Research. Research and more Research.

Chapter 5- Public Relations Research

Finally, i have started to do my blogs again! Busy with tonnes of weekly assignment and now i have to catch up..lets see..5 weeks worth of readings XD

Already after reading the introduction i am faced with many reasons why research in an important factor in PR. No doubt though, research is important in basically anything we wish to do....well nearly everything. I mean when we get assignments, we research. Before we buy things, we basically ask around and look online to check whether the product is good or not. Thats researching too. As for PR research is vital because every step we take in PR requires us to research. That is fact finding, opinion assessment, message testing, planning, execution, and evaluation. Research helps people to back up findings, to find out new things, and to get a better understanding of things.

According to the book, An Introduction to Public Relations: From Theory to Practice, there are in fact three steps towards thinking like a public relations professional and this includes research BIG TIME!

Step 1-

This requires the person to be able to understand the problem, issue or opportunity. Here we need to ask whether what the overall context is and what type of extra information is required to help develop a good program.

Step 2-

Here research questions need to be framed. In this step we need to know what to find out, what the objective research is, the questions required to help get the information and thinking how to frame the question in a way to get useful material and data.

Step 3-

The final stage is designing the research activity and this involves asking where, or from whom the information and answers can be found. It also involves knowing what must be done to get the information and what can be done after receiving the information.

There are many ways a research can be carried out by a PR executive and these research methods can be particularly helpful and useful to understand things. Two main form of research methods are quantitative and qualitative methods. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses as each is focused to do different things.

Qualitative is in depth research that answers the question "why" and gives the researcher an understanding of how things take place in such a way. It also can be used to go through a wide range of topics and to test people's reactions and responses. Qualitative methods can be conducted by one-to-one interviews or even focus groups, which includes a small group of people to participate in an interview together.

Quantitative on the other hand, is answering "what". Quantitative usually gives numbers and statistics. Quantitative allows the overall feedback of the population, as it gets a big number of people to do the research. Quantitative methods are usually closed ended which gives no room for additional answers to why the result takes place in such a way. One way to do this is quantitative research which is by conducting surveys.

However, there is one other form of method which includes the usage of both quantitative and qualitative methods. This is known as "triangulation". For instance, in a research to understand "smoking habits", quantitative method such as surveys can be created to get a number on how many people smoke in a suburb, while qualitative method such as focus groups can help understand why these people take on smoking. Not only does triangulation help receive proper statistics, it gives a further understanding to what the researcher wants to find out.

After reading on, the chapter helped me to recognize the importance of making sure the information is reliable and relevant. Research should be only carried out if there is a good possibility that the results are to be accurate. There are also things to consider when gathering information such as if the information is primary or secondary sources. Primary sources are research data that are generated by the researchers themselves. On the other hand, secondary sources include sources that have been gathered by other people.

Another thing to take note is that research methods have ow become more advanced as there are new research tools that are being developed all the time. Technology has given the opportunity for researchers to do their research at a a faster rate and low cost. Examples are online surveys, hotline on specific issues, blogs as a qualitative research tool and online databases.

Compared with traditional research methods, people are more keen to undergo new research methods as they can do it anytime and at a time that is convenient for them. People tend to reject surveys that are asked on the street because they don't have the time or patience to spend time answering questions on the street.

After further reading, i also found factors that restrict Public Relations research. One of the main issues is budgets. Often research can be costly, in both measures of money and time. The response on limited budgeting at times is by doing the research only once. The problem is that things usually evolve and change and therefore, something can be missed. If a researcher really wants accurate results, there needs to be ongoing research so that up-to-date information is at hand.

At times, companies may put research as a low priority, because they may feel that the research is not necessary. A company may feel, "Yes it is good to have research" but "No, it may not be necessary". The fact that the company feels this way may also mean that the person who wants to conduct the research did not make a convincing argument for the research to go on.

In other occasions, research is not conducted because there is just not enough time to do so. For a research to happen, there needs to be enough time and money. Allocating the right time and budget is crucial because a research cannot not be done rushed.