The importance of research in public relations is really highlighted in this chapter, but while research is a necessity, it's imperative that the right sort of research is conducted. To effectively understand the public you are attempting to reach, and to ensure the message that they receive is clear, research should be conducted.
Because research can be costly, despite it's long-term effectiveness in cost-reduction, it's important to ensure that you are conducting the right kind of research. The best way to ensure that the research is both effective and cost-wise, is to conduct research according to your specific goals and objectives.
While reading this chapter, I started to consider research in the politcal field, mainly because of the upcoming Federal election, and also because I work in this field. Intensive research is constantly being conducted, especially leading up to the election. For politicians/political parties, it's so important to be constantly in touch with their constituents and supporters, to be consistently researching and polling to stay in touch with what the public wants - after all, isn't that how they get the votes?
Interestingly, in my current job working for a local Member of Parliament, we've recently conducted an opinion survey regarding a hot issue that many constituents are concerned about. We conducted a bulk mail out of a survey, and within a day, surveys were being returned by the bucket-load (fun for us who had to sort them all!!!). But the results of the research have helped our MP to ascertain what his constituents want and believe, and to act accordingly. This is the evaluation part of the research, and is equally as important as the research itself. Without effective evaluation, the money and time we just spent conducting the survey, and the time and thoughts of the constituents, are useless.
This kind of research occurs regularly, along with other research (eg media), especially when a new Bill is being considered in parliament. But regardless of whether your PR role is in politics or for some major (or indeed minor) corporation, to get effective results, effective research must be done using effective methods.
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3 comments:
What you said about the mail-out of your survey surprised me. I really didn't think that people would want to send back a survey, using their own time and effort. I suppose it depends on the target demographic. I think that the average uni student or parent working full time and raising two kids wouldn't do it, but elderly people might, or people who only work or study part-time and have more spare time on their hands. I know that most people hate telephone surveys. But maybe people would be more inclined to give answers to telephone surveyors if they spoke english well and didn't call in the middle of dinner.
The importance of research in PR was certainly highlighted by this chapter for me as well Laurie. You're right though, research is useless if it isn't the right sort, and it is imperative that the planning is applicable.
I was interested in how you placed this in a political context. I'll be voting for the first time (federally, that is) and so that realm is relatively new to me.
Surveys like you mentioned are often effective but are usually of the costly variety. Especially in the league of the census, which would be the ABS' own precious research project heh.
Your points on evaluation were also solid and clear, it's clear your line of work has given you a lot of perspective on the significance of research and evaluation. Well done!
Laurie,
I know what it is like sifting through and sorting surveys...not a fun job, however it does offer interesting insights. I really enjoyed how you applied real world examples to this reading..especially given the election year. I agree with your points about how research must be effective and and cost-wise but suggest that it must also be timely - ie how will the MP use the info contained in the surveys in a fashion expected by the constituents?
Another question...how do you sort the junk or donkey survey results?
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