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.