A PR Program That Doesn’t Teach Communication Research?

OK, I’m going to rewrite the definitions of malpractice and malfeasance in this post. My point is to address a concern / question posed by Alan Chumley, Vice-President for Business Development at Cormex Research, in his post - “Why do so few PR programs have research courses? at his blog Measurement PRoponent / PRomulgator.

Chumley notes the differences in PR education programs, particularly higher education, between different countries and, I am projecting my own thoughts, different business cultures.

First, let us note that Chumley’s observation is, in his own words, unconfirmed and perhaps based upon anecdotal (or unreferenced / linked to) observations. So, my premise is more along the lines of , “What if it is true?”

Chumley writes:

… (an individual) and some colleagues, as part of a group project, had looked at how many PR diploma or post-grad certificate programs in Ontario included a formal course on research. Surprisingly few was the answer.

Now, I don’t want this to turn into a “beat up on Canada post” because I’m pretty confident this situation likely exists in other countries, and perhaps even in some programs in the U.S. Also, Canadians are nice. I like them.

How widespread it is, I don’t know. However, I believe when I get to the office I can find references to the accreditation requirements for U.S. higher education programs. I am confident that a course in research is required. But, I’ll have to check first. The AJEMC site is down right now. Sorry, I don’t keep these things on file in my mind.

My take would be the following:

• All successful communication starts with an understanding of your audience.
• A coherent and relevant understanding of your audience starts with research of said audience.
• So, any effort to teach how to communicate successfully must include a course in research.

Come on, these are basic tenets of communications - “the discipline that studies the principles of transmitting information and the methods by which it is delivered (as print or radio or television, etc.).” (Source)   Read more

The Social Media News Release and News Room are Heuristic :: Help Us

This post is about the good ideas that have been generated re: PR, social media, news releases and more. What my students desire is to see how journalists are reacting to all of these new ideas. Media relations is, after all, a large part of many PR practices. We have yet to see any significant research (actually, no research at all) as to whether the new approaches will work. So help us, please.

An heuristic effort is one that “encourages a person to learn, discover, understand, or solve problems on his or her own, as by experimenting, evaluating possible answers or solutions, or by trial and error: a heuristic teaching method.” We need your help in pursuing research on the issues of hreleases and social media newsrooms.

What we are seeing in the hrelease, social media press release and social media news room efforts are experiential learning activities. It is collaboration. It is the essence of what this interactive conversational media represents. Just read the conversations it has generated.

I love these learning and experimental efforts. I’m often confused, even saddened, by the way they are so quickly written off by observers. To me, blogging and wikis and all of the interactive online dialogs are the best part of the WWW. In fact, the best part of blogging to me has been the wide variety of ideas and opinions it opens up to students. That is why I’m so happy that so many PR practitioners are choosing to blog.

So, whether we are talking about Todd Defren at PR Squared and his Social Media Newsroom Template or his “Social Media Press Release” Template; or, Chris Heuer’s Idea Engine and Brian Solis at PR 2.0 - Silicon Valley and all of the people involved in the Social Media Club … it is all one big collaboration.

Comments and input from those like Brian Oberkirch about “The Case for hRelease” and Tom Foremski’s rant on the press release and attempts to change it are all equally important.

Phil Gomes, Rick Murray and Ming Lee at Edelman have given us StoryCrafter and Shannon Whitley has given us PRX Builder.

Everyone is learning. I don’t think any of the participants in the collaborations actually purports to have all the answers. Now, my students want in on the action in a little deeper inspection of all these ideas.

What is the one of the important things that is missing? The research to see how journalists will react to these new ‘animals’ like the hrelease, newsroom and social media in the PR/Journalist symbiotic relationship, overall. My students have done research on social media adoption by newspapers. Now, this semester, they are embarking on research to see how journalists react to these new approaches.

Anyone want to participate? Want to help us, please?

Leave a comment and we can hook you up with the student group that is doing the research. Anyone that may provide contacts and introductions to national journalists in the top 50 newspapers, for instance, will likely help the students achieve a more successful survey effort.  In their previous efforts, it was easier to get through to the 51-100 top markets.

My hope is that three different research teams will focus on three different groups of journalists. Those are:

• local journalists in a regional area, like Alabama, or any other state,
• national journalists in the top 50 newspapers,
• one specific trade group or market segment - to be determined.

What are your thoughts? This way we’ll have an idea of the viability in a large section of PR that seems to go unnoticed in these discussions - local PR practitioners and journalists. We’ll also address national media. The trade group, or market, can be anyone’s choice - as long as we can get to a significant respondent pool.

Wouldn’t it be nice to see if these people actually find benefits in all these new tools or approaches?  How about gathering their input as to ways the approaches might be improved to increase acceptance and adoption by journalists. Or, we might just find that they aren’t desired at all. Who knows … until we ask.

I’m just testing to see if merely posting this in a blog will bring in participants, by the way. We’re going forward with it regardless. But, we’d love to have help and guidance. Thanks.

Do You Want Some Free Survey Research?

For Spring semester, the survey research class is seeking clients.

So, I’m going to try something new here. Do you need some survey research done for your organization? We might be able to help you.

We have the ability to perform surveys either by online data collection or phone collection. We do not want to do any research that has open access to the survey instrument online. This must be research among a predefined audience that we may contact.

The potential respondent pool isn’t necessarily a deal breaker, but we would prefer a potential respondent pool of 500, or so. However, if you have known group of influencers or stakeholders (for instance) you wish to survey, we will consider that group, too.

If the survey is online, we will do it via a Secure Form Link and build in a process to restrict your form with a password in order to control multiple submissions.

If the survey is by telephone, we will use online data capturing software filled in by the interviewers. However, it will be secured so only you and the survey team will have access to it.

I cannot promise we will accept your project, but we’re open to all who might wish to offer a project for consideration.

Ideally, we would like to work with a public relations and/or marketing firm, nonprofit organization, government agency or a corporation/business. We’ll have to talk, of course, and work out details. Also, the client must be available to interact with the students in multiple phone conferences, if not in person.

So, anyone game out there?

Fard Johnmar Envisions Healthcare Blogging Survey

Fard Johnmar shares news of his healthcare blogging survey. I encourage you to share this information with anyone you know in healthcare, particularly those involved in marketing communications.

I included the entire press release below because it has a certain “new media release” flavour to it .

Sidenote: Shel Holtz and others have launched a podcast about the new media release movement. It is called NMRCast and can be found on Shel’s blog.

Now, here is Fard’s release on the “Taking the Pulse of the Healthcare Blogosphere” survey. Please check it out.

Read more

Posts about surveys :: Look deeper before you believe

Surveys are fun to read and fun to write about. Just as in traditional media, too often when the surveys are presented in blogs, a lot is left out. There is often little, if any, discussion of the background, possible motives for the survey, methodolgy and how the results are reported. This echo effect - just publishing the results - may lead to a misrepresentation of the true character of the survey. It could be taken as endorsement. It may also lead people to believe something is true when that truth has yet to be proven.

For instance, Steve Rubel is writing about a corporate blogging study from a competitor. I’ve got a few questions, so, I ask:

OK, Steve. Your cut-n-paste skills are up to par. But, what do you think of the conclusions of the survey? You post it, but do not discuss it. I’m often curious when people post things without any thoughts shared. You know, is there a motive involved? Or, is this just sharing little bits of information? Either way, with his post, I don’t know the answer.

My questions. First, do we have all the information we need to judge whether or not this is a valid survey? Second, as David Maister suggests, should “(these) numbers … be shouted by every PR firm from the rooftops”?

If so, why? I followed the single link on the post Steve offered. I followed links found there and read the posts and claims. There is nothing there, really. Well - except for some claims tied to broad statements citing vague (undefined) percentages. They do not reveal what those percentages represent. No identity of the number of respondents surveyed, the larger potential respondent pool, the types of corporations surveyed, etc. are revealed. So, what - if anything - can we derive from this survey?

Ann Handley wraps herself around “63 percent said…” while not knowing what that 63 percent represents. Is it 63 percent of 30 respondents or 300? Wouldn’t that make a difference as to how much authority I can apply to the survey results? What if it was just 63% of pet food corporations? There are a lot of corporations out there. What business are those corporations in - tech, consumer goods, services? We don’t know, do we.

Please, I beg you. People, do the right thing. The sane thing. Put down the koolaid, folks, until you know what is in it.

What Steve posted, it turns out, is essentially a pitch for a free webinar:

Cymfony and Porter Novelli Announce Free Webinar Highlighting Findings from Corporate Blog Survey to Help Companies Seeking to Capitalize on the Blog Channel.

The full details of the research (which might answer some of those questions above) are apparently going to be provided this week.

On Tuesday, July 25, 2006, at 12:00 p.m. EDT, Cymfony and Porter Novelli will host a free webinar entitled “Corporate Blog Learnings — The Discovery Age.” … A full report on the survey findings will also be available on the July 25 webinar, as well as on Cymfony’s and Porter Novelli’s Web sites.

Now, the examples above come from the PR / Marketing area. I think we’ve all seen examples of survey research reported in more traditional media and the details were brushed over, or entirely left out. This is bad practice, no matter where it occurs.

I’m thinking it would be wise to wait for the details to determine whether or not anything should be embraced as noteworthy and shouted from any rooftops. To their credit, Cymfony/Porter Novelli note:

All efforts were made to reach a broad cross-section of corporate bloggers; however, the corporate blog environment is less mature than the consumer blog environment, creating a challenge in finding corporate blog owners and getting them to answer questions about ROI, resources and strategy.

Now, the emphasis in that last quote is mine. Quite telling, isn’t it? This is a pitch to encourage participation in an immature market. See, now we can derive some idea of the possible motivation behind such research. They want to encourage more participation. They, perhaps, want to sell services to help clients accomplish this task.

So, for my students, I will suggest that all you read online (and everywhere, for that matter) should be investigated a bit before wrapping yourself around it as earth shattering news - or fact. Also, if you take the time to do that little bit of further research on your own part - your blog posts will likely provide a better service to your readers, and a worthwhile learning experience for yourself.

I’d rather read a news story or blog post about such survey research with some form of commentary included by the blogger. Hey, even if I don’t agree with their conclusions, it provides much more food for thought than a blanket cut-n-paste. It is even more important, I believe, for those claiming to be the “thought leaders” to actually include - well - some thought in their posts. What a concept.

1366 Respondents In One Afternoon :: Student Survey Research

Final projects are underway. One of my survey research groups has experienced significant success for their clients.

I’m quite proud of them. Sorry, I can’t reveal the client or the survey focus until after they have completed their work. But, this is quite a significant response. Their entire population (potential respondent pool) is approximately 22,000 people. They were able to reach all of them through email. So far they have a six percent response rate. Pretty good.

With all the talk of late about measurement in PR, I think this illustrates (in our small way) that students are being exposed to appropriate survey research methodology and tactics in the classroom. They will be prepared to implement research for their new employers.

An interesting side story, the students are using an online survey distribution service. When they launched the survey, I was in another class. During the class, the survey was such a success that it actually bounced back 406 results because the account’s limits had been reached. Upon leaving class, I found an email from the students explaining the problem. So, I went in and upgraded the account. I didn’t really need to as they had already reached about 1,000 results (much more than I require). But, I wanted to see how well they would do (they’ve worked so hard). The previous record for a class survey with a similar respondent pool potential was 815, Well, this group blew them out of the water… and their survey isn’t over yet.

Congrats to the group. They are doing a great job. (Update: Overnight their total reached 1,476 total respondents. Add in the 406 that bounced and the group received 1,882 respondents.)
I think this speaks to the increased use and comfort level of certain populations with online services. That previous record was about 4 years ago.

Of course, we will review and publish the results for everyone in the student blogs at the end of the semester. I just wanted to do a quick update to my blog about the ongoing activities.

Testing out Qumana for blog posting.

PR Licensing and PR Measurement - infOpinions? del.icio.us links for 2006-03-04

For PR practitioners, the issue of licensure has been around for a long time. Edward L. Bernays’ final years were spent hoping for some form of PR licensing to take hold in the US. Visit the Museum of Public Relations for a bit of background about Bernays’ work.

Also, from the PRbytes listserv (forgive me, I cannot find the originator of the post), there is an interesting download entitled: PR Measurement Comprehensive Overview.

• Do You Need a License to Earn a Living? You Might Be Surprised at the Answer - New York Times
  So, is this an argument to *not* have PR licensing?
  (tags: professional+licensing PR public+relations credibility faith)
• America’s Career InfoNet: Licensed Occupations
  Kudos to Cyrus in the PRMindshare listserv for tips to this, and the NYTimes article, links.
  (tags: professional+licensing PR public+relations credibility faith)
• PR Measurement Comprehensive Overview
  (tags: PR measurement Public+Relations publicrelations survey+research survey)

WikiStudies :: Defining a research problem

Five good links for you today. We have been discussing Elizabeth Albrycht’s wiki study post at CorporatePR. Her list of WikiStudies links at del.icio.us is particularly interesting. So, the students will be considering the first steps of forming research questions along those lines and posting about it in their blogs. The will be following the principles outlined in their text.

Another great blog I suggest you check out is the new Graduate Observations of Public Relations at WordPress.com. OK, not that new, but new to my students. Check it out. Glad to see some grad students blogging. Congrats!

infOpinions? del.icio.us links for 2006-01-24

• WebJunction - About Wikis
  About Wikis: A good overview of the functionality of a wiki and how to best set one up.
  (tags: wiki collaboration)
• Instiki
  A wiki for your desktop. Just found this and thought I’d give it a try.
  (tags: wikistudies)
• The Bad Pitch Blog
  “A public relations resource from Richard Laermer and Kevin Dugan, since January 2006. Read our Wrath.”
  (tags: PR press+release pitching bad+pitch best+practice worst+practice)

58 Students Begin Blogging

58 new bloggers will be kicking off their blogs this week. I will add them all to the the aggregator where you may easily view excerpts and links to their posts. Right now you’ll see a lot of “Hello World” posts, so be patient for their first posts which will begin shortly.

A different slant on blogging this semester will be evident in some of the blogs. The PR Survey Research group will post once a week. Their goal is to (a) find examples of research - or what is passed off as research - online and critique it, (b) identify best and worst practices, (c) look for transparency and evidence of methodology being clearly revealed, (d) critique the instrument and (e) general analysis of the value of the research effort.

An interesting part of this will be that the students currently do not know much about survey research. I willl be interested to see how their analysis improves throughout the semester. This puts a lil’ pressure on them, but also puts a great deal on me, too.

The PR Messages in Style & Design class will be posting to their blogs twice a week and each post must have a direct relation to current PR/Marcom issues and trends. I prefer that they focus on areas of PR/Marcom of particular interest to their future career paths, how they might implement new media/social media in practice, and what they feel are the most pressing issues for PR/Marcom, overall. Respectful, yet in-depth, critique and/or praise is expected in all of their observations.

Surveys (again): Allan Jenkins - he got “the bug letter”

Oh, this one is soooo funny if a cow read these posts milk would come out of its nose. Sorry, Allan. I had to put my own colloquial regional phrase in there, too.

Please read, in order, the following three posts from Allan Jenkins at Desirable Roasted Coffee. And cue the theme music Who Let The Dogs Out.

Is Bacon’s Information, Inc utterly clueless? I’d say it’s possible

Cluelessness & Bacon’s: to finish the story

Bacon’s Information & Cluelessness (”it was an error in judgement…” says Bacon’s Senior VP)

Then read this Snopes Urban Legend history lesson.

Allan got “the bug letter”.

Thanks to Jeremy Pepper for the links. Very funny stuff. And, yet another ’survey research’ lesson learned - the hard way.

Society for New Communications Research - Society for New Communications Research Launches

Well, I find the EUPRERA survey and PR academic directory, yesterday. That, alone, was a great thing to see. But, when it rains it pours. Today I learn of the Society for New Communications Research. A Society for New Communications Research. Thanks to Jeremy Pepper for the heads up.

Check it out:

Society for New Communications Research Launches :: International, Multidisciplinary Consortium to Study the Impact of New Media & Participatory Communications

Palo Alto, Calif. - October 31, 2005 - The Society for New Communications Research (http://www.sncr.org), a new international, non-profit think tank, was announced today. The group was formed to provide a forum for research and education and a source of expertise focused on the broad theoretical and practical implications surrounding new communications methodologies, tools and technologies.

Vision

To be the leading think tank for the advanced study of new communications tools, technologies and emerging modes of communication, i.e. blogs, wikis, RSS, podcasts, collaborative tools and the growing phenomena of participatory communications and their effect on traditional media, marketing, public relations and advertising, as well as their broader impact on business, politics, entertainment, culture, education, religion and society.

Mission

To investigate, develop, share and transfer in-depth and forward-facing insights resulting from our deep ongoing study, learning, and continuous mastery of new communications tools and technologies with the academic community and industry for the promotion of best practices.

Their Planned Activities:

In-depth Research Studies
Whitepapers & Case Studies
Best Practices & Standards Development
Industry Education: via Face-to-face events, Teleseminars, Podcasts, Videocasts, Publications
Journal of New Communications Research
Annual Research Symposium & Awards program

The journal idea sounds particularly interesting. All of it sounds great, actually.

Next Page »