Research and Evaluation: Boring but Necessary

Research and evaluation…sounds awfully strict, obsessive and uninviting if you ask me. In fact on first impressions it reminded me of the PR equivalent to some torturous task that would have been set by Captain Harris of the Police Academy films. Not a fantastic start to the readings this week. However, like all industries Public Relations can not simply be all glamour and Hollywood-esque events. The reality is that research and evaluation are on-going processes throughout any communications campaign. The reasoning behind this is that it allows for accountability, which is a major focus of management in this day and age. This need for accountability is displayed prominently in the fact that most research focuses on the environment in which the organization operates. The importance of research and evaluation can not be stressed enough.

As glamourous and Hollywood-esque events sound, it must be remembered how crucial the evaluation is also. This week’s reading suggests the use of three evaluation tools: the debriefing meeting; the event assessment; and the business activity assessment. A debriefing meeting is defined as being useful to “review each aspect of the event planning management and marketing, examine any problems and identify ways that future events can be improved” (p. 278). It is important to note here that everything that is evaluated should be measured against the campaign goals. The event assessment is the financial side of the evaluation and deals with things like ticket sales and so forth. Finally, the business activity assessment looks at how the event helped raise business for both affiliated and non-affiliated industries.

Readings: Chapter 6 ‘Research and Evaluation’ and Chapter 10 'Sponsorship and event Management' in J. Johnston & C. Zawawi (Eds.), Public Relations: Theory and Practice (pp. 139-170 and 268-297). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.