Evaluating Public Communication Exploring New Models, Standards, and Best Practice

Evaluating Public Communication addresses the widely reported lack of rigorous outcome and impact-oriented evaluation in advertising; public relations; corporate, government, political and organizational communication and specialist fields, such as health communication. This transdisciplinary analysis integrates research literature from each of these fields of practice, as well as interviews, content analysis and ethnography, to identify the latest models and approaches.

Chapters feature:

? a review of 30 frameworks and models that inform processes for evaluation in communication, including the latest recommendations of industry bodies, evaluation councils and research institutes in several countries;

? recommendations for standards based on contemporary social science research and industry initiatives, such as the IPR Task Force on Standards and the Coalition for Public Relations Research Standards;

? an assessment of metrics that can inform evaluation, including digital and social media metrics, 10 informal research methods and over 30 formal research methods for evaluating public communication;

? evaluation of public communication campaigns and projects in 12 contemporary case studies.

Evaluating Public Communication provides clear guidance on theory and practice for students, researchers and professionals in PR, advertising and all fields of communication.

List of Figures, List of Tables, Acknowledgements. Introduction. PART 1 – The Foundations of Evaluation 1. Why We Need to Critically Examine Communication 2. Evaluation of Communication – Key Concepts, Principles, and Theories 3. Models Informing Evaluation of Communication PART 2 – The Practice of Evaluation 4. Metrics, Analytics, and Beyond – The Evolving Evaluation Landscape 5. Informal Methods to Evaluate Public Communication 6. Research Approaches and Key Procedures 7. Quantitative Methods to Evaluate Public Communication 8. Qualitative and Mixed Methods to Evaluate Public Communication 9. Reporting and Using Evaluation PART 3 – Case Studies in Evaluation 10. Learning from Best (and Worst) Practice – International Case Studies

Jim Macnamara is Professor of Public Communication at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). Previously CEO of a leading research company specializing in evaluation of communication, he is the author of 16 books on media and communication, including, most recently, Organizational Listening: TheMissing Essential in Public Communication (2016).