Week 11 Reading

'Research and Evaluation' chapter from Public Relations: Theory and Practice, Edited by Jane Johnston and Clara Zawawi

I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were...
Research is a very important part particularly during the development and implementation stages of a public relations plan. Effective planning ensures more successful outputs, and research conducted at the conclusion of the public relations plan can identify the overall effectiveness of the plan. Research needs to be an ongoing part of a public relations plan, this is because management wants to be able to see and evaluate measured results. This is outlined by Seitel (2001: 106 cited in Johnston and Zawawi) who states "...management requires more facts and statistics from public relation professionals to show that their efforts contribute not only to overall organisational effectiveness but also to the bottom line.' Meaning that public relations practitioner's have to be accountable for their plans and research can help prove their effectiveness to their employer, and there success is often reliant on an understanding of your organisation's environment, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of your organisation and your competition, knowing the needs of your organisation's target publics and any other issues that could impact on your organisation. And these things can be discovered through effective research. 'Effective strategic management demands informed and sound judgement based on researched findings.' (Johnston & Zawawi, 2004, p. 139) Research can be a costly part of a public relations plan, however if implemented successfully it can be a very valuable part of any public relations plan. Research can be viewed as inputs, outputs and outcomes. Inputs are outline what goes into the plan, outputs are the elements of the plan such as a newsletter or event and outcomes are the effect the outputs have on the target publics. Research can also be informal or formal, qualitative or quantitative, primary or secondary, and some typical research techniques include interviews, focus groups, ethnographic studies, analysis of data, pre-testing, surveys, media monitoring, statistics, analysis of phone calls, environmental monitoring and more.

The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that
This chapter emphasised the importance of public relations research and evaluation on the success of a public relations plan, and it made me think about all the different research methods that can be employed depending on the appropriateness for your organisation. It also made me think about how research should be the first step you take in your public relations plan, and the way you use it can impact on how valuable your plan is to your organisation.