1. Why Do Pr Research And Best Pr Practices 1
2. What Makes News With Specific Reference To The News Values Debate 21
4. Description Versus Inference 31
5. Reviewing And Summarizing Literature 40
6. Conducting A Case Study 41
7. Questionnaires And In-Depth Interviews 59
8. Conducting Focus Group Discussions 70
9. Participant Observation 71
10. Experimental Design, Control And Public Relations 89
11. Research Report 95
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Unit No. Title Page No
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WHY DO PR RESEARCH AND BEST PR PRACTICES
Unit Structure
1.0 O bjectives
1.1 Introduction
1.4 S ummary
1.5 R eferences
1.0 OBJECTIVES Appreciate the role, scope and need for research in public relation
Understand the theoretical underpinnings of public rel ations
Describe the various kinds of research and methodologies adopted by
PR researchers
Decipher which research method to use when
Differentiate between Filed and Desk research techniques
Introduction : Research is the foundation of any field, whether it be science, medicine, or
the humanities. Because, in order to become robust, any profession need a
body of knowledge, and Public Relations is no different.
To make a profession relevant, it is crucial to conduct research inside and
about it.
In this Un it, we will cover the significance of research in Public Relations
and the many research methodologies utilised by professionals in the field.
Research and Evaluation in Public Relations :
According to a number of analysts, public relations professionals do not
value research. It is frequently perceived in a limited manner. Many may
lack the confidence to do research and evaluation studies, while others
may lack the educational background and experience in social science
research necessary to conduct such in vestigations. Numerous practitioners
rely on output measurement via media coverage to reflect the contribution
of the programme.
Pseudo Research :
Other reasons for not conducting research could be that management does
not support expenditures on a discipli ne that it perceives to be intangible,
or that research is time -consuming and complicated, therefore the public munotes.in
2 The French Revolution—1789 relations manager does not undertake it. It is considered that good research
reflects issue areas that practitioners would prefer to stay dorman t in order
to avoid being "exposed" upon failure. Many conduct a semblance of
study to impress the management or the client, which is ineffective.
Stewart A. Smith provides the following explanations for the many causes
of bogus research:
a) Organizationa l politics: In this instance, research is employed to
obtain authority, defend choices, or serve as a scapegoat.
b) Service promotion: To impress clients or prospects with the sponsor's
sophistication, modernity, or authenticity.
c) Personal satisfaction : In this instance, the study is an exercise in
boosting one's ego in order to keep up with trends or to display gained
talents.
A practitioner of public relations does not need to be a research expert, but
he or she must believe in research and have a wor king grasp of the
research process in order to outsource work to external research
companies. Someone has correctly stated that one does not need to be a
motor technician to drive a car, but it is helpful to know a few basics about
car mechanics while visi ting a garage.
Research is Instinctive :
Researchers feel that research is innate to the majority of individuals. As
humans who strive for excellence, we routinely conduct study. For
instance, when we visit a supermarket, we examine numerous brands of a
product before selecting the one that meets our need/desire, budget, and
level of satisfaction. Students frequently conduct extensive desk and
primary research when applying to several universities for college
admission.
When they have more than two colleges to pick from, they collect
information on their rating, speak with faculty, and may even chat with
alumni before deciding. Similarly, public relations managers have
depended on research in one form or another to demonstrate to the client
that
a) their wo rk has had an influence on the public or audience, and
b) they have studied media vehicles to determine whether they have
disseminated the press release's news.
According to Stacks , research in any activity or programme is "the
beginning of a process de signed to achieve a certain goal." As public
relations is a management role, choices cannot be made in the absence of
study.
munotes.in
3 History of Modern Europe) Research is Strategic:
According to Dolphin , research not only serves a function, but also seeks
to determine whether the means of communication are suitable. It also
helps determine what sorts of messaging and topics may be necessary to
improve the organization's perception or develop a new image.
In order to facilitate decision -making, public relations utilises both
informal and fo rmal research methods. After addressing a few models
utilised in PR research, we will examine a variety of methodologies for
both types of study.
Theoretical underpinnings in public relation research :
Scholars of public relations feel that practitioners wi ll soon have to utilise
public relations as a multidisciplinary body of knowledge.
"Communication expertise," asserts 6andra Oliver, "is proactive,
proactive, catalytic, precognitive, and supporting; its conventional
methods of strategic programming with c omprehensive plans now
embrace post -technological management thinking."
Mintzberg believes that the detailed plans handle the role of
communication and serve in three directions, namely the external
environment, the organisation, and the input end of the s trategy
formulation process. For example, Mintzberg argues that the issue for the
role of stakeholder relations in the policy and practise of research on
corporate strategy is to guarantee that the research focus is based on what
he calls "re -conceived str ategic programming rather than pre -conceived
strategic programming."
The Process of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (PRE)
The Institute of Public Relations recommends The Planning, Research,
and Evaluation Process (PRE) as a component of a PR campaign.
The first phase of audit Where are we? entails conducting research and
collecting data to provide the foundation for the program's campaign.
The objectives that must be linked with organisational goals and
objectives are determined in Stage 2 by "Where we need to be."
In Stage 3 , "How do we get there?" research and evaluation must be
prioritised, and decisions must be made regarding the sort of measurement
to be applied and the pre -testing methodologies to be implemented.
In Stage 4, "Are we getting there?" is concerned with ongoing research to
ensure the programme is on track, and decisions are made regarding any
necessary adjustments. It may also indicate that the programme must be
terminated.
Examines the extent to which the campaign or program's objectiv es were
met. munotes.in
4 The French Revolution—1789 This dynamic cyclical research process can be represented as a pyramid
with four levels.
Cutlip, Center, and Broom’s PII Model :
Cutlip et al. contend that evaluation means many things to different
individuals, but evaluation ideally refers to planning, implementation, and
impact levels of a comprehensive programme assessment (PII). The
evaluation process includes the following stages:
Stage One :
The initial evaluation phase consists of the following:
Adequacy of the background knowledge base fo r programme design
Content appropriateness of messages and activities
Stage Two:
Quality of message and activity content
The following constitutes the second stage:
Number of messages sent to media and number of actions planned
Number of activities place d and number of activities carried out
Number of recipients and participants
Participants in messages and activities
Various levels and phases of programme evaluation
Level Three :
The following constitutes the third stage:
Number of recipients who learn me ssage content
Number of recipients who change viewpoint
Number of recipients who change attitude
Number of recipients who behave as requested
Number of recipients who repeat behaviour
Social and cultural evolution :
The PII model is progressive and prov ides additional information for
evaluating effectiveness.
The bottom rung, reflected as stage one above, is the preparation of
evaluation and examines if sufficient background information is available munotes.in
5 History of Modern Europe) to organise the programme appropriately. The content of created input is
evaluated to determine whether it conforms to the plan, and the
presentation of material is evaluated to determine whether it contributes to
the desired response. A properly written press release, for instance, does
not guarantee that it reached the media on time and was covered.
In phase two, implementation research would examine how tactics and
efforts have been implemented, including distribution of materials,
attendance at events, and exposure of target audiences to the messaging.
Acco rding to Cutlip et al., each phase of programme evaluation
contributes to increased comprehension and adds information for assessing
effectiveness. For example, the evaluation of preparation evaluates the
quality and sufficiency of information and strategi c planning.
Implementation of evaluation chronicles the adequacy of the techniques
and effort, while impact evaluation reflects feedback on the program's
outcomes.
The PII model, Cutlip, Center and Broom’s Evaluation Model :
McNamara’s Pyramid Model :
The framework of McNamara's model, formerly known as the "macro
model" and now as the "Pyramid Model of PR research," is "bottom up."
According to McNamara, "the pyramid metaphor is excellent for
emphasising that, at the base, when communication planning is in itiated,
practitioners have a vast quantity of information to gather and a variety of
media and activity alternatives. Choices and selections are made to deliver
particular messages to specified target audiences via specific media in
order to finally achie ve clearly defined goals (the peak of the programme
or project).
Using McNamara as a source, Watson et al. state that ‘Cutlip et al PII's
model was used to extract the essential steps of the communication
process. In contrast, the pyramid model provides ad ditional value by
detailing the evaluation procedures for each of its three levels. Although
feedback loops are not explicitly depicted on the model, "it is implicit in munotes.in
6 The French Revolution—1789 this model that research findings from each step are continuously fed back
into plannin g."
Pyramid Model of PR Research, Jim. R. Mcnamara :
(Image Source: Egyankosh)
Informal Research Techniques :
Many feel that informal research methodologies continue to dominate the
public relations industry, despite the availability of very sophisticated
research instruments. Among the informal research methods are the
following:
Personal Contacts :
Public relations managers, like other managers, develop the ability to
network with individuals who can serve as crucial contacts. Since public
relations is all about information, pictures, perceptions, and reputation,
having personal contacts within the organisation and among diverse
stakeholders outside the organisation is quite beneficial for reading the
pulse of different TA groups. Many individuals believe t hat no survey can
provide the same level of insight as personal connections.
Gatekeepers :
Gatekeepers are characterised as opinion leaders whose opinions matter to
those groups of people who rely on them for social, economic, political, or
emotional suppor t. There are gatekeepers in all professions and social
groups. An opinion leader can be a physician, an engineer, a teacher, a
politician, a celebrity, or a village chief. In the Indian context, it is often
said that postmen in rural areas and village barb ers are influential opinion
leaders. This is because it is not uncommon for a postman to read letters to
their recipients and assist them in sending replies. It is only natural that his
opinion is sought on various issues, as he is regarded as a wise indiv idual.
Similarly, in Indian villages, one could observe groups of people
conversing in barbershops that are frequently situated beneath trees.
Numerous political leaders in India assert that the forecasts made by these
opinion leaders are even more accurat e than those made by psephologists. munotes.in
7 History of Modern Europe) It is considered that if the gatekeepers are swayed, so will the individuals
who view them as informed and, in some situations, as their role models.
Mail Analysis :
The vast majority of the letters that product line comp anies receive from
their customers may not be complimentary. Periodic study of letters can
assist in identifying areas of disapproval and concern. Numerous
businesses now use their websites to address customer complaints.
The Intranet of Satyam computers, which connects its employees in
numerous cities and countries, was developed to reflect how clients saw
the company's services so that staff could receive feedback and improve.
Field Reports :
Companies with a focus on marketing typically have agents, field officers,
and marketing officers stationed in various locations. They transmit
periodic field reports. For example, Hindustan Unilever Ltd., an FMCG
firm with a big market in the rural hinterland of the country, sends all of
its new recruits, regardless o f their discipline, to village postings in order
for them to grasp the dynamics of the rural market.
The Department of Field Publicity of the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting employs a large number of field publicity officers who travel
throughout the country to disseminate information on various social issues
and the achievements of the government in the welfare sector, as well as to
collect feedback for the government to take corrective action.
Focus Teams :
Focus groups are identified with the stu dy objectives in mind. In this
method, the sample is subjected to in -depth questioning to discover not
only what is being said, but also why it is being said, in order to gain
insight into the attitudes and perspectives of the targeted population.
Media Re flections :
Daily media scanning is one of the most crucial duties of a public relations
manager in order to understand the environment and the media's reaction
to it. Regular media monitoring reveals issues of popular concern and
media agenda setting. Late r in the Unit, monitoring the media
scientifically through quantitative measures and doing content assessments
through formal research procedures are explored.
Blog Monitoring :
People's engagement with the media has undergone a paradigm shift as a
result o f the new media. The pervasive media, which affects nearly
everything under the sun and comes from all sides and directions,
transcending geographical boundaries, has made organisations even more
concerned about maintaining their image. A unhappy employee, client, or
enemy can wreak damage on an individual's or organization's reputation. munotes.in
8 The French Revolution—1789 Following the blogosphere and digging through the comments can yield a
huge assortment of perspectives and viewpoints. Various types of software
are now available to fast m onitor the blogs on a topic in order to gain a
comprehensive understanding of the issues.
Formal Research Methods :
Formal methods of research include attitude and opinion studies, image
surveys, communication audits, media studies, and secondary data
analy sis, among others.
In addition to these, public relations professionals must have access to a
wealth of syndicated research about communities, media, and the media
consumption habits of the general population.
A Research -Based Planning Instrument :
Public R elations departments occasionally launch campaigns and
programmes on a variety of topics, such as institutional advertising, the
use of various mass media, staff motivational programmes designed to
increase productivity, and crisis information distribution programmes, to
mention a few.
The research must therefore be conducted as a tool for planning and not as
an afterthought. The research's scope must be outlined by organisational
objectives. Ineffective is research that is neither specific nor
comprehensiv e. The practitioner must determine the most pertinent facts
for study direction decision -making. Many academics believe that
research should supplement experience and judgement rather than
necessarily replace them.
In 2004, Gaunt and Wright performed an in teresting online poll to
which practitioners from 25 countries respond. The research gives a
number of helpful insights, such as the following:
The demand for measurement is fueled by CEOs, who view it as an
intrinsic component of the programme.
In media e valuation, more external communication practitioners
measured outputs than results.
Opinion polling was deemed the most successful method. Dashboards
and advertising value equivalents (AVEs) were perceived to be the
least efficient.
Many organisations empl oyed feedback systems for internal
communication. However, 23 percent of practitioners relied on
instinct.
Cost (77), time (59), lack of knowledge and dubious usefulness of
results (each 58) were regarded as the leading obstacles to
measurement. munotes.in
9 History of Modern Europe) 65% of res pondents believed that Return on Investment (ROI) could
be implemented in their programmes.
What to Research? :
As the term implies, research is the investigation of what is already
present (i.e., "Re+search") but is not manifest. In other words, we intend
to explore something that is either obscure or elusive.
The first step is therefore to establish the aim, i.e., what are we trying to
determine? Is it the access of the target audience to a message, its recall,
assimilation, and action, or is it the reacti on of a certain stakeholder group
after a particular decision has been made? It can also involve assessing the
coverage obtained following a press conference. An additional field of
inquiry might consist of analysing media content to determine the quality
of coverage, i.e., the proportion of negative, good, and neutral coverage. In
this situation, one must decide ahead what constitutes favourable,
negative, and neutral coverage from the standpoint of the organisation.
Research is not an independent discipli ne; rather, it must be integrated into
a programme from the outset. In reality, the program's objectives must
specify the research project. Additionally, the research purpose would
guide the selection of research methodology.
For instance, if the purpose o f a programme is to raise awareness about an
organization's CSR initiative, then the measurement criteria could be the
number of target audience members who received information via each
medium (used for information dissemination). The second question may
be what they think of the effort.
Consider a hypothetical situation in which a company's plant management
wants to design a programme to push employees to attain higher levels of
productivity, with the support of its corporate public relations and
communic ation department. In this instance, the programme would
include a variety of media, including shop -door conversations,
brainstorming meetings, a bulletin board, brochures, a house diary, the
Intranet, etc. As the TA in this type of study are defined, the i nternal
stakeholders and the programme team should preferably have access to
their demographic profile in order to determine the most suitable media.
The data is freely accessible through the Human Resources department.
In the evaluation, the study would s eek to determine whether the intended
TA received the messages and whether the employees understood and
assimilated the messages. It would also seek to determine whether the
programme was able to achieve its goal of increased productivity within a
specifie d time frame. If there are several shifts and assembly lines, one can
also determine the relative change in employee behaviour between
shifts/lines. The review may also seek to determine which media were
deemed more reliable. munotes.in
10 The French Revolution—1789 The second area of examination is determining the appropriateness of
specific messages that appeared in the employee -oriented company
magazine.
Another area of study could involve determining exposure, readability,
legibility, believability, and the desired action.
If the evaluation is conducted through a public opinion survey, the number
of messages placed and the number of media vehicles utilised would
determine whether the intended audience got the opportunity to view/read
the message. In other words, the investigation would seek to determine
whether the intended OTS was accomplished (Opportunity to See).
However, exposure of messages in the media is not a guarantee that the
intended audiences were reached. Not all media content is read or viewed
with comprehension. In other words, re ach is not necessarily equivalent to
access, and access does not necessarily equate to message comprehension.
Messages may be comprehended, but they may not be deemed credible.
All of the above may be great for the organisation, but the targeted TA
may not take action for various reasons, such as societal conditioning,
self-interest, or a lack of willingness to take action. The three -step
research process described above can be used to find this information.
For a study of this nature, it is impossible to r ely just on quantitative data;
instead, qualitative research methods, such as in -depth and focus group
interviews, must be used to get insight into the reasons why people do or
do not take action.
It is essential for the public relations professional to ke ep the management
or client regularly informed of the research's findings and the corrective
steps he recommends. One -time study is seldom sufficient, as it may only
uncover findings pertinent to that time period. Research must be an
ongoing endeavour. All research contributes to a corpus of information
that must be preserved for future use.
When programme implementers utilise mass media, an analysis of mass
media reach and access is conducted to determine how many individuals
were exposed to the messages.
Formative Research :
Program implementers perform formative research with the assistance of
experts to define the problem that the proposed programme intends to
address through communicative intervention. The above -mentioned PRE
model covers the research me thod for formative research in the first three
steps, namely, "where are we," "where do we need to go," and "how do we
get there?"
Opinion Surveys :
Surveys are a quantitative and qualitative method of primary research. The
former refers to the collection o f data in terms of number/quantity and
objectivity, which can be projected scientifically; the use of closed -ended munotes.in
11 History of Modern Europe) questions to obtain precise responses. The latter, qualitative research,
refers to a subjective, in –depth interrogation of respondents using an
open –ended or unstructured form of response.
The fundamental purpose of a survey is to determine how a target
audience feels about a business, product, service, or issue. The intended
audience may be quite large; thus researchers use a scientific method to
pick a cross -section of individuals from that group in order to determine
the group's average opinion. A margin of error is also accounted for.
Opinion polls are not limited to predicting political outcomes; they can be
utilised in a range of fields. F or instance, a market research firm may
compile weekly music charts by analysing CD sales data from, say, 500
retail outlets. Similarly, an opinion poll can be conducted among a
specialist group to assess the CSR or corporate governance score of
various bu sinesses.
Research Imperatives :
The following are essential components of a Research Study:
The researcher must have a reasonable understanding of what the
investigation is intended to discover.
Research Rationale: Frequently, the objectives determine the
methodology.
Methodology: It must be determined if the study will be based on
secondary research or primary research. If it is the latter, specify
whether the research will be quantitative through a questionnaire,
qualitative through in -depth interviews, o r qualitative through focus
group discussions using a research guide.
Universe: It is essential to identify your intended audience, whose
opinions the research seeks. This will aid in establishing the scope of
investigation.
Research Instrument :
Researcher s use a questionnaire and administer it in person, by mail, or
over the phone to inquire about respondents' perspectives on the many
problems under investigation. Personal interview surveys, sometimes
known as "mall intercepts," are conducted in shopping m alls, private
residences, and public spaces. There can be one, two, or more checkboxes
on a questionnaire, or a combination of close -ended and open -ended items.
In the latter scenario, more frank responses are anticipated. In the case of
open -ended questio ns, the respondent provides a descriptive answer,
which might provide valuable insights into his or her attitudes, which is
not achievable with a "yes" or "no" response.
Attitude Scale, which contains Likert Scale, Semantic Differential Scale,
and Rank -Order Scales, is an instrument designed to collect these
evaluative data. munotes.in
12 The French Revolution—1789 As it is simple to construct and analyse, the Likert scale is the most used
form of attitude scale. Additionally, it is easy for responders to respond.
Respondents could be given the fo llowing options: "Agree/ Disagree/
Neither agree nor disagree."
Additionally, the Semantic Differential Scale is simple to administer.
The scale includes bipolar words such as "Expensive/Inexpensive,
Beautiful/Ugly, etc."
In Rank -Order Scale , respondents a re asked to rate objects according to
some criterion, such as quality or cost -effectiveness. This allows research
to get data for competitor items as well.
Using the Rank -order scale approach, (delman, a US -based PR firm,
requested respondents in a global study to rank various organisations on a
scale from 1 ("I don't trust them at all") to 9 ("I trust them very much"). In
the study, no specific businesses or organisations were highlighted. Some
interesting findings arose. Some particulars:
Mexico, India, J apan, Brazil, South Korea, Spain, Ireland, Britain, and
Russia are among the nations in which business is more trusted than the
government.
Germany, Italy, Canada, France, China, the Netherlands, Australia, and
the Netherlands are among the nations where t he public sector is viewed
as more trustworthy than the private sector.
Despite this, the economic downturn occurred in the United States, yet
respondents from around the world (52) stated they trusted US -based
enterprises.
Britain, Sweden, Germany, and Ca nada had the highest levels of trust,
ranging from 68 for Britain to 75 for Sweden. At the bottom of the
spectrum, at 24, were Chinese and Russian businesses.
Define Sampling :
Sampling is an essential component of a research design and must address
who to survey, how many to question, and how to choose them. In other
words, it is necessary to determine the sample unit, sample size, and
sampling process. The size of the sample depends on the researcher's
budget, available time, and desired level of precision . Sampling can be
probability -based or non -probability -based.
Probability Sampling :
Simple Random Sampling:
Every member of the population has an equal probability of getting
selected using this method. For example, if there are 100 students in a
class, th e random sampling can occur every fifth, tenth, or any other
number that must be adhered to scientifically, ensuring that every
individual has an equal chance of being included. munotes.in
13 History of Modern Europe) Stratified Sampling :
The population is separated into mutually exclusive categ ories from which
random samples are obtained. For instance, if a class of 100 students
includes students from both urban and rural locations, the class will be
separated based on the urban/rural divide and then a random sample will
be drawn from each group . In this arrangement, both groups would be
represented proportionally to their class enrolment.
Cluster (Area) Group:
The researcher divides the population into mutually exclusive groups and
then selects a sample from each group to interview. It is a mult i-stage
study in which natural groupings are sampled first, followed by sub -
samples of each group for interviews. To example, a researcher may
collect a sample of institutions that teach mass communication and a
sample of students from each institution. Su bsequently, a subsample of
those selected is chosen for in -depth interviews.
Non-Probability Sampling :
Convenience Sampling: The researcher selects the most accessible
people of the population from whom to collect data. To exemplify, the
researcher conduct s interviews in his area to gain insight into various
trends.
Judgment Sampling : The researcher utilises his judgement to select
individuals from which to collect data. For instance, professionals in the
relevant field of study, such as cardiologists to un derstand heart disorders
or environmental scientists to comprehend the condition of the
environment, etc.
Quota Sampling: The researcher picks a predetermined number of
respondents from one or more groups, based on age, gender, financial
level, etc.
In-depth Interviews :
Conducting interviews via telephone or in -person is one of the survey
methods. Through a well -structured questionnaire or a study agenda
created by the researcher, a succession of questions can be asked during an
interview.
In-person intervi ews can be costly and time -consuming. However, the rate
of refusal would generally be lower than for telephone interviews. When
the researcher phones, it may not be an ideal time. The respondent, if
uninterested, may provide an excuse of being busy or simp ly reject until
the researcher is skilled in his or her work and able to encourage the
person on the other end of the line to participate in the interview.
The researcher must also select this sample scientifically, i.e., arbitrarily,
systematically, or re presentatively. munotes.in
14 The French Revolution—1789 Focus Group Interviews :
The focus group interview technique is reportedly derived from the
marketing research technique, which social science academics have
adopted in a very beneficial manner.
For performing public relations initiatives, s urveys, secondary data
analysis, and focus groups might be effective.
This research method has the potential to provide a comprehensive insight
of the attitudes and opinions of the target group. However, only
researchers with proper training can express th em. According to Daymon
and Holloway, the key characteristics of focus -group research are: "they
provide evidence from many voices on the same topic; they are
interactive; they provide a supportive forum for expressing suppressed
views; and they allow you to collect a large amount of data in a relatively
short amount of time."
Research Analysis
Typically, the moderator or test researcher analyses replies in qualitative
research. In quantitative research, the analyst is supervised by the
researcher.
The resp onses to a closed -ended questionnaire are statistically analysed
using numbers. Responses to open -ended questions are coded and
converted to a numeric score before being collated and analysed. Most of
these polls utilise computer analysis.
Report: The rese arch report for both qualitative and quantitative surveys
include a brief executive overview of the findings as well as full findings
presented in tables, graphs, and charts. Occasionally, it may also include
recommendations, if requested.
Media Research
A significant number of public relations is accomplished via mass media.
Similarly, media portrayals of organisations have an effect on their
reputation and engagement with diverse stakeholders. What is media
writing, why is it written, are there biases in the media's position, and do
media have an impact are perennial concerns that plague the ordinary
public relations professional.
Media Content Analysis
The application of systematic processes to determine objectively what is
being said in the media is defi ned as content analysis. Press clippings and
broadcast monitors simply reveal what was covered, not necessarily what
is being read and seen. In addition to news, researchers track editorials,
op-eds, and letters to the editor to comprehend the media's stan ce and bias
on problems that affect organisations, as well as letters and phone calls
from readers to gauge public sentiment. munotes.in
15 History of Modern Europe) Grunig and Hunt allude to the research's effects, which must include the
following:
Was the message received and comprehended?
Was the message recalled" Were actions done in response to the
communication
In the case of the media, it should describe how the media covered the
news, if it was based on the press release, whether additional information
was included, and what the overall i mpact of the story was, i.e. good,
neutral, or negative.
Organizations typically maintain track of at least some media through
press clippings and may employ scientific or crude methods to determine
whether media coverage is positive, negative, or neutral.
Numerous organisations use outside PR/CC firms to monitor the media,
including print, electronic, and internet, in order to remain informed of its
coverage in the media and the media's stance on its issues. Professional
media tracking services utilise the proper technology and tools to conduct
scientific media tracking.
There are numerous areas that can be tracked through media coverage that
can be uncovered through media research.
Here is a checklist:
Which periodicals and electronic media reported the n ews?
How frequently?
How many articles have by -lines?
How many items are obtained through wire services?
coverage of opponents
Have images and visuals been utilised?
What is the primary message carried?
What is the area occupied by articles?
Are their spok esperson's quotes featured in the articles?"
Mention of rivals in the same narrative
Overview of the subject or sector
The stories' perspectives, namely good, negative, and neutral.
It is a matter of contention in professional circles, but many public
relations professionals measure coverage in terms of ad space and provide munotes.in
16 The French Revolution—1789 it to management or clients to demonstrate the effort's value in terms of ad
space.
Web Search
The ephemeral nature of web material makes it difficult for academics to
monitor it. It is possible to locate everything on the Internet using various
search engines, however certain content may be password -protected.
Without the necessary proprietary software, information generated in chat
rooms and discussion forums is inaccessible.
According to the "conversation tracker" software, participants' comments,
news graphs, mailing lists, and message boards provide a summary image.
There are numerous types of content tracking tools available. For example,
Com Audit and media monitor -CARMA Asia Pacifi c are window -based,
Com Audit
COMA Audit is among the tools utilised by researchers for the majority of
global markets. The most used spreadsheet application is Microsoft Excel.
The growth of websites has led to an increase in software promotion.
The new V ocus programme aims to monitor social networking sites and
promises a "fully integrated PR software solution that enables you to
communicate with, monitor, and analyse traditional media, bloggers, and
the social media world."
Many in the West utilise the e valuation system devised by the English PR
firm Hallmark. Through the procedure, the organisation performing the
tracking selects six notifications (the number is limited to six to minimise
confusion with too many issues). The messages are associated with
corporate objectives, products, promotions, and vital contact information,
among other things.
Publications, television media, and the Internet are routinely scanned to
ensure that they continue to target the same demographic. The data entry
may feel like a tedious administrative task, but it is the analysis that
provide value. The evaluation system permits the collecting of alternate
communications, such as a negative comment and a response from a
competitor. It gathers data on media versus the activity th at created media
coverage, journalists who are writing about the organisation, corporate
spokespersons quoted by the media, and article placement by position in
print and electronic media.
When assessing websites, Treadwells' suggests the following:
Owners hip: Whose website, is it? Is it sponsored by a recognisable
person or organisation?
Authorship: Who wrote the content? What are the qualifications of the
author or institution? munotes.in
17 History of Modern Europe) Bias: Is the bias visible or latent in favour of or against a certain subject,
organisation, or person? " To obtain the other viewpoint, we must search
different websites.
Authority: Is the content reviewed" Are there identifiable criteria,
reviewers or editors by which the material is screened or chosen for the
web site"
Links: Exist their credible links? "Do you know of any reputable websites
that connect to this page?"
Currency: Is the information current?" Not updated websites demonstrate
a lack of professionalism and reflect poorly on the author and website.
Analysis of media m aterial can be both quantitative and qualitative. In the
former, the research seeks to determine how much, i.e., in terms of
quantity, is being covered, whereas in the latter, it seeks to determine what
is being said and from what perspective, i.e., positi ve, negative, or neutral.
Desk Research
Internal records/archives, published reports, material in the public domain,
the media, websites, publications, reports, court rulings, etc. contain a
wealth of important information. These are also referred to as se condary
data, as the information already exists, whereas survey data is referred to
as primary or raw data, which requires interpretation. Using secondary
data sources can yield a wealth of information for a PR professional.
Secondary Data Sources
Informat ion about the media can be obtained from sources within the
media as well as from some external sources. The following are examples
of media source books and other database publications frequently utilised
by media strategists in the Indian context:
Popula tion Census
The Census, conducted every ten years, is likely the most comprehensive
database that provides a profile of the Indian population. The census data
offer information on the population number, demographic strata, age, sex
ratio, literacy level, f amily size, and forms, among other things. The data
also includes information regarding various castes, religions, beliefs, and
faiths.
Annual Economic Analysis
This presents an SEC -based (gender, education, caste, income, and
occupation, etc.) industrial survey.
India - Year Book
The India - Year Book, published by the Publications Division of the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, provides a comprehensive
picture of facts on government, demography, progress, etc. Since the data munotes.in
18 The French Revolution—1789 are derived from num erous official sources, they are quite accurate and
reliable.
INFA
The Indian News & Feature Alliance Year Book, also known as the INFA
Year Book, is published annually in Delhi and provides information on
numerous newspapers and periodicals. The data incl udes basic
information about India, who is who in the press, marketing, and
advertising, a list of publications with information about the number of
editions, mechanical data about the size of the publication, and the type of
advertisement. Material that w ill be acceptable to them, circulation and
names of the relevant advertising department personnel, etc.
Audit Bureau of Circulation
In the early days of advertising, each medium's circulation levels were
mirrored in its format.
The figures' veracity is cal led into question by inconsistencies in reporting
and the proclivity of certain media outlets to exaggerate numbers. With the
help of newspaper publishers, magazine publishers, advertisers, and
advertising agencies, the Audit Bureau of Circulation, sometim es known
as ABC, was founded to give an objective evaluation. ABC offers
advertisers a neutral and reliable audit of circulation statements from
member publications.
The ABC has made modifications to the system in an effort to improve its
accuracy.
Syndica ted Research
Syndicated research is frequently based on a certain sample or panel
survey, the entirety or a portion of which is distributed to multiple
consumers. Numerous marketing research agencies, such as the Indian
Marketing and Research Bureau [IMRB] , Marketing and Research Group
[MARG], and MODE, as well as academic and economic institutions such
as the National Council for Applied Economic Research [NCAER] and
others, are continually engaged in measuring the pulse of markets and
consumer behaviour.
Additionally, client organisations can launch syndicated research.
Numerous blue -chip organisations, particularly in the consumer sector,
conduct this type of research for the fundamental aim of understanding the
market, consumer psychology, and altering p aradigms. Over the past
couple of decades, there has been a growing need to understand the
"media -consumer," his or her media habits, accessibility, and shifting
perceptions. This is a result of the expansion of media, particularly in the
setting of satell ite channels and the ultimate ability of the "remote" to
switch channels or choose one media vehicle over another. munotes.in
19 History of Modern Europe) Previously, the National Readership Survey (NRS) and now the Indian
Readership Survey (IRS) provided marketers and media professionals with
a comprehensive database. In reality, the IRS conducts a nationwide field
survey every quarter.
According to the Media Users Research Council (MURC), the IRS is
"Modelled on internationally accepted annual sample spread, the IRS is
the world's largest ongoi ng readership research study with an annual
sample size reaching 2.56 lakh respondents. It evaluates newspaper and
magazine readership as well as other media consumption, such as
television viewing, radio listening, movie attendance, and Internet usage.
It provides an in -depth insight of media behaviour through expanded
media measurements such as time spent using various media and
frequency of media use.
Database for Digital Media
The Doordarshan and All India Radio publish two publications
extensively util ised by media strategists, namely 'Doordarshan Today and
5adio Handbook. With the explosion of satellite channels and hundreds of
hours of daily programming available to the average metropolitan
household, media strategists frequently cite television ratin g point data to
support their views.
QUESTION 1. What is Public Relation research? What do you understand by Pseudo
research?
2. Explain the techniques involved in Informal Research.
3. Discuss research and evaluation in public relations
4. Write a note on McNamara’ s Pyramid Model
5. Explain the methods involved in Formal Research
6. Discuss research instruments
7. Define sampling? Explain Probability and Non -Probability Sampling..
8. Explain what do you understand by Media Research
9. Write a note on Web Research.
10. Explain ‘Desk Re search’.
REFERENCES: Primer of Public Relations Research, Third Edition by by Don W. Stacks
(2020). Retrieved 29 June 2020, from https://www.amazon. com/Primer -
Public -Relations -Research -Third -dp-146252270X/
dp/146252270X/ref=mt_other"_encoding=UTF8&me=&qid = munotes.in
20 The French Revolution—1789 What You Should Know About PR Evaluation: Models and Processes (I).
(2018). Retrieved 19 July 2020, from https://www.clappro.
ch/2018/11/20/evaluation -models -and-process -in-public -relations/
https://www.prsa.org/about/all -about -pr/glossary -of-terms
*****
munotes.in
21 History of Modern Europe) 2
WHAT MAKES NEWS WITH SPECIFIC
REFERENCE TO THE NEWS VALUES
DEBATE
Unit Structure
2.0 Objectives
2.1 Introduction
2.2 What is News
2.2.1 What are News Values
2.2.2 Evolution of News as a content format
2.2.3 The current debate on what constitutes news
2.3 Let’s sum up
2.4 Questions
References
OBJECTIVES: After reading this unit you will be able to understand:
- The definition of news
- The evolution of news from information to content
- The debate around what’s news in the current setting and its
implications
INTRODUCTION None of us is unfamiliar with the term News. We all live in a world of
news, we are surrounded by it all the time and there are many indirect and
direct plat forms that serve news to us in myriad formats today. News is
what we often wake up to, or see breaking before we sleep.
The news wasn’t always available in all these varieties, however, news has
always played quite a pivotal role in shaping society, cultu re, behaviour
patterns and even customs. Not long ago, locals gathered at shops to watch
and discuss the news. Before that people used to wait for a 30 minute
broadcast of news on a radio that was shared by a community. Today, we
can not only pick and choo se what format we want to see the news in, we munotes.in
22 The French Revolution—1789 even have access to news from all around the world, in whatever narrative
and tonality we want it in.
The extremely straightforward question of “What is news?” stays fitting
even as we wonder about the future of journalism in the digital age.
What is news?
News is a source of information and it’s available in several formats.
News is the spinal cord of journalism. The basic assumption of journalism
is the collection, presentation and interpretation of news whi ch is meant to
inform the people about new and novel. News is expected to be objective,
honest and informative.
Definition of news:
News has been defined differently by different experts. Some of the
definitions are given below:
1. News is anything out of th e ordinary
2. News is the unusual picture of life
3. News is anything that people talk about; the more it excites the greater
its value. ,
4. News comprises all current activities which are of general human
interest and the best news is that which interests most of the reader.
5. News is the report of an event that is fresh, unusual and which is
interesting to a greater number of people
A journalism professor of Stanford University, USA, Chilton R. Bush,
defined news as “….the report of an event that a reader can and w ill
understand.” Another oversimplified yet practical definition can be:
“News is an account of an event which a newspaper prints in the belief
that by so doing it will profit.”
William Metz, professor of journalism, University of Nevada, USA,
explains: “W hile it may not be possible to describe it precisely in words,
every news reporter must come to a personal understanding of nature of
news, must reach some conclusion about its essence before it is possible to
recognise ‘news’ when it happens.”
News value s
There are many elements that determine whether a piece of information
becomes a piece of news or not. We can think about them as filters that
will help you weed out all the other information from the news itself.
Every piece of news in some way should r eflect these values. In this age
of information overload, each day you will be presented with hundreds of
pieces of information. As news is subjective, you will have to look at them
from an unbiased lens and news values help you do that. If you work in munotes.in
23 History of Modern Europe) niche media, this might differ. In the face of a crisis, these may change.
But these are excellent tools for your determining process.
1. Timeliness/Newness
Time as a lever plays an important role in the impact of a news story. This
becomes all the more prev alent in the given times, as you receive
information from pretty much every aspect of your life these days. With
the boom of digital media and our infinite access to various platforms, the
world is now smaller than ever. You get text updates minutes after things
happen, and push notifications to tell you all about global developments.
This has turned time into a very challenging aspect of news gathering and
publication.
Journalism’s famous slogan is “Today news is today”. If it is not new, it
cannot be ne ws. So a virus breakout and its impact on people can be
relevant, important and even for people. But if it’s not reported
appropriately on time, it’s not news.
But that also doesn’t mean occurrences that happened in the past still can’t
be news, if it was only recently discovered and unreported, the newness
takes precedence over the time factor. Very often we see on news,
something that happened weeks ago that didn’t receive media attention
then, but is now picked up. Its freshness makes it appealing to th e
audience.
2. Proximity or Nearness
News’s importance can also be measured by its place of origin. There are
two aspects to proximity, geographical and interest -based. If a certain
something is happening in my immediate vicinity, like the floods in
Assam, it’s definitely news to individuals in the region. But it’s also news
to the Assamese and Indian diaspora everywhere. While they might not be
in the direct hit location, their interest in nearness determines news value.
Racism faced by Asians in the Unite d States after the breakout of COVID
is a fine example. It was widely reported across Asia.
3. Prominence
Just like everything else, prominent names make news more interesting.
As a society, we are invested in and in awe of several people. This varies
from country to country. In India, film stars and cricketers are the biggest
names, while in many Western countries, musicians and basketball/soccer
players get the maximum limelight. But one thing is common all across,
big names make news.
In India, there a re several celebrities who do everyday activities but land
up on news. A fine example would be election day. Every year when news
houses cover elections, they ensure that they have a celebrity face on the
front page the next day. We all do the very same ac tivity. But we don’t
garner the same attention. An almost ridiculous trend around this is the
Paparazzi who wait outside airports to cover celebrity sightings. They munotes.in
24 The French Revolution—1789 camp out there, waiting for a prominent individual to show up so that they
can have an excl usive. This has then led to the origin of ‘Airport Fashion’.
4. Magnitude
Occurrences that lead to greater loss of life, damage or natural disaster
create interest amongst readers. The California wildfires that burned right
through a major part of the sta te created much buzz amongst all, including
Indians, a society that’s actually not well -versed with wildfires as a
disaster, simply because of how large it was.
Oftentimes when a tragedy hits, something along the lines of natural
calamity, reporting last for days. In fact, these kinds of stories are some of
the most followed up stories in the sector. The follow -ups often vary from
the after -shock and the aftermath of the event and often even go to the
extent of informing people about what kind of activitie s are happening to
build back what we lost.
5. Conflict
Confrontation and conflict between people, nations and groups are all
themes of interest. Conflict leads to the extra -ordinary and that leads to the
news. Geo -political conflicts can manifest as wars and in this global
village, wars dominate the news. The Russian invasion of Ukraine gets
massive coverage across the globe with multiple narratives.
A very common format of conflict reporting happens in politics. During
assembly sessions, there are often heated arguments and debates between
the sitting political party and the opposition. You may observe these after
every assembly session or newspaper. Both intellectual and physical
conflicts are reported depending on how big the conflict is.
6. Oddity/Unus ualness
A dog biting a common man is not news but if a man bites a dog it is
definitely news because it is distinctive. People enjoy reading about
exceptional things - whatever the magnitude may be. Often small children
who can speak multiple languages mak e it to the newspaper, although it
makes no difference to the social fabric because it’s unusual.
There have been reports of petroleum being present in borewells in some
of the regions in India. While there is a perfectly empirical explanation as
to why t his happens when it happens, there are readers who are extremely
intrigued by its nature.
7. Consequence
Things that come with deep and wide consequences interest people. For
instance, news about budget, rise in petrol price, electricity rates and a
payscale revision committee etc, are all themes that interest people. It's
because these actions have an impact on their everyday life.
munotes.in
25 History of Modern Europe) 8. Human interest
Humans are emotional beings. They try to connect dots and try to find
commonalities between themselves a nd others to find a sense of
belongingness. There’s neuroscience research that proves that when you
are reading someone’s story, you start experiencing it/visualising it. That’s
why we feel upset after reading the news about children being abandoned.
That’s why we all love an underdog story. Because we put ourselves in
their shoes. Any story that speaks directly to human emotions, is a human
interest story.
Feature stories or a fine example of human interest reporting. Sometimes
you will see full -page cove rage of certain individuals and their lives
Journey. It’s also an extremely popular format because it makes you feel
connected to another individual.
Q. What are some filters you could use to identify news from a clutter of
information?
Evolution of news as a content format
No other form of information dissemination has undergone a radical shift
like the news has in the last couple of decades. From format, shape and
structure, all the way to the actual purpose, the news is no more the same.
A big trigger for this drastic shift is the unprecedented growth of
technology and the tremendous growth in terms of internet penetration.
News used to be something that was served to you along with your
morning tea, now the news industry is so cutting edge and competit ive,
that you can read live tweets about the real -time sports match by your
favourite journalist. News is now beyond newspapers, radio and TV. It’s
delivered to you via WhatsApp chatbots, push notifications and even
curated emails.
Even with the growth of news dissemination being so disorienting, the
biggest shift is still the emergence so clear agendas, propaganda and
polarization. Many publishing houses changed the way they worked and
are now often acting as a mouthpiece for a certain group. If you pick up 6
different national dailies from the same city, all of them will have different
headlines. This contest to turn everything into bite -sized is also not
actively advancing objectivity. This is why we need to look at news values
now differently.
The impo rtance of visuals, indicated by Caple and Bednarek ( 2015 ) and
Dick ( 2014 ), informs u s that halting audio -visuals are certainly worth
listing as a news value in their own right. So any coverage that comes with
the most impactful visuals, may get the centre stage. It’s not just about text
and good storytelling anymore. There is also eviden ce to support the
arguments of Phillips ( 2015 ) and Schultz ( 2007 ), among others, tha t
conflict and exclusivity are both worthy of consideration for new news
values. But something that only existed passively in the past, the
importance of a concept we call “shareability” is striking. We all use that
word in our everyday conversations. We d escribe the content and social munotes.in
26 The French Revolution—1789 media posts as ‘shareworthy’. Today's news also demands to be shareable.
So when one drafts the headlines, when they choose the visuals and tone,
this becomes a key factor. Will this news be shareable?
While traditional new s values haven’t completely lost their purpose, there
are emerging news values that one needs to be aware of. They are as
follows:
Exclusivity: Anything that’s exclusive and available to a premium
selective group makes news more interesting. People are ve ry
interested in participating in things that other people don’t have access
to. Similarly, they are excited to read about things that other people
haven’t read. The exclusivity is what makes it interesting for them.
Bad news: As much as you want to prote ct yourself from the
doomsday narrative, bad news works like a charm. If you do a quick
analysis of your everyday newspaper, you will easily understand that
there is more negative news and positive news out there. It is simply
because there is a larger con sumer base for negative news often. Any
negative news with the same magnitude, conflict, consequences and is
more interesting than positive news with the same values.
Surprise: Stories that have an element of surprise, stories that make
you gasp with a tw ist, are stories that generate a lot of interest.
Audio -visuals: As we discussed earlier, powerful photography,
videography, and even illustrations to support the story can help.
Stories with no kind of visual aid find it hard to connect with
audiences.
Shareability: How will this news piece inspire its audience to share it
on their own pages? A completely new age news value, shareability
has become a big part of deciding the importance of a story even
within the media house structure as well. Often Journ alists approach
issues from the perspective of whether this will actually intrigue
people to re -share them on their own pages.
Entertainment and Drama: News pieces with a certain drama
quotient work well amongst the audience. An example would be the
Anna S orokin story from Newyork which otherwise has little to no
impact on regular people and its popularity.
Follow -up: Stories about subjects already in the news. As we
discussed earlier, natural calamities are a very good example. People
often follow up on t hose courses till the after -shock has left the
region. Even in several crime -related stories, follow -ups happen as
they arrest the accused and the trial continues.
The power elite: Stories concerning powerful individuals,
organisations, institutions or cor porations. This is a very new element
of news -with the boom of social media and the increase in munotes.in
27 History of Modern Europe) accessibility to almost every prominent individual around the world, a
new generation of celebrities has been born. Earlier not a lot of people
look that as bus iness tycoons or entrepreneurs as heroes. That
scenario has fully changed today. There are many many self -made
celebrities who wouldn’t have been considered celebrities a decade
ago on the digital media. Now news houses are not just expected to
cover the t raditional celebrities, they are also keeping track of the
modern celebrities.
Good news : Right in the wake of the pandemic, many celebrities
started their own news segments that share positive and heartwarming
stories. This has started a trend of many est ablished publishing houses
having a dedicated subchannel for feel -good news.
News organisation's agenda: While whether this is a value or not is
a debate, what the news organisation wants to convey becomes a
driving factor of news. As you will read furthe r in this chapter, most
news houses are acquired by private conglomerates. So the possibility
of being completely objective and biased is often questioned.
Q. What are new -age news values and how are they different from the
traditional news values?
What co nstitutes news now :
We have just observed what the traditional news values are and what the
new emerging news values are. One or more of these news values can
determine what’s news tomorrow.
Editors have their specific target audience in mind. Earlier th ere was little
to no way to identify who your audience was and what they think. Today,
feedback comes real -time. Everything is then there and if the audience is
upset with a piece of news/coverage, there are avenues for them to display
their disapproval. T his also plays a key role in determining what news is
for the popular audience.
Another element that has come into play today is citizen journalism. While
it was a rare occurrence once to have a local reporter for a region, today
with the massive populari ty of video logs, citizens report on issues that
affect them in real -time. Indian students in Ukraine gave us a day by day
analysis of what was going on for weeks before they were evacuated.
Technology has also transformed the way news is gathered. It’s m ore
efficient now with chances of unverified news being published
diminishing. At the same time, media is now more divided than ever and
often competes with one another with contradictory narratives.
The evolution of news and the outcome :
Many of the chan ges around what constitutes news can be traced all the
way back to the early 1960s. The 1980’s played a pivotal role in
accelerating these changes. Media companies were bought by large munotes.in
28 The French Revolution—1789 conglomerates and increased media concentration across the globe.
Towar ds the middle of the 20th -century television network came along,
however news was a public service. It change quickly after the private
entities got involved. There was a big shift in the way news changed its
standards.
Another major element that played a key role and the evolution of news
was market segmentation. Advertisers started receiving analysing huge
amounts of data, which gave them a deeper understanding of what the
audience was looking for. Sometimes this data indicated that a certain
demographic watched or listened to a particular news source. A big
indication of this was the emergence of magazines. Most magazines
around this time were supremely niche and delivered to a very hyper -
specific group of people.
As a byproduct of these hyper -specific au dience groups, echo chambers
were created. This existed even before the arrival of the web. However,
when the web arrived, it increase the number of echo chambers and give
people an opportunity to connect with like -minded people. An essential
part of the w eb is its algorithm and which directly gives centre stage to a
feedback system. It’s in human nature to listen to and consume more
similar opinions to your own. The web presented them with that
opportunity like no other. It creates systems and patterns whe re you can
choose to only look at or even only have access to a certain type of
perspective that you already believe in.
This algorithm and pattern along with the echo chamber perfectly fit into
what the marketers want. It tells them all about your aptitu des, likes,
dislikes, interests and more. This equipped them to deliver content to us,
in this case, news, tailor -made to suit our taste.
In the early 2000s, newspapers were yet to see their readership downfall.
However, the arrival of the web drastically changed the way advertisers
distributed their money. This meant that newspapers were losing a lot of
their revenue. For instance, if you lived in India and if you wanted to buy
a used motorcycle, a slightly older generation used to go into the
classifieds section of the newspaper, find a suitable ad and make calls
before they were able to see the product in person. Maybe due to a radical
change in this, newspapers started to lose a lot of their revenue. Many
many media houses laid off massive numbers of jo urnalists in the mid -
2000s.
The natural next step for newspapers when they started losing the
classified revenue, as well as readership, was to organically move towards
having a web presence. However, the advertising money did not follow
them there. Newspa pers were thrown off from the agency of being the
only people who produce stories. As blogs gathered popularity, many
many individual contributors started writing online their opinion pieces
and original pieces started to lose their significance. The situa tion played a
significant role in the creation of a model where news was no longer
looked at as an authentic source of information and the only one at that. munotes.in
29 History of Modern Europe) A radical change that has happened since news moved online was how
little new original reporting wa s available there. The only place where you
find quality original reporting these days is on the traditional new sites run
by traditional newspapers. However, there are other forms of news content
that are being churned out. Most of them are opinion pieces .
As a consumer, this has changed a few things for us. We no more sit and
wait for our favourite journalist to report an event or wait in the evening to
listen to our favourite television anchor speak about the current realities.
We are now a lot more spe cific in our news requirements. There are a few
things that we want to know and we have found our own avenues for that.
Platforms that serve bite -size news are a popular outcome of this.
Similarly, there might be completely contradicting pieces of news
available on the internet. There is also the emergence of a new group of
journalists who call themselves the alternative journalists who cover non -
mainstream themes. It’s also a very formal job responsibility right now to
be able to verify the news. This indi cates the growth in fake and
misinformed news across platforms. In other words, there is some news
outlet out there for everybody and their very peculiar interest.
It’s also important to note that the role of journalists has also shifted
drastically in th e current climate. As most companies are owned by private
entities, there is an expectation that they will be serving the particular
narrative their owners want them to. We have also observed that the news
values have changed. The digital landscape is chan ging every day. Beyond
all this, there have been several attacks on journalists and news media
organisations across the globe. There are many many challenges for
journalists and media houses to tackle. However, their job in the current
society is not yet d one.
To sum it up:
While the news has stayed a consistent factor in our everyday life, the
definition of news and news values have changed over time. The
penetration of technology and the internet is an important factor that
influenced this. If you are go ing to be a new age journalist, you are also
going to have to strike a balance between traditional and modern news
values.
QUESTIONS 1. What’s the definition of news?
2. What’s the definition of news values?
3. What are news values?
4. What’s the difference between traditional and new news values?
5. What have been some factors that have influenced the shift of news
values? munotes.in
30 The French Revolution—1789 REFERENCES https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/146167 0X.2016.1150193
https://owenspencer -thomas.com/journalism/newsvalues/#5
https://www.thenews manual.net/Manuals%20Volume%201/volume1_01.
htm
https://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/57072/1/Unit%201.pdf
https://owenspencer -thomas.com/journalism/newsvalues/#5
*****
munotes.in
31 History of Modern Europe)
4
DESCRIPTION VERSUS INFERENCE
Unit Structure
4.0 Objectives
4.1 Introduction
4.2 Understanding data
4.3 Types of data
4.4 Scales of Measurement
4.5 Use of data in statistics
4.6 Descriptive statistics
4.7 Inferential statistics
4.8 Data Analysis Sta tistical software
4.9 Applicability in Public Relations research
4.10 Let’s sum it up
4.0 OBJECTIVES After reading this unit you will be able to understand
Meaning of Description
Meaning of Inference
Use in Public Relations Research
4.1 INTRODUCTION Resea rch always begins with curiosity. Research in Public Relations is not
a new phenomenon. There are plenty of research papers available in
various media and public relations journals worldwide on various aspects
of public relations. One can do research in so many areas of public
relations. It could be publicity, media relations, crisis communication,
audience research etc. Once the researcher has zeroed down to the
research problem, research question and or hypothesis it becomes easier to
put together a liter ature review for the body of the research to begin. The
process of doing the next phase of research will involve putting a research munotes.in
32 The French Revolution—1789 design together before starting data collection for the said research
question and or hypothesis.
Once the data collection i s done it is now the process of putting together
the data for analysis. Statistical Analysis is something that most students
look for to understand. To begin that there are some basic points to
remember as per Zina O’Leary who has written books on doing re search:
1. Nature of variables needs to be understood clearly 2. Need and the use
of descriptive and inferential statistics 3. The use of the statistical tests for
the questions in the study and the data types.
Analysis of research can be done through vari ous software that are
available for both quantitative and qualitative studies. For the researcher it
is imperative to understand the meaning of putting together the results of
the analysis in the description/descriptive or inference/inferential format.
The researcher needs to interpret what the numbers are in their research
and if descriptive or inferential statistics needs to be used to understand
the findings. This chapter will focus on the concept of descriptive and
inferential statistics and its use in Public Relations research. Suitable
examples will be given where necessary to make you understand the
concept better.
4.2 UNDERSTANDING DATA We need to first understand the meaning of data. Data is facts and
numbers put together. The question here is how d oes one interpret the
numbers that we obtain after we collect data? As Don Stacks, who has
written books in public relations research and communication research
clearly states that “Quite simply, numbers (data) have no meaning, they
only reflect a quantifi cation of some theoretical position”. So once we
understand this we can now look at the data more carefully and with the
help of statistical software we can further see how the data can be
analysed. But before we go there we need to understand the various types
of data we will see while doing research.
4.3 TYPES OF DATA There are various types of data. But foremost we need to define if data
falls under the category of qualitative data or quantitative data.
Qualitative data can be put into categories compris ing of nominal data :
Here we can look at examples of gender: men, women and the other
gender. Hair colour: black, brown, blonde etc and ethnicity: Asian,
American etc. can be another data which can be varied in the same data.
The other kind of data is ordinal data which is also qualitative in nature.
This data specifies that the number is in some order and also is the
difference between nominal and ordinal data. For e.g. First, Second Third.
Letters A to Z. Economic strata of society.
Quantitative data can be categorized into discrete and continuous data.
For e.g. discrete data can be number of children in a class. Number of munotes.in
33 History of Modern Europe) people travelling on a plane etc. Continuous data can be height of a
person, weight of an object, temperature of a place or thing. Cont inuous
data can be further broken down into interval and ratio. E.g. of interval
data is time, age. E.g. of ratio data is height or weight.
4.4 SCALES OF MEASUREMENT It was psychologist Stanley Stevens who came up with the four common
scales of measuremen t: nominal , ordinal , interval and ratio . Each scale
helps in analysing data appropriately. Once we understand the scales of
measurement of the data being used in research studies one can then
decide which statistical test needs to be applied to it.
1. Nomina l scale of measurement: These kind of data cannot be
multiplied, divided, added or subtracted from each other. One cannot
measure the difference between the data points. Some nominal data
can be with order such as cold, very cold, warm, hot etc. The other
kind without order is the gender male, female. Dichotomous data is
simply a yes or no kind of category.
2. Ordinal scale of measurement: This kind of data specifies order.
The values have a rank. E.g. of such kind of data would be ranking a
college of prefer ence, rating a restaurant, satisfaction data points in a
survey for a retail outlet etc.
3. Interval scale of measurement: This data has both properties of
nominal and ordinal and but the difference in the data points can be
quantified. For e.g. 20 degrees is not 1o degrees multiplied by 2. The
number zero is also an existing variable in this kind of measurement.
So for e.g. zero degree is a valid temperature when measured.
4. Ratio scale of measurement: It has properties of all the scales put
together. Ratio sc ales have a ‘true zero’. So for e.g. height of a person
or weight of a person cannot be zero cms or zero kgs. Neither can it
have a negative connotation. This kind of scale of measurement helps
in the calculation of company shares or product sales.
If we w ere to summarise the above kind of measurement scales we can say
that nominal scales helps in labelling or describing values. Ranking a data
or putting it up in specific order can be done using ordinals scales. The
order and the differences between the ord er of the values can understood
using interval scale. Ratio scale makes it more detailed where it describes
the following about the data such as its identity, the order and difference,
and the details between in the data points.
4.5 USE OF DATA IN STATISTI CS Data as we have now understood is collection of factual information in
various nature as explained above used for the purpose of analysis. These
are in raw form, from which statistics is made to be. The way the data is
described or interpretated and fin ally presented becomes statistics of that
research. Statistics can be presented in various forms such as table, graphs munotes.in
34 The French Revolution—1789 and charts. Infographics takes over the next step in presenting the statistics
in a very succinct way.
Statistics is the method to analys e numerical or quantitative data. It helps
interpret data in the correct manner. It also helps to study the relationship
between variables to be meaningful and significant and not merely by
chance. The tests available in statistical tools give a meaning to the
numeric that are obtained from data collection.
4.6 DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS Descriptive statistics is used to describe characteristics of data collected in
a scholarly form. The most basic of how the data should analysed is
presented through descriptive st atistics. Measures of central tendency,
dispersion, and distribution shape can be presented while using this
function of statistics. These are standard calculations in statistical
programs and depending on the data type the results are accordingly
present. As aptly put by Jay Lee in International Encyclopedia of Human
Geography (Second Edition), 2020 “The classical descriptive statistics
allow analysts to have a quick glance of the central tendency and the
degree of dispersion of values in datasets.”
He fur ther adds that descriptive statistics cannot be ignored in the times of
big data. As large volumes of data is being churned out the era of the
Internet, the use of descriptive statistics only grows. The distribution of a
variable in a given dataset is very crucial in data analytics. It describes the
many ways the values of a given variable and the frequency with which it
occurs of each value. This distribution of values is presented by the use of
a table or function or graph.
Measuring Central tendency :
Finding out average is the most basic thing you do while examining data.
For e.g., what is the average of students performing in an assignment,
average of sales that has happened of a product in each period. What is the
average price of a guitar in the market ? So on and so forth. These are
following ways to measure central tendency in statistics: mode, median,
and mean.
Mode: This depicts the most common value noticed of a variable.
Nominal data which is categorical in nature is measured by mode as a
measure o f central tendency.
Median: This is the mid -point of a range. The easiest way to find median
of a data is to arrange the values in an ascending or descending manner
and find the middle value. Ordinal data uses this kind of measure and
extreme values can b e avoided in such measures.
Mode: This is the mathematical average. To find mean you add up all the
values for each given event and divide by the total number of events. This
form of calculation is used to measure central tendency for interval and
ratio d ata. This is not used to measure for nominal and ordinal data as they munotes.in
35 History of Modern Europe) are not mathematical calculations and here numbers are used in code
formats. E.g. you could code gender with 1 or 2, or names of countries
with numbers etc.
Measuring Dispersion :
In sta tistical terminologies dispersion is basically how much is the
distribution of your data stretched or squeezed. Dispersion is also called
variability, scatter or spread. There are many ways to calculate dispersion.
Range: This calculates by subtracting the highest minus the lowest value.
So if test scores ranged between 16 and 30, the range would be 14.
Remember this only looks at the extreme values ignoring the ones in
between.
Variance: This calculates by using up all the values surrounding the mean
and i s the ‘average squared deviation from the mean’. This calculation can
be done using the interval and ratio data and thus indicates dispersion.
Standard Deviation: It is the square root of variance. It is the foundation
of all statistical tests for all int erval and ratio data. It assumes its
importance by the fact with all the data found under the bell curve.
4.7 INFERENTIAL STATISTICS Inferential statistics is derived from the word infer. At the outset this needs
to be clear that inferential statistics doe s not ‘absolutely’ demonstrate a
cause -and-effect relationship or an explanation about a phenomenon. Infer
is only limited to the fact as defined in the American Heritage Dictionary
that it is ‘to conclude or judge from premises or evidence.’
As we have ob served that descriptive statistics helps in describing and
summarising a given dataset. Inferential on the other hand helps in coming
up to conclusions from the available data. It helps in testing relationship
between the variables, helps in assessing if a ny difference observed wasn’t
just by a matter of chance, or to look at the characteristics of a given
sample from the population. Inferential statistics helps doing statistical
tests that yield statistical significance.
Inferential Statistics will help co me to conclusions of a population based
only on the sample selected from it. It helps come up with estimates based
on the sample and hypothesis testing. So, for e.g., why did people watch a
movie? Was it because of the director’s work? the storyline? the a ctors? or
any other reason. Another e.g., why was a certain college more popular as
compared to the rest: is it due to the location? the ambience? the way the
courses are taught? the quality of academics? Etc. are some of the
questions in both the situatio ns that can be probed upon using inferential
statistics.
Statistical Significance :
It is the concept which states that a specific outcome from a dataset done
either by testing or experiment is not happening by chance or a random munotes.in
36 The French Revolution—1789 occurrence. This should id eally happen because of a very specific reason.
It points out to the concept of ‘p -value’ which examines the chances of
your findings being more than mere coincidence. Traditional p -values
have values of .05, .01, and .001; Lower the p -values more the conf idence
that the research findings are authentic.
There are some points to be noted while going through your data to be
used for inferential statistics: -
1. Sample drawn from the population: Looking at the over picture.
2. To check for any major differences betw een respondents.
3. Change in respondents over time.
4. Checking for relationship between two or more variables.
There are many tests available to help in finding out the statistical
significance, there are various software that help in performing these tests
without the researchers needing to know the actual mathematical jumble
mumble of the operations. But the crucial point here is knowing which is
the right statistical test to be used in the study.
These are some of the inferential statistical tests often used : -
One sample test of difference/One sample hypothesis test.
Confidence Interval.
Contingency Tables and Chi Square Statistic.
T-test or Anova.
Pearson Correlation.
Bi-variate Regression.
Multi -variate Regression.
As we know by now that inferential statis tics is used to infer from the
sample taken from the population, one has to be careful of certain things.
There can be two kind of error which may occur, i.e., sampling error and
sampling bias which can lead to results not expected or even biased.
4.8 DATA AN ALYSIS STATISTICAL SOFTWARE SPSS and SAS are more commonly used for analysing data through
software. SPSS Statistics software is made by IBM for data management,
advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, etc and most commonly used by
researchers in academ ics and industry. SAS was developed by SAS
Institute for data management, advanced analytics, multivariate analysis,
business intelligence, criminal investigation, and predictive analytics. munotes.in
37 History of Modern Europe) Microsoft Excel 2000 (version 9) provides a set of data analysis t ools
called the Analysis Tool Pak . This can help develop complex statistical
analysis. As you input the data and parameters for each analysis; the tool
presents results based on the specific statistical macro functions. Even
charts and can be generated oth er than output tables to display results.
R analytics is data analytics programming using R programming
language which is an open -source language used for statistical computing
or graphics. It is now also being used in statistical analysis and data
mining.
4.9 APPLICABILITY IN PUBLIC RELATIONS RESEARCH Public relations research can be well explained by the following “Research
gives the hard data necessary to provide value to the organization, and
helps provide information to make decisions that have real impact ” -
Gronstedt (1997). If not for research it will be difficult for organisations to
really know where they are headed in terms of communicating with their
audiences. Research helps discover the various areas of concern which can
help organisations help int o building relationships, making effective
programmes and take on time needed actions that will stop issues from not
being blown out of proportions and later becoming huge issues. -(Broom
& Dozier, 1990; Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2000).
As the understandin g of descriptive and inferential statistics becomes clear
let us now look at. the various situations in which these can be applied in
the field of public relations research. Studies on media relations and
publicity using social media and other digital pl atforms can be a study
where a descriptive study can done to simply get an idea of the selected
sample of public relations practitioners and journalists were using various
platforms to better their relations and generate publicity. Using various
kind of de scriptive statistics tools a descriptive result can be obtained.
Inferential statistics can be used to test relationship between the variables
present in the study and how does that affect the smooth functioning of
media relations. A lot of audience studie s on social media can be done and
later analysed using both the kind of statistics where the study focuses on
communication and engagement between audience and organisation. A
descriptive study here demonstrates how the audience behaves with the
organisati on on social media. Various variables can be looked upon in this
study to check for the cause -and-effect relationship which could affect the
interaction with audience on social media. The understanding of both
descriptive and inferential analysis is useful to results and findings which
will help come to conclusions of a population based only on the sample
selected from it.
Check your progress
1. How is the understanding of data important for descriptive and
inferential statistics? munotes.in
38 The French Revolution—1789 2. What is the difference betwee n descriptive and inferential statistics?
3. Can you explain with examples the understanding of descriptive and
inferential and its use in public relations research?
4.10 LET’S SUM IT UP Research always begins with curiosity. Research in Public Relations
is not a new phenomenon. There are plenty of research papers
available in various media and public relations journals worldwide on
various aspects of public relations. We need to first understand the
meaning of data. Data is facts and numbers put together. The ques tion
here is how does one interpret the numbers that we obtain after we
collect data? As Don Stacks, who has written books in public relations
research and communication research clearly states that “Quite
simply, numbers (data) have no meaning, they only reflect a
quantification of some theoretical position”.
Qualitative data can be put into categories comprising of nominal
data: Here we can look at examples of gender: men, women and the
other gender. Hair colour: black, brown, blonde etc and ethnicity:
Asian, American etc. can be another data which can be varied in the
same data. The other kind of data is ordinal data which is also
qualitative in nature. This data specifies that the number is in some
order and also is the difference between nominal and or dinal data. For
e.g. First, Second Third. Letters A to Z. Economic strata of society.
Quantitative data can be categorized into discrete and continuous data.
For e.g. discrete data can be number of children in a class. Number of
people travelling on a pla ne etc. Continuous data can be height of a
person, weight of an object, temperature of a place or thing.
Continuous data can be further broken down into interval and ratio.
E.g. of interval data is time, age. E.g. of ratio data is height or weight.
Statist ics is the method to analyse numerical or quantitative data. It
helps interpret data in the correct manner. It also helps to study the
relationship between variables to be meaningful and significant and
not merely by chance. The tests available in statisti cal tools give a
meaning to the numeric that are obtained from data collection.
Descriptive statistics is used to describe characteristics of data
collected in a scholarly form. The most basic of how the data should
analysed is presented through descripti ve statistics. Measures of
central tendency, dispersion, and distribution shape can be presented
while using this function of statistics. These are standard calculations
in statistical programs and depending on the data type the results are
accordingly pre sent.
Inferential statistics is derived from the word infer. At the outset this
needs to be clear that inferential statistics does not ‘absolutely’
demonstrate a cause -and-effect relationship or an explanation about a
phenomenon. munotes.in
39 History of Modern Europe) Statistical Significance is the concept which states that a specific
outcome from a dataset done either by testing or experiment is not
happening by chance or a random occurrence. This should ideally
happen because of a very specific reason. It points out to the concept
of ‘p-value’ which examines the chances of your findings being more
than mere coincidence. Traditional p -values have values of .05, .01,
and .001; Lower the p -values more the confidence that the research
findings are authentic.
There are many tests available to he lp in finding out the statistical
significance, there are various software that help in performing these
tests without the researchers needing to know the actual mathematical
jumble mumble of the operations. But the crucial point here is
knowing which is t he right statistical test to be used in the study.
SPSS and SAS are more commonly used for analysing data through
software. Microsoft Excel 2000 (version 9) provides a set of data
analysis tools called the Analysis Tool Pak. This can help develop
complex statistical analysis. As you input the data and parameters for
each analysis; the tool presents results based on the specific statistical
macro functions. Even charts and can be generated other than output
tables to display results. R analytics is data ana lytics programming
using R programming language which is an open -source language
used for statistical computing or graphics. It is now also being used in
statistical analysis and data mining.
Public relations research can be well explained by the followin g
“Research gives the hard data necessary to provide value to the
organization, and helps provide information to make decisions that
have real impact” - Gronstedt (1997).
REFERENCES The Essential Guide to Doing Your Research Project Third Edition,
Zina O' Leary March 2017 | 415 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
Mass Media Research: An Introduction Book by Joseph Dominick
and Roger D Wimmer
NIST/SEMATECH e -Handbook of Statistical Methods. "1.3.6.4.
Location and Scale Parameters" . www.itl.nist.gov. U.S. Department
of Commerce.
Motivating Students to Become Receptive to Research: How to
Overcome the Fear of Numbers in the Introductory Public Relations
Course By Don W. Stacks, A monogra ph
https://www.sciencedirect.com
*****munotes.in
40 The French Revolution—1789 5
REVIEWING AND SUMMARIZING
LITERATURE
Unit structure
5.0 Objectives
5.1 Introduction
1.2 Role of the literature review in research
1.2.1 Bringing clarity and focus to your res earch problem
1.2.2 Improving your research methodology
1.2.3 Broadening your knowledge base in the research area
1.2.4 Contextualizing your findings
5.3 Difference between a literature review and a summary of literature
5.4 How to review the literature?
1.4.1 Searching for the existing literature
1.4.2 Reviewing the selected literature
1.4.3 Developing a theoretical framework
1.4.4 Developing a conceptual framework
5.5 Writing about the literature reviewed
5.6 Summary
5.7 Questions
5.8 References
5.0 Objectives After reading this unit, you will be able to understand:
The role of literature review in the research process
How to review the literature?
Developing theoretical framework for your study
Developing a conceptual framework munotes.in
41 History of Modern Europe) 5.1 INTRODUCTION A literatu re review is often undertaken as part of writing academic
research papers or a dissertation or thesis. A literature review is an account
of what has been published on a given topic by scholars and researchers.
The objective of writing a literature review i s to convey to your reader
what knowledge and ideas have been established on a topic. As part of
your literature review you may even highlight what were the strengths and
weaknesses of each piece of work that you include in your literature
review. Your lit erature review is where you demonstrate that you are able
to engage in scholarly review based on your reading and understanding of
the work of others in the same field. Moreover, using the existing
literature on a topic is a means of developing an argument about the
significance of your research and where it leads.
The literature review makes a valuable contribution to almost every
operational step in the research process. It is important even before the
first step, that is, when you are merely thinking a bout the research
question that you may want to find answers to through your research
journey. In the initial stages of research it helps you to clarify your ideas,
establish the theoretical roots of your study and develop your research
methodology.
A lit erature review is not just to include a summary of previously
published works but also involves classification, synthesis and analysis of
previous works to see how they relate to your proposed research work.
Since an important responsibility in research is to compare the findings of
your research with those of others, it is here that the literature review plays
an extremely important role. Finally, while writing your research report/
dissertation it helps you to integrate your findings with the existing bod y
of knowledge.
5.2 ROLE OF THE LITERATURE REVIEW IN RESEARCH Researchers who conduct studies under the guidelines of scientific
research never begin a research project without first consulting available
literature to learn what has been done, how it was done, and what results
were found. Experienced researchers consider the literature review to be
one of the most important steps in the research process. It allows them to
learn from (and eventually add to) previous research and saves time,
effort, and mon ey. Failing to conduct a literature review is as detrimental
to a project as failing to address any of the other steps in the research
process.
A literature review serves the following functions in the research process:
Helps to develop research question s
Identify gaps in previous research to highlight areas that need further
research munotes.in
42 The French Revolution—1789 Identify other people working in the same field
Increase the breadth and depth of your knowledge in the research area
Access diverse viewpoints and perspectives on your re search area
Provides intellectual context to your work
In relation to your own study, the literature review can help in four ways.
It can:
Bring clarity and focus to your research problem
Improve your research methodology
Broaden your knowledge base in your research area
Contextualize your findings i.e. integrate your findings with the
existing body of language
5.2.1 Bringing clarity and focus to your research problem :
The process of reviewing the literature helps you to understand the subject
area be tter and thus, helps you to conceptualize your research problem
clearly and precisely and makes it more relevant and pertinent to your
field of enquiry. When reviewing the literature, you learn what aspects of
your subject area have been examined by others what they have found out
about these aspects, what gaps they have identified and what suggestions
they have made for further research.
5.2.2 Improving your research methodology :
Going through the literature acquaints you with the methodologies that
have been used by other researchers to find answers to research questions
similar to the one you are investigating. A literature review tells you if
others have used procedures and methods similar to the ones that you are
proposing, which procedures and method s have worked well for them, and
what problems they have faced with them. By becoming aware of
problems encountered by other researchers, you will be in a better position
to select a methodology that is capable of providing valid answers to your
research q uestions. This will increase your confidence in the methodology
you plan to use and will equip you to defend its use.
5.2.3 Broadening your knowledge base in your research area :
The most important function of the literature review is to ensure you read
widely around the subject area in which you intend to conduct your
research study. It is important that you know what other researchers have
found in regard to the same or similar questions, what theories have been
put forward and what gaps exist in the e xisting body of knowledge.
munotes.in
43 History of Modern Europe) 5.2.4 Contextualizing your findings :
Once you obtain the answers to your research questions the next step is to
examine how your findings fit into the existing body of knowledge. How
do answers to your research questions comp are with what others have
found? What contribution you have been able to make to the existing body
of knowledge? How are your findings different from those of others?
Undertaking a literature review will enable you to compare your findings
with those of ot hers and answer these questions. It is important to place
your findings in the context of what is already known in your field of
enquiry, that is, to integrate what you have found with the existing
literature.
5.3 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A LITERATURE REVIEW AND A SUMMARY OF LITERATURE Some people use the terms ‘literature review’ and ‘summary of the
literature’ interchangeably. However, there is a difference between the
two. A summary of the literature is a description of the significant findings
of each releva nt piece of work that you have gone through as a part of
your literature search. The summary involves listing under each pertinent
source, the major findings of relevance to your study. The sources
searched can be listed in any order. However, in a literat ure review the
findings are organized around main themes that emerge from your
literature search.
Check your progress: Select the most appropriate answer
1. Conducting a literature review helps you to:
a. Pay a visit to the library
b. Submit your thesis
c. Broade n your knowledge base on the subject
d. Compels you to change your research topic
2. Which among the following is a function of literature review in the
research process:
a. Find out existing knowledge in the field of study
b. Develop an argument for your own study
c. Helps in developing research questions
d. All of the above
3. A summary of literature is different from review of literature as it is
merely a:
a. Critical analysis of other’s work munotes.in
44 The French Revolution—1789 b. Description of major findings of other’s research projects/ work
c. Questionnaire from another related study
d. Insights about research methodology
5.4 HOW TO REVIEW THE LITERATURE? When you have settled on the topic for your research you should begin to
read as much as you can about it. Read any key literature, but also read
around you r subject area; investigate related areas or similar topics for
ideas on theoretical approaches and methods of analysis.
If you do not have a specific research problem, you should review the
literature in your broad area of interest with the aim of gradua lly
narrowing it down to what you want to find out about. Once you have
reasonably narrowed your research problem, the literature review should
then be focused around your research problem. There is a danger in
undertaking the review of literature without having a reasonably specific
idea of what you want to study. It can condition your thinking about your
study and the methodology you might use, resulting in a less innovative
choice of research problem and methodology than otherwise would have
been possibl e. Hence, you should try to broadly conceptualize your
research problem before undertaking your major literature review.
There are four steps involved in conducting a literature review:
Searching for existing literature in your area of study
Reviewing the selected literature
Developing a theoretical framework
Developing a conceptual framework
5.4.1 Searching for the existing literature :
To search effectively for the literature in your field of enquiry, it is
imperative that you have at least some idea of the broad subject area and
of the problem you wish to investigate, in order to set parameters for your
search. The research project is an opportunity for you to add to the
knowledge which already exists, but you can't do this until you are aware
of what is already known and written about your subject. If you find that
there are hundreds of books and articles on your research problem,
probably you have not narrowed it sufficiently. Read the most frequently
cited and/or recent books and articles on th e topic and find out which are
the main areas of contention. Could you find out something about these?
Is there an area which the literature seems to have missed? Or a new
phenomenon which the research hasn't caught up with yet? If, however,
you find nothi ng has been written, you are probably not looking in the
right place or you are being much too specific. Redefine your search terms
and try again. As you read, take careful notes on what research has been munotes.in
45 History of Modern Europe) done in your area of interest and by whom; you will need this information
when you come to write your literature review.
Usually, students will have in mind a few initial references when they
begin on a project. These will probably come from recommended reading
in course modules, or from textbooks. The bi bliographies provided at the
end of textbook chapters or articles will usually provide you with a
number of useful relevant references that can also be followed up. Here is
a list of sources that you ought to go through for your literature review:
Books :
Though books are a central part of any bibliography; they have their
disadvantages as well as advantages. The main advantage is that the
material published in books is usually important and of good quality, and
the findings are integrated with other resea rch to form a coherent body of
knowledge. The main disadvantage is that the material is not always
completely up to date, as a year or more may pass between the completion
of a work and its publication in the form of a book.
When you have selected 10 -15 b ooks that you think are appropriate for
your topic, examine the bibliography of each one. Go through these
bibliographies carefully to identify the books common to several of them.
If a book has been referenced by a number of authors, you should include
it in your reading list. Prepare a final list of books that you consider
essential reading.
Journals :
You need to go through the journals relating to your research in a similar
manner. Journals are one of the best resources to get the most up -to-date
infor mation. You should select as many journals as you possibly can,
though the number of journals available depends upon the field of study.
There are a number of ways to find the journals you need to examine in
order to identify the literature relevant to you r study.
Conference papers
Another important source for the literature review is the papers presented
at professional conferences. These can provide you with the most recent
research in the area. You should try to get copies of the papers presented
at recent conferences in your area of interest.
The internet :
In almost every academic discipline and professional field, the internet has
become an important tool for finding published literature. Through an
internet search you can identify published materi al in books, journals and
other sources with immense ease and speed. An internet search is carried
out through search engines. Search engines such as Google Scholar is
particularly useful for research.
munotes.in
46 The French Revolution—1789 Getting the most from your reading :
When you are r eading the existing literature, try to do the following:
Take good notes, including the details of the material you read. It is
irritating to find that you forgot to record the volume number of an
article you read that needs to be included in your Bibliog raphy.
Develop critical reading skills. In reviewing the literature you should
do more than simply summarize what you have read. You should,
whenever appropriate, be critical in your approach. It is worth
developing these skills and recording relevant cr itical points in the
course of taking notes. Developing a critical approach does not simply
mean criticizing the work of others. It involves moving beyond simple
descriptions and asking questions about the significance of the work.
It entails addressing su ch issues as: how does this piece of work relate
to others you have read? Are there any apparent strengths and
deficiencies – perhaps in terms of methodology or in terms of the
conclusions drawn?
Use your review of the literature as a means of showing why your
research questions are important. For example, if one of your
arguments in arriving at your research questions is that, although a lot
of research has been done on X (a general topic or area, such as crisis
communication) little or no research has be en done on X 1 (a specific
aspect of crisis communication say crisis communication using social
media), the literature review is the point where you can justify this
assertion.
Do not try to get everything you read into a literature review. Trying
to force everything you have read into your review (because of all the
hard work involved in finding and reading the material) is not going
to help you. The literature review must assist you in developing an
argument.
Keywords and defining search parameters :
For all the online databases, you will need to work out some suitable
keywords that can be entered into the search engines and that will allow
you to identify suitable references. Journal articles often include lists of
keywords. When you find two or thre e articles that are relevant to your
research and that have lists of keywords, it may be useful to use some of
these keywords that are relevant to your research for searching other
articles. You will also need to think of synonyms or alternative terms and
try to match your language to that of the source you are searching.
5.4.2 Reviewing the selected literature :
Now that you have identified several books and articles as useful, the next
step is to start reading them critically to pull together themes a nd issues
that are of relevance to your study. Unless you have a theoretical
framework of themes in mind to start with, use separate sheets of paper for munotes.in
47 History of Modern Europe) each theme or issue you identify as you go through selected books and
articles. Once you develop a roug h framework, slot the findings from the
material so far reviewed into these themes, using a separate sheet of paper
for each theme of the framework so far developed. As you read further,
continue slotting the information where it logically belongs under th e
themes so far developed. Keep in mind that you may need to add more
themes as you go along.
5.4.3 Developing a theoretical framework :
Examining the literature can be a never -ending task, but to keep it focused
it is important to set parameters by revie wing the literature in relation to
some main themes pertinent to your research topic. As you start reading
the literature, you will soon discover that the problem you wish to
investigate has its roots in a number of theories that have been developed
from d ifferent perspectives. The information obtained from different
books and journals now needs to be sorted under the main themes and
theories, highlighting agreements and disagreements among the authors
and identifying the unanswered questions or gaps.
Literature pertinent to your study may deal with two types of information:
universal or general; and more specific (local trends). In writing about
such information you should start with the general information, gradually
narrowing it down to the specific.
5.4.4 Developing a conceptual framework :
Whereas the theoretical framework consists of the theories in which your
study is embedded, the conceptual framework describes the aspects you
selected from the theoretical framework to become the basis of your
enqu iry. For instance, for a study on ‘War news on television’, the
theoretical framework may include media theories such as Agenda Setting
Theory, Framing, and Propaganda theories, among others. However, out
of these, you may be planning to test only one, say the agenda setting
theory with respect to the topic ‘war news on television’. The conceptual
framework grows out of the theoretical framework and relates only and
specifically to your research problem. The conceptual framework becomes
the foundation of yo ur study.
Check your progress:
1. How can you ensure that you get the most from your reading?
2. What are the main sources to find existing literature on your subject?
3. How do keywords help in searching databases for review of
literature?
5.5 WRITING ABOUT THE LITERATURE REVIEWED The two broad functions of a literature review are (1) to provide a
theoretical background to your study, and (2) to enable you to
contextualize your findings in relation to the existing body of knowledge munotes.in
48 The French Revolution—1789 besides refining your rese arch methodology. The content of your literature
review should reflect these two purposes. In order to fulfill the first
purpose, you should identify and describe various theories relevant to your
field and specify gaps in existing knowledge in the area, r ecent advances
in the area of study, current trends and so on. In order to fulfill the second,
you should integrate the results from your study with specific and relevant
findings from the existing literature by comparing the two for
confirmation or contra diction.
While reading the literature for the theoretical background to your study,
you will observe that certain themes will emerge. List the main ones,
converting them into subheadings. These subheadings should be precise,
descriptive of the theme in qu estion and follow a logical progression.
Now, under each subheading, record the main findings with respect to the
theme in question (thematic writing), highlighting the reasons for and
against an argument if they exist, and identifying gaps and issues.
The second broad function of the literature review – contextualizing the
findings of your study – requires you to compare very systematically your
findings with those made by others. Quote from these studies to show how
your findings contradict, confirm or a dd to them. This places your findings
in the context of what others have found. One must provide a complete
reference for any quoted material, in an acceptable format.
5.6 SUMMARY Reviewing the literature is a continuous process. It begins before a
research problem is finalized and continues until the report is finished.
There is a paradox in the literature review: you cannot undertake an
effective literature review unless you have formulated a research problem,
at the same time your literature search p lays an important role in helping
you to clearly define your research problem. The literature review brings
clarity and focus to your research problem, improves your research
methodology and broadens your knowledge base. A literature review
identifies the main themes from the literature studied that are of relevance
to your study.
Reviewing the literature involves a number of steps: searching for existing
literature in your area of study; reviewing the literature selected, and using
it to develop a theoret ical framework from which your study emerges. The
main sources for identifying the literature are books, journals, conference
papers, and the internet.
Your writing about the literature reviewed should be thematic in nature,
that is, based on main themes, the sequence of these themes in the write -
up should follow a logical order; various arguments should be
substantiated with specific quotations and citations from the literature,
adhering to an acceptable academic referencing style.
munotes.in
49 History of Modern Europe) 5.7 QUESTIONS 1. Wh at are the main reasons for writing a literature review?
2. How should the literature review section be organized and written in a
research report/ dissertation?
3. Describe the differences between theoretical and conceptual
frameworks.
5.8 REFERENCES Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods. Oxford University Press.
Kumar, R. (2014). Research Methodology – A Step -by-Step Guide for
Beginners. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
*****
munotes.in
50 The French Revolution—1789 6
CONDUCTING A CASE STUDY
Unit Structure
6.0 Objectives
6.1 Introducti on
62 What is case study?
6.3 Use of case study method in research
6.4 Process and rigor of doing a case study method
6.5 Case study Research in Public Relations
6.6 Let’s sum it up
6.0 OBJECTIVES After reading this unit you will be able to understand:
Meaning of Case Study Research
Process of Case Study Research
Use of Case Study Research in Public Relations
6.1 INTRODUCTION The researcher will come across various kinds of research methods while
doing research. Case studies are one of them. It is a highly specialized
method used to study complex real -life situations. Case studies are studies
in real life situations, they are not a part of an experiment being done in a
laboratory with pre -defined parameters. It is recorded as they occur. The
researcher gets to examine crucial events occurring in organisations, in
people’s lives, consumers etc. which will throw insight into how these
phenomena occur and have an effect. It will also be interesting to note that
such studies will have multiple data points and var iables beyond being
studied through other methods (Yin, 1994, p. 15).
6.2 WHAT IS CASE STUDY? According to Yin (1994) the research questions of the study will
determine the kind of research design to be used in the study. “Case
studies are the preferred st rategy when ‘how’ or ‘why’ questions are being
posed, when the investigator has little control over events, and when the
focus is on a contemporary phenomenon within some real -life context” (p.
1). The researchers study real life events and tries to explor e and look for munotes.in
51 History of Modern Europe) any causal relationships. This can happen even if there is not much clarity
observed between a situation and the corresponding entities within it.
Ideally a case study should have a theoretical base before starting off the
research process. Validity check should also be kept in mind and as far as
possible. A case study rests on the same thoroughness as it would apply to
any other research method. The quality of the case study quality will stand
by the following standard tests as applicable. T hese tests are construct
validity, internal validity, external validity, and reliability. Case studies
unlike surveys depend on “analytical generalization,”. This means that the
researcher generalises a set of the results obtained to a theoretical concept
(Yin, 1994, p. 36). Examples of use of case study method are many like
for e.g., using an in -depth longitudinal study can be useful if one was
studying some event over a prolonged period where then data can be
collected, analysed, and reported for the said time. Studies on child
language development can be done using the above method. Another e.g.,
could where reading process of a subject can be explored over a given
duration of time. So basically, this only emphasis that case study method
is useful for loo king at a specific natural phenomenon occurring in a
space, in its entirety (Yin, 1984). A survey method would thus study
trends in data at the macro stage whereas case study looks at the micro
stage.
Though one thing must be kept in mind that by the fact the issue at hand is
a case study it cannot be generalised beyond the case at hand being
examined.
6.3 USE OF CASE STUDY METHOD IN RESEARCH Case study methodology is qualitative in nature. This helps researchers to
do an in -depth study of specific phenomen a occurring in each situation. It
is very useful as one can do a detailed study of individuals, communities,
and organizations through this method. The data collection is done
through various sources and different methods are used such as
observations and interviews. Though case study is used a lot in qualitative
research (Yazan, 2015), it is still given a legit place in social science
research as it lacks a structural and protocol driven rigor (Yin, 2002).
Precisely why young researchers do not have a defi nitive process in mind
when intending to start using this method also its difference from other
methodologies (Merriam, 1998).
Case study method tend to beyond the standard quantitative statistical
results and observe behaviors from a respondent’s viewpoi nt. But if both
quantitative and qualitative is combined then a case study method will
show the complete occurrence of a phenomenon through examination,
rebuilding and evaluation of the case being studied (Tellis, 1997). This
method can see being applied i n many genres and practices. To name a
few, area of Sociology (Grassel & Schirmer, 2006), Law (Lovell, 2006)
and Medicine (Taylor & Berridge, 2006). Other fields include
government, management and in education. For e.g., there have been
studies which have been done to check if government programmes have
been effective, goals of a programme were achieved. In some more munotes.in
52 The French Revolution—1789 examples, education efficacy applications were done to check for if
educations programmes reached their mark. If only quantitative methods
were used in such studies some crucial observations would be missed to be
recorded.
Some of the names that played an important role in influencing this
method are Robert K. Yin, Sharan Merriam, and Robert E. Stake. They
put together procedures for using case study research (Creswell, Hanson,
Clark Plano, & Morales, 2007). They are considered for laying the
foundation of this method where researchers can rely on their acumen to
decide when putting down a case study research design (Yazan, 2015). A
lot of books known for case study research (Merriam, 2002; Stake, 1995;
Yin, 2011) though put case study research together but they stress more
on the theory than the practice and many don’t explain the basics of the
case study method process for someone starting out in research (Hancock
& Algozzine, 2016).
6.4 PROCESS AND RIGOR OF DOING A CASE STUDY METHOD An article by (Yasir Rashid, et al) on case study method “ Case Study
Method: A Step -by-Step Guide for Business Researchers” in an article in
Sage Journal clearly lays down steps on doing a case study research step
by step. They put down the case study process with the following steps:
Foundation phase which comprises of Philosophical consideration, Inquiry
techniques consideration, Research logic consideration. The next step is
the pre -field phase which includes decide and case study protocol steps.
This is followed by Field phase which includes contact and interact steps
and finally the reporting phase which comprises of the case study
reporting steps. The details of the steps are described in the subsequent
paragraphs below.
The foundation stage is most basic and very important as the entire
research rests on this step and it describes the research philosophy. There
should be clarity at this stage as rest everythi ng you do in your research
rests on this stage (Wilson, 2014) e.g., what is the your research about,
how do you perceive going about it etc. Research paradigms needs to used
here and the knowledge of ontology, epistemology, and other paradigm
options shoul d be used and will be part of the process adding more depth
to your research (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998). This will formalise the basis
of the research approach. There are two common inquiry techniques that
researchers use while starting of any research is qu antitative and
qualitative. Our own philosophical stance influences the selection of the
techniques. If one is choosing the positivist research approach then it is
linked to quantitative research methods ; if one chooses interpretive
research then it is li nked to qualitative research methods. E.g., as
researcher knowing which approach one is taking to do say a study on
media relations and publicity is crucial.
An interpretivist will seek answers related to credibility, conformability,
transferability, and d ependability while the positivist will look for criteria munotes.in
53 History of Modern Europe) of reliability and generalizability (Denzin & Lincoln, 1998). These are
research jargons whose understanding is very important. There are two
research logic approaches in social science research: Ind uction and
deduction. Järvensivu and Törnroos (2010) that those researchers who
have the realist ontological stand will go for deductive research. Deductive
research logic starts off with a theory and will test arguments. The
Relativist will begin with the subjective perspective of personal
experience based on which theory is then put together in an inductive
manner. These two kinds of research logics are most common than a
rather not much used one that is abduction formed by Peirce (1903). The
next stage is the pre -field stage where the researcher now puts together the
operational intricacies. There are two steps to this. One is the Decide step
where the researcher confirms if the case study method is the best choice.
Methods by their very definition are “ techniques for gathering evidence”
(Harding, 1986) or “procedures, tools, and techniques” of research
(Schwandt, 2001). Next step is the Case study protocol where a formalised
document is put together which contains the set of steps needed in
collection of empirical data (Yin, 2009). This also leads the researchers to
collect any proof, analysis tools and finally one puts together the findings
(Yin, 1994). The field phase consists of the Contact step. As this kind of
study is qualitative in nature it is imp ortant to know with an interpretive
approach the researchers becomes plays an integral role in the collection
of data and interpretation of the same. The researcher thus needs to know
the cases, respondents well who are going to be part of the study. This will
make for an obstacle free process. E.g., in case studies especially knowing
the respondent well helps as sometimes studies can be prolonged and
detailing would be required. The next step in the phase is the Interact
step. Here the case study methods will go through a lot of numerical data
collection tools so that the research questions that were initially put
together for the study will yield the subsequent findings. At this stage
semi -structured interview tools can be used other than observation
meth ods and any other document collection. Triangulation happens when
one used more than one method for collection of data (Yin, 2009). This
not only adds value but also but using this multiple ways of data collection
adds a rigour, the depth, the breadth to t he study (Flick, Kardorff, &
Steinke, 2004). The reporting phase is the final phase of the case study
process and equally crucial as the collection and interpretation steps
(Denzin & Lincoln, 1998). It has long been advised that putting a report
together i s like telling a story. So adding crucial points like the various
descriptions of the case, participants, the details of them, the field
protocols as discussed above and the finally the analysis and conclusion
will sump up the report.
6.5 CASE STUDY RESEAR CH IN PUBLIC RELATIONS Public Relations has been an evolving practice, its origin and growth has
traversed many years across the world. Sriramesh quotes James Grunig’s
definition of public relations that it is "the management of communication
between an or ganization and its publics (Sriramesh & White, 1992) .
Public relations serve the functions of information, communication, munotes.in
54 The French Revolution—1789 persuasion, image building, continuous building of trust, management of
conflicts, and the generation of consensus” (Sriramesh K. , 20 03). So from
the above it is clear that Public Relations is a profession which
practitioners of it will have to look very seriously into the relationship of
an organsiation with its stakeholders and always try to improvise upon its
communications and activ ities to maintain it.
Public relations research can be well explained by the following “Research
gives the hard data necessary to provide value to the organization, and
helps provide information to make decisions that have real impact” -
Gronstedt (1997). If not for research it will be difficult for organisations to
really know where they are headed in terms of communicating with their
audiences. Research helps discover the various areas of concern which can
help organisations help into building relationsh ips, making effective
programmes and take on time needed actions that will stop issues from not
being blown out of proportions and later becoming huge issues. -(Broom
& Dozier, 1990; Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2000). Research helps discover
the various areas of concern which can help organisations help into
building relationships, making effective programmes and take on time
needed actions that will stop issues from not being blown out of
proportions and later becoming huge issues. -(Broom & Dozier, 1990;
Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2000).
A public relations practitioner is a story teller and that to a persuasive one.
Persuasive communication was used in public relations way back in 320
B.C when Emperor Asoka used rock tablets to make announcements of
orders. Bu t in current times a case will do the work of persuasion which
will help an organisation to reach out to their stakeholders. They are
constantly coming up with different stories that they write on the behalf of
the client to put up to their audience. It is a very useful tool as a client can
be projected in a positive light by putting together a piece of them
connected to their works. A public relations case study examines the
organisation in context with its stakeholders. It highlights the works being
done for the client to better their image and reputation. It studies and
hopefully help improves the relationship between the two entities. The
findings of the study are quantifiable in nature and serve as a historical
account of public relations in times to co me for people who need to
understand this profession better. Case studies also allow for the
combination of being qualitative or quantitative or both and as they look
into the intricacies of an individual or organisation they examine in public
relations pa rlance the opportunities or challenges that an organisation
faces while communicating, crisis communication, issues that a customer
faces, the prescribed solution given by the company to the problem at
hand, and finally an empirical evaluation and presenta tion of the results of
the services being used by customers. E.g., any increase in profit,
engagement findings or any poll undertaken. The cases provide for a
window to describe in detail the practices being done for the client,
organisation, stakeholders or target audience: the beneficiaries. Another
very crucial point that Cases are serve as promotional text for future munotes.in
55 History of Modern Europe) clients. Your works done and recorded in text always helps in showcasing
yourself in the world of business.
Public Relations functions are important to understand as then only one
can examine and prepare cases pertaining to them. A case study on
APSRTC states the functions that they have laid down for their
organisation. Please find below: -
1) Corporate objectives, programmes and passenger amenities of the
organisation should be known to the publics.
2) The issues that the organisation can face such as violence to the crew
operating the buses during unrest situations so that people as far as
possible cooperate with the organisation and do n ot resort to any
unruly behaviour.
3) It reiterates traffic rules and behaviour amongst commuters so that
follow queues, avoid any footboard travel, buy the right ticket,
maintain small change in hand, etc.
4) To obtain feedback from the passengers and o pinion leaders on the
behaviour of the bus crew in writing or verbal communication.
5) It is important to keep the press informed about any untoward incident
such as accidents and the subsequent relief measures, department
enquiry undertaken.
6) It is crucial to train the staff on the concept of public relations and
code of etiquette.
7) It is the function of the public relations team of the organisation to
maintain internal communication to ensure that employees feel a
bonhomie as part of the organisa tion and helps improve their work
productivity.
8) It is vital for the management to know passenger feedback and their
complaints. This comes crucial especially in case there is negative
publicity of the organisation. Continuous feedback is needed from
various stakeholders to ensure smooth function of the organisation.
Sources for looking up cases in Public Relations are as below. They will
also help in understanding how cases are written.
1. Arthur W.Page Society: These include some cases originally written
by students in accredited business schools or communication or
journalism streams. Their degree was focussed on corporate
communications and the practice of public relations.
2. PR Council Case studies
These comprise of cases and best works in the area of pu blic relations.
3. PR Newswire munotes.in
56 The French Revolution—1789 This site keeps a list of case studies and white paper in public relations
4. PRSA Case studies
Public Relations Society of America website includes cases under the
database by the name Silver Anvil case studies. One needs to be a member
of this organisation to be able to view the complete works.
There are various books too in Public Relations that reflect upon cases in
Public Relations:
How Fifteen Transnational Corporations Manage Public Affairs
ISBN: 0872510395
PR News Casebook: 1000 Public Relations Case Studies
ISBN: 0810389053
Public Relations Inquiry as Rhetorical Criticism: Case Studies of
Corporate Discourse and Social Influence
ISBN: 0275951502
Public Relations Practices: Managerial Case Studies & Problems
ISBN: 0130981532
Check your progress
1. What is a case study method? Where do you think you can use it?
2. What is the use of case study method in research?
3. What is the process of doing case study method?
4. Explain the use of case study method in Public Relations research.
6.6 LET ’S SUM IT UP Case studies are studies in real life situations, they are not a part of an
experiment being done in a laboratory with pre -defined parameters. It is
recorded as they occur. The researcher gets to examine crucial events
occurring in organisatio ns, in people’s lives, consumers etc. which will
throw insight into how these phenomena occur and have an effect.
According to Yin (1994) the research questions of the study will
determine the kind of research design to be used in the study. The
researcher s study real life events and tries to explore and look for any
causal relationships. This can happen even if there is not much clarity
observed between a situation and the corresponding entities within it.
Ideally a case study should have a theoretical bas e before starting off the
research process. Validity check should also be kept in mind and as far as
possible. A case study rests on the same thoroughness as it would apply to
any other research method. Case study methodology is qualitative in munotes.in
57 History of Modern Europe) nature. This helps researchers to do an in -depth study of specific
phenomena occurring in each situation. It is very useful as one can do a
detailed study of individuals, communities, and organizations through this
method. The data collection is done through various s ources and different
methods are used such as observations and interviews. Case study method
tend to beyond the standard quantitative statistical results and observe
behaviors from a respondent’s viewpoint. But if both quantitative and
qualitative is combi ned then a case study method will show the complete
occurrence of a phenomenon through examination, rebuilding and
evaluation of the case being studied (Tellis, 1997). Some of the names that
played an important role in influencing this method are Robert K. Yin,
Sharan Merriam, and Robert E. Stake. They put together procedures for
using case study research (Creswell, Hanson, Clark Plano, & Morales,
2007). A Step -by-Step Guide for Business Researchers” in an article in
Sage Journal clearly lays down steps on doing a case study research step
by step. The case study process consists of the following steps: Foundation
phase which comprises of Philosophical consideration, Inquiry techniques
consideration, Research logic consideration. The next step is the pre -field
phase which includes decide and case study protocol steps. This is
followed by Field phase which includes contact and interact steps and
finally the Reporting phase which comprises of the case study reporting
steps. So these are steps to do a case study method as explained in detail
above. A public relations practitioner is a story teller. They are constantly
coming up with different stories that they write on the behalf of the client
to put up to their audience. It is a very useful tool as a client can b e
projected in a positive light by putting together a piece of them connected
to their works. Public relations serve the functions of information,
communication, persuasion, image building, continuous building of trust,
management of conflicts, and the gen eration of consensus” (Sriramesh K. ,
2003) . A public relations case study examines the organisation in context
with its stakeholders. Public relations research can be well explained by
the following “Research gives the hard data necessary to provide value to
the organization, and helps provide information to make decisions that
have real impact” - Gronstedt (1997). If not for research it will be difficult
for organisations to really know where they are headed in terms of
communicating with their audiences. Research helps discover the various
areas of concern which can help organisations help into building
relationships, making effective programmes and take on time needed
actions that will stop issues from not being blown out of proportions and
later becomin g huge issues. -(Broom & Dozier, 1990; Cutlip, Center, &
Broom, 2000). A public relations case study examines the organisation in
context with its stakeholders. It highlights the works being done for the
client to better their image and reputation. Case st udies also allow for the
combination of being qualitative or quantitative or both and as they look
into the intricacies of an individual or organisation they examine in public
relations parlance the opportunities or challenges that an organisation
faces wh ile communicating, issues that a customer faces, the prescribed
solution given by the company to the problem at hand, and finally an
empirical evaluation and presentation of the results of the services being
used by customers. Another very crucial point th at Cases are serve as munotes.in
58 The French Revolution—1789 promotional text for future clients. Your works done and recorded in text
always helps in showcasing yourself in the world of business.
REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1609406919862424
https://www.simplypsychology.org/case -study.html
https://lib guides.uta.edu/pr/casestudies
Case study as a research method - CORE
https://core.ac.uk ›
http://www.egyankosh.a c.in › bitstream › Unit -5
https://libguides.gvsu.edu/cap/cases
https://library.onu.edu/c.php?g=357909&p=2417478
Public Relations, Princip les, Cases and Problems; H. Frazier Moore;
Frd B.;
Kalupa Surjeet Publications; 1985.
Effective Public Relations; Scott M Cutlip, Allen H; Centre Prentice
Hall; 5th
edition; 1978.
Bardhan N., & Krishnamurthy Sriramesh Public Relations in India
Review of a Programme of Research, Journal of Creative
Communications 2006; 1; 39, DOI: 10.1177/097325860500100103
The Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research, and
Practice
Excellence in Public Relations and Communication Management
Case study as a researc h method by Zaidah Zainal Faculty of
Management and Human Resource Development
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
***
munotes.in
59 History of Modern Europe) 7
QUESTIONNAIRES AND IN -DEPTH
INTERVIEWS
Unit Structure
7.0 Objectives
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Defining Interviews
7.3 Unstructured interviews
7.4 Structured Interviews
7.5 Differences between the structured interview and the qualitative
interview
7.6 The questionnaire
7.7 Ways of administering a questionnaire
7.8 Questionnaire design
7.9 Choosing between an interview schedu le and a questionnaire
7.10 Advantages and Disadvantages of a questionnaire
7.11 Advantages and Disadvantages of the interview method
7.12 Summary
7.13 Questions
7.14 References
7.0 OBJECTIVES After reading this unit, you will be able to under stand:
The different types of interviews and their use in research
How to design a questionnaire
The advantages and disadvantages of the interview method and
questionnaires
7.1 INTRODUCTION Interviewing is a commonly used method of collecting informat ion from
people. Interviews are a good way of accessing people’s perceptions,
meanings, and definitions of situations and constructions of reality. It is
one of the most powerful ways of understanding others. An interview is an
extended conversation but it has a purpose and is highly focussed.
Unstructured or depth interviews helps in collecting a great deal of
information, ask follow -up questions and in acquiring unexpected data.
munotes.in
60 The French Revolution—1789 7.2 DEFINING INTERVIEWS There are many definitions of interviews, but it is essentially a person -to-
person interaction, either face -to-face or otherwise, between two or more
individuals with a specific purpose in mind. According to Monette et al.
(1986, p. 156), ‘an interview involves an interviewer reading questions to
respon dents and recording their answers’. According to Burns (1997, p.
329), ‘an interview is a verbal interchange, often face to face, though the
telephone may be used, in which an interviewer tries to elicit information,
beliefs or opinions from another person ’.
When interviewing a respondent, as a researcher, you have the freedom to
decide the format and content of your questions, choose how to word
them, decide how you want to ask them and in what order. The process of
asking questions can be either very flex ible, where you as the interviewer
have the freedom to think about and formulate questions as they come to
your mind around the issue being investigated, or inflexible, where you
have to keep strictly to questions decided on beforehand – including their
wording, sequence and the manner in which they are asked. Interviews are
classified according to this degree of flexibility.
7.3 UNSTRUCTURED INTERVIEWS The main strength of an unstructured interview lies in having almost
complete freedom in terms of its s tructure, contents, question wording and
order. You are free to ask whatever you want, and in a format that is
relevant to the situation. You also have complete freedom in terms of the
wording you use and the way you explain questions to your respondents.
You may formulate questions and raise issues on the spur of the moment,
depending upon what occurs to you in the context of the discussion.
7.4 STRUCTURED INTERVIEWS In a structured interview, the researcher asks a predetermined set of
questions, using th e same wording and order of questions as specified in
the interview schedule. An interview schedule is a written list of
questions, open -ended or closed, pre -tested for standardized wording,
meaning and interpretation, prepared for use by an interviewer in a person -
to-person interaction. Note than an interview schedule is a research tool/
instrument for collecting data, whereas interviewing is a method of data
collection.
One of the main advantages of structured interview is that it provides
uniform inform ation, which assures the comparability of data. Structured
interviewing requires fewer interviewing skills than does unstructured
interviewing.
munotes.in
61 History of Modern Europe) 7.5 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE STRUCTURED INTERVIEW AND THE QUALITATIVE INTERVIEW Qualitative interviewing is us ually very different from interviewing in
quantitative research in a number of ways:
The approach tends to be much less structured in qualitative research.
In quantitative research, the approach is structured to maximize the
reliability and validity of me asurement of key concepts. It is also
more structured because the researcher has a clearly specified set of
research questions that are to be investigated. The structured interview
is designed to answer these questions. Instead, in qualitative research,
there is an emphasis on the interviewee’s own perspectives.
In qualitative interviewing, there is much greater interest in the
interviewee’s point of view; in quantitative research, the interview
reflects the researcher’s concerns.
In qualitative interview ing, interviewees can depart significantly from
any schedule or guide that is being used. They can ask new questions
that follow up interviewees’ replies and can vary the order and even
the wording of questions. In quantitative interviewing, none of this i s
possible because that will compromise the standardization of the
interview process.
In qualitative interviewing, the researcher wants rich, detailed
answers; in structured interviewing the interview is supposed to
generate answers that can be coded and processed quickly.
7.6 THE QUESTIONNAIRE A questionnaire is a written list of questions, the answers to which are
recorded by the respondents. Thus, the respondents read the questions on
their own, interpret as per their understanding and then write down the
answers. The only difference between an interview schedule and a
questionnaire is that in the former it is the interviewer who asks the
questions (and if necessary, explains them) and records the respondent’s
replies, and in the latter the replies are recorded by the respondents
themselves. This distinction is important in accounting for the respective
strengths and weaknesses of the two methods and their respective use in
the research process.
In a questionnaire, because there is no one to explain the meaning of
questions to respondents it is important that the questions are clear and
easy to understand. Also, the layout of a questionnaire should be such that
it is easy to read and pleasant to the eyes. Further, the sequence of
questions should be e asy to follow. A questionnaire should be developed
in an interactive style. This means respondents should feel as if someone
is talking to them. In a questionnaire, a sensitive question or a question
that respondents may be hesitant to answer should be pre faced by an
interactive statement explaining the relevance of the question. munotes.in
62 The French Revolution—1789 7.7 WAYS OF ADMINISTERING A QUESTIONNAIRE A questionnaire can be administered in a number of ways. Your selection
of a particular method of administration depends upon the assess ment of
your respondent population and your impressions about how they would
prefer to participate in your study. The various ways in which you can
administer a questionnaire are as follows:
The mailed questionnaire: the most common approach to collecting
information is to send the questionnaire to prospective respondents by
mail. This approach presupposes that you have access to their email
addresses. It may not be easy to get addresses, so before you decide to
collect your data through this method, ensur e the availability of
addresses of potential respondents.
Collective administration: One of the best ways of administering a
questionnaire is to obtain a captive audience such as students in a
classroom, people attending a function, participants in a pro gramme
or people assembled in one place. This ensures a very high response
rate as you will find few people refusing to participate in your study.
Also, as you have personal contact with the study population, you can
explain the purpose, relevance and impo rtance of the study and can
clarify any questions that respondents may have.
Online questionnaire: With the advancement in communication
technology, the use of the online questionnaire to collect information
for research has become quite common. You ha ve to develop a
questionnaire in the same way as you normally do using a program
that is designed for the purpose. The main difference is that instead of
personally delivering, collectively distributing, or individually
mailing, you post it either on socia l media groups or provide a link in
your email/ social media feed for potential respondents to access it
and respond. One can analyze the data collected through online
questionnaires using an appropriate program.
Administration in a public place: Sometime s you can administer a
questionnaire in a public place such as a shopping centre, health
centre, hospital, school or recreational place. Of course, this depends
upon the type of study population you are looking for and where it is
likely to be found. Usual ly the purpose of the study is explained to
potential respondents as they approach and their participation in the
study is requested.
7.8 QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN Questionnaire design is a systematic process in which the researcher
contemplates various quest ion formats, considers a number of factors
characterising the survey, words the various questions very carefully, and
organises the questionnaire’s layout. munotes.in
63 History of Modern Europe) Question development is the practice of selecting appropriate response
formats and wording question s that are understandable, unambiguous, and
unbiased. Here are a few tips for designing a good questionnaire:
Do not cramp the presentation: Because of the well -known problem
of low response rates especially in mailed questionnaires, it is
sometimes consi dered preferable to make the instrument appear as
short as possible so that it does not deter prospective respondents
from answering. However, this is almost always a mistake. Experts
suggest that an attractive layout is likely to enhance response rates.
Clear presentation: A self -completion questionnaire with a layout
that is easy on the eye facilitates the answering of all questions that
are relevant to the respondent.
Vertical or horizontal closed answers? Bearing in mind that most
questions in a self -completion questionnaire are likely to be of the
closed nature, one consideration is whether to arrange the fixed
answers vertically or horizontally. Very often, the nature of the
answers will dictate a vertical arrangement because of their sheer
length. M any writers prefer a vertical format whenever possible,
because, in some cases where either arrangement is feasible,
confusion can arise when a horizontal one is employed. Consider the
following:
What do you think of the sports supervisor’s performance si nce he took
office?
Very good______Good_____Fair_____Poor_____Very poor_____
There is a risk that, if the questionnaire is being answered in haste, the
required tick will be placed in the wrong space – for example, indicating
‘Good’ when ‘fair’ was the int ended response. Also, a vertical format
more clearly distinguishes questions from answers.
7.8.1 Four ―Do’s‖ of Question Wording :
The question should be focussed on a single topic or issue: The
researcher must stay focussed on the specific issue or topic. For
example, take the question, “What type of hotel do you usually stay in
when on trip?” The focus of this question is ambiguous because it does
not narrow down the type of trip or when the hotel is being used.
The question should be brief: Unnecessary and redundant words should
always be eliminated. This requirement is especially important when
designing questions that will be administered verbally, such as over the
telephone. Brevity is important.
For example, “What are the considerations that would c ome to your mind
while you are confronted with the decision to have some type of repair
done on the automatic icemaker in your refrigerator assuming that you munotes.in
64 The French Revolution—1789 noticed it was not making ice cubes as well as it did when you first
brought it?”
The Question sh ould be a grammatically simple sentence (if possible):
A simple sentence is preferred because it has only a single subject and
predicate.
The Question should be Crystal Clear: One tactic for clarity is to
develop questions that use words that are in respo ndents’ core
vocabularies; that is, the general public does not use marketing jargon
such as ‘price point’ or ‘brand equity’.
7.8.2 Four ―Do not’s‖ of Question Wording :
The question should not lead the respondent to a particular answer (A
Leading Questi on): such a question is worded or structured in a way
as to give the respondent a strong cue or expectation as how to
answer. Therefore, it biases responses.
For example, “Don’t you see any problems with using your credit card for
an online purchase?”
Or
“Do you see any problems with using your credit card for an online
purchase?”
The first question may lead respondents to assume the role of a critic
regarding the use of credit cards because of the way it is worded and may
prevent respondents from giving h onest answers.
The question should not have loaded words or phrasing: In contrast to
leading questions, loaded questions are more subtle, yet, they are also
biased questions. Identifying the bias here requires more judgment.
For example, “Should people be allowed to protect themselves from harm
by using pepper sprays as self -defence?” Here, the bias in favour of using
lethal measures may not be evident at first sight. However, a careful
reading of the question will reveal that the question is likely to m ake
people reply in the affirmative.
Avoid Double -Barrelled questions: A double barrelled question is
really two different questions posed as one. With two questions posed
as one, it becomes difficult for the respondent to answer. For example,
“Were you s atisfied with the restaurant’s food and service?”
The question should not use words that overstate the condition: An
overstated question is one that places undue emphasis on some aspect
of the topic. For example, imagine a survey being conducted for Ray -
Ban sunglasses? An overstated question might ask: “How much do
you think you would pay for a pair of sunglasses that will protect your
eyes from the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays, which are known to munotes.in
65 History of Modern Europe) cause blindness?” In this case, there is an overstatement concerning
the effect of UV rays.
Check your progress: Select the most appropriate answer
1. The problem with double -barreled questions is that they:
a. contains two questions requiring only one answer
b. suggests what answer is right
c. require long answers
d. sugge sts what answer is wrong
2. One of the advantages of interviews as a data collection method is that:
a. helps you analyze data
b. get short answers
c. get numerical data
d. allows you to ask follow -up questions
3. An instrument comprised of a series of questions that are fi lled in by
the respondent herself is called a:
a. transcript
b. questionnaire
c. sampling
d. interview schedule
4. The problem with loaded questions is that they:
a. suggests what answer is right
b. suggests what answer is wrong
c. have two questions in one
d. requires ‘yes’, ‘n o’ type answers
5. ‘An extended conversation with a purpose and highly focused’, this
is the definition of:
a. content analysis
b. an interview
c. a survey
d. case study munotes.in
66 The French Revolution—1789 6. Non-standardized, in -depth, open -ended interviews are known as:
a. unstructured interviews
b. structure d interviews
c. surveys
d. observation
7.9 CHOOSING BETWEEN AN INTERVIEW SCHEDULE AND A QUESTIONNAIRE The choice between a questionnaire and an interview schedule is
important and should be considered thoroughly as the strengths and
weaknesses of the two meth ods can affect the validity of the findings. The
nature of the investigation and the socioeconomic demographic
characteristics of the study population are central in this choice. The
selection between an interview schedule and a questionnaire should be
based upon the following criteria:
The nature of the investigation: if the study is about issues that
respondents may feel reluctant to discuss with the researcher, a
questionnaire may be a better choice as it ensures anonymity. This
may be the case with stu dies on drug use, sexuality, indulgence in
criminal activities and personal finances. However, there are
situations where better information about sensitive issues can be
obtained by interviewing respondents. It depends on the type of study
population and the skills of the interviewer. As a researcher, you need
to explore which method is better suited for your study and
respondents.
The geographical distribution of the study population: If potential
respondents are scattered over a wide geographical area, y ou have no
choice but to use a questionnaire as conducting interviews in such a
situation would be extremely expensive.
The type of study population: If the study population is illiterate, very
young or very old, there may be no option but to interview th e
respondents.
7.10 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF A QUESTIONNAIRE Advantages of a questionnaire
A questionnaire has the following advantages:
It is less expensive: As you do not interview respondents, you save
time and resources. The use of a questio nnaire, therefore, is
comparatively convenient and inexpensive, especially when it is
administered collectively to a study population. munotes.in
67 History of Modern Europe) It offers greater anonymity: As there is no face -to-face interaction
between respondents and interviewer, this method pr ovides greater
anonymity. In some situations where sensitive questions are asked it
helps to increase the likelihood of obtaining accurate information.
Disadvantages of a questionnaire :
Although a questionnaire has several advantages, it is important to note
that not all data collection using this method has these advantages. The
prevalence of a particular disadvantage depends on a number of other
factors. Some of these disadvantages are as follows:
Limited application: One of the main disadvantages is th at its
application is limited to a study population that can read and write. It
also cannot be used on a population that is very young or very old.
Low response rate: Questionnaires are notorious for their low
response rates; that is, people fail to return them. If you plan to use a
questionnaire, keep in mind that because not everyone will return/
answer the questionnaire, your sample size will in effect be reduced.
The response rate depends upon a number of factors: the interest of
the sample in the topic of the study, the layout and length of the
questionnaire, and the methodology used to deliver the questionnaire.
Self-selecting bias: Since not everyone who receives a questionnaire
returns it, there is a self -selecting bias. Those who return their
quest ionnaires may have attitudes, attributes, or motivations that are
different from those who do not. Hence, if the response rate is very
low, the findings may not be representative of the total study
population.
Lack of opportunity to clarify issues: If, fo r any reason, respondents
do not understand some questions, there is almost no opportunity for
them to have the meaning clarified unless they get in touch with the
researcher (which is mostly rare). If different respondents interpret
questions differently, this will affect the quality of the information
provided.
No opportunity for spontaneous responses: Mailed questionnaires are
inappropriate when spontaneous responses are required, as most
respondents will glance through the whole questionnaire before
answering. This gives them time to reflect before answering, which
may make them change their answers to some questions.
The response to a question may be influenced by the response to other
questions: As respondents can read all the questions before answer ing
(which usually happens), the way they answer a particular question
may be affected by their knowledge of other questions.
Others can influence the answers: With mailed questionnaires
respondents may consult other people before responding. In situation s
where an investigator wants to find out only the study population’s munotes.in
68 The French Revolution—1789 opinions, this method may be inappropriate, though requesting
respondents to express their own opinion may help.
A response cannot be supplemented with other information: The
informatio n gathered by interviewing can sometimes be supplemented
with information from other methods of data collection such as
observation. However, a questionnaire lacks this advantage.
7.11 ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES OF THE INTERVIEW METHOD Advantages of t he interview method
More appropriate for complex situations: It is the most appropriate
approach for studying complex and sensitive topics as the interviewer
has the opportunity to prepare a respondent before asking sensitive
questions and to explain comp lex ones to respondents in person.
Useful for collecting in -depth information: In an interview situation, it
is possible for an investigator to obtain in -depth information by
probing. Hence, in situations where in -depth information is required,
interviewi ng is the preferred method of data collection.
Information can be supplemented: An interviewer is able to
supplement information obtained from responses with those gained
from observations of non -verbal reactions.
Questions can be explained: It is less li kely that a question will be
misunderstood as the interviewer can either repeat a question or put it
in a form that is understood by the respondent.
Disadvantages of the interview method
Time consuming and expensive: This is especially so when potential
respondents are scattered over a wide geographical area. However, if
you have a situation such as an office, a hospital or an agency where
potential respondents come to obtain a service, interviewing them in
that setting may be less expensive and less time consuming.
The quality of data depends upon the quality of the interaction: In an
interview the quality of interaction between an interviewer and
interviewee is likely to affect the quality of the information obtained.
Also, because the interaction in ea ch interview is unique, the quality
of the responses obtained from different interviews may vary
significantly.
The quality of data depends upon the skills of the interviewer: In an
interview situation the quality of the data generated is affected by the
experience, skills and commitment of the interviewer.
munotes.in
69 History of Modern Europe) 7.12 SUMMARY Interviewing is a method of data collection which helps the researcher to
access people’s perceptions and constructions of reality in their own
words. The interview method offers the fr eedom to decide the format and
content of questions, their wording, sequence and number of questions.
Interviews are broadly classified into two types – structured and
unstructured interviews. Unstructured interviews help in collecting a great
deal of inf ormation, ask follow -up questions and in acquiring unexpected
data. Structured interviews, on the other hand, ask a predetermined set of
questions. Structured interviews are mostly used in quantitative research
while unstructured interviews see higher appl ication in the qualitative
tradition.
A questionnaire is a written list of questions, the answers to which are
recorded by the respondents. The major difference between interviews and
questionnaires is that in an interview, the interviewer asks the questi ons
and records the answers whereas in a questionnaire the replies are
recorded by the respondents themselves. Since questionnaires are often
characterized by low -response rates, its layout should be such that it is
easy and pleasant to read.
A questionna ire can be administered in a number of ways. Questionnaires
can either be sent through email, conducted face -to-face with a captive
audience, administered at a public place, or uploaded to public online
platforms including social media for potential respon dents to access it in
the form of a hyperlink.
7.13 QUESTIONS 1. What factors will you keep in mind while deciding between a
questionnaire and an interview schedule for your research study?
2. What makes unstructured interviews a suitable data collection tool for
qualitative research?
3. Design a questionnaire for a research study on ‘Preferred Social Media
Platforms for Influencer Marketing for Fashion Products’.
7.14 REFERENCES Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods. Oxford University Press.
Kumar, R. (2014). Research Methodology – A Step -by-Step Guide for
Beginners. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
***** munotes.in
70 The French Revolution—1789 8
CONDUCTING FOCUS GROUP
DISCUSSIONS
Unit Structure
8.0 Objectives
8.1 Introduction
8.2 The focus group method
8.3 Uses of focus groups
8.4 Conducting focus groups
8.4.1 Recording and transcription
8.4.2 Size of groups
8.4.3 Level of moderator involvement
8.4.4 Selecting participants
8.4.5 Asking questions
8.4.6 Beginning and finishing the discussion
8.5 Focus groups in market resear ch
8.6 Limitations of focus groups
8.7 Summary
8.8 Questions
8.9 References
8.0 OBJECTIVES After reading this unit, you will be able to understand:
Difference between a group interview and focus group discussion
Practical aspects of conducting fo cus group sessions
Challenges of using focus group sessions as a data collection method
munotes.in
71 History of Modern Europe) 8.1 INTRODUCTION We are used to thinking of the interview as something that involves an
interviewer and an interviewee. The focus group technique is a method of
interviewing that involves more than one, usually at least four,
interviewees. Essentially, it is a group interview. Some authors draw a
distinction between the focus group and the group interview techniques.
Three reasons are put forward to suggest a disti nction:
Focus groups typically emphasize a specific theme or topic that is
explored in depth, whereas group interviews often span very widely.
Sometimes group interviews are conducted to save time and money
by carrying out interviews with a number of ind ividuals
simultaneously. However, focus groups are not conducted for this
reason.
The focus group practitioner is invariably interested in the ways in
which individuals discuss a certain issue as members of a group,
rather than simply as individuals. In o ther words, with a focus group
the researcher will be interested in such things as how people respond
to each other’s views and build up a view out of the interaction that
takes place within the group.
Most focus group researchers undertake their work with in the traditions of
qualitative research. They are, therefore, more keen to observe how the
group participants view the issues with which they are confronted; the
researcher will aim to provide a fairly unstructured setting for the
extraction of their vie ws and perspectives. The person who runs the focus
groups session is usually called a moderator, and he or she will be
expected to guide each session but not to be too intrusive.
Focus group discussions are by no means a new technique. It has been
used fo r many years in market research, where it is employed for such
purposes as testing responses to new products and advertising initiatives.
8.2 THE FOCUS GROUP METHOD The focus group method is a form of group interview in which there are
several participan ts (in addition to the moderator); there is an emphasis in
the questioning on a particular fairly tightly defined topic; and the accent
is upon interaction within the group and the joint construction of meaning.
Focus groups are a form of interaction in qualitative research in which
attitudes, opinions, or perceptions towards an issue, product, service or
programme are explored through a free and open discussion between
members of a group and the researcher. Both focus groups and group
interviews are faci litated group discussions in which a researcher raises
issues or asks questions that stimulate discussion among members of the
group. Because of its low cost, it is a popular method for finding
information in almost every professional area and academic fie ld. Social, munotes.in
72 The French Revolution—1789 political and behavioural scientists, market research and product testing
agencies, and urban and town planning experts often use this design for a
variety of situations. For example, in marketing research this design is
widely used to obtain c onsumers’ opinion and feedback on a product, their
opinions on the quality of the product, its acceptance and appeal, price and
packaging, how to improve the quality and increase the sale of the
product, etc.
8.3 USES OF FOCUS GROUPS This technique al lows the researcher to develop an understanding
about why people feel the way they do. In a normal individual
interview, the interviewee is often asked about his or her reasons for
holding a particular view, but the focus group approach offers the
opportun ity of allowing people to probe each other’s reasons for
holding a certain view. This can be more interesting than the
sometimes predictable question -followed -by-answer approach of
normal interviews.
In focus group sessions, participants are able to bring to the fore
issues in relation to a topic that they deem to be important and
significant. This is an aim of individual interviews too, but, because
the moderator has to relinquish a certain amount of control to the
participants, the issues that concern th em can surface better in a focus
group. This is clearly an important consideration in the context of
qualitative research, since the viewpoints of the people being studied
are an important consideration.
In conventional one -to-one interviewing, interviewe es are rarely
challenged; they might say things that are inconsistent with earlier
replies or that may not be true, but researchers are often reluctant to
point out such deficiencies. In the context of a focus group,
individuals will often argue with each other and challenge each
other’s views. This process of arguing means that the researcher may
stand a chance of ending up with more realistic accounts of what
people think, because they are forced to think about and possibly
revise their views.
The focus group offers the researcher the opportunity to study the
ways in which individuals’ collectively make sense of a phenomenon
and construct meanings around it.
8.4 CONDUCTING FOCUS GROUPS There are a number of practical aspects for conducting focus group
research that require some discussion.
3.4.1 Recording and transcription :
As with interviewing for qualitative research, the focus group session will
work best if it is recorded and subsequently transcribed. Recording is munotes.in
73 History of Modern Europe) mostly preferred for focus group r esearch because of the following
reasons:
One reason is the simple difficulty of writing down not only exactly
what people say but also who says it. In an individual interview you
might be able to ask the respondent to hold on while you write
something d own, but to do this in the context of an interview involving
several people would be extremely disruptive.
The researcher will be interested in who expresses views within the
group, such as whether certain individuals seem to act as opinion
leaders or dom inate the discussion. This also means that there is an
interest in ranges of opinions within groups; for example, in a session,
does most of the range of opinion derive from just one or two people or
from most of the people in the group.
A major reason fo r conducting focus group research is the fact that it is
possible to study the processes whereby meaning is collectively
constructed within each session. It would be very difficult to do this by
taking notes, because of the need to keep track of who says w hat. If this
element is lost, the dynamics of the focus group session would also be
lost, and therefore a major reason for conducting focus group
interviews rather than individual ones would be undermined.
Like all qualitative researchers, the focus group practitioner will be
interested in not just what people say but how they say it, for example,
the particular language that they employ. There is every chance that the
nuances of language will be lost if the researcher has to rely exclusively
on hand writt en notes.
It should be kept in mind that transcribing focus group sessions is more
complicated and hence more time -consuming than transcribing traditional
interview recordings. This is because you need to take account of who is
talking in the session, as well as what is said. This is sometimes difficult,
since people’s voices are not always easy to distinguish. Also, people
sometimes talk over each other, which can make transcription even more
difficult. Therefore, it becomes important to ensure that you h ave a high -
quality microphone for the session, which is capable of picking up voices,
some of which may be quite faint, from many directions.
3.4.2 Size of groups :
How large should groups be? Experts suggest that the typical group should
consist of six t o ten members. One major problem encountered by focus
group practitioners is people who agree to participate but who do not turn
up on the day of the session. It is almost impossible to control for such
‘no-shows’ other than consciously over -recruiting par ticipants for the
study.
Smaller groups are recommended when participants are likely to have a lot
to say on the research topic. This is likely to occur when participants are
very involved in or emotionally preoccupied with the topic. Smaller munotes.in
74 The French Revolution—1789 groups may a lso be preferred when topics are controversial or complex.
Larger groups, on the other hand, are recommended when involvement
with a topic is likely to be low or when the researcher wants to hear
numerous brief suggestions from members.
8.4.3 Level of mod erator involvement :
How involved should the moderator be? In qualitative research, the aim is
to understand the perspectives of those being studied. Consequently, the
approach should not be intrusive and structured. Therefore, there is a
tendency for rese archer to use a fairly small number of very general
questions to guide the focus group discussion. Further, it would be better
for the moderator to allow quite a lot of latitude to participants, so that the
discussion can range widely. However, if the disc ussion moves
significantly away from the core topic, it may be necessary to refocus the
participants’ attention, but even then it may be necessary to be careful,
because what may appear to be digressions may in fact reveal something
of interest to the grou p participants.
8.4.4 Skills required of a moderator:
A good moderator must have excellent observation, interpersonal, and
communication skills to recognise and overcome threats to a
productive group discussion.
The moderator must be prepared, experience d, and armed with a
detailed list of topics to be discussed.
The best moderators are experienced, enthusiastic, prepared, involved,
energetic, and open -minded.
Focus group moderators - ―Tricks of the trade‖ Question Tricks of the trade How do you make your groups great every time? • Be prepared • Be energised • Be nice but firm • Make sure everything about the experience is comfortable. How do you build rapport quickly? • Make meaningful eye contact during each person’s introduction. • Learn and remember names. munotes.in
75 History of Modern Europe) How do you bring a drifting group back into focus? • Tell them the topic is “for another group” and that they need to focus on the topic for this group. • Make a note and tell them that they will come back to this topic if there is time. How do you get them to talk about deeper things than top-of-the-mind answers? • Play naïve or dumb and ask them to help you
understand by explaining.
• Use probes such as “tell us more about that”,
or “can you go deeper on that?”
• Ask for specifics such as “Tell me about the
last time that you…”
• Pair them up and give them 10 minutes for
each pair to come up with a solution or suggestion. Check your progress: Select the most appropriate answer
1. Who among the following plays the most important role in a focus
group discuss ion?
a. moderator
b. respondents
c. people who are taking notes or recording the discussion on tape
d. Business client
2. One of the advantages of focus group discussion is that:
a. they sound good
b. they are more expensive
c. they have client presence
d. the security of being in a crowd encourages some members to speak out
3. One of the disadvantages of focus group discussion is that:
a. the cost per participant is high
b. they generate fresh ideas
c. they allow clients to observe their participants
d. a group interview situation is generally m ore exciting
4. A data collection method in which small groups of people are
brought together and guided by a moderator through a discussion is known
as: munotes.in
76 The French Revolution—1789 a. focus group discussion
b. interviews
c. observation
d. survey
5. Which among the following is an essential require ment for a
moderator of focus group discussions?
a. good looking and presentable
b. loud voice
c. ability to build rapport
d. fluent in English
3.4.5 Selecting participants :
Who can participate? Anyone for whom the topic is relevant can logically
be a suitable p articipant. Sometimes, certain topics do not require
participants of a particular kind. A wide range of people may be required,
but they are organized into separate groups in terms of stratifying criteria,
such as age, gender, education, occupation, and ha ving or not having had a
certain experience. Participants for each group can then be selected
randomly or through some kind of snowball sampling method. The aim is
to establish whether there is any systematic variation in the ways in which
different groups discuss a matter.
8.4.6 Asking questions :
An issue that is close to the question of the degree of involvement on the
part of the moderator is the matter of how far there should be a set of
questions that must be addressed. Some people prefer to use one or two
very general questions to stimulate discussion, with the moderator
intervening as necessary.
8.4.7 Beginning and finishing the discussion :
It is recommended that focus group discussions begin with an introduction
of the participants. The moderator can also thank the participants for
joining; discuss the objective of the research, the need for recording the
session, and the format of the session. It is also important to mention some
of the conventions of focus group participation, such as: only one p erson
should speak at a time (help them explain the problems that occur when
people speak over each other in a recorded session); emphasize on the
confidentiality of the data collected, that the session is open and
everyone’s views are important; and the a mount of time that may be
required. During the introduction round or just before that, it is possible
that respondents may be asked to fill in forms providing basic socio -
demographic information about themselves, such as age, gender,
occupation, and addres s etc. Participants may even be encouraged to write munotes.in
77 History of Modern Europe) out their first name on a card placed in front of them, so that everyone’s
name is known.
At the end, moderators should thank the group members for their
participation and explain very briefly what will happen to the data they
have supplied. If a further session is to be arranged, steps should be taken
to coordinate this.
8.5 FOCUS GROUPS IN MARKET RESEARCH On 23rd April 1985, a product was launched that proved to be one of the
greatest marketing blunde rs in business history. On that day, Coca -Cola
Company not only launched what it called ‘New Coke’ but it removed the
old one from the market, on which success the massive corporation had
been built. Thereafter, New Coke wasn’t quite successful and people
demanded the return of the Old Coke, in spite of assurances by the
company that they will eventually get used to the taste of New Coke and
get to like it better. Yet close attention to the data collected from focus
group discussions that the company had co mmissioned in the lead -up to
the launch of New Coke might have prevented the disaster from
happening in the first place. In 1982 and 1983, focus group research was
conducted across USA for this new launch. At one point in each session,
consumers were prese nted with a scenario in which they were told that a
new formula for a certain product had been introduced and that the
response to it was very favourable. The new product i.e. New Coke was
introduced and the original formula (Old Coke) was withdrawn from t he
market. This turned out to be a big mistake. The issue with the taste tests
and focus group research was that consumers were not told that only one
product would be marketed. Thus, they were not asked whether they
would give up the original formula for New Coke. Eventually, the
company reintroduced the original formula as Coke Classic and tried to
market the two products. Ultimately, New Coke was withdrawn from the
market (Bryman, 2008, p. 474).
8.6 LIMITATIONS OF FOCUS GROUPS Focus groups clearly have considerable potential for research questions in
which we wish to understand how meaning is jointly constructed. Focus
group sessions allow the participants’ perspectives to be presented openly
and freely which is an important criterion of qualitative res earch.
However, this method of data collection has also got its own limitations
some of which are as follows:
The researcher has less control over proceedings than is the case in an
individual interview. Also, a delicate balance needs to be maintained
between how involved moderators should be and how far a set of
prompts or questions should influence the conduct of a focus group.
The moderator can introduce serious biases in the interview by
shifting topics too rapidly, verbally or nonverbally encouraging
certain answers, failing to cover specific areas, and so on. munotes.in
78 The French Revolution—1789 There are chances that participants may go along with the popular
opinion instead of expressing their own which may be contrary to the
popular opinions.
The data are often difficult to analyze. A huge amount of data can be
quickly produced through a focus group session. Developing a
strategy of analysis that incorporates both the themes in what people
say and patterns of interaction is not easy.
They require more planning and money to organize. No t only do you
have to secure the agreement of people to participate in your study;
you also need to persuade them to turn up at a particular time. Small
payments or a gift card/ voucher are sometimes given especially in
marketing and advertising research t o encourage participants to turn
up but even then not all participants may turn up on the day of the
focused group discussion. Since focus group sessions typically last
one-and-half to three hours and take place at a central location,
securing cooperation from a random sample is difficult.
The recordings are more time -consuming to transcribe than equivalent
recordings of individual interviews, because of variations in voice
pitch and the need to figure out who says what.
A common problem in focus group di scussions is the tendency for
two or more participants to speak at the same time which is not seen
in individual interviews. It is very difficult to make sense of and
therefore transcribe the proceedings when this occurs.
There is a likelihood of occurren ce of group effects. This includes the
problem of dealing with quiet speakers and with those who try to
dominate the discussion. One way of dealing with it is to mention at
the very beginning that everyone’s view is important to hear. For
those who do not speak very much, it is recommended that they are
actively encouraged by the moderator to say something. Further, there
are chances that participants may go along with the popular opinion
instead of expressing their own which may be contrary to the popular
opinions.
Related to this is another issue, that in group contexts, participants
may be more prone to expressing culturally expected views than in
individual interviews.
There could also be situations when focus groups may not be
appropriate, because of t heir potential for causing discomfort among
participants. When such discomfort might arise, individual interviews
may be better suited. Situations in which unease might be encountered
are: when intimate details of private lives need to be revealed; when
participants may not be comfortable in each other’s presence (for
example, bringing together people in a hierarchical relationship in
front of each other); and when participants are likely to disagree
greatly with each other. munotes.in
79 History of Modern Europe) 8.7 SUMMARY The focus group is a group interview that is concerned with exploring a
certain topic. The moderator generally tries to provide a relatively free rein
to the discussion. However, there may be contexts in which it is necessary
to ask fairly specific questions. Focus group di scussions need to be
recorded and transcribed. There are several important considerations
concerning the recruitment of focus group participants – in particular,
whether to use natural groupings and whether to employ stratifying
criteria. Group interaction is an important component of focus group
sessions.
8.8 QUESTIONS 1. What advantages might the focus group method offer in contrast to an
individual depth interview?
2. How involved should the moderator be in focus group sessions?
3. Why might it be i mportant to treat group interaction as an important
issue when analyzing focus group data?
4. Does the potential for the loss of control over proceedings and for
group effects damage the potential utility of the focus group as a
method?
5. How far do the problems of transcription and difficulty of analysis
undermine the potential of focus groups?
8.9 REFERENCES Bryman, A. (2008). Social Research Methods. Oxford University Press.
Kumar, R. (2014). Research Methodology – A Step -by-Step Guide for
Beginner s. New Delhi: Sage Publications.
***** munotes.in
80 The French Revolution—1789 9
PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION
Unit Structure
9.0 Objectives
9.1 Introduction
9.2 What is Ethnography?
9.3 Observation methods: Participant and Non -Participant
9.4 Public Relations and Participant Observation
9.5 Let’s sum it up
9.0 OBJECTIVES After reading this unit you will be able to understand:
Meaning of Ethnography
Understanding of observation methods: Participant and Non -
Participant
Public Relations and Participant Observation
9.1 INTRODUCTION Research is a proces s which begins with curiosity and eventually formal
steps a laid down to implement it. As explained by an internationally
recognized leader in research methodologies Zina O’Leary: Research can
be thought of as a “thinking game” and a “whole -brain” activity that often
demands that researchers think outside any set of perspective “rules”. It is
a creative and strategic process that involves constantly assessing,
reassessing, and making decisions about the best possible means for
obtaining trustworthy informat ion, carrying out appropriate analysis, and
drawing credible conclusion about the problem under study. Once the
researcher has thought of a research topic, research problem, research
question and or hypothesis it can then become more easier to write a
literature review to build an argument for the study. The process of doing
the next phase of research will involve putting the research methodology
together before starting data collection. Analysis is the next big step where
the findings emerge after all the work done in the research process so far.
The step where research methodology is involved is important as that puts
down the actual approach, method and tools in place which explains how
the research is done. As Zina O’Leary appropriately defines this term “The
framework associated with a particular set of paradigmatic assumptions munotes.in
81 History of Modern Europe) that you will use to conduct your research, i.e., scientific method,
ethnography, action research.” This unit focuses on observation method
which is a method under the methodology ethnography.
9.2 WHAT IS ETHNOGRAPHY? Ethnography is a methodology having its basis in cultural anthropology
and is defined as ‘the recording and analysis of a culture or society,
usually based on participant -observation and resulting in a written accoun t
of a people, place or institution’ (Simpson & Coleman 2017). According
to Walter K. Lindenmann, ‘Ethnographic research relies on the tools and
techniques of cultural anthropologists and sociologists to obtain a better
understanding of how individuals and groups function in their natural
settings’. These kinds of research are carried out by unbiased and trained
researchers who completely involve themselves into the day -to-day
lifestyles of the community or cultural set up using a mix method
approach such a s “observation, participation, and role -playing techniques”
to really get a hang of the phenomenon at hand from the cultural point of
view. A caste study of a community can be done by studying closely using
mix methods such as “observation, participation, role-playing, secondary
analysis, content analysis, formal and informal interviewing techniques”.
Ethnography helps in sustained amount of time helps look into how people
perceive themselves in a particular set up, it explores why a certain ‘way
of life’ o r ‘way of work’ is the way it is or as Emerson says that
ethnographic descriptions are a researcher’s ‘theory informed re -
presentations’ (1983: 21). They carry a researcher’s perspective, with its
own biases from where he/she comes from, and from the theor etical and
analytical frames.
This is understood by becoming a participant in the process or being a
non-participant observer in the process. As Zina O’Leary explains “To
‘write a culture’. Involves exploration of a cultural group in a bid to
understand, d iscover, describe, and interpret a way of life from the point
of view of its participants”. She further adds that groups are bind together
beyond their physical and mental make -up. It is even beyond their
communal, thoughts and beliefs that which binds say a group of people at
work or live in a particular culture, or celebrate a certain festival etc. It is
an attempt to “‘see’ things the way group members do”, and how they
make meanings of things they do or as ethnographers make sense and
interpret this and put it together like a case, or as Geertz (2000) calls it
‘thick descriptions’.
Process of Ethnography :
The data collection for this methodology is heterogenous and involves
various methods. It is prolonged and very tenacious. John Brewer, an
eminent soci al scientist, explain that data collection methods should
capture the "social meanings and ordinary activities" of people in
"naturally occurring settings" popularly known as "the field." munotes.in
82 The French Revolution—1789 A researcher is a participant observer, so the method of participant
observation; Sometimes the researcher may not be a participant observer
and will merely observe as a non -participant observer. As a participant
observer he may come across situations where he is expected to be flexible
and come up with on -the-spot decisio ns to take the research ahead with
what was best suited at that time and to observe the world as it is of that
group. The group is beyond the physical and mental or any other
demographic make -up but like in a case study the group here needs to be
defined, which is the ‘cultural’ group. The group could be a tribe, a
workplace group, a migrant group, school students etc. But the essential
point to be noted here is that the cultural group we are talking about is that
they need to share a culture here. A group could be chosen based on
‘pragmatics, intrinsic interest, theory, or any combination thereof’.
Sometime groups are chose because nobody really understood what they
are doing, like in the case of public relations as a practice is rarely
understood outside o f the profession, often misunderstood to be a another
name for advertising. Such work cultures and work practice need more so
attention a subject of study. The most important criteria like in the case of
case study method the researcher needs to be having consistent access to
the group of study even while doing ethnography. While ‘performing’ the
observation method the observer needs to go beyond what is being shown
and see that which is explicitly not being shown. Methods that can be used
are participant o r non -participant observation, interviews, and content
analysis. Though quantitative data may be produced, pre -dominantly the
study is qualitative in nature and that is the focus and that is how data will
be described.
9.3 OBSERVATION METHODS: PARTICIPANT AND NON-PARTICIPANT Observation method :
MARSHALL and ROSSMAN (1989) define observation as "the
systematic description of events, behaviors, and artifacts in the social
setting chosen for study" (p.79). Observations help the researcher to talk
about current situations by observing through the five senses, and thus
creating a "written photograph" of the subject under study
(ERLANDSON, HARRIS, SKIPPER, & ALLEN, 1993). Observation
method give an insight to researchers to look for ‘nonverbal expression of
feelin gs, determine who interacts with whom, grasp how participants
communicate with each other, and check for how much time is spent on
various activities’ (SCHMUCK, 1997).
DeWALT and DeWALT (2002) say "the goal for design of research using
participant observat ion as a method is to develop a holistic understanding
of the phenomena under study that is as objective and accurate as possible
given the limitations of the method" (p.92).
munotes.in
83 History of Modern Europe) Participant Observation method :
Participant observation is one of the oldest me thods in anthropological
studies, especially in the field of ethnographic studies, and has been used
extensively as a data collection method for more than a century now. To
go more deeper into the participant observation method, which is the focus
of this unit, the researcher needs to build a bond, empathy with the
members of the group to have an exchange which is as if he was ‘living’
the same reality. BERNARD (1994) “ defines participant observation as
the process of establishing rapport within a communit y and learning to act
in such a way as to blend into the community so that its members will act
naturally, then removing oneself from the setting or community to
immerse oneself in the data to understand what is going on and be able to
write about it.” It will take a while for the researcher to immerse himself
into the daily dynamics of that group but once done more rich
observations will emerge. As put together by Signe Howell, “ It is
undertaken as open -ended inductive long -term living with and among the
people to be studied, the sole purpose of which is to achieve an
understanding of local knowledge, values, and practices ‘from the
“native’s point of view””. Participant observation can be also be an eye
opener as it one can observe what people say what the y actually do.
Participant observation needs the person observing to have ‘an open, non -
judgmental attitude, being interested in learning more about others, being
aware of the propensity for feeling culture shock and for making mistakes,
the majority of wh ich can be overcome, being a careful observer and a
good listener, and being open to the unexpected in what is learned’
(DeWALT & DeWALT, 1998).
Non-Participant Observation method :
In this method the researcher will have a structured check list to observ e
that he will note in his dairy, like observing the working of a film set,
observing children in a classroom etc. But both these examples can also be
done using the participant observation method.
Ethnography as a methodology can be evaluated as suggested below:
In Jaber F. Gubrium and James A. Holstein's (1997) monograph, The New
Language of Qualitative Method, that outlines ethnography in context of
the "methods talk” as below: -
1. “Substantive contribution : "Does the piece contribute to our
understanding o f social life?"
2. Aesthetic merit : "Does this piece succeed aesthetically?"
3. Reflexivity : "How did the author come to write this text…Is there
adequate self -awareness and self -exposure for the reader to make
judgments about the point of view?"
4. Impact : "Does this affect me? Emotionally? Intellectually?" Does it
move me? munotes.in
84 The French Revolution—1789 5. Expresses a reality : "Does it seem 'true' —a credible account of a
cultural, social, individual, or communal sense of the 'real'?"”
There can be some fundamental limitation of using participant observation
method which is as explained as below: DeWALT and DeWALT (2002)
explain that gender plays an important role. So male and female
researchers may have access to diverse information, for they could be
accessing different respondents, settings coul d be different, and also the
institutes of knowledge. Participant observation is conducted by a human
who can be biased in his own right; In such complex situations it is must
for the researcher to discern how ‘his/her gender, sexuality, ethnicity,
class, and theoretical approach may affect observation, analysis, and
interpretation’. The researcher needs to be vigilant while expecially using
this method.
9.4 PUBLIC RELATIONS AND PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION Public Relations has been an evolving practice, its o rigin and growth has
traversed many years across the world. Sriramesh quotes James Grunig’s
definition of public relations that it is "the management of communication
between an organization and its publics (Sriramesh & White, 1992) .
Public relations serve the functions of information, communication,
persuasion, image building, continuous building of trust, management of
conflicts, and the generation of consensus” (Sriramesh K. , 2003) .
Researchers and scholars in the field of communication studies have use d
ethnography to understand communication aspects like communication
behaviors and phenomenon. They have gone into in depth analysis of not
much appreciated routines, as well explained by this definition of
ethnography “a method is a storied, careful, and systematic examination of
the reality -generating mechanisms of everyday life” (Coulon, 1995).
Public relations research is articulated well by the following definition
“Research gives the hard data necessary to provide value to the
organization, and helps provide information to make decisions that have
real impact” - Gronstedt (1997). Research points out to concern areas
which can steer organisations into building relationships, making effective
programmes and take on time needed actions that will stop issu es from not
being blown out of proportions and later becoming huge issues. -(Broom
& Dozier, 1990; Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2000).
The studies done in the field of communication using ethnography as a
methodology, explains the “how’ of the mundane practice s in the field of
work or otherwise in establishing their identities of individuals through
their daily actions. By doing this one understand the “why” and “how
come” of communication by people.
There can be many examples where such studies can be done, On e could
study the work practices of how media relations is conducted, how is a
daily work routine of a PR agency, how crisis communication is managed
by a corporate communications department etc. munotes.in
85 History of Modern Europe) “Campaigns are coordinated, purposeful, extended efforts de signed to
achieve a specific goal or a set of interrelated goals that will move the
organisation towards a longer -range objective expressed as its mission
statement” - Doug Newsom, Judy VanSlyke and Dean Kruckberg's “This
is PR. The realities of Public Rela tions”. These can be cases which can be
part of observation studies. Here the researcher can be a participant
observer and immerse himself into the PR campaign done to communicate
image building, selling a product or a crisis communication done with the
target audience. Only by putting oneself into the shoes of the campaigner
can one really get the challenges that are faced while putting PR
campaigns together.
A certain study focused on “Public relations in the postmodern city: An
ethnographic account of PR occupational culture in Mexico City”
searching for meanings that the PR practitioners in the study gave to their
day-to-day workings and how they ‘made use of social networks to help
them negotiate their way through the potentially hostile waters’ of maki ng
a work life in one of the big cities in the world. An Indonesian research
focused on “concept of public relations with the cultural activities of
Jakhu Suku focussing on communications” was studied using the
methodology of Ethnography, it examined the culture -based public
relations communication behaviour. Yet another study examined “Cultures
and places: Ethnography in public relations spaces” where topic of
women's leadership and public relations was studied using Ethnography.
Check your progress
1. What is ethnography?
2. What is Observation method and its process?
3. What is the use of participant observation methods in communication
and public relations field?
4. What is the limitation of the participation observation method?
9.5 LET’S SUM IT UP Research is a pr ocess which begins with curiosity and eventually formal
steps a laid down to implement it. As explained by an internationally
recognized leader in research methodologies Zina O’Leary: Research can
be thought of as a “thinking game” and a “whole -brain” acti vity that often
demands that researchers think outside any set of perspective “rules”.
The step where research methodology is involved is important as that puts
down the actual approach, method and tools in place which explains how
the research is done. As Zina O’Leary appropriately defines this term “The
framework associated with a particular set of paradigmatic assumptions
that you will use to conduct your research, i.e., scientific method,
ethnography, action research.” munotes.in
86 The French Revolution—1789 Ethnography is a methodology havin g its basis in cultural anthropology
and is defined as ‘the recording and analysis of a culture or society,
usually based on participant -observation and resulting in a written account
of a people, place or institution’ (Simpson & Coleman 2017). According
to Walter K. Lindemann, ‘Ethnographic research relies on the tools and
techniques of cultural anthropologists and sociologists to obtain a better
understanding of how individuals and groups function in their natural
settings’.
The data collection for this m ethodology is heterogenous and involves
various methods. It is prolonged and very tenacious. John Brewer, an
eminent social scientist, explain that data collection methods should
capture the "social meanings and ordinary activities" of people in
"naturally occurring settings" popularly known as "the field."
MARSHALL and ROSSMAN (1989) define observation as "the
systematic description of events, behaviours, and artifacts in the social
setting chosen for study" (p.79).
A researcher is a participant observer, so the method of participant
observation; Sometimes the researcher may not be a participant observer
and will merely observe as a non -participant observer. As a participant
observer he may come across situations where he is expected to be flexible
and come up with on -the-spot decisions to take the research ahead with
what was best suited at that time and to observe the world as it is of that
group. The group is beyond the physical and mental or any other
demographic make -up but like in a case study the grou p here needs to be
defined, which is the ‘cultural’ group.
Observation method give an insight to researchers to look for ‘nonverbal
expression of feelings, determine who interacts with whom, grasp how
participants communicate with each other, and check for how much time
is spent on various activities’ (SCHMUCK, 1997)
To go more deeper into the participant observation method, which is the
focus of this unit, the researcher needs to build a bond, empathy with the
members of the group to have an exchange which is as if he was ‘living’
the same reality. It will take a while for the researcher to immerse himself
into the daily dynamics of that group but once done more rich
observations will emerge.
Participant observation needs the person observing to have ‘an op en, non -
judgmental attitude, being interested in learning more about others, being
aware of the propensity for feeling culture shock and for making mistakes,
the majority of which can be overcome, being a careful observer and a
good listener, and being ope n to the unexpected in what is learned’
(DeWALT & DeWALT, 1998).
In non -participant observation method, the researcher will have a
structured check list to observe that he will note in his dairy, like
observing the working of a film set, observing childr en in a classroom etc. munotes.in
87 History of Modern Europe) But both these examples can also be done using the participant
observation method.
Researchers and scholars in the field of communication studies have used
ethnography to understand communication aspects like communication
behaviors and phenomenon. They have gone into in depth analysis of not
much appreciated routines, as well explained by this definition of
ethnography “a method is a storied, careful, and systematic examination of
the reality -generating mechanisms of everyday life” ( Coulon, 1995).
The studies done in the field of communication using ethnography as a
methodology, explains the “how’ of the mundane practices in the field of
work or otherwise in establishing their identities of individuals through
their daily actions. By doing this one understand the “why” and “how
come” of communication by people.
Campaigns can be cases which can be part of observation studies. Here the
researcher can be a participant observer and immerse himself into the PR
campaign done to communicate i mage building, selling a product or a
crisis communication done with the target audience. Only by putting
oneself into the shoes of the campaigner can one really get the challenges
that face PR campaigns.
There can be some fundamental limitation of using p articipant observation
method which is as explained as below: DeWALT and DeWALT (2002)
explain that gender plays an important role. So male and female
researchers may have access to diverse information, for they could be
accessing different respondents, se ttings could be different, and also the
institutes of knowledge. Participant observation is conducted by a human
who can be biased in his own right; In such complex situations it is must
for the researcher to discern how ‘his/her gender, sexuality, ethnic ity,
class, and theoretical approach may affect observation, analysis, and
interpretation’.
References
Brewer, John D. (2000). Ethnography. Philadelphia: Open University
Press. p.10.
Jacquie L’Etang, Caroline Hodges, Magda Pieczka, Cultures and
places: E thnography in public relations spaces, November 2012Public
Relations Review 38(4):519 –521
Geertz, C. (1973) The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books
Grills, S. (ed.) (1998) Doing Ethnographic Research. London: Sage
Hamersley, M. and Atkinson, P. (1995) Ethnography: Principles in
Practice London: Routledge.
Public Relations Research for Planning and Evaluation Copyright © 2006,
Walter K. Lindenmann www.instituteforpr.org munotes.in
88 The French Revolution—1789 Public Relations Communicatio n Behavior Through a Local -Wisdom
Approach: The Findings of Public Relations Components Via
Ethnography as Methodology DASRUN HIDAYAT BSI University,
Indonesia ENGKUS KUSWARNO FELIZA ZUBAIR HANNY HAFIAR
Padjadjaran University, Indonesia
Rubin, R. B., Rubin , A. M., and Piele, L. J. (2005). Communication
Research: Strategies and Sources. Belmont, California: Thomson
Wadworth. pp. 229.
https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203832134 -
8/public -relations -postmodern -city-ethnographic -account -pr-occupational -
culture -mexico -city-caroline -hodges
https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/how -to/observation/use -
ethnographic -methods -participant -observation
https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/public -relations -
review/vol/38/issue/4
https://www.anthroencyclopedia.com/entry/ethnography
https://www.qualitative -research.net/index.php/fqs/article/view/466/996
*****
munotes.in
89 History of Modern Europe)
10
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN, CONTROL
AND PUBLIC RELATIONS
Unit Structure
10.0 Objectives
10.1 Introd uction
10.2 What is Research in Public Relations?
10.3 What is Experimental design and Control?
10.4 Experimental Design, Control and Public Relations
10.5 Let’s sum it up
10.0 Objectives After reading this unit you will be able to understand:
Meaning of R esearch in Public Relations
Understanding Experimental design and Control
Understanding Experimental Design, Control and Public Relations
10.1 Introduction Public Relations has long been understood as a practice that revolves
around creating mutually benef icial relationships between various kinds of
stakeholders and “stakeseekers”. The PR practitioners also need to connect
and manage relationships between individuals and organisations from
various demographics to reach organisational goals and objectives an d
meet the needs of the audiences. Stakeholders comprise of “individuals ,
organizations, or groups that have a stake in or relationship with an
organization”. They include employees, shareholders, suppliers and
others. Stakeseekers consists of people and organisations who are keen on
connecting with each other for mutual beneficial relationships.
Research requires curiosity to begin with. A lot of research can be found
in media and public relations journals worldwide on various functions of
public relatio ns and public relations campaigns. These could be on
functions of publicity, media relations, crisis communication, audience
research, campaigns in public relations etc. Once the researcher has
decided the research problem, research question and or hypothe sis it
becomes easier to put together a literature review for the body of the munotes.in
90 The French Revolution—1789 research to begin. The process of doing the next phase of research will
involve putting a research methodology where one of the steps, methods
an important part of the study are decided and then data collection begins
for the said research question and or hypothesis. Analysis is the step which
reveals the findings of the research after all the work done in the research
process so far.
As explained by an internationally -recognized leader in research
methodologies Zina O’Leary : Research can be thought of as a “thinking
game” and a “whole -brain” activity that often demands that researchers
think outside any set of perspective “rules”. It is a creative and strategic
process that invol ves constantly assessing, reassessing, and making
decisions about the best possible means for obtaining trustworthy
information, carrying out appropriate analysis, and drawing credible
conclusion.
10.2 What is Research in Public Relations? Public relations research can be well explained by the following
definitions. Cutlip, Center, and Broom's (1985) emphasise research in
public relations as “methodical, systematic research as the foundation of
effective public relations”. “Research gives the hard data nec essary to
provide value to the organization, and helps provide information to make
decisions that have real impact” - Gronstedt (1997). Research plays a
crucial role for organisations to really know where they are headed in
terms of communicating with thei r audiences. Research helps discover the
various areas of concern which can help organisations help into building
relationships, making effective programmes and initiate on time needed
actions that will stop issues from not being blown out of proportions. -
(Broom & Dozier, 1990; Cutlip, Center, & Broom, 2000). Donald K.
Wright says, “research is important because public relations people are
finding that research is part and parcel of their jobs when they offer
communication strategies, counsel on communicat ion problems, and
educate clients as to the best public relations strategies or actions”.
Research is useful in Public Relations as it helps in knowing clients better,
while pitching an idea to the client, suggesting a campaign plan or
persuading them to p ick a particular medium over the other; it can be more
convincing if research based data is provided here. Knowing your
demographics is so crucial for anyone in the promotion business. Whether
to create an image or help in sales in both situations research is useful.
Understanding demographics helps in knowing way of life and likings of
the target audience. Message creation is the key in a campaign plan and
the research really helps in getting there.
10.3 What is Experimental design and Control? In his fir st book of Public Relations Research (2002), Don Stacks explain
that experiments are “the only way that we can definitely test whether
something actually causes a change in something else” (p. 196). munotes.in
91 History of Modern Europe) Experiments are kind of quantitative research where one e xamines causal
relationship type of questions. The experimental design prescribes “ how
participants are allocated to the different groups in an experiment.” The
different types of experimental designs include repeated measures,
independent groups and match ed pairs. Another concept we come across
is the control group. This comprises of participant in the group who are
excluded from the experiment treatment and serve only as comparative
entities.
How are Experiments designed?
According to Stacks (2002), expe riments rely on three main concepts. The
study must establish that: (1) “changes in one variable cause changes in
the other variable”, (2) “the effect follows the cause”, and (3) “no third
variable influenced the relationship” (p. 200). Here researchers ca n use
“true, quasi -, or pre -experiments to test theory or evaluate the
effectiveness of communication tactics” (Shadish, Cook, & Campbell,
2002; Stacks,2002).
While designing the experiments the following points must be kept in
mind: -
1. Independent measu res / between -groups : In this different participants
are needed in each of the said situation of the IV or independent variable.
2. Repeated measures /within -groups : In this type the same participants
are needed in each of the said situation of the IV or i ndependent variable.
3. Matched pairs : In this kind, each situation there are different
participants but the commonly matched with respect to different
demographics parameters.
Summarising Experiments designing is collecting data in a methodical
manner, la rgely the focus being on the experiment design itself more than
the outcome, to keep a tab on the changes to be introduced in the
independent variable and its subsequent effect on the dependant variables
and the varying results. Last but not the least the results should be valid
and simply understood.
10.4 Experimental Design, Control and Public Relations It has been noted long back by Miller and Levine (1996) that persuasion
research has depended on experiments to examine how good the impact by
sources and message was on attitudes and behaviours of people. Very few
experiments usage have been observed in public relations research.
Broom and Dozier (1990) suggest that, in public relations, “every research
plan to evaluate program impact includes either an e xplicit or implicit
experimental design” (p. 99). Experimental designs are excellent in
pointing out “specific causal variables in persuasion” (Miller & Levine,
1996, p. 265), for e.g., how self -esteem and other factors play an important
role in influencin g the message content to bring about any change in
attitude or behaviour change. “Experimental designs allow the researcher munotes.in
92 The French Revolution—1789 the control necessary to precisely specify and manipulate the source or
message characteristics he or she is interested in comparing ” (p. 265), This
allows researchers to test and check for relationship between variables
(Stacks, 2002). Various marketing and advertising researchers have used
the experimental design method to do different studies: “how public
accountability may predict corporate trustworthiness” (Sinclair & Irani,
2005), “the impact of issues advocacy advertisements on sponsor
credibility” (Burgoon, Pfau, & Birk, 1995; Goldsmith, Lafferty, & Newell,
2000); “the relationship of source credibility and perceived purchase ri sk”
(Grewal, Gottleib, & Marmorstein, 1994).
Various materials available on Experimental Design, Control and Public
Relations state that the experimental design method is rarely in the field of
public relations used as compared to the fields of advertising and
marketing. There the application can be seen in the fields of consumer
behaviour and media effects, As Don Stacks (2002) says that “probably
the most rigorous kind of research conducted but, at the same time, is
almost never found in public relations research” (p. 195). Not much
change has been observed since this observation was made as told by other
authors, Lois Boynton & Elizabeth Dougall too when they say that “This
“avoidance” of the experimental method has persisted over time in spite of
three c ritical factors: the growth of public relations postgraduate
programs; the concomitant progress in producing trained researchers; and
the method’s usefulness in measuring key public relations -related and
relationship -management -related topics such as trust , accountability, and
credibility”.
As mentioned in his study (Stacks, 2002) “the experimental method as the
sine qua non of the research world” only 21 from several 400 articles had
the findings of experimental research, in the studies published in well -
known public relations journals namely Journal of Public Relations
Research and Public Relations Review, between 1995 -2004. The
experiments were done on testing messages created in health and
communication and studying the impact of public relations practi ce. Just
19 articles cited the experimental method. Three of these articles, were
part of Public Relations Review, which discussed at length methods which
also included experimental research design (Fischer, 1995; Hallahan,
1999b, 2001). Fischer (1995) sug gested “control construct evaluation
procedures” (p. 45) simply and cheap method for evaluation of
information campaigns. There were other mentions too in other journals
some even passing ones, or the process not explained in detail. These
clearly explain that this experimental design method was not widely used.
As explained by the authors Lois Boynton & Elizabeth Dougall in their
paper “very few professional and academic questions are examined by
public relations scholars using experimental research design s. In spite of
the rigour and reputation of this method in the world of science, if 10
years of scholarly articles are any indicator, experimental research is
poorly used and even more poorly understood in public relations
research.” But of course, in the times we live in especially with digital munotes.in
93 History of Modern Europe) communication now becoming the norm it is time that this method is
given its due and place in the research of public relations practice.
Check your Progress
1. What is public relations research?
2. What are the areas in p ublic relations that require research? Explain
with examples.
3. What are experiments?
4. What is a control group in experiments?
5. What is experimental design in public relations research?
10.5 Let’s sum it up Public Relations has long been understood as a pract ice that revolves
around creating mutually beneficial relationships between various kinds of
stakeholders and “stakeseekers”. The PR practitioners also need to connect
and manage relationships between individuals and organisations from
various demographics to reach organisational goals and objectives and
meet the needs of the audiences.
Research can be thought of as a “thinking game” and a “whole -brain”
activity that often demands that researchers think outside any set of
perspective “rules”. Research requi res curiosity to begin with. A lot of
research can be found in media and public relations journals worldwide on
various functions of public relations and public relations campaigns. These
could be on functions of publicity, media relations, crisis communic ation,
audience research, campaigns in public relations etc.
Public relations research can be well explained by the following
definitions. Cutlip, Center, and Broom's (1985) emphasise research in
public relations as “methodical, systematic research as the foundation of
effective public relations”. Research is useful in Public Relations as it
helps in knowing clients better, while pitching an idea to the client,
suggesting a campaign plan or persuading them to pick a particular
medium over the other it can b e more convincing if research based data is
provided here. Knowing your demographics is so crucial for anyone in the
promotion business. Whether to create an image or help in sales in both
situations research is useful. Understanding demographics helps in
knowing way of life and likings of the target audience. Message creation
is the key in a campaign plan and the research really helps in getting there.
In his first book of Public Relations Research (2002), Don Stacks explain
that experiments are “the only way that we can definitely test whether
something actually causes a change in something else” (p. 196).
Experiments are kind of quantitative research where one examines causal
relationship type of questions. The experimental design prescribes “ how
partici pants are allocated to the different groups in an experiment.” The munotes.in
94 The French Revolution—1789 different types of experimental designs include repeated measures,
independent groups and matched pairs. Another concept we come across
is the control group. This comprises of participant i n the group where the
experiment treatment is not given and only work as comparative
standards.
According to Stacks (2002), experiments rely on three main concepts. The
study must establish that: (1) “changes in one variable cause changes in
the other vari able”, (2) “the effect follows the cause”, and (3) “no third
variable influenced the relationship” (p. 200). Here researchers can use
“true, quasi -, or pre -experiments to test theory or evaluate the
effectiveness of communication tactics” (Shadish, Cook, & Campbell,
2002; Stacks,2002).
It has been noted long back by Miller and Levine (1996) that persuasion
research has depended on experiments to examine how good the impact by
sources and message was on attitudes and behaviours of people. Very few
experiment s usage have been observed in public relations research.
Broom and Dozier (1990) suggest that, in public relations, “every research
plan to evaluate program impact includes either an explicit or implicit
experimental design” (p. 99).
Various materials ava ilable on Experimental Design, Control and Public
Relations state that the experimental design method is rarely in the field of
public relations used as compared to the fields of advertising and
marketing. There the application can be seen in the fields of consumer
behaviour and media effects, As Don Stacks (2002) says that “probably
the most rigorous kind of research conducted but, at the same time, is
almost never found in public relations research” (p. 195). But of course, in
the times we live in especia lly with digital communication now becoming
the norm it is time that this method is given its due and place in the
research of public relations practice.
References and further reading
https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/the -sage-encyclopedia -of-
communication -research -methods/i11510.xml
https://methods.sagepub.com/reference/the -sage-encyclopedia -of-
communication -research -methods/i5045.xml
https://www.statisticshowto.com/experimental -design/
McLeod, S. A. (2017, January 14). Experimental design . Simply
Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/experimental -designs.html
The Methodical Avoidance of Experiments in Public Relations Research
by Lois Boynton & Elizabeth Dougall, University of North Carolina at
Chap el Hill
Guide to doing research by Zina Oleary
***** munotes.in
95 History of Modern Europe) 11
RESEARCH REPORT
Unit Structure
11.0 objectives
11.1 introduction
11.4 summary
11.5 references
11.0 OBJECTIVES The importance of any research study is to evaluate both scholastically
and practical ly the contents of the written proposal and report of the study.
The merit of the problem and its adequacy is examined based on the
research proposal and the contribution of the study is judged based on the
research report of a thesis of the study. There a re various formats of an
educational research report but a
researcher must understand its meaning and purpose. The following are
the major writing formats of research work.
1. Research Proposal or synopsis: or outline of research work or project.
2. Resea rch Report or thesis
3. Research Summary, and
4. Research Abstracts.
A research proposal deals with a problem or topic that is to be
investigated. It has a variety of formats that vary in their length. Writing a
research proposal or synopsis includes an i ntroductory section: problem,
hypotheses, objectives, assumptions, method of study, tools, justification
and implications of the study. It is written in the present or future tense. It
covers four to ten pages. It is submitted for final approval before sta rting
the actual research work. The preparation of a research proposal is
significant in the development and pursuit of a research project. It is the
planning phase of a research work that is produced in written form to
judge its worth.
A research report deals with the results of completed research work.
After completing a research work, it is generally produced in written form
and is called a research report or thesis. A detailed description of research
activities is provided in it. It has a variety of for mats and varies as to its
length. It is written in the past tense and third person. It is the final form of
the research work.
A research report includes usually the following chapters: - munotes.in
96 The French Revolution—1789 Introduction or theoretical background.
Review of related literatur e.
Methodology.
Data collection.
Analysis of data.
Discussion of results.
findings of the study.
Bibliography and Appendices.
It is also submitted for evaluating its contributions. It serves the purpose
of communicating the results of a research work done.
A research summary is the condensed version of the research report. It
provides the important aspects of the research report or thesis. The
purpose of the summary is to facilitate the readers or other scholars to
understand the work done at a glance because going through a research
report is very time consuming and difficult. Therefore, the main features
of the research report are summarized. It takes the form of a research
journal article or paper. It is also written in the past tense and covers six to
twelve pages.
A research abstract is the condensed version of the research summary.
The main essence of the research work when reduced to a page or para is
called research abstract. It includes the title, method, sample and findings
of the study. These abstracts are published in the journal as Abstracts.
What is a Research Report?
A research report is a well -crafted document that outlines the processes,
data, and findings of a systematic investigation. It is an important
document that serves as a first -hand account of the research process, and it
is typically considered an objective and accurate source of information.
In many ways, a research report can be considered as a summary of the
research process that highlights findings, recommendations, and othe r
important details. Reading a well -written research report should provide
you with all the information you need about the core areas of the research
process.
Features of a Research Report
So how do you recognize a research report when you see one? Here a re
some of the basic features that define a research report.
It is a detailed presentation of research processes and findings, and it
usually includes tables and graphs. munotes.in
97 History of Modern Europe) It is written in a formal language.
A research report is usually written in the thir d person.
It is informative and based on first -hand verifiable information.
It is formally structured with headings, sections, and bullet points.
It always includes recommendations for future actions.
Types of Research Report
The research report is class ified based on two things; nature of research
and target audience.
Nature of Research
Qualitative Research Report
This is the type of report writing for qualitative res earch . It outlines the
methods, processes, and findings of a qualitative method of systematic
investigation. In educational research, a qualitative research report
provides an opportunity for one to apply his or her knowledge and develop
skills in plannin g and executing qualitative research projects.
A qualitative research report is usually descriptive. Hence, in addition to
presenting details of the research process, you must also create a
descriptive narrative of the information.
Quantitative Research Re port
A quantitative research report is a type of research report that is written for
quantitative research. Quantitative research is a type of systematic
investigation that pays attention to numerical or statistical values in a bid
to find answers to research questions.
In this type of research report, the researcher presents quantitative data to
support the research process and findings. Unlike a qualitative research
report that is mainly descriptive, a quantitative research report works with
numbers; that is, it is numerical.
Target Audience
Also, a research report can be said to be technical or popular based on the
target audience. If you're dealing with a general a udience, you would need
to present a popular research report, and if you're dealing with a
specialized audience, you would submit a technical report.
Technical Research Report
A technical research report is a detailed document that you present after
carry ing out industry -based research. This report is highly specialized
because it provides information for a technical audience; that is,
individuals with above -average knowledge in the field of study. munotes.in
98 The French Revolution—1789 In a technical research report, the researcher is expecte d to provide
specific information about the research process, including statistical
analyses and sampling methods. Also, the use of language is highly
specialized and filled with jargon.
Examples of technical research reports include legal and medical res earch
reports.
Popular Research Report
A popular research report is one for a general audience; that is, for
individuals who do not necessarily have any knowledge in the field of
study. A popular research report aims to make information accessible to
everyone.
It is written in very simple language, which makes it easy to understand
the findings and recommendations. Examples of popular research reports
are the information contained in newspapers and magazines.
GENERAL FORMAT OF RESEARCH REPORT
The writing of a research report is usually the concluding task of the
research endeavour. Everything is combined during the writing of the
report. This is the point at which the research must be essentially
reproduced in written form. It is a matter of communicating what was
done, what occurred, and what the results mean in a concise,
understandable, accurate and logical manner.
A written format of research work is known as a thesis or research report.
All such works may differ considerably in the scope of treatment and
details of the presentation. Even then all types of research reports are
expected to follow a general uniform, common pattern of format, style and
structure. The general format of a report or thesis is an organized format of
research work done. It is v iewed in three major categories:
A. Preliminaries,
B. Textual Body, and
C. References.
Each category has been outlined further as follows:
A. Preliminary Section
1. Title page
2. Preface or acknowledgements
3. Table of content
4. List of tables (if any).
munotes.in
99 History of Modern Europe) 5. List of figures (if any).
A. PRELIMINARY SECTION
As the preliminaries form a significant part of the whole thesis report, due
care should be taken in preparing them. If the specifications are already
laid down by some colleges or universities they shoul d be observed.
However, a general standard pattern suggested here in each case will be
helpful for a researcher.
1. Title Page
This is the first page of a thesis or a dissertation. It includes:
(a) Title of thesis.
(b) Name of the candidate.
(c) Purpose or relationship of the thesis to the course or degree
requirement.
(d) College and/or department in which the candidate has been admitted
for the degree.
(e) Name of the university to which it is submitted.
(f) Month and year of submission or acceptance.
The title should be accurate, concise and printed in capital letters. It should
convey the main theme of the problem investigated and if possible one
should give a clue about the method or type of research involved. A
specimen of the title page has been prese nted here.
2. Preface or Acknowledgement
A preface is different from an introduction. It is a brief account of the
purport or the origin and the utility of the study for which the thesis is
presented. It also includes the acknowledgement of the persons and
sources that have been helpful to the investigator. If the researcher does
not want to mention anything about the study on this page except
acknowledging the debt to others, it will be desirable to use just the title
and be restrained without flattery and effusive recognition for help by the
family members and others. The preface should not be too long with too
many details about the research work or its organization, which can appear
in the introduction. The word PREFACE or ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
should be typed in capital letters. It should be written impressively.
3. Table of Contents
This section lists all the main chapter headings and the essential sub -
heading in each with the appropriate page numbers against each. The
listing of main chapters is generally pr eceded by some preliminaries like
preface or acknowledgement, list of tables, list of figures, abstract or munotes.in
100 The French Revolution—1789 synopsis and their respective pages in small Roman numbers and followed
at the end by appendices, and Indexes.
Contents should neither be too detaile d nor too sketchy. The table of
contents should serve an important purpose in providing an outline of the
contents of the report. The capitalized title 'CONTENTS' should be the
central heading of the page and the capitalized word 'CHAPTER' and
'PAGE' shoul d lead to the numbers of chapters and those of pages
respectively on the left and right margins. An example has been given in
the tabular form.
4. List of Tables
The table of contents is followed by the list of tables on a separate page.
This list of table s consists of the titles or captions of the tables included
"in the thesis along with the page number where these can be located. It
has been illustrated here. The capitalized title 'LIST OF TABLES' should
be the central heading of the page and the capital words 'TABLE' and
'PAGE' should lead to the numbers and those of pages respectively at left
and right margins.
5. List of Figures and Illustrations
If any charts graphs or any other illustrations are used in the thesis, a list
of figures on a separate pag e is prepared in the same form as the list of
tables except that they are numbered with Arabic numbers. An example
has been given here for this purpose.
(B) MAIN BODY OF REPORT OR TEXTUAL BODY
The text of the thesis is the most important section in the or ganization of
the research report. The quality of worth of the thesis is mainly examined.
It is the original production of the researcher. The report of the main body
serves the function of demonstrating the competence of the researcher. If
any sentence, p aragraph, or concept fails to serve the single function
within a given section or chapter, it is irrelevant. The subject matter of any
chapter should be relevant to that point. Generally, the main body of the
research reports consists of five or six chapte rs.
Chapter Names:
1. Introduction or Theoretical Frame Work
II. Review of Related Literature
III. Design or Methodology
IV. Data Collection or Administration of Tools and Scoring.
V Analysis and Interpretation of Data.
VI Conclusions and Suggestions for the Further Research.
munotes.in
101 History of Modern Europe) Chapter 1. Introduction or Theoretical Frame Work
The main purpose of this chapter is to indicate the need and scope of the
study. It consists essentially of the statement of research inquiry. It is
reported in the past tense form o f work completed. The problem
objectives, hypotheses, assumptions and delimitations of the study are
reported precisely.
Chapter 2. Review of Related Literature
This chapter is essential in most of the research studies. It presents the
comprehensive develo pment of the problem background. It Indicates what
has already been studied by others, which has a bearing upon the present
study.
The review of literature stresses two aspects: the first is the consideration
of the subject matter and it is likely more imp ortant than the other. The
second is related to methodology and design. The review chapter is
devoted to the development of the problem statement or the object of the
inquiry. The review is utilized to retain direct relevance to the study at
hand. It is th e balancing chapter of the research report.
Chapter 3. Design or Methodology of Research
This chapter indicates the line of approach of the study. The first aspect
deals with the method, population and sample of the study and the second
part provide the to ols and techniques employed in the research. It also
presents the procedure of the study. The whole plan of the study is
discussed in detail in this chapter.
Administration of tools and scoring procedures are reported
systematically. The data organization and presentation should be given in
this section. It may be reported in a separate chapter of the report.
Chapter 4. Analysis and Interpretation of the Data.
In this chapter analysis and results are reported to draw the inferences of
the study. The analys is of data is presented in tabular form and figures or
pictorial presentation. The results are interpreted at length. This chapter
provides the original work or contribution by the researcher.
Communicative accuracy is required in this chapter. The text mu st be
developed to ensure an effective ordering of the evidence.
Chapter 5. Conclusions and Suggestions
This is the most important chapter of the report. It requires the creative
and reflective aspect of the researcher. The results are discussed to make a
more meaningful comparison of the results with the evidence in the review
section. It should be woven into the text whenever such a discussion can
serve to clarify the points being reported. This is the final chapter of a
report, thus findings of the study are summarized and suggestions for
further studies are also given. The implications and delimitations of the
findings are also mentioned in this section. The main thrust in the section munotes.in
102 The French Revolution—1789 is the answer to the question or solution of the problem. The validity of the
findings should be mentioned.
(C) REFERENCE SECTION
This is the third section of a research report. It consists of generally the
bibliography and appendices. It is also essential to include a glossary and
index for the convenience of the readers. T he bibliography, appendix,
glossary and index are written on a separate page - in the centre with
capital letters.
1. Bibliography
The bibliography is a list of the printed sources utilized in the research
work. The publications used for information -yield but not quoted in the
report may also be included in the bibliography. The format of the
bibliography depends on the footnote style. If the foot -notes reference in
the text is numbered to refer to the source in the bibliography, the entries
must be numeric ally listed in the order of appearance in the text. The
various format manuals include information on a form for the
bibliography. If the list of sources is too large the bibliography should be
categorized in the following sections:
Books
monographs
docume nts and reports
periodicals and journals
essays and articles
unpublished thesis and material and newspapers.
If selected sources are reported the words "Selected Bibliography' should
be written. In writing a bibliography the surname is written first instea d of
the initials, year of publication, the title of the book, publisher's name,
place and the total number of pages are also mentioned. The following are
the examples of writing bibliography:
(i) Example for single author:
Best, John. W (1977) Research in Education, 3rd ed., New Jersy: Prentice -
Hall Inc. Englewood Cliffs, 403 pp.
(ii) Example for two authors: The only difference is that the second
author's name is written differently i.e. initial first and surname at the end
in a usual manner. McGrath, J.H . and D. Gene Watts on (1970) Research
Methods and Designs for Education Pennsylvania: International Text -
Book Company, 222 pp.
munotes.in
103 History of Modern Europe) (iii) Example for three or more authors:
Selltiz, Claire et al. (1959) "Research Method in Social Relations', New
York: Holt, R inehart and Winston, 424 pp.
(iv) Example for editor -author: Baros, Oscar K. ed. (1965) The Sixth
Mental Measurement', Yearbook: Highland Park,
N.J.: Gryphon Press 1163 pp.
A bibliography reference is written in the following manner and arranged
alphabetic ally to facilitate the readers:
• Name of the author with the last name first and initials afterwards.
• The year of publication is given in bracket after the name of the
author and authors.
Title of the book or the work is written, underlined and follo wed by a
full stop (.)
Place of Publication followed by a colon (:).
• Name of the publishing agency and publishers and followed by a
comma (.).
• Total pages of the book are given.
The above sequence is employed in preparing bibliographical references.
It is also used for giving footnotes reference with a little deviation. In the
footnote, the name of the author with the Initials first followed by surname
or last name is given. The specific page number of the work or the book is
given but the total numb er of pages is not mentioned. Other things remain
the same as mentioned in the bibliography. The bibliography pages are
also written in Arabic figures in the sequence of the main body of the
report.
2. Appendix
An appendix is the important reference materi als category. It includes the
material which cannot be logically included in the main body or textual
body of the research report or the relevant materials too unwieldy to
include in the main body. The appendix usually includes tools of research,
statistic al tables and sometimes raw data (when data were processed
through the computer). Even the material of minor importance e.g. forms,
letters, reminders, interview sheets, blank questionnaires, charts, tables,
lengthy questions, reports of cases (if follow -up or case studies have been
conducted). The tools and other material should be placed first and tables
at the end and page numbers should be assigned in Roman Numbers (i, ii,
xxi). The appendix serves the function of providing greater clarity and
authentic ity for the readers or consumers of the thesis. The items in the
appendix are very essential for a good research report.
munotes.in
104 The French Revolution—1789 3. Index and Glossary
When a research report is published, an index must be given. The index
includes authors and subjects and topics or words in alphabetical order.
In the report, a glossary should be provided. It includes the meanings or
definitions of some words and terms used in the research report. Some
notations symbols or abbreviations should be explained in terms of what
they mea n or indicate in the study.
MECHANICS OF REPORT WRITING
Research report writing is a highly technical activity. It includes various
mechanics for a smooth flow of the thesis. The mechanical aspect has
been standardized which must be followed by a researche r in preparing a
thesis. Such mechanics involve the following issues:
(a) Footnotes and references,
(b) Style of writing,
(c) Headings,
(d) Tables,
(e) Figures,
(f) Pagination,
(g) Proofreading, and
(h) Binding and submission.
(a) Footnotes
Sometimes it i s desirable to quote some authoritative views or statements
from written works of others in the research report. It may be necessary
for various purposes viz. to review the related literature, to support or to
give the rationale for one's viewpoint.
Each q uotation must have a footnote or reference indicating the sources
from which it is borrowed.
All these sources and authority should be acknowledged both for
intellectual honesty and for the validity of one's research.
Footnotes serve many purposes. They en able the researcher to substantiate
his presentation by quotations or citations of other authorities, to give
credit to sources of material that he has reported and to provide the reader
with specific sources that he may use to verify the authenticity and
accuracy of the material quoted. The citation or quoted statements are
written using single -space whereas the text is written using double -space.
munotes.in
105 History of Modern Europe) The footnotes are placed at the bottom of the page and are separated from
the text by a three cms horizontal line drawn from the left margin.
Footnotes are numbered consecutively within a chapter. The recent
approach is that references are given in the place of footnotes. The
reference of quoted material is inserted in parentheses at the end of the
sentence. For example, (4:72) indicates that the statement refers to the
bibliography listing number 4, page 72. Another procedure is that all the
references are placed on one page at the end of the chapter in the sequence
of quoted statements.
Method of Writing Footnot es: Usually the footnotes are given at bottom
of the page at the end of the text according to the number of quotations
provided on it. The following examples illustrate the style of writing
footnotes:
1. Single author
John W. Best. (1977), 'Research in Edu cation 3rd ed. New Jersey:
Prentice -Hall, Inc., Englewood Cliff, 84 p. 2. Two authors:
J.H. MC. Grath and D. Gene Wattson (1970), 'Research Methods and
Designs for Education, Pennsylvania International Text -book Company,
124 p.
Usually following three type s of abbreviations are employed:
Ibid-In consecutive reference to the same work the Latin abbreviation
Ibid (Indicates the same page as an earlier footnote), Ibid p. 36 (same
work, but a different page 36) is used.
Qp. Ci. -When a reference to the same is not used in consecutive but after
some other references, the Latin abbreviation op. cit. (indicates the work
already cited in the report). The surname of the author and op. cit. is used.
If the page number of the book is different, in this situation op. ci t. and
page number along the surname is used. The examples are as follows:
Chaube, op. cit ( the work cited).
Chaube, op. cit. page 48 (the work cited on page 48).
Loc. Ci. - When a second but non -consecutive reference follows, referring
to the same work a nd same page, the Latin abbreviation Loc -cit
(previously cited) may be used. The author's surname along with Loc. cit
must be included. An example is given below:
Chaturvedi, Loc. cit (previously cited on page 48).
(b) Style of Preparing Thesis
Important p oints for writing a research report
The research report should be written in a style that is creative, clear and
concise. Therefore the following considerations should be kept in view in
writing a research report. munotes.in
106 The French Revolution—1789
1. The research must be reported in full and its results are subjected to
criticism and verification.
2. A research report is always written in the third person i.e. he, she or
the investigator. I, we, you, my, our and us should not be used.
3. It is prepared and written in past tense and pre sent-prefect tense
because it is reported usually after completion of the work.
4. The scientific language is used rather than literary language. The
British -English pattern is followed in writing a research report. The
spellings of the words are employed in British English.
5. It is typed printed/cyclostyled on 12 size Times New Romens (thesis
size) sunlit bond papers. There should be left a margin of 1 -1/2" right
margin one inch top and bottom margin should be 1 -1/4" in each. The
same machine of typing must be used for the typing of a research
report.
6. The presentation of matter should be in a floating sequence. There
should be consistency in the form and content organization.
7. An appropriate and proper format of a research report should be used.
8. The footnotes, references, tables, figures, heading, subheading and
bibliography should be provided in their standard form.
9. It should be typed in double space, quotations or citations should be
given in single space. A word should not be split into two aspects due
to the shortage of space in a line. A table, figure and diagram should
always be given at a single pace. If the table size is large. a large size
paper should be used. It should not continue on the next page.
10. A typist with great experi ence and proficiency should be employed
for preparing a thesis or dissertation because it is the responsibility of
the researcher that a thesis should be typed in proper form. The
correction of major errors is not the responsibility of the typist.
11. Good research reports are not written hurriedly. Even an expert and
experienced researcher revises many times before he submits a
manuscript for typing. Typographical standards for the thesis or
dissertation are more exacting. Therefore, every typist cannot p repare
a thesis, there are experts for typing thesis, who should be employed
for typing thesis.
Generally, a research report is divided into chapters, each chapter begins
from a new page. The title of a chapter is called the chapter heading. The
work 'CHAP TER' is written in capital letters, in the centre of the page and
the title is placed in three spaces of the chapter. The following is the
example: munotes.in
107 History of Modern Europe) Conclusion
Always remember that a research report is just as important as the actual
systematic investigati on because it plays a vital role in communicating
research findings to everyone else. This is why you must take care to
create a concise document summarizing the process of conducting any
research.
In this article, we've outlined essential tips to help yo u create a research
report. When writing your report, you should always have the audience at
the back of your mind, as this would set the tone for the document.
Reference
Singh, Yogesh Kumar.
Fundamental of RESEARCH METHODOLOGY and STATISTICS.
New Dehli: NEW AGE INTERNATIONAL (P) LIMITED,
PUBLISHERS.
Page No -243 to 260.
Links -
https://www.adelaide.edu.au/writingcentre/sites/default/files/docs/learning
guide -writingaresearchreport
https://en.wikipe dia.org/wiki/Research_report
https://www.formpl.us/blog/research -report
https://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/RM -12-05
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