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Other sources of information were PR
trade magazines such as the UK edition of
PR Week, the IPR’s Profile magazine and
the IPRA’s FrontLine 21 magazine. Clearly
this is a limited journal search overall and
future developments will widen the literature
sourcing.
A programme of PR conferences provided a
broad sweep of the issues and challenges
facing contemporary PR practice in the world.
The conference plans that were examined
were the seventh International Public Relations
Research Symposium, held at Lake Bled
in Slovenia (7–8 July 2000), the IPR National
Conference, London (18–20 October 2000)
and the Public Relations World Congress
2000, held in Chicago (22–4 October 2000).
From the research conducted, the subject
themes chosen are:
• strategic planning and public relations;
• technology and public relations;
• international issues in PR practice;
• the PR role in organizational change;
• the measurement and evaluation of
public relations;
• the need to integrate public relations with
other communication functions.
Subject headings are generic and each can
include other research items as sub-areas
for further study. An example would be in the
category ‘strategic planning and public relations’.
Other research subjects that arise from
this one topic include managerial roles in
public relations and the effects of systems
theory on specific PR practice which in turn,
considers public relations from an organizational
point of view, looking at a range of
subjects such as corporate culture and organizational
behaviour. Likewise, there is also
considerable overlap between the different
subjects. Research into strategy in public relations
can extend into the confines of subjects
such as ‘Technology and public relations’ and
‘International issues in PR practice’.
A questionnaire was designed based on the
findings of the content analysis mentioned
above, namely the list of suggested research
topics drawn up according to the frequency of
their appearance in the journals cited.
Respondents were asked closed and openended
questions in order for the author to
find out as much information as possible. The
closed-ended questions required definite
answers, such as questions pertaining to the
relative importance of a particular subject
theme; while the open-ended questions were
exploratory in nature. This was the information
gathering stage and it was essential to
collect information that was both qualitative
and quantitative. This initial questionnaire
aimed to establish the research interests
and personal views of respondents, providing
more clues to other research themes that may
have eluded the author. Data from the
returned questionnaires would have formed
the basis for another survey. This second questionnaire
would have been more focused
and specific in its inquiry into the research
priorities of public relations. Subsequently,
respondents would have been invited to participate
in a focus group to discuss the findings
of the survey. However, as the time scale for
this project was only two and a half months, a
more thorough study was made impossible
due to the time constraints and the slow
return rate of questionnaires.
A total of 128 six-page questionnaires
(two-page introduction to the study, fourpage
selection of questions) were electronically
mailed to participants from the middle of
October 2000 to early December 2000.
Participants were requested to reply by mid-
December. At final count, the total number
of answered questionnaires was forty-eight,
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors