Seems so weird that the semester is coming to an end, time flies when you're doing research I guess! Didn't think that I'd ever make it to the end of the semester (and I'm sure some will agree!), but here we are we all made it and all made it a lot more proficent in blogging than we were when we first entered the classroom.
I took a look at a few classmate's blogs and what they've talked about the past few weeks in regards to surveys and experiements and one that caught my eye was Lisa's blog. I'd been keepig up with her blog because I enjoyed her witty titles and interesting posts all semester long. She presented quite a funny experiment that she talked about, dealing with the one and only Lindsay Lohan (talk about crisis managament!) An experiement dealing with Lohan's prision experience seems kind of silly, but there's always somethig to do research on. Lisa's thoughts about splitting people up for experiements into groups really made me think; how can you be sure it is randomized? Her example relating experiements to students was interesting, when relating it to adderall. It'd be interesting to see the differences in the experiemental group and control group, of really any experiement.
The second blog I looked at was Tom's blog, which was on a completely different topic than Lisa's but still something I've been following for the remainder of the semester. Tom's blog deals primarily with sports, and the post on experiements dealt more with sports medicine which really caught my eye. He went on to talk about how the NFL is trying to find ways to prevent serious injuries such as spinal injuries from happenign as often as they do. "Over 20 current and former NFL players have agreed to donate their brian and spinal cord tissue to science upon death so that researchers can study the effects of repeated head trauma on the nervous system," Tom explains. Doing experiments and tests like this on athletes to see how these injuries can be prevented is something that the industry truly needs. Relating this back to my main topic, crisis management, this is a wonderful tool sports PR could use. If their teams are doing experiments and research like this it is great PR to fix any crisis or injury they may face.
Once again, I can't believe it's the end of a semeter. Thanks to anyone who read this blog, I think all my classmates did an absolutely wonderful job in all of their blogs and we all gained valuable information about research in the PR world today. I hope everyone has a safe and fun break and has a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Experimental Research
Public Relations would not normally be an outlet in which I would think experiements would be done to obtain certain research. Experiments are usually something science related, which is a common misconception. A lot of research can be done through experimental avenues, like the example we had in class of what could be seen as a survey but was in fact a type of experiment.
When it comes to crisis management, similar to surveying employees on their comfort level of being able to handle a crisis, companies could do some sort of expeiment within their company to see if they truly are ready for whatever is to come their way. For example, how would a company react if they were to find out a client of theirs was involved in a scandal how would they react? A company could do an experiment and put this "fake" situation in front of their clients, splitting them into a control and experimental group. One group would be given help and tools to help solve the crisis situation and the other wouldn't. To get different perspectivies and results on how to handle one of these situations if they were to ever arise would be a great result of such an experiment.
There's also the choice of doing a social media experiment through facebook, videos and the internet. Especially in the field of crisis managment because of the medias constant coverage on any type of global situation. Any crisis that seems to occur in the world, or even in the country when dealing with celebrities is covered by the media so doing an experiment with how many sites cover a certain crisis, how many people look at these sites, etc. I think the social media outlet would be great for firms in crisis managament when dealing with experiments
The hardest part about any experiment is the actual production of it. There can' be any bias from the people putting on the experiment. The groups must be randomly assigned to stray away from this bias and the groups should be tested to make sure they are even. You must also test the participants after the experiment to see if it was in fact successful. Experiments are not just for science, but a great outlet for Public Relations companies, and are very under-utalized. They are a little more expensive and harder to go about doing because the outcomes are never predictable, but if done the right way they are helpful in the PR world.
When it comes to crisis management, similar to surveying employees on their comfort level of being able to handle a crisis, companies could do some sort of expeiment within their company to see if they truly are ready for whatever is to come their way. For example, how would a company react if they were to find out a client of theirs was involved in a scandal how would they react? A company could do an experiment and put this "fake" situation in front of their clients, splitting them into a control and experimental group. One group would be given help and tools to help solve the crisis situation and the other wouldn't. To get different perspectivies and results on how to handle one of these situations if they were to ever arise would be a great result of such an experiment.
There's also the choice of doing a social media experiment through facebook, videos and the internet. Especially in the field of crisis managment because of the medias constant coverage on any type of global situation. Any crisis that seems to occur in the world, or even in the country when dealing with celebrities is covered by the media so doing an experiment with how many sites cover a certain crisis, how many people look at these sites, etc. I think the social media outlet would be great for firms in crisis managament when dealing with experiments
The hardest part about any experiment is the actual production of it. There can' be any bias from the people putting on the experiment. The groups must be randomly assigned to stray away from this bias and the groups should be tested to make sure they are even. You must also test the participants after the experiment to see if it was in fact successful. Experiments are not just for science, but a great outlet for Public Relations companies, and are very under-utalized. They are a little more expensive and harder to go about doing because the outcomes are never predictable, but if done the right way they are helpful in the PR world.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Surveys in Crisis Management
Surveys are a vital research tool in Public Relations, it's cheap and easy to reach to people in large amounts Surveys are commonly used by advertising and PR researches to provide information about populations to clients, government agencies, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and educators. Surveys are customized to fit a specific research goal. Each question is developed to solicit information to expand knowledge about a particular issue.The more specific you are in developing your goals, the easier it will be to collect quality data. You would think that a survey wouldn't be too useful in the world of crisis management, but in fact it's a valuable to companies within their employees. For example, after the September 11th events many companies surveyed their employees to see if they thought they would be ready for when a crisis were to hit. AMA did a similar survey to its members and customers to determine if companies are prepared today to handle a major crisis. In light of the second anniversary of the September 11 attacks, AMA surveyed its members and customers to determine if companies are prepared today to handle a major crisis. They continued to survey every other year after September 11th. According to the results, 61% of executives said their companies have established a crisis management plan, down from 64% in 2003.
Surveys are just a very effective way of get employees to have their voices heard as well as getting information from people outside of their company's points of view. Another pro to doing surveys in the work place when dealing with crisis management would be the fact that people are able to give their opinions while staying secret. People are usually more likely to get what they want off their chests if they know people don't know their identity, especially in the work place. In the field of crisis managament I feel one of the only ways to implement a survey is with the employees of the company, and while many Public Relations firms do so, more and more should consider implimenting this method.
Surveys are just a very effective way of get employees to have their voices heard as well as getting information from people outside of their company's points of view. Another pro to doing surveys in the work place when dealing with crisis management would be the fact that people are able to give their opinions while staying secret. People are usually more likely to get what they want off their chests if they know people don't know their identity, especially in the work place. In the field of crisis managament I feel one of the only ways to implement a survey is with the employees of the company, and while many Public Relations firms do so, more and more should consider implimenting this method.
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