E-Book Overview
Thousands of public relations (PR) students and professionals have relied on this authoritative text to understand the key role of research in planning and evaluating PR campaigns. Revised and expanded to reflect today's emphasis on standards-based practice, the third edition has a heightened emphasis on setting baselines, creating benchmarks, and assessing progress. Stacks presents step-by-step guidelines for using a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods to track output, outtakes, and outcomes, and shows how to present research findings clearly to clients. Every chapter features review questions and a compelling practice problem. PowerPoint slides for use in teaching are provided at the companion website. Instructors requesting a desk copy also receive a supplemental Instructor's Manual with a test bank, suggested readings, and case studies. New to This Edition: *Chapter on standardization, moving beyond the prior edition's focus on best practices. *Chapter on different types of data sets, with attention to the advantages and disadvantages of using Big Data. *Addresses the strategic use of key performance indicators. *Covers the latest content analysis software. Pedagogical Features: *Each chapter opens with a chapter overview and concludes with review questions. *End-of-chapter practice problems guide readers to implement what they have learned in a PR project. *Appendix provides a dictionary of public relations measurement and research terms. *Supplemental Instructor's Manual and PowerPoint slides.
E-Book Content
ebook THE GUILFORD PRESS
PRIMER OF PUBLIC RELATIONS RESEARCH
Primer of
Public Relations Research THIRD EDITION
DON W. STACKS
THE GUILFORD PRESS New York London
Copyright © 2017 The Guilford Press A Division of Guilford Publications, Inc. 370 Seventh Avenue, Suite 1200, New York, NY 10001 www.guilford.com All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Printed in the United States of America This book is printed on acid-free paper. Last digit is print number: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Stacks, Don W., author. Title: Primer of public relations research / Don W. Stacks. Other titles: Primer of public relations research Description: Third edition. | New York : Guilford Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016015029 | ISBN 9781462522705 (hardcover) Subjects: LCSH: Public relations—Research. Classification: LCC HM1221 .S78 2017 | DDC 659.2072—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016015029
Preface
W
elcome to the third edition of the Primer of Public Relations Research. This book is the product of many years spent attempting to prove that research really does matter in public relations. My treatment is based on the belief that public relations professionals need to understand the research process—not that they will conduct research daily (some will), but that they will have to make important and informed decisions about hiring research firms, evaluating their proposals and end products, and helping to determine how that research benefits the bottom line. The book is a primer for research and presents an analysis, in what I hope is a simple and direct way, of what research is, why it is conducted, and what strategies (methods) are appropriate to answer the questions being discussed. Further, it provides understanding of what statistics are, how they are interpreted, and what they actually tell the professional. The book also offers advice on how to present research finding