This is the fourth step: MeasurementMeasurement has multiple meanings in public relationsMeasurement is the evaluation of results against agreed upon objectives established during planningEvaluation improves the public relations processIt is also the manner by which we collect PR related dataThis is how you really tell if you were successfulBasic evaluation questionsAdequately planned?Message understood?How could strategy have been more effective?Audiences reached?Objectives achieved?What was unforeseen?Budget met?Future improvements?Objectives: A prerequisite for measurementMeasurement becomes difficult without having developed a clearly established set of measurable objectivesInformal objectives may need to focus on “message dissemination” or “audience exposure”Motivational objectives may require public opinion surveys to determine how audience attitudes shiftedBehavioral objectives may require sales dataProper measurement means isolating the campaign as the cause of these changesMeasurement of ProductionCounts how many releases, photos, pitch letters, etc. were made within a specified time frameEmphasize quantity instead of qualityMeasurement of Message of ExposureCompile clippings/mentionsMost widely used metricMedia impressionsPlacement X circulation/viewership/listenershipInternet hitsAdvertising equivalencySpace/time X advertising rate5 inch article at cost of $100 per column inch = $500Information requestsCounting the number of requests for information a campaign generatesCost per personE.g., Super Bowl ads cost a lot, but reach millions of peopleAudience attendanceHow many people attend an event?Measurement of audience awareness, attitudes, and actionAudience awarenessSurveyDay after recallAudience attitudeRelated to awarenessBaseline/benchmark studiesAudience actionThe ultimate objective of any public relations effortMeasure desired behaviorsMeasurement of social mediaSocial media leads—tracking web traffic for all your sources and identifying top sourcesEngagement duration—time spent on your pagesBounce rate—how quickly people “bounce” away from your webpage after being directed thereMembership increase and active network size—how many followers do you have and are they activeActivity ratio—proportion of active to passive membersConversions—are your members subscribing to your new letters, making purchases, etc.?Brand mentions—how often is your brand being mentioned across social media?Loyalty—sharing of content, etc.Virality—also being re-shared?Blog interaction—do people comment on your blog entries?Barcelona PrinciplesA bunch of PR leaders from over 30 countries setting up global standards and practices for measurementsSaying we have neglected measurement side of things for too long and we need to understand its valueDrafted by European based Association for Measurement and Evaluation of Communication (AMEC)Input from PRSA, Global AllianceThe 7 principlesImportance of goal setting and measurementMeasuring the effect on outcomes is preferred to measuring outputsThe effect on business results can and should be measured where possibleMedia measurement requires quantity and qualityAdvertising Value Equivalents do not measure the value of public relationsSocial media can and should be measuredTransparency and replicability are paramount to sound measurementMeasurement and the social sciencesWhat does it mean to “measure”?It’s the process by which we observe both the seen (ex. Height) and the unseen (ex. Attitudes)For the most part, we’ll refer to the concept as a means of quantifying somethingE.g., a “strong conservative” is provided a different numerical value than a “slight conservative”But, why assign numeric values at all?Increased objectivityAllows for statistical tests of the measure’s quality (e.g., reliability)Standardizes how we assess attidutes/behaviors/etc.Levels of measurementNominal categoricalOrdinalInterval continuousratioNominal measuresAka “categorical” or “discrete” dataNominal data categorize something (your gender, race, eye color, etc.)Simples form of measurementsOrdinal measuresCategories have a natural ordering (unlike gender, race, etc.)But, you cannot say anything about the intervals between values in the dataE.g., ordinal data can tell you the order of runners in a race, but it cannot tell you if first place was twice as fast as second placePut differently, the difference between 9 and 10 on a scale may not be the same as the difference between 5 and 6Interval MeasuresAn extension of ordinal data, but with equal intervals between valuesE.g. temperature dataThe difference between 55 and 56 degrees is the same as the difference between 67 and 68 degreesRatio measuresRadio data are interval data, but with an absolute zero valueE.g., temperature when measured in degrees KelvinE.g., age , number of days reading a newspaper (0 to 7)Working across levels of measurementImportant: you can begin with any continuous ratio measure and collapse it down into other categories (interval, ordinal, or nominal), but you cannot take a lower order variable and move upwardsE.g., years of education (ratio variable), can be collapsed into degree level (high school diploma) but not the other way aroundHow might we collapse age into an ordinal measure?Pew age categories:18-29, 29-38, etc.Summary slide: categorical vs. continuous measurescategoricalnominal and ordinalplace observations into classescategories are exclusiveoften reported as counts, percentages, and proportionscontinuousinterval and ratioplaces observations on a continuumassumes the distances between values/classes are equalTypically reported as averages, ranges, standard deviations, medians, etc.ADPR 3850 1st Edition Lecture 11Outline of Last Lecture I. Persuasion, Ethics Outline of Current Lecture II. MeasurementCurrent LectureEmpirical analysis: the act of measuring - This is the fourth step: Measurement o Measurement has multiple meanings in public relationso Measurement is the evaluation of results against agreed upon objectives established during planning  Evaluation improves the public relations processo It is also the manner by which we collect PR related datao This is how you really tell if you were successful Basic evaluation questions- Adequately planned?- Message understood?- How could strategy have been more effective?- Audiences reached?- Objectives achieved?- What was unforeseen?- Budget met?- Future