Measuring Public Relations

Dr. Susan Grantham
University of Hartford
&
Dr. Edward T. Vieira, Jr.
Simmons College
 
   

Many articles have been written indicating that CEOs and Directors want their public relations practitioners and managers to provide measurable results. The purpose of this study is to learn about how you evaluate the effectiveness of your public relations work as well as your attitude toward evaluating your work.

Thank you for agreeing to participate in this study. No discomforts or risks are anticipated from your participation in this study, aside from those associated with everyday life.

It will take approximately 15 minutes to answer the questions on the following web pages.

Your participation in this research is confidential. Because this is a web-based survey, there is no way to identify who participated. The data will  be stored and secured. In the event of a publication or presentation resulting from the research, no personally identifiable information will be shared.

Your decision to participate in this research is voluntary. You can stop at any time. You do not have to answer any questions you do not want to  answer. Refusal to take part in or withdrawing from this study will involve no penalty or loss of benefits you would receive otherwise.

Feel free to address questions or concerns to:

Dr. Peter Kennedy					Dr. Susan Grantham			Dr. Edward T. Vieira, Jr.
Chair, Human Subjects Committee			Principal Investigator			Investigator
Dana Hall, Room 410B				224 Harry Jack Gray		Department of Communication
University of Hartford				University of Hartford		Simmons College
200 Bloomfield Avenue				200 Bloomfield Avenue		300 The Fenway
West Hartford, CT 06117				West Hartford, CT 06117		Boston, MA 02115-5898
860-768-4823					860-768-4016			617-521-2833
pkennedy@hartford.edu 				grantham@hartford.edu 		edward.vieira@simmons.edu

Should you experience any technical difficulties completing this questionnaire, please contact Dr. Ed Vieira at 617-521-2833 or edward.vieira@simmons.edu.

You must be 18 years of age or older to consent to take part in this research study.  If you agree to take part in this research study, 
please click below and continue on to the survey.

Thank you for your participation.

Click here

 

  








































 

The following questions are designed to establish the various types of working and educational backgrounds found amongst communications coordinators/directors, the size of your communication staff, and your opinion concerning your communication budget. If you are asked for a number or percentage and the question does not apply to you, enter 0.

1. In what industry do you work (for example, health, manufacturing, food & beverages, hospitality, etc.)?
   

1a. Please select one of the following that best describes your organization?

     For profit      Non-profit

1b. What are your professional association memberships? List all of them, and, if none, please leave blank.
  

1c. Where do you work (for example, Providence, R. I.)?
  
 

  
2. I have   many years of experience in communications.
 

3. I have a total of   many years of experience in communications management.

 

  
4. What percentage of your time is spent on developing the following communications outcomes for your organization
(if none, enter 0):

    Organizational Awareness public relations %
    Advertising  %
    Integrated marketing  %
    Client education  %
    Employee-related information   %
    Other (please specify: )  %

 

  
5. I supervise   number of people within my department.

6. I am part of senior management:   Yes      No

7. I report to senior management:     Yes      No

8. I participate in strategic planning for the organization:    Yes      No  Sometimes

 

  
9. I have the following degree:

  Associate
  Bachelor
  Some graduate school
  CAGS
  Master
  Ph.D.
  None

 

  
10. If any, my college/university major was: .

11. If any, my college/university minor was: .

 

  
12. While in college, I took coursework in (please check all that apply):

    Communication theory
      Research methods
      Statistics
      Marketing
      Consumer Behavior
      Writing for the media
      Management

 

  
13. If I had a 10% increase in my budget I would most likely:

    Hire additional personnel
    Increase the salaries of existing personnel
    Contract out work for additional projects
    Purchase equipment
    Expand communications activities
    Other (please specify: )

 

  
14. In my opinion, my working budget is typically_______ in order to accomplish the communication goals established by the organization I work for.

    Totally sufficient
    Sufficient
    Insufficient

 

  
15. The communications staff consists of    full-time employees.

16. The communications staff consists of    part-time/contract employees (please estimate how many based on the work generated in the past three years).

17. How many people work primarily creating and disseminating public relations products for your organization?

18. Approximately how many people work for your entire organization?

 

  
19. Our advertising department is separate from the public relations department.     True   False

20. Our marketing department is separate from the public relations department.      True   False

21. My gender is:  Male     Female

22. What is your age? 

23. What is your job title? 

 

  

The following questions are designed to differentiate between your external and internal communication efforts and the channels
typically used to communicate to these audiences. If you are asked for a number or percentage and the question does not apply
to you, enter 0.

 

  
24. Typically, how much of your public relations effort is focused on:

      External communication:    %
      Internal communication:     %

 

  
25. We frequently communicate with the following audiences (check all that apply).

      Self-selected target audiences
      Media
      Management
      Industry officials
      Lawmakers
      Outside funding agencies
      Regulators
      Decision-makers such as legislators
      Employees
      Peers within organization
      Other (please specify:  )

 

  
26. How much of you communications time do you allocate to the following audiences (what percentage)?

      Self-selected target audiences:    %
      Media:    %
      Management:    %
      Industry officials:    %
      Lawmakers:    %
      Outside funding agencies:    %
      Regulators:    %
      Decision-makers such as legislators:    %
      Employees:    %
      Peers within organization:    %
      Other (please specify:  ):    %

 

  
EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION

 

  
27. The primary focus of our external public relations is to:

     Create awareness of organization and its products/services.
     Create awareness of organization’s contributions to the community.
     Create awareness of products/services offered by organization.
     Influence attitudes toward the organization.
     Develop stakeholder relationships in a proactive manner.
     Persuade a member of the target audience to change a behavior (start or stop doing something).

 

  
28. The primary channel used for external public relations is:

    Print newspaper.
    Print trade journals and magazines.
    Internet.
    Person-to-person.
    Speaker bureau.
    Broadcast.
    Sponsoring events.
    Other (please specify:  ).

 

  
29. Within the past twelve months, the biggest external public relations project consisted of the following media relations components (rank in order of most used to least used – leave blank if not used – where 1 = most used and 10 = least used):

      Media kit.
      Press conferences.
      Speakers Bureau.
      Access to key personnel for interviews by print and broadcast journalists.
      Direct mailings to specified stakeholders.
      Development and distribution of brochures/newsletters/information packets.
      Fully developed campaign incorporating many of the components listed above.
      Web site.
      E-mail blasts.
      Portable devices (blackberrys, cellphone, Ipods) .
      Other:  .

 

  
INTERNAL COMMUNICATION

 

  
30. Most of our internal communications efforts are directed toward:
     Employees
     Management
     Peers within organization

 

  
31. We mostly use which one of the following to communicate with employees:

   Newsletters.
   E-mail.
   Memos/letters.
   Large group meetings.
   Small group meetings.
   Reports.
   Information packets.
   Other:  .
   Does not apply to our situation.

 

  
32. We mostly use which one of the following to communicate with management:

   Newsletters.
   E-mail.
   Memos/letters.
   Meetings.
   Reports.
   Other:  .
   Does not apply to our situation.

 

  
33. We mostly use which one of the following to communicate with peers within our organization:

   Newsletters.
   E-mail.
   Memos/letters.
   Meetings.
   Reports.
   Other:  .
   Does not apply to our situation.

 

  
The following questions are designed to evaluate your perceptions of how valuable you believe that your work is viewed within the organization.

 

  
  34. Within my organization public relations work is considered:

    Extremely valuable to the organization.
    Somewhat valuable to the organization.
    Nice, but not always necessary.

 
  35. My suggestions for strategic planning are:

    Almost always implemented.
    Sometimes implemented.
    Seldom implemented.

 
  36. Management considers measuring public relations results to be:

    Very important
    Important
    Sometimes important
    Occasionally important
    Never important
 
  37. In my organization, public relations is considered to be primarily a:

    Strategic and planning discipline
    Technical and product oriented discipline
    Combination – please indicate a percentage for strategic and planning and a percentage for technical and product

 
  38. I am often asked for my views on how to best represent to the organization to target audiences:

    Always
    Sometimes
    Never

 
  39. Providing measured results on perceptions of the organization’s image is _______ required.

    Always
    Sometimes
    Depends on the topic
    Never

 
  40. Providing measured results for how the organization’s products/services are positioned is _______ required.

    Always
    Sometimes
    Depends on the topic
    Never

 
  41. The communications budget I work with is tied to measurable results.

    Always
    Depends on funding opportunities
    Is generally level funded with a cost of living increase
    Other (please specify:  )

 
  42. Rank the following in order of the three most common methods of evaluating your public relations efforts where 1 = most common and followed by 2 = next most common, and then 3:

     Focus groups
     Clipping service reports about where information about the organization appeared
     Pre and post campaign surveys
     Content analysis of clippings for positive/negative positioning
     Interviews with representatives of key publics
   Track inquiries (mail/web/phone) after a media event
     Track web site hits
     Pre-test messages on representatives of key stakeholder groups
     Other: 
     Don’t evaluate.

 
  43. The CEO/CFO of our organization would like it if we presented results tied directly to our public relations effort.

    Strongly agree
    Agree
    Disagree
    Strongly disagree

 
  44. In our organization, reporting measurable results is becoming:

    Expected more
    No change
    Expected less.

 
  45. I feel comfortable measuring and evaluating our public relations results.

    Strongly agree
    Agree
    Disagree
    Strongly disagree.

 
  46. If I was required to design and implement an evaluation program for our public relations work, I:

    Would feel very knowledgeable about methods commonly used in the industry.
    Would feel a little out of the loop about the methods commonly used in the industry.
    Would need to conduct some research or consult someone about the methods currently used in the industry.

 
  47. It is easy to measure public relations results.

    Strongly agree
    Agree
    Disagree
    Strongly disagree.

 
  48. I am given the budget necessary to measure public relations results.

    Strongly agree
    Agree
    Disagree
    Strongly disagree.

 
  49. It is difficult to measure public relations results because so much of this our work focuses on changing attitudes and/or behaviors over a long period of time.

    Strongly agree
    Agree
    Disagree
    Strongly disagree.

50. I believe that it would cost more money than it is worth to quantify our public relations results.

    Strongly agree
    Agree
    Disagree
    Strongly disagree.

51. In our organization, there is additional funding for measuring results.

    Strongly agree
    Agree
    Disagree
    Strongly disagree.

 
  52. IF SO, would lack of THESE additional funds prevent you from measuring results?

    Yes
    No

 
  53. I think that measuring public relations results is:

    A good idea
    A good idea but difficult to implement
    Not a good idea.

 
  54. My educational background prepared me to provide measurable public relations results.

    Strongly agree
    Agree
    Disagree
    Strongly disagree.

 
  55. My working background prepared me to provide measurable public relations results.

    Strongly agree
    Agree
    Disagree
    Strongly disagree.

 
  56. I wish I knew more about the methods I should use to evaluate our public relations efforts.

    Strongly agree
    Agree
    Disagree
    Strongly disagree.

 
  57. If you currently measure and report your public relations results, do you do this:

    Verbally
    In a written report
    Combination of verbal and written

 
  58. Please share any additional thoughts or ideas you have on the trend toward requiring public relations managers and practitioners to provide measurable results.
   

 
 

Once you have completed the questionnaire, please click on the SUBMIT button.
 

Again, thank you for your participation.



 

 

Hit Counter
Copyright 2006
Dr. Susan Grantham
Dr. Edward T. Vieira, Jr.
Last revision February 8, 2008