Thursday, January 30 Lecture 6TODAY: Introduction to “Research”4 Essential steps of effective PRResearchPlanningCommunicationMeasurementUnderstanding researchSo, what do we mean by the terms “research” and “research methods” and why do these terms matter?To know if what you’ve done is effective or evidence to believe it probably won’t workResearch definedResearch is defined as theSystematic investigationOf a problemInvolving gathering evidenceTo make inferencesLook at the 4 aspects more closely…The systematic investigation…We rely on predefined procedures and methodsSurvey questionnaireThey are aware of the order of the questions, predefined to make it run smoothly, order mattersGuidelines for focus groupsCodebook for content analysisEtc.IntersubjectivityIt must be possible for other researchers to replicate our study and come to the same results you are striving to do research in a way so others can replicate your study and more importantly come to the same results…Of a problem…should be empirical, i.e. Should be answered based on observable evidence3 key types of problems:exploratory (e.g. focus groups to understand voters’ reaction to new policies)descriptive (e.g., audience research, research of market shares, etc. )casual (i.e., examining the influence of one variable on another)exploratory research: pretesting product namespretesting brand and product names in different culturesoften, up to 10,000 different variations testedFocus group and survey testing forCognitive associationsDifferent meaningsPronunciationWill people buy a product they can’t pronounce?E.g., Ford Probe translates into Ford Trial in GermanAn example of descriptive research: Nielsen Web Ratings (Based on Netview Internet Panel)First table states percent growth in unique audience going to YouTube, the percent growth in number of pages viewed and the time they spent there (from January to June in 2006)  YouTube took offSo now you want to put content on it, worth it because people are going to YouTubeSecond table is about who is going to YouTube June 2006  predominately male, a large portion were ages 12-17Trying to explain why people drive BMWs- Some Explanatory research by Fallon WorldwideSensible enthusiast: 73% male, age: 53, income 138k, Volvo, Mercedes, BMWFlashy fats trackers: 56% male, Age: 43, Income 157k, BMW, Acura, LexusThrill seekers: 76% male, Age: 44, Income 170k, BMW, Corvette, PorscheValue-minded smoothies: 58% male, Age: 55, Income 149k, Lexus, Infinity, Acura PR to predict who will buy their automobile, how to reach these people and who to target…Involving Gathering Evidence…search for social regularitiespredictions about specific publics, larger groups of voters, or consumersnot: predictions about individualsAlways with some chance of errorFindings hold within some margin of error, there’s never absolute certaintyImportant distinction: probabilistic vs. deterministic predictions…Based on samplesmost market and PR research is still based on samples. The goal is to make inferences toA larger populationOther time periodsOther locations/societies This campaign will also work in ___ because their life style is similar to those in ____EX: Voting, when election time comes they do samples on thousands to determine who will win the popular voteA few other distinctions: Academic and Applied ResearchAcademic Research:Often called “basic” researchFunded through universities or foundations in order to answer broader theoretical questionsConducted by academicsData remain property of the researcher but usually can be used by other researchers typically share it with groups/colleeguesApplied Research:Often called “industry” researchFunded by corporate or political sponsors to answer a specific, applied questionConducted byAcademicsResearch departments of larger firmsMarket research or consulting companiesData remains property of the clientA few other distinctions: Qualitative Research v. Quantitative ResearchQualitative“soft” dataOpen ended questions, unstructuredValid but not reliableUses nonrandom samplesCan’t project to larger audeincesEX: focus groups, one on one in depth interviews, observation, participationQuantitative“hard” dataClose-ended questions, highly structuredValid and reliableUses random samplesCan project to larger audiencesEX: telephone polls, mail surveys, face to face interviewsQuantitative ResearchPopular Quantitative Methodologies:Surveys (telephone; mailed; online)Sampling: random, area probability, snowball, convenienceComplexity, length of questionnaireSurvey mode (in person, telephone, email, web)AnalysisExperiments: answers question about cause-effect relationship (i.e., manipulate variables and measure outcomes)Ex. All articles have the same info but different titlesQuestion wording matters: attitudes toward the death penaltyDepending on how you word it and what negative/positive light you put it in, completely changes the responsesIf you do poorly developed questions/wording, it won’t be effective dataBe careful of major events: attitudes toward the death penalty“do you believe in capital punishment, death penalty, or are you opposed to it?”significant increase shortly after bombing of office building in OklahomaExample of an experimental manipulation: the case of framingDaniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky:“perception of ambiguous stimuli is reference dependentB (B or 13?)A B C (B)12 13 14 (13)Qualitative Researchwhen do we use qualitative methods…When you’re in new territory and little is knownExploratory researchWhen customer perceptions or attitudes may be hidden from easy viewWhen the product category may represent unspoken meaning to buyersTo generate ideas for products, advertising, or brand positioningTo feed a formal idea generation processTo screen ideas and conceptsQualitative data provides insights into how and why people think and behave as they doArguably, the most popular methods are…InterviewsParticipant-observationFocus groupsInterviews…Structured interviewUses an interview schedule and adheres fairly strictly to itSimilar to a survey in that the informants don’t really guide the interviewerSemi-structuredBegins with a key set of questions for interviewBut, allows informants to wander into interesting territoryLater informants may be asked about these issuesUnstructuredFreedomOne general opening statement and then a free flowFocus groupsGiven high costs of interviews,