Focus Groups or Surveys - Applied Research

As a public relations practitioner, you want to be efficient. However, you also want your work to be effective and have an impact on your publics. In order to ensure this, it is important to conduct applied research.

Applied research deals with finding information to lead you to create a solution for your client’s problem(s) (Smith, 2017). This research has many benefits. By researching, you will be able to more skillfully strategize, give helpful advice, and choose the next best move for the campaign.  

There are different methods of attaining the information that you need. The methods include focus groups, surveys, and content analysis.

Focus Groups

A focus group is a group interview that is guided by a researcher to find out information from the publics that these participants are in (Smith, 2017). This is a form of qualitative research that provides conversational answers to questions that you or your client may have about the problem/opportunity at hand. Focus groups are a good tool to use during research because the participants are able to further discuss the topic, listen to each other and respond.

Focus groups help to support the effort during campaign development because it allows you to collect a larger amount of information in a shorter time, thus using less time, resources, and money. Taking steps such as strategically choosing participants, making sure the group size is not too large, and recording the focus group interview will ensure that you are maximizing the information you get from you and your participants’ efforts. (Bakle, 2019).

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Surveys

Surveys are like an old reliable tool in your back pocket. It is one of the most common research techniques (Smith, 2017). This is a research tool that is a questionnaire of standard questions where results are compared against each other (Smith, 2017). For the information you are collecting to be the most useful, it needs to be contributed to your client’s target audiences, or just a general population if that is all your campaign requires (Caroll, 2020).

This is a good tool because the participants are not biased by what their peers are saying. This can provide good quantitative results that are easy to compare, giving a good idea of your respondents’ different attitudes and perceptions of your client. 

How it Helps

Different research tools can yield different results. Utilizing different tools for your campaign can give you a larger knowledge of resources with both qualitative and quantitative results. This variety of results allows you to compare and contrast different types of results and helps you to make the best decision going forward in your campaign.

Sources

Bakle, M. (2019, November 13). 5 Essentials for Effective Focus Groups. Nichols PR. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://nicholspublicrelations.com/public-relations/5-essentials-effective-focus-groups/#:~:text=When%20used%20correctly%2C%20focus%20groups,supercharge%20your%20social%20media%20efforts. 

Carroll, E. (2020, June 26). Using surveys to create a winning PR strategy in 2020. Business 2 Community. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.business2community.com/public-relations/using-surveys-to-create-a-winning-pr-strategy-in-2020-02323254#:~:text=Public%20relations%20surveys%20collect%20feedback,key%20messages%20of%20an%20organization. 

Seattle, W. (2016, September 27). 3 Reasons Why Research is Crucial to Effective Public Relations. Seattle Blog. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from https://www.webershandwickwest.com/2016/09/3-reasons-why-research-is-crucial-to-effective-public-relations/ 

Smith, R. D. (2017). Strategic Planning for Public Relations. Taylor and Francis.