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Summary Research
is not an optional enhancement to public relations practice — it is its
strategic foundation. As much as three-quarters of the public relations
process comprises research, action planning, and evaluation, yet the
discipline continues to struggle against the misconception that PR is
primarily an intuitive, message-driven craft. This article presents a
comprehensive examination of the role, purpose, and methods of research in
modern public relations management, arguing that evidence-based PR is the only
form of PR capable of earning sustained organisational credibility, executive
trust, and measurable stakeholder impact. Drawing on foundational scholarship
from Stacks, Grunig, Dozier, Broom, and Tashakkori and Teddlie, and
illustrated with contemporary examples from Spotify, Dove, Edelman, the NHS,
and Johnson & Johnson, this article covers the full research cycle — from
formative intelligence gathering through evaluative benchmarking — across
formal, informal, quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches. |
Keywords: PR Research | Formative
Research | Evaluative Research | Quantitative Methods | Qualitative Methods |
Mixed Methods | Public Opinion | Benchmarking
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SECTION 01 Introduction Confronting the Misconception — PR as a Research Discipline |
Among the most persistent and consequential
misconceptions about public relations is that it is primarily a persuasion
craft — a discipline built on instinct, creative messaging, and the cultivation
of media relationships. This image, reinforced by popular culture and the less
sophisticated corners of PR practice itself, fundamentally misrepresents what
modern, strategic public relations actually is.
The reality is striking in its contrast: as
much as three-quarters of the public relations management process is grounded
in research, action planning, and evaluation — three of the four steps captured
in the RACE model (Research, Action Planning, Communication, Evaluation).¹
Communication — the dimension most visible to the public — is the tip of a
research-driven iceberg.
¹ Bowen, S. A.
(2009a). All glamour, no substance? How public relations majors and potential
majors view the industry. Public Relations Review, 35, 402–410.
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Without conducting
research, public relations is based on experience or instinct, neither of
which play large roles in strategic management. Research is the strategic
foundation of modern public relations management. — Stacks, D. W., & Michaelson, D. — A Practitioner's Guide
to Public Relations Research, Measurement and Evaluation |
This matters not only for academic
understanding but for organisational practice. Public relations professionals
routinely find themselves in the position of justifying research budgets to
management — arguing that research is not a cost to be minimised but a
strategic investment that determines the effectiveness, efficiency, and
measurability of everything that follows. The argument of this article is
straightforward: organisations that invest in rigorous PR research make better
decisions, build stronger stakeholder relationships, and navigate crises more
effectively than those that do not.
This article traces the full architecture
of PR research — from its fundamental purpose and forms, through the
primary/secondary and quantitative/qualitative typologies, to the advanced
mixed-method and triangulation approaches that characterise best practice in
the field. Throughout, modern corporate and institutional examples ground the
theoretical frameworks in contemporary practice.
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RESEARCH IN THE PR PROCESS 75% Proportion of the public relations
strategic management process grounded in research, action planning, and
evaluation — not communication alone. |
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SECTION 02 The Purpose and Importance
of PR Research From Press Agentry to Evidence-Based Management |
The transformation of public relations from
a publicity function into a management discipline is inseparable from the
emergence of research as its methodological core. Without research, PR reverts
to what it was in its earliest incarnation: press agentry — following hunches
and instinct to create publicity, measuring success by column inches and
broadcast mentions, and hoping that the right message has reached the right
people.
Research elevates PR practice along three
critical dimensions, each of which fundamentally changes the relationship
between the PR function and the organisations it serves.
Research Makes
Communication Two-Way
The most significant contribution research
makes to public relations is transforming communication from a one-way
broadcast into a genuine dialogue. One-way communication — the simple
dissemination of information from organisation to public — is structurally
incapable of building the kind of mutual understanding that sustains long-term
stakeholder relationships. Research changes this by collecting information from
publics, not just transmitting information to them.²
² Grunig, J. E.
(1984). Organizations, environments, and models of public relations. Public
Relations Research and Education, 1(1), 6–29.
Through research, organisations come to
understand the beliefs, values, and expectations of their publics — and can
adapt both their communication and their policies accordingly. Scholars
consistently find that two-way communication is more effective than one-way,
particularly in environments characterised by significant government regulation
or activist pressure.³
³ Grunig, L.
A., Grunig, J. E., & Dozier, D. M. (2002). Excellent public relations and
effective organizations. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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|
MODERN EXAMPLE | Edelman Trust Barometer (2003–present) Research as the Engine of Global PR Intelligence The Edelman Trust Barometer, now in its third decade
of annual publication, is one of the most cited and consequential pieces of
primary research in the global PR industry. Conducted across 28 countries
with over 32,000 respondents, it tracks public trust in four institutions —
government, business, media, and NGOs — providing the PR profession and its
clients with the foundational intelligence needed to understand the
stakeholder environment in which they operate. The 2024 Barometer revealed
that business remains the most trusted institution globally, trusted by 63%
of respondents, while government trust has declined to 52%. These findings
have shaped communication strategies for hundreds of organisations —
demonstrating that large-scale PR research does not merely measure opinion;
it creates the intelligence infrastructure upon which strategic PR is built. Reference: Edelman. (2024). Edelman Trust Barometer 2024.
Edelman.com. |
Research Makes
PR Strategic
The second transformative contribution of
research is that it makes public relations activity strategically targeted
rather than broadcast. Research identifies which publics want, need, or care
about specific information — enabling PR professionals to segment audiences,
tailor messages, and allocate communication resources where they will have the
greatest impact.⁴
⁴ Ehling, W.
P., & Dozier, D. M. (1992). Public relations management and operations
research. In J. E. Grunig (Ed.), Excellence in public relations and
communication management. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
This prevents a waste of effort and budget
that is characteristic of research-poor PR practice: producing communications
that reach the wrong audiences, carry messages that do not resonate, or arrive
through channels that targeted publics do not use. The financial case for
research is direct — it costs far less to research and target than to broadcast
indiscriminately and then repair the consequences of missed or misaligned
communication.
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MODERN EXAMPLE | Dove — Real Beauty Campaign (2004–present) Research-Led Strategy That Redefined a Category Dove's "Campaign for Real Beauty,"
launched in 2004, is one of the most studied examples of formative research
driving transformational PR and brand strategy. Before the campaign launched,
Unilever's PR and research teams conducted a global study — "The Real
Truth About Beauty: A Global Report" — surveying 3,200 women across ten
countries. The research revealed that only 2% of women globally described
themselves as beautiful, and that dominant beauty industry communications
were reinforcing self-doubt rather than building brand affinity. This
quantitative finding, triangulated with qualitative focus group data,
revealed a profound misalignment between how the beauty industry communicated
and how its target public experienced those communications. Dove's campaign
was built directly on this research — every message, image, and channel
choice was guided by the data. The result was a campaign that earned over
$180 million in earned media value in its first year alone, and that has
sustained brand relevance for two decades. Reference: Etcoff, N., Orbach, S., Scott, J., &
D'Agostino, H. (2004). The Real Truth About Beauty: A Global Report.
Unilever/Dove. |
Research Allows
PR to Show Results
The third dimension of research's
importance is evaluative: it allows PR practitioners to measure impact,
demonstrate value, and refocus resources based on evidence.⁵ This is
strategically critical for the long-term credibility of the PR function within organisations.
⁵ Dozier, D.
M., & Ehling, W. P. (1992). Evaluation of public relations programs. In J.
E. Grunig (Ed.), Excellence in public relations and communication management.
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Research gives PR practitioners a seat in
the dominant coalition — the senior decision-making group within an
organisation — by providing the quantitative evidence that demonstrates the
value of PR investment. Without evaluative research, PR exists in a black box:
organisations spend on it, but cannot measure what they receive. With it, PR
becomes as accountable as any other management function.⁶
⁶ Stacks, D.
W., & Michaelson, D. (in press). A practitioner's guide to public relations
research, measurement and evaluation. New York: Business Expert Press.
The five strategic applications of research
in PR management are:
1.
Identifying issues and engaging in structured
problem-solving before issues escalate.
2.
Preventing and managing crises through early-warning
intelligence gathering.
3.
Making organisations responsive and genuinely
responsible to their publics.
4.
Creating better, evidence-informed organisational
policy.
5.
Building and maintaining long-term, trust-based
relationships with stakeholder groups.
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SECTION 03 Formative and Evaluative
Research Before You Speak and After You Do |
The most fundamental distinction in public
relations research is temporal: research conducted before a campaign or
communication initiative (formative research) and research conducted after it
(evaluative research). Both forms are indispensable; neither is sufficient
alone.
Formative
Research
Formative research is conducted before
communication begins, with the purpose of understanding what publics know,
believe, value, and need to know before messages are designed.⁷ It is the
intelligence-gathering phase — the foundation on which every subsequent
strategic decision rests.
⁷ Stacks, D. W.
(2002). Primer of public relations research. New York: Guilford.
Formative research enables PR professionals
to:
•
Segment target publics accurately, identifying distinct
groups with different knowledge states, values, and communication preferences.
•
Tailor messages to resonate with the specific beliefs
and concerns of each public.
•
Select appropriate communication channels based on
evidence of how each public receives and processes information.
•
Establish a baseline — a benchmark measurement against
which the impact of subsequent communication can be assessed.
•
Identify potential resistance or misalignment between
organisational messaging and public values before it becomes a crisis.
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MODERN EXAMPLE | NHS England — COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Research
(2020–2021) Formative Research Shaping a National Communication
Campaign As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout began in late 2020,
NHS England and the UK Government's communication teams faced a significant
challenge: substantial vaccine hesitancy, particularly among Black, Asian,
and minority ethnic (BAME) communities, older populations with limited
digital access, and younger adults with distrust of pharmaceutical
institutions. Rather than launching a broadcast campaign based on
assumptions, the campaign teams conducted extensive formative research —
including qualitative focus groups with hesitant communities, quantitative
surveys measuring levels of trust in different vaccine information sources,
and in-depth interviews with community health leaders. The research revealed
that trusted messengers (GPs, community religious leaders, local pharmacists)
were significantly more persuasive than government communications. It also
identified that the primary driver of hesitancy was not anti-vaccine
sentiment but information gap and source distrust. The resulting campaign —
using peer-to-peer community outreach, trusted local voices, and targeted
digital channels — was directly designed on formative research findings, and
contributed to the UK achieving one of the highest vaccine uptake rates
globally. Reference: NHS England. (2021). COVID-19 Vaccination Programme
Communication Strategy. NHS Communications Directorate. |
Evaluative
Research
Evaluative research is conducted after a PR
initiative to determine the degree of change attributable to the communication
effort. It closes the strategic loop — confirming what worked, identifying what
did not, and providing the evidence base for refining or redirecting resources.
The most powerful evaluative design uses
benchmarking: establishing a baseline measurement (the "before")
through formative research, then repeating the same measurement after the
initiative (the "after"), attributing the difference to the PR
effort.⁸
⁸ Stacks, D. W.
(2002). Primer of public relations research. New York: Guilford.; Broom, G.,
& Dozier, D. (1990). Using research in public relations. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice Hall.
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Benchmarking
in Practice — How It Works |
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Step
1 — Formative measurement: A survey establishes that 17% of the target public
is aware of the organisation's policy on a specific issue. Step
2 — Communication initiative: The PR team deploys targeted messages through
identified channels over a predetermined campaign period. Step
3 — Evaluative measurement: An identical survey is conducted after the
campaign period. Results show 33% awareness — a 16-percentage-point increase. Step
4 — Attribution and reporting: "Members of the community public aware of
our new waste disposal initiative increased from 17% to 33% in the last two
months — a direct result of the PR campaign." This
before-and-after comparison gives organisations and their PR teams the
quantitative evidence to demonstrate impact, secure future budgets, and
refine strategy. |
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✕ PR Without Evaluative Research |
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✓ PR With Evaluative Research |
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The
organisation launches a six-month stakeholder communication initiative. At
the end, management asks: "Did it work?" The PR team can report on
outputs — press releases issued, events held, social media posts published.
But it cannot report on outcomes — whether awareness, perception, or
behaviour actually changed. Budget renewal is uncertain. The PR function's
value remains undemonstrated. |
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Formative
research establishes baselines before the initiative. Evaluative research
measures outcomes at the end. The PR team reports: "Brand trust among
our primary stakeholder public increased from 48% to 67% over the campaign
period. Customer complaint volumes fell 22%. Media sentiment shifted from 38%
positive to 61% positive." Budget renewal is grounded in evidence. |
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SECTION 04 Formal and Informal
Research Structured Intelligence and Boundary-Spanning |
Research in public relations is conducted
along two parallel tracks that serve complementary functions. Formal research
provides the rigorous, systematic data needed for strategic planning and
evaluative measurement. Informal research provides the continuous, contextual
intelligence that keeps PR professionals attuned to shifting stakeholder
dynamics, emerging issues, and changes in the competitive or regulatory
environment.
Formal Research
Formal research is planned, structured, and
conducted specifically to address identified research questions. It may be
quantitative — generating statistical data — or qualitative, providing in-depth
understanding of attitudes and motivations. It is both formative (conducted
before a campaign) and evaluative (conducted after). Its defining
characteristic is intentionality: it is designed with specific questions,
appropriate methods, defined populations, and rigorous protocols.
Formal research is typically more
resource-intensive than informal research, which is why PR professionals must
be able to make a compelling business case for research budgets. The ROI
argument is straightforward: formal research prevents organisations from
investing in communications that do not reach the right publics, carry the
wrong messages, or use ineffective channels — costs that dwarf the investment
in research itself.
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MODERN EXAMPLE | Spotify — Annual Wrapped Campaign Research (2015–present) Formal Data as the Foundation of a Cultural Moment Spotify Wrapped — the annual personalised
retrospective delivered to each user summarising their year in music — is one
of the most shared PR-driven content events in social media history,
generating hundreds of millions of organic social posts annually. But the
campaign's success is not accidental: it is built on formal data analysis at
enormous scale. Spotify's research and data science teams conduct continuous
analysis of listening patterns, demographic listening segmentation, and
social sharing behaviour throughout the year. This formal research determines
which data points resonate most powerfully with different user segments, how
to frame personalised content for maximum emotional impact, and which
channels generate the highest sharing rates. The 2023 Wrapped campaign
generated over 600 million social media engagements globally — a result made
possible by research-led design, not intuition. Reference: Spotify. (2023). Spotify Wrapped 2023: Global Data
and Insights. Spotify for the Record. |
Informal
Research
Informal research is conducted on an
ongoing, non-systematic basis — but it is no less valuable. It flows naturally
from the boundary-spanning role of the PR professional: the unique
organisational position that involves maintaining relationships with both
internal and external publics, gathering intelligence about shifts in the
stakeholder environment, and translating that intelligence back into
organisational strategy.
Informal research gathers information
through:
•
Conversations with external contacts — journalists,
industry analysts, community leaders, activist representatives.
•
Monitoring of customer communications — emails, comment
cards, social media mentions, reviews.
•
Scanning of news media, trade publications, and
industry forums.
•
Internal stakeholder dialogue — conversations with
employees, managers, and frontline staff.
•
Observation of competitor activity and industry trends.
The data yielded from informal research is
rarely statistically generalisable, but it serves functions that formal
research cannot easily replicate: it is continuous, it is contextual, and it is
often the first signal of an emerging issue that, if left unaddressed, will
eventually require a formal research response.
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|
MODERN EXAMPLE | Delta Air Lines — Social Listening as Informal Research
(ongoing) Turning Customer Conversation into Strategic
Intelligence Delta Air Lines' social media listening programme is
a sophisticated example of informal research operating at scale. Delta
monitors in real time millions of customer conversations across Twitter/X,
Facebook, Instagram, and review platforms, using AI-assisted sentiment
analysis to flag emerging concerns before they escalate into reputational
incidents. When informal monitoring identified a cluster of complaints about
a specific boarding process change in 2022, the PR and operations teams were
able to investigate, identify a genuine service design problem, and make
operational adjustments before the issue generated significant negative media
coverage. The informal research channel — listening to unstructured public
conversation — provided the early warning that no formal survey could have
delivered with the same speed. Delta has publicly credited its social
listening infrastructure as a key component of its consistently high customer
satisfaction ratings in the airline sector. Reference: Delta Air Lines. (2022). Airline Customer
Experience Report. Delta Media Relations. |
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SECTION 05 Primary and Secondary
Research Original Intelligence and the Power of Existing Knowledge |
A second fundamental typology in PR
research distinguishes between research generated specifically for the
organisation's own purposes (primary research) and research that exists in the
public domain and can be applied to organisational questions (secondary
research). Both have distinct roles in a well-designed research programme.
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Primary
Research Unique data collected first-hand for a specific
client, campaign, or research question. Because it is proprietary and
directly relevant, primary research is typically the most expensive but most
valuable form of PR intelligence. Examples include commissioned public
opinion surveys, brand perception studies, employee engagement research, and
bespoke stakeholder focus groups. |
|
Secondary
Research Research already in the public domain — applicable
to the organisation's context but not generated for it. Accessed through
industry reports, academic databases, government statistics, trade
association publications, and media analysis. Secondary research provides the
contextual intelligence that gives primary research its interpretive
framework — and it is typically far less expensive. |
Best practice in PR research uses secondary
research as the exploratory base that informs the design of primary research.
Understanding what is already known about an issue, an industry, or a public
allows researchers to formulate more precise primary research questions, avoid
duplicating existing knowledge, and situate findings within a broader evidence
context.
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MODERN EXAMPLE | Johnson & Johnson — Stakeholder Trust Research
(Post-Talc Litigation, 2019–2023) Primary Research Rebuilding Reputational Capital Following years of litigation over talc-based baby
powder and its alleged links to cancer — culminating in a $2.1 billion jury
verdict against J&J in 2020 — the company embarked on a significant
strategic PR repositioning. A key component of this effort was primary
research: large-scale public opinion studies conducted across the United
States and key international markets to measure the precise dimensions of
trust damage, identify which stakeholder segments retained or had recovered
confidence in the brand, and determine which messages and messengers were
most credible with sceptical publics. Simultaneously, J&J's
communications team drew on secondary research — independent academic studies
of brand trust recovery, government health agency communications frameworks,
and consumer research on pharmaceutical company credibility — to provide the
contextual scaffolding for their primary research design. The integration of
primary and secondary research produced a stakeholder communication strategy
that was demonstrably more targeted and more effective than a broadcast
approach could have been. Reference: J&J. (2021). Enterprise Communication Strategy
Update. Johnson & Johnson Investor Relations. |
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SECTION 06 Quantitative Research Measuring What Matters — Numbers, Statistics, and
Generalisable Insight |
Quantitative research is the methodological
backbone of formal PR research. It generates the numerical data that allows
organisations to make generalisable statements about their publics — to know,
with statistical confidence, what proportion of a target population holds a
particular view, what percentage are aware of a specific message, and how much
those figures change as a result of PR activity.
As Stacks defines it, quantitative research
is based on statistical generalisation: it enables statements like "85% of
Infiniti owners say they would purchase again" or "awareness of our
new product increased from 11% to 28% over the campaign period — a 17% increase
directly attributable to PR activity."
Methods of
Quantitative Data Collection
PR professionals draw on a range of
quantitative data collection methods, selected according to the research
question, target population, and available resources:
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① Online Surveys Cost-effective, scalable |
② Telephone Surveys Representative sampling |
③ Content Analysis Media & social monitoring |
④ Tracking Data Shopper & loyalty programmes |
⑤ Feedback Cards Comment & warranty cards |
⑥ Mail Surveys Specific demographics |
Sampling
Approaches
The validity of quantitative research
depends critically on sampling — how respondents are selected from the broader
population of interest.
Probability Sampling
Probability samples are drawn randomly from
a defined population, giving each member of the population an equal chance of
selection. This produces the strongest statistical measures of generalisability
— allowing the researcher to say, with a defined margin of error, that findings
from the sample accurately reflect the entire population. The larger the sample
size, the smaller the margin of error and the greater the confidence in the
findings.
Non-Probability Sampling
Non-probability samples do not allow
statistical generalisation to the broader population but serve legitimate
purposes where precise generalisability is not required, or where resources do
not permit probability sampling. Three main types are used in PR research:
•
Convenience samples — drawn from those who are readily
accessible, such as visitors to a shopping centre or users who complete an
online form voluntarily.
•
Snowball samples — respondents are recruited through
referral from previous respondents, useful for reaching hard-to-access
populations.
•
Purposive samples — the researcher deliberately seeks
out specific types of respondents based on defined characteristics relevant to
the research question.
Demographic
Segmentation
One of the most powerful applications of
quantitative PR research is the segmentation of publics through demographic
cross-tabulation. By combining opinion and attitude data with demographic
variables, PR professionals can identify with precision which groups hold which
views — enabling highly targeted communication strategies.
Standard demographic variables used in PR
research segmentation include:
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Social
Demographics Gender, age, education level, race and ethnicity,
religious affiliation, political affiliation, family and household size. Economic
Demographics Annual household income, professional occupation,
geographic location (urban/suburban/rural, regional). |
|
Psychographic
Variables Values, lifestyle preferences, attitudes toward
specific issues, media consumption habits, trust levels in different
institutions. Behavioural
Variables Purchasing behaviour, brand loyalty, product usage
patterns, frequency shopper data, complaint and feedback behaviour. |
|
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MODERN EXAMPLE | Ipsos MORI / UK Government — Public Attitudes Tracker
(2020–2022) Quantitative Segmentation Guiding National PR Strategy Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK Government
commissioned weekly quantitative research from Ipsos MORI tracking public
attitudes to government guidance, vaccination, and lockdown measures across
demographic segments. The research — drawn from probability samples of 1,000+
adults weekly — enabled the Government Communication Service to identify, in
near real-time, which demographic groups were showing declining compliance or
increasing hesitancy, and to design targeted communication responses accordingly.
When the data showed that compliance with social distancing guidance was
significantly lower among 18–24 year olds compared to other age groups,
communication strategy was adjusted to deploy messages through channels —
social media platforms, digital video, influencer partnerships —
disproportionately used by that demographic. The weekly benchmarking enabled
iterative campaign refinement that would have been impossible without
quantitative tracking research. Reference: Ipsos MORI. (2021). COVID-19 Public Attitudes
Tracker: Weekly Topline. UK Government Cabinet Office. |
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SECTION 07 Qualitative Research The "How" and "Why" Behind the Numbers |
If quantitative research answers the
questions "how many" and "how much," qualitative research
answers the questions that matter at least as much in PR practice:
"how" and "why." Qualitative research is particularly well
suited to exploring the reasoning behind public attitudes, the values that
underpin stakeholder behaviour, and the complex meanings that different publics
attach to organisational actions, messages, and policies.
|
|
Qualitative research is
particularly adept at answering questions that begin with "How?" or
"Why?" It allows researchers to explore complicated topics to
understand the meaning behind them and the meanings that participants ascribe
to certain concepts. — Yin, R. K. (1994). Case Study Research: Design and Methods.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. |
This form of research enables PR
practitioners to understand the decision-making processes, belief systems, and
value hierarchies that shape how publics respond to organisational
communications — and to use that understanding to craft messages that genuinely
resonate rather than merely circulate.
Methods of
Qualitative Data Collection
PR research employs a range of qualitative
methods, each suited to different research contexts and questions:
6.
In-depth interviews — one-on-one conversations that
allow respondents to elaborate on their views, explain their reasoning, and
surface nuances that structured surveys cannot capture.
7.
Focus groups — structured facilitated discussions among
six to ten participants that reveal how people talk about issues collectively
and how opinions are shaped through group interaction.
8.
Case studies — detailed analyses of specific
organisations, campaigns, or incidents that generate contextual understanding
applicable to similar situations.
9.
Participant observation — the researcher engages
directly in the environment under study, gaining insight into behaviours and
attitudes as they occur naturally.
10. Monitoring
of toll-free call transcripts — analysis of customer service interactions that
reveals recurring concerns, misunderstandings, and sentiment patterns.
11. Analysis
of complaints by email and written correspondence — a rich source of unprompted
qualitative data about stakeholder experience and perception.
The Unique
Contribution of Qualitative Research
Qualitative research contributes two
capabilities to PR practice that quantitative methods cannot replicate. First,
it provides depth of understanding — not just what people think but why they
think it and how their reasoning connects to their values and experiences. A
survey can tell you that 62% of respondents distrust pharmaceutical companies;
a focus group can reveal that this distrust stems from specific institutional
experiences, media narratives, and community histories that the survey data
alone cannot illuminate.
Second, qualitative research surfaces
information the researcher did not know to look for. A focus group discussion
may take an unexpected turn — participants may raise concerns, make
connections, or express values that the research team had not anticipated and
had not included on the survey instrument. This emergent quality makes
qualitative research particularly valuable in the early stages of campaign
development and in crisis response, where the landscape of public concern is
not yet fully mapped.
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MODERN EXAMPLE | Airbnb — Community Trust Research (2022) Focus Groups Revealing What Surveys Missed Following the backlash over Airbnb's impact on local
housing markets and neighbourhood character in cities including Amsterdam,
Barcelona, and New York, Airbnb commissioned qualitative research to
understand the specific concerns driving community opposition — concerns that
their quantitative brand tracking data could measure in broad strokes but
could not explain in actionable depth. Focus groups conducted with affected
residents in three European cities revealed that the primary driver of
hostility was not, as assumed, noise or party behaviour (which had featured
in quantitative complaint data), but a deeper anxiety about the loss of
neighbourhood social fabric — the sense that permanent residents were being
displaced and that communities were becoming transient. This insight — which
emerged unexpectedly in the focus group discussions — was not present in any
of the survey instruments. It reshaped Airbnb's community engagement strategy
significantly, shifting the communication from operational assurances ("we're
tackling noise complaints") to community belonging ("hosts are your
neighbours, not corporations"). Reference: Airbnb. (2022). Community Policy Research Summary.
Airbnb Policy & Communications. |
|
SECTION 08 Mixed Methods and
Triangulation The Gold Standard of PR Research |
The most authoritative and reliable form of
PR research combines quantitative and qualitative methods within a single
research programme. Known as mixed methods research, this approach uses the
complementary strengths of both methodologies — the breadth and
generalisability of quantitative data and the depth and contextual richness of
qualitative inquiry — to produce understanding that neither approach alone can
generate.⁵
⁵ Tashakkori,
A., & Teddlie, C. (1998). Mixed methodology: Combining qualitative and
quantitative approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Scholars generally agree that mixing
methods yields the most reliable research results. The integration is not
merely additive — the methods interact productively. Quantitative data can
identify patterns that qualitative inquiry then explains. Qualitative findings
can generate hypotheses that quantitative surveys test at scale. Each method
strengthens the other.
Triangulation
Using two or more research methods to
address the same research question is called triangulation — the term drawn
from navigation, where two or more reference points allow a position to be
located with greater precision than any single point can provide.⁶ In PR
research, triangulation means using multiple methods to converge on the
underlying truth of how publics view an issue.
⁶ Stacks, D. W.
(2002). Primer of public relations research. New York: Guilford.
A well-triangulated PR research programme
might combine:
•
Multiple qualitative focus groups conducted in
different cities to ensure geographic and demographic breadth in the
qualitative phase.
•
In-depth interviews with influential stakeholders —
community leaders, policy makers, industry analysts — whose views shape the
broader conversation.
•
A large-scale quantitative survey of the target public,
measuring awareness, attitude, and behavioural intention.
•
Content analysis of media coverage to establish how the
issue is being framed externally.
•
Social media listening data to track real-time
sentiment shifts and emerging conversation themes.
|
Why
Mixed Methods Produces Superior Results |
|
Quantitative
surveys tell you that 41% of your target public is aware of your policy — but
cannot tell you why 59% are not, or what the awareness gap means to those who
lack it. Qualitative
focus groups reveal that unaware publics haven't heard about the policy
because they distrust the channels through which it was communicated — a
finding the survey cannot generate. Mixed
methods combines both: the survey establishes the scale of the awareness gap;
the focus group explains its causes; the combined insight enables a
communication redesign that addresses both the reach problem and the trust
problem simultaneously. This
is why triangulation — using multiple methods to converge on the truth — is
the gold standard of PR research practice. |
|
|
MODERN EXAMPLE | Unilever / Dove — "Reverse Selfie" Campaign
Research (2021) Mixed Methods Driving Culturally Resonant Communication Dove's 2021 "Reverse Selfie" campaign —
addressing the damaging effects of digital image manipulation on young
women's self-esteem — was built on a mixed methods research foundation that
exemplifies best practice in PR research design. The research programme
combined: (1) a large-scale quantitative survey conducted with girls aged
10–17 and their parents in six countries, measuring awareness of
image-editing apps, frequency of use, and correlation with self-esteem and
body confidence scores; (2) qualitative in-depth interviews with adolescent
girls to understand the emotional experience of image editing and the social
pressures driving its use; and (3) expert interviews with psychologists,
school counsellors, and social media researchers to contextualise the
quantitative findings within academic and clinical frameworks. The
triangulated insights — quantitative scale, qualitative depth, and expert
contextualisation — produced a campaign brief so precisely calibrated to its
public's emotional reality that the film drove 26 million organic views
within its first week, without paid media promotion. Reference: Dove. (2021). Reverse Selfie Campaign Research
Insights. Unilever/Dove Communications. |
|
SECTION 09 Conclusion Research as the Non-Negotiable Foundation of Modern PR |
The argument of this article is cumulative
and, by the conclusion, should be unassailable: public relations without
research is not strategic communication — it is sophisticated guesswork. The
organisations that invest in rigorous, systematic PR research are those that
know who their publics are, understand what they believe and value, communicate
with precision rather than broadcast with hope, and can demonstrate with
evidence what their PR investment has achieved.
The RACE model — Research, Action Planning,
Communication, Evaluation — places research at the beginning and evaluation
(which is itself a form of research) at the end, for a reason: everything in
between depends on the quality of the intelligence gathered. Formative research
ensures that campaigns are built on understanding rather than assumption.
Evaluative research ensures that they are measured against outcomes rather than
outputs. Formal research provides the statistical rigour needed for strategic
decision-making. Informal research provides the continuous sensitivity to the
stakeholder environment that no survey can replicate.
Quantitative and qualitative methods are
not competitors — they are complements. Quantitative research provides the
scale and generalisability that makes findings actionable across large
populations. Qualitative research provides the depth and interpretive richness
that makes those findings meaningful. Mixed methods research, combining both
within a triangulated design, produces the most reliable and most actionable
intelligence available to the PR professional.
In the modern operating environment — where
trust is scarce, publics are hyperconnected, misinformation spreads at
algorithmic speed, and organisations are held to ever-higher standards of
transparency and accountability — research is not a luxury. It is the minimum
condition for PR practice that deserves to be called strategic. Organisations
that treat it as optional will find themselves perpetually reactive — always a
step behind the publics that chose, without warning, to choose them.
|
|
A thorough knowledge of
research methods and extensive analyses of data allow public relations
practitioners a seat in the dominant coalition and a way to illustrate the
value and worth of their activities. In this manner, research is the
strategic foundation of modern public relations management. — Stacks & Michaelson — A Practitioner's Guide to Public
Relations Research, Measurement and Evaluation |
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