ADPR 3850 1nd Edition Exam 2 Study Guide Lectures 7 14 Lecture 1 Research Research is the first part of the PR process Effective public relations is done in which crucial steps Research planning communication and measurement Define research Research is the systematic investigation of a problem that involves gathering evidence to make inferences It provides the information required to understand the needs of publics and to develop powerful messages Describe the three types of research 1 Exploratory typically focus groups that are used to understand a reaction to a policy or program Also used for pretesting products services There are many variations tested in this type of research Exploratory research tests for Cognitive association Different meanings for words scenarios etc Pronunciation for example the brand must be easy to pronounce to the publics or they will not want to purchase 2 Descriptive this is usually what goes into specific reports or ratings and is based on interview Internet panel It s audience research research of competition within markets research of market shares etc Very specific 3 Explanatory Tries to explain why certain people do things or why certain age groups think a certain way In the BMW example if asking the question of Why do people drive BMW s based on research men around the age of 44 are thrill seekers Why is evidence always gathered with some chance of error Because there is never absolute certainty Some findings hold within some margin error What is primary research Information gathered by the researchers through person to person interaction or is original information generated through a research project It is directed to answer specific questions Primary research is gathered through meetings one on one interviews focus groups and or surveys What is secondary research This is information gathered through available literature publications broadcast media and any other non human sources It s easier to obtain than primary research Uses existing information Describe quantitative research versus qualitative research Quantitative Numerically based research with larger samples of respondents This is hard data that usually uses close ended questions and requires forced choices Very structured Usually projectable to larger audiences Generally uses random samples Valid and reliable Data collection is controlled objective and based off systematic observations Qualitative soft data Non numerical research to seek insights uses open ended questions and is unstructured Data collection is uncontrolled subjective and based off random observations The validity is assumed and not specifically determined Rarely projectable to larger audiences Generally uses nonrandom samples Exploratory in nature When is qualitative research used When you re in new territory and little is known When customer perceptions or attitudes may be hidden from easy view When the product category may represent unspoken meaning to buyers To generate ideas for products advertising or brand positioning To feed a formal idea generation process To screen ideas and concepts When is quantitative research used Online telephone or mail surveys Random sampling area probability snowball and done by what is convenient Mode can be in person telephone emailed or mailed Analysis is required The experiments of quantitative research answers questions about cause effect relationship meaning variables are manipulated and outcomes are measured Why are focus groups beneficial Interviews are very expensive to conduct and focus groups are very cost effective It s the gathering of 510 people who are chosen based on their relevance to the study It s a guided discussion designed to explore a topic of special interest to respective client researcher What is the best way to construct survey questionnaire Know these components of construction Carefully consider wording Avoid loaded questions these are questions that use highly charged words to elicit an emotional reaction from the respondent called advocacy research Consider timing and context at times responses are influenced by events Avoid the politically correct answer This is a result of courtesy bias when questions are designed to elicit the correct response Give a range of possible answers Use scaled answer sets yes and no are not good answers because you don t have all information Strongly agree and strongly disagree scaled answers enable the sureveyor to measure the depth of feeling among respondents How does academic research differ from applied research Academic research is funded through universities or foundations in order to answer broad theoretical questions This is a very shared type of research and the data collected is property of the respective university Applied research is funded by corporate or political sponsors to answer specific questions This is targeted towards solving a direct problem This type of research can be conducted by universities as well data just remains property of client What are the three types of interviews 1 Structured Interviews there is a strict interview schedule and is similar to a survey in that the informants don t guide the interviewer 2 Semi structured Interviews these begin with a key set of questions for the interview but it allows the speaker to expand on their thoughts and wander from the agenda 3 Unstructured Interviews much freedom This is usually free flowing conversation used to pull information What is cross sectional research Research based on a sample drawn at a single point in time What is longitudinal research Research based on one or multiple samples with measurements taken at multiple points in time Trend studies panel studies and cohort studies are a type of longitudinal research Describe how those work Trend studies focus on particular trends Panel studies is when a certain group of individuals is tracked over a period of time and then the data is collected based on the changes over time Cohort studies looks at several groups and their trends over time Age cohorts is an example of this What are the types of probability sampling 1 Simple Random Sampling SRS E Every element and every combination of elements has an equal chance of being selected This requires a list of sampling units This means there should be a list of all people There has to be access to census data or a complete class list 2 Systematic Sampling E Choose a starting point and every nth unit is chosen to be selected The problem here is