type of measurement that was used to determine this information was a
behavioral one, the “click-through,” that measured the number of times a visitor
clicked on a banner ad at the site.
Given these dismal numbers, it is not surprising that researchers looked for ways to
improve the effectiveness of banner ads.
Additional research examined the relative efficacy of different kinds of display ads
including the skyscraper ad.