Comment on two classmate's blogs

After reading many of my classmates blogs two blogs in particular caught my attention. Sacha’s blog and Kayla’s blog both on unobtrusive research but they both took very different, yet interesting approaches to the topic.

In Sacha’s blog she concentrated on nonprofit organizations and unobtrusive research. A way to conduct this kind of research without directly inferring with the public is to actually look at who is donating and how much they are donating to a certain nonprofit organization. It is vital that these kinds of organizations keep a close eye on their donators and be sure that they are in fact actual donators. In order to find out the answers to these questions nonprofits use unobtrusive research, which is a form of secondary research. For example, they can analyze records from the past and figure out which people and corporations donated over a period of years. This would enable researchers to determine who their most reliable donors are without asking, and just by searching. Valuable information such as this can also be used to estimate who will continue to donate and who will eventually stop donating. This would also help save the nonprofit money because it saves 20% of the money it would cost the nonprofit organization to find new members.

In Kayla’s blog she focused on how fashion stylists determine what the newsy or latest fashions are going to be. Tons of women each day try to figure out what is going to be considered “cool” to wear for the upcoming seasons. Fashion experts use forms of unobtrusive research to find the answers to these kinds of questions constantly. They make observations and use their judgment as to what is going to be “hot” or not. They attend events like Fashion Week to see what designers are strutting their stuff on the runway and whose not. By observing what different brands like Ralph Lauren and Versace are sporting down he runway are good indicators of what is going to be considered “fashionable” in the upcoming months. They observe what colors are worn the most and least, and what materials are most prevalent in the latest fashions to determine the fashion world’s latest trends.

Experimental Research

Experimental Research is a common method used to test theories in order to prove or disprove them. Experiments carry out certain steps defined in what is called the “scientific method” to further investigate a problem. In an experiment, there are two groups being tested, an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group is the group that is being manipulated in the experiment, whereas the control group is the group that is not being manipulated. This group is the foundational point for which to compare the experimental group against. These experiments can be either design blind experiments meaning the participants in the study are unaware of what group they are in (experimental or control). Or they can be double design blind where the person conducting the experiment is also unaware of what group he or her participants belong (experimental or control). In a double design blind study there is no bias.

In every experiment there is an independent variable and a dependent variable. The independent variable is the variable that is manipulated in the experiment in order to show the effect on the dependent variable. The dependent variable is the variable being observed in the experiment; in order words it is what is affected by the independent variable.

In any given experiment the person conducting it makes either a correlation between variables or finds there to be causation between variables. Correlation is the strength and degree to which two things are related. Causation is when there are two things happening as the same time, which makes one think they are happening because of each other but in actuality there could be another, outside reason, cause or factor that’s determining certain things to happen. In other words, one thing doesn’t necessarily mean another thing.

In experiments its essential to isolate the independent variable in order to have an initial measurement and to provide a baseline measure to compare the control group and experimental group to one’s results. It is also important to isolate the independent variable in order to ensure that the two groups are “equal”. Also, both the experimental and control groups must be chosen at random in order to prevent change in the results. Each experiment should be either a double design blind or just a regular design blind.

When conducting an experiment there are several sources of invalidity you should be aware of. These sources consist of selection, history, maturation, testing effects, instrumentation, statistical regression, and mortality. For selection you must choose your participants at random to prevent selection bias. For history, a lot can change over the course of an experiment therefore; experiments should be completed in a timely fashion. For maturation, over a long period of time the perceptions and attitudes of participants and the participants themselves can change between the pre test and the post test which in turn causes a change in the results. 

As far as testing effects goes, it’s the level of sensitivity a participant has to a topic because of being asked the same questions multiple times. The participants will then start to answer the questions differently because they are paying closer attention to them after seeing them previously. Instrumentation is the opposite of testing effects because if the participants suddenly start changing their answers to the questions it becomes difficult to compare them to the initial set of questions. In other words if the questions in the pre test and the post test are not exactly the same it is considered to be invalid. For statistical regression, if participants’ answer is extreme (on a scale to 1-10, they choose either 1 or 10) the answer can only go up or stay the same if they chose 1, or only go down or stay the same if they chose 10.  In order words you cannot see the affects of the independent variable in the experiment. For mortality, participants may drop out of a given study if it goes for a long span of time. For example, in the pre test you start our with 10 participants but by the time the post test comes around only 7 people show up.

Survey Research

Surveying is easily one of the most popular methods used both in the professional world and in the academic world. Surveying has many beneficial elements and is relatively simple to entice people to take them since they are quick and easy. It’s a very useful way to obtain people’s perceptions and attitudes towards certain products and companies.

One way to conduct survey research is to make a questionnaire; this involves asking your respondents a series of questions that start with general questions and then ease into more specific ones towards the end. There must be an introduction explaining what the survey is about and a set of detailed instructions that explain how to complete the survey. More personal questions are asked at the end of surveys so that the respondents feel more comfortable answering them last. The questionnaire should be separated by sections and be visually appealing; this giving your respondents a sense of accomplishment as they progress through the survey. The questionnaire should also be short because if you ask too many questions respondents might get bored or frustrated by the length of time it is taking them to complete it. Another important component of a good questionnaire is to provide a scale that remains constant throughout the entire survey in order to avoid any confusion.

The data collection method is how you ask your respondents questions. Each question should have one main idea; you should avoid attempting to ask two questions in one question. It should be neutral with no bias and avoiding words like love and hate. The questions should also be exclusive, meaning there should be an answer for everyone with the exception of the response “check all that apply” or “other” if someone’s answer is not provided in the answers provided. Lastly the questions should remain exhaustive, meaning they must include the whole range of response options. For example, ranges given as answers should be clear-cut and obvious. Lastly, make sure your questions are appropriate for your perspective audience.

Things to avoid: double-barrel questions, bias questions, opinion wording, leading questions, providing limited options, non-exhaustive, using too many conditions, extreme wording, broad generalizations, acronyms, negative questions, use appropriation for your respondents.

Comment on blogs

After reading a lot of my classmates’ blogs, two of them generated my interest. The first blog that intrigued me was Caryn’s blog about blogging and podcasting. In her blog she talks about how blogging has exploded around the world. Such a vast amount of people have created a blog whether the reason was business oriented or just to voice your opinion on a certain issue or topic you feel strongly about. Blogging benefits the field of Public Relations because it provides PR companies with a good way to connect with the general public and to further investigate people’s perceptions regarding important problems. Blogs are convenient and are updated up to a few times a day depending on the blogger. Blogs are kept positive and influential in order to keep the negativity to a minimum.

Podcasting is equally as prevalent as blogging. It’s a way to effectively communicate to others through videos or other audio sources on the Internet. There is another good way for PR professionals to communicate messages through the use of the Internet to reach the public. This is effective because it’s a controlled message meaning it cannot be altered or changed by the media before it reaches their intended publics. Company’s create their message in a way that benefits them so that the public views the company in the same positive light they put themselves in. Both blogging and podcasting are both excellent tools to communicate with the public.

The second blog that caught my attention was Brittany’s blog about Pandora. Her blog speaks about how Pandora, which is an automated music recommendation service has grown immensely in popularity. The way it works is you type in either an artist, song or genre and Pandora finds a channel with songs and artists similar to what you would like based on what you have searched before.

Pandora also provides a good way to view how artists are doing in their careers as well as artists or bands competition. You can also rate music on Pandora by giving songs a thumbs up or thumbs down. This is a revolutionary system in the music industry.

Qualitative Research: Focus Groups

Qualitative Research is a type of research that observes how people act and why people perceive things the way they do. It helps to determine why people react a certain way to things such as the media and the message its sending.  It is the quality of the results; not the quantity (numbers and statistics) that is used as actual data.

The most common type of qualitative method used is focus groups. They are special type of interview, where a relatively small group of people meets to be interviewed by an interviewer. Having a focus group is a very respectable way to gain both people’s insights and thoughts. This kind of gathering is used to determine the both opinions and experiences of a variety of people with a particular product or service. During focus groups, the interviewer encourages discuss among the participants. The interviewer then looks for common trends and opinions in reference to the various answers they receive from the respondents.

Focus groups are used to generate new ideas for products, campaigns, and themes. They generally don’t cost much to hold; however there is usually a money incentive used to entice people to join the focus group. The interviewer gets their answers automatically so they get their results quickly and easily without searching.  Since the group of respondents is usually small, typically 6-12 people, their thoughts and opinions can only be common to this particular group of people. The result cannot be used to describe a population as a whole or to generalize something about a certain niche population.

There are some cons to using a focus group as qualitative research. Since focus groups are on a voluntary basis, it could pose a problem because if an incentive is provided, the interviewer must distinguish if respondents are there to take the interview seriously; and provide thoughtful feedback. Or if they are just attending in order to get their money incentive and don’t provide the interviewer with legitimate information. Otherwise, their information will be discounted due to lack of detail or consideration. Focus groups cannot be attributed to a larger scaled population because the number of people used in focus groups is too small. This kind of interview is not always legitimate and unbiased; since respondents could potentially change their responses due to the fact that other in the room could alter or influence your opinion.

Comments on blogs

After having read a handful of students’ blogs, there were two in particular that generated my interest. The focus of both blogs was unobtrusive research; however both students went about it differently, narrowing down their topics to fashion and social media.

Roberta's blog concentrated on how the fashion world relies heavily on conducting unobtrusive research and observation of fashion in particular. In fashion, it’s essential to observe what people are wearing everyday to get a better sense for what is “trendy” or “in style.” Just like when a girl goes out to a bar, she observes what the other girls are wearing so that next time she goes to that particular bar she knows the dress code or what special attire is worn.

Clothing styles at different locations are not discussed, they are simply observed. No professors tell you what to wear and what not to where to your classes. That’s up to the student to decide and they do this sometimes without even knowing it. There are no signs telling you that you can’t wear a dress to class but people don’t engage in that behavior because they observe what is expected of them and then abide by that specific code of dress. When young girls admire a certain celeb’s style they can grab a magazine and conduct unobtrusive research by looking at what type of clothing people are wearing.

Amy's blog focused on social media and how it provides us with the ability to gain insight about peoples’ perceptions without intruding. With technologies such as the nielson wire, we are able to find out how much time we as Americans actually spend on the Internet. With this information we found out the absurd amount of time we spend online gazing at our computer screens. “Americans spend roughly a third of their lifetime online communicating across social networks.”

It’s very easy to conduct unobtrusive research on say someone’s Facebook page. Without talking to or even knowing someone you can find out about as much information about them that is provided, which is usually a lot. Facebook has many different features in which you can get to know someone better. For instance, it has an area designated for your birthday, your religious affiliation, a siblings category, a relationship status, and an interested in category, to say the least. Not to mention you can view pictures of this person and even observe thier “wall-to-wall” with another person. For this you can find out what their personality is like and what they are interested in. Someones’ Facebook status is probably one of the best indicators to learn about a person because you write whatever your feeling, thinking or doing at that particular moment. For example, someones status could say, “yankees are the best! Jeter rules” you can sum up this person is a Yankees fan, is a Jeter fan and most likely lives in New York.

Unobtrusive Research: using indirect measures

Unobtrusive research is a method of studying social behavior without affecting it. Public Relations specialists need to conduct this kind of indirect measure often in their careers in order to help avoid major problems, or simply to find an answer to a question regarding an important issue he or she is facing. These measures can be either qualitative or quantitative or both. Whatever the reason may be it is crucial that you do not create any kind of bias while conducting research as it may influence the data, or outcome.

For example, say you are the CEO of a PR firm and you promised that if you and your co-workers reached a certain business goal this week that you would throw an ice cream social at the office. You want to find out what kind of ice cream is liked by the most co-workers you could use an indirect measure of unobtrusive research to find out without actually confronting them and asking them directly.

You could go about this a few ways; you could use a survey (qualitative) or you can simply observe natural human behavior and actions (quantitative). 

The survey would ask, “what kind of ice cream do you think would be the office favorite? (out of the following ice cream flavors): mint chocolate chip, coffee, vanilla, chocolate or strawberry” and have them fill it out. You would then count up the amount of each ice cream flavors and figure out which one had the most votes. This would be considered to be qualitative research because it involves comparing different flavors of ice cream based on its qualities.

Or you could observe humans in their natural habitat around each of the flavors. You could do this by setting up a buffet style ice cream station in the middle of the office and telling all of your co-workers to grab a dish of your favorite ice cream. Then observe what ice cream has been eaten the most judging by the fullness of the ice cream cartons. This kind of research would be considered quantitative because it involves the quantity of something, therefore it can be measured with numbers or quantities.

Either way you are you practicing using unobtrusive indirect research because you are not influencing the participant behavior in each scenario you are just observing it. Conducting research in more than one way is always preferred in order to get the most reliable results possible.

This post does not contain a video from the show "The Spin Crowd" because there hasn't been an episode thus far containing unobtrusive research. But I did find an youtube video pertaining to the usage  of unobtrusive research on candid camera. This participants did not know they were being observed as they unknowingly walked into the wrong bathrooms. Researchers changed the signs on the exteriors of the bathrooms without the participants knowledge. They then watched the reactions the participants had to walking into the bathroom of the opposite sex.