By: Emily Roche

Before one begins to conduct research in the PRCA 4330 class or any research in general there are a few things that those students may need to know…..

Public relations research is used to monitor, track, measure, and assess, and finally evaluate PR actions.

Formal research is the controlled, objective, and systematic gathering of data

Informal research is less controlled and subjective ; it is no systematic in either gathering or interpreting the data

There are 4 different levels of measuring known as nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio.

Categorical and continuous are the 2 groups that these levels are put in.

There are 2 ways to define measurements….

Validity refers to the whether a measure is what you defined to measure.

Reliability is the ability of a measure to measure the same thing comparably over time.

1. Participants must agree to

actively participate in the

research.

2. The participant must be

allowed to withdraw from the

research project at any point

with no penalty.

3. Participants must understand

what they are volunteering

for.

4. The actual research must not

harm the individual ,

psychologically or physically.

5. Participants’ actions,

behaviors, and statements

must remain confidential.

American

Psychological

Association code of

ethics main points.

The importance of Social Media

Networks and how to use them as research on a

subject along with how to

communicate using them.

These networks were better understood not through a text book, but in communicating with the professor and classmates along with activities as the Media Monitoring Report. Demonstrating how one can learn from experience.

Group work can

sometimes be a part of researching something. When conducting

work don’t rely on group members to

prove read their work. It is the whole group’s

project. Proof read every section of any research conducted.

From the Research the most important things include key terms, how to act when conducting research, and working with others in unfamiliar places & situations.

• The best thing about the conducting research is not only gathering the information on the subject, but by doing so one learns information about themselves.