2012 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
2012 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
2012 PROCEEDINGS - Public Relations Society of America
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etween client preferences, practice experience, and the best evidence,‖ (p.137). Drake et al. (2001)<br />
conceptualized EBP to be more like ―interventions for which there is consistent scientific evidence<br />
showing that they improve client outcomes‖ (p. 180).<br />
There are three components that are conceptualized within the EBP. The first perspective<br />
takes into account the individual knowledge and expertise <strong>of</strong> the practitioner, a role that may be<br />
defined as that <strong>of</strong> a manager, technician or some hybrid <strong>of</strong> these two functions (Dozier & Broom,<br />
2009). The second model focuses on client expectations; in higher education, service learning<br />
incorporates client perspectives into the learning process. Students learn through their experiences<br />
with a community partner (also referred to as ―client‖), and students report learning more about<br />
public relations as a pr<strong>of</strong>ession while also learning about community problems (Hon et al., 2004).<br />
The third part <strong>of</strong> the model is best evidence. In medicine, social work, clinical psychology and public<br />
health, EBP focuses on systematically comparing various scenarios and treatment options to help<br />
improve the impact <strong>of</strong> practice. That means drawing upon evidence from applied research, expertise<br />
and educational training <strong>of</strong> the practitioner involved, and the expectations and needs <strong>of</strong> the client<br />
(Shlonsky & Gibbs, 2004).<br />
Figure 1: Evidence Based Practice (EBP) Model (Shlonsky & Gibbs, 2004, p.138)<br />
Method<br />
The method used in this research study was a quasi-experimental research design, an<br />
approach inspired, in part, by prior research about constructivist learning and the relative<br />
effectiveness <strong>of</strong> delivering course content via different means (Day et al., 2005). The study is<br />
composed <strong>of</strong> three different parts: an in-class scenario exercise, reaction paper, and an online<br />
questionnaire. Three universities located in the Midwest and Southeast areas <strong>of</strong> the United States<br />
provided the collective participant pool for this study. More than three-fourths <strong>of</strong> the participants<br />
(N=128) had no prior internship experience (77%) or prior service learning experience (62%). None<br />
<strong>of</strong> the participants had been formally introduced to the EBP concept in a prior public relations course.<br />
Procedure<br />
The first step was to introduce each class to the scenario exercise, which was a case study<br />
presented via PowerPoint slides. The universal case study implemented for all three classes was the<br />
Costa Cruises crisis, which occurred in January <strong>2012</strong>. Each class selected for this study was exposed<br />
to a different perspective on the case. One class (University 1, N=25) was exposed only to the<br />
practitioner-focused perspective. The second class (University 2, N=47) was exposed to a version <strong>of</strong><br />
the case study that included the practitioner-focused perspective along with the client expectations<br />
perspective, similar in spirit to traditional service learning. The third class (University 3, N=52) was<br />
presented the full spectrum -- a version <strong>of</strong> the case study that provided the practitioner- and client-<br />
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