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What communicators should know about research depends
partly on their level within their organization and partly
on the type of job they have. The following list can be used
first for self-assessment, and then as a development guide.
As communicators progress upward, they should have mastered
all the research skills and knowledge of the previous
levels.
Expert tacticians
Communicators starting out will need to work toward
acquiring these skills:
- How to identify a client's real objectives for
requesting the communicator's assistance and what role
the communication will play in advancing a business
objective.
- How to conduct secondary research: reviewing the
relevant results of previous surveys and focus groups
conducted by your own organization and knowing where to
find statistics related to communication effectiveness
from professional organizations, textbooks or the
Web.
- How to use "observational" measurements that don't
require permission, audience involvement, or budget, such
as readability of writing, content analysis, accuracy of
media coverage.
- How to conduct a readership/viewership survey.
- How to use research reports (Web usage, media clip
analysis, communication audits) to track the impact of
changes you make in communication against changes in
those research findings.
- How to be a note-taker in focus group sessions.
Mid-level managers
Mid-level managers should have a good grasp of the
following:
- How to conduct a stakeholder analysis for a
communication campaign, which may involve primary and
secondary research.
- How to set measurable objectives with clients on
behaviors to be changed, the knowledge and attitude
messages that will influence those behaviors, and the
selection of channels that are most suited to those
messages and the target audiences.
- How to conduct usability testing on Web or intranet
sites.
- How to design good focus group discussion guides; how
to facilitate focus groups; how to report results from
focus groups in ways that focus management's decisions
and actions on the key findings.
- The underlying concepts of good survey development,
administration and reporting.
- How to draft survey questions that will provide
actionable data, ask only one item per question and avoid
words with multiple interpretations; how to ask the
appropriate number and type of demographic
questions.
- How to draft the right range of response scales for
different types of questions: how many points on the
scale (2, 4, 5, 7, 10); should there be a neutral point;
should the scales focus on satisfaction (agree/disagree),
evaluation (excellent/poor), frequency of observed
behaviors (almost always/almost never); or a unique set
of multiple-choice responses.
- Understanding enough about statistics to work
effectively with a market researcher or organization
development staffer on survey administration issues. The
communicator should be able to decide whether to survey
an entire group or to pick a random sample; appropriate
sizes of random samples; how to maximize response rates
to surveys; how to protect the confidentiality of
respondents; what it means that a survey's results are
accurate "to a 95% confidence level, plus or minus
X%."
- How to interpret the raw data from a survey report:
understanding net favorable responses; the difference in
what you learn from net favorable percentages versus mean
scores; which demographic differences will be meaningful
for subgroups of various sizes.
- How to report survey findings in graphic ways; how to
find the "stories" in the numbers.
Communication executives
At this level, practitioners' knowledge should extend
to:
- How to develop and manage a full spectrum of
measurements on an ongoing basis and knowing how to use
these during review meetings with other executives.
- How to recommend and conduct key stakeholder research
when other executives are considering options in
decision-making.
- Understanding the concepts involved in designing
surveys and examining their findings for higher-level
analysis. How to quantify statistical correlations and
how to set up research so that correlations can be found
between research findings for internal and external
audiences.
- How to connect communication outputs and outcomes
with business results. How and when to set up pilot and
control groups; how to plan communication programs
up-front in a way that you can calculate the return on
investment (ROI) after the communication succeeds in
reaching its business objectives.
Where to learn more
To learn more about these skills, there are a number of
books, manuals and reports on research techniques available
from Melcrum, IABC, PRSA and other similar communication
resources. On surveys, I recommend a book called
Organizational Surveys (published by Jossey-Bass), which is
easily understandable by the non-statistician. You can also
visit my Web site, www.SiniCom.com, for reprints of articles
and columns on measurement and information on our own manual
on communication measurement.
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A summary
of research skills needed at each level of
practice
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Expert
Tacticians
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Mid-Level
Managers
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Communication
Executives
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Identify
objectives for requesting the
communicator's assistance and what role
communication will play in advancing
business objectives.
Conduct
secondary research.
Use
"observational" measurements that don't
require permission, audience involvement,
or budget; these include such things as
readability of writing, content analysis,
and accuracy of media coverage.
Conduct a
readership/viewership survey.
Use
research reports to track the impact of
the organization's communication changes
against the results in those research
findings.
Serve as
an effective note-taker in focus group
sessions.
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Conduct a
stakeholder analysis, which may involve
primary and secondary research.
Set
measurable objectives on behaviors to be
changed; craft the knowledge and attitude
messages that will influence those
behaviors; select the channels that are
most suited to those messages and the
target audiences.
Conduct
usability testing on Web or intranet
sites.
Design,
facilitate and report on the results of
focus groups.
Grasp the
underlying concepts of good survey
development, administration and
reporting.
Determine
the right range of response scales for
different types of questions.
Understand
enough about statistics to work
effectively with a market researcher or
organization development staffer on survey
administration issues.
Interpret
the raw data from a survey.
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Develop
and manage a full spectrum of measurements
on an ongoing basis and know how to use
these during review meetings with
executives.
Recommend
and conduct key stakeholder research when
other executives are considering options
in decision-making.
Understand
the concepts in designing surveys and
examining their findings for higher-level
analysis: how to quantify statistical
correlations; how to set up research so
that correlations can be found between
research findings for internal and
external audiences.
Connect
communication outputs and outcomes with
business results: how and when to set up
pilot and control groups; how to plan
communication programs up-front in a way
that you can calculate the return on
investment (ROI) after the communication
succeeds in reaching its business
objectives.
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© 2003 Angela D.
Sinickas, All rights reserved
Angela Sinickas, ABC, is
president of Sinickas Communications, Inc., a communication
consultancy specializing in helping corporations achieve
business results through targeted diagnostics and practical
solutions. You can visit her new website,
CommToolbox.com,
to see the automated planning, measurement, and benchmarking
tools she has developed based on her manual, How to
Measure Your Communication Programs.
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