PR 3310 Principles of Public Relations

1. PR 3310Principles of Public Relations Thursday, 6/4/09

2. Class Objectives • Hand in Ex. 2- discussion about it • Ethics are at many levels • You may disagree with something that your employer agrees with • Do you quit the job? • For this assignment, YOU may disagree with marketing cigarettes. But there was more to this assignment than expressing your opinions. • What were some past campaigns? (Bernays) • Did you explore media types given the geographic locations? • Are there alternative messages? (Bernays’ campaign was about independence for females) • The point is, we all have opinions. How can we separate ourselves out and examine a topic more objectively? See all sides? (by researching the topic)

3. Class Objectives Lecture Ch. 5, Quantitative research Won’t get access until Friday for Blackboard Homework assignment Read chapter 6

4. What’s in the news today? • http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/04/sports/basketball/04webcohen.html?_r=1&hpw • Congressman is asking NBA to rescind the policy that players can’t enter the NBA until age 19 • Calling it a type of “slavery”! • Saying that soldiers can fight for their country at age 18 but not play in the N.B.A. • Noting that predominantly white sports like hockey, baseball and golf lack similar restrictions. • Issues – essentially forces athletes to go to college even if they don’t want to • Issues – primarily affects poorer African American males • Problem- NBA commissioner want to RAISE age to 20! • Look at how the players’ union publicist responds

5. What’s in the news today? • http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090603/ap_on_go_ot/us_us_nuclear_list • Whoops! A 266 page document that listed U.S. nuclear sites and their activities was accidentally posted on the Government Printing Office website (it’s now removed) • The head of the National Nuclear Security Admin. told a Senate hearing that the sites on the list are of civilian facilities and that none of the information is classified. Still, he said he's concerned the list could provide an "easy locator" for uranium storage sites and other facilities related to the country's civilian nuclear program • An Energy Department official said none of the sites on the list are directly part of the government's nuclear weapons infrastructure • NOTE: all the words did not copy and paste off of this url!

6. Content Analysis • Systematic and objective counting or categorization of information. • Who says what, to whom, why, to what extent and with what effect? • Used to measure the amount of media coverage ad the content of that coverage • circulation, readership, # of viewers/listeners, frequency of publication/program • Book lists under Qualitative Research, but it could be Quantitative as well

7. Content Analysis Example: counting words • A survey was given to ~400 people. • Open-ended questions were asked about the people’s views of their town’s future. • The answers were typed into computer, and a software was used to count the frequency of the words, thereby generating a list of keywords that summarized most respondents’ opinions on this issue.

8. Content Analysis Example: counting content • A study that examined the representation of women in introductory public relations textbooks. • 6 textbooks were used • Photographs, profiles, quotations, and citations were examined to see if they showed or mentioned women. • Findings suggest that women are not represented in introductory public relations textbooks at the percentages at which they represent the field. • These results suggest that the contributions and importance of women to public relations may not be covered in as much detail as would seem justified since the field is a feminized practice.

9. Google News Timeline and Content Analysis • Go to a beta version of Google News Timeline (which is different than Google News) and type in a story name • http://newstimeline.googlelabs.com/ • See how many stories appear, on what days, and who covered them

10. Copy Testing • Pre-testing a message (with a focus group) before the message goes out (on an printed piece, radio spot, etc.) • Focus group is shown dummy advertisements and asked to recall copy points • Post-testing a message after the message is run • Focus group shown a magazine and then asked to comment on advertisements they remember • The use of 2 (or more) messages mailed to selected individuals in the same audience. Can determine which message drew the larger percentage of requests or orders.

11. Copy Testing catches… • Text that is written at too high a level for the target audience • “Readability” of material • Counting syllables and using complex sentences should be for higher level of education • Also can pertain to the design of material; often called “usability” • Size of typeface (font) • Type of typeface • Backlit (monitors) versus no-lit (Kindle)

12. Copy Testing example: effectiveness of a banner adv. • Want to test to see which banner advertisements lure users to an external Web page. • Demonstrate that click-through rate (the %e of visitors to a Web page clicking on an advertisement banner) can vary according to the advertisement copy. • Perform an A/B split run test in which 2 different ads are each shown to half of an audience. • Since the audience, timing, and position are the same for each ad being tested, it's relatively easy to assess an ad's effectiveness.

13. Copy Testing example: Google • Test copy, design, even which color of blue should represent a hyperlink • http://communityseo.com/forums/Glimpse-into-Google-Copy-and-A-B-Testing-t1584.html

14. Quantitative Research • Quantitative research = is to develop and employ mathematical models, theories and/or hypotheses pertaining to natural phenomena. • Research involving the use of structured questions where the response options have been predetermined (closed) • Normally have a large number of respondents • Numbers, objective hard data. • Pros: Generalize to a larger audiecne • Cons: wide coverage, not deep

15. Quantitative Research: Scientific Sampling • Scientific Sampling is all about getting a random sample • Random Sampling Procedures • Also Called Probability Sample : Equal Chance of Being Selected • Often Drawn from List • Quota Sampling Done to Match Characteristics of Sample and Overall Audience

16. Quantitative Research: Scientific Sampling • Size of Sample • National Samples Usually 1000 to 1500 Persons • For PR: Sample of 250 to 500 Yields About 5% Variance • Common to see 100 (try to get randomly selected participants) • For statistics, 60 is lowest

17. Comparison of quant. and qual. • Qualitative Research • Subjective • Rich/deep data • Develops theory • Strives for uniqueness • Purposeful selection of subjects/ participants • Smaller sample size • Quantitative Research • Objective • Numbers • Tests theory • Strives for generalization • Random selection of subjects/ participants • Larger sample size

18. Quantitative Research with human subjects • Very popular is to use questionnaires • Experiments are also quantitative

19. Questionnaire Design • 1. The Problem of Semantics: the meaning of a word, phrase, sentence, or text • Avoid Biased Wording • Timing and Context • Political Correctness • The Answer Categories Can Skew Results • b) Yes-No Answers (binary) • c) Likert-Type Scale (1-5) • d) Semantic Differential Technique: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantic_differential

20. Questionnaire Guidelines • Decide what type and how much detail is needed in the information you want to collect • State Survey Objectives • Decide Which Group Will Be Surveyed • Set Sample Size • State Purpose and Guarantee Anonymity • Use Closed-Ended Answers • Design for Easy Coding • Strive for About 25 Questions

21. Questionnaire Guidelines • Use Categories for Sensitive Demographics • Income • Use Simple, Familiar Words • Avoid Ambiguity/ vaguely described words • Biweekly instead of twice a week • Edit Leading Questions • Remember Context and Placement of Questions • Provide Space for Comments • If possible, have a pretest Questionnaire

22. Ways of Reaching Respondents • 1. Mail Questionnaires • 2. Telephone Surveys (CATI labs) • 3. Personal Interviews • 4. Piggyback Surveys • 5. Web and E-mail Surveys (Survey Monkey) • Normally, a response rate of 30% is high • You mail out 100 surveys and get 30 returned

23. Video: Corporate social responsibility • 1. As a business • 2. To their employees • 3. To their customers