The State of Research Education in the Public Relations Curriculum

Answering the "why" question may be the hallmark of the next century's public relations practice. Research, a vital part of the public relations practice to which much lip service has been paid, appears to be an essential element in earning public relations a place on the management team as well as advancing it as a profession. Increasingly, tomorrow's practitioners are preparing themselves for careers by studying public relations theory and skills in school today. This study's mission was to find out how institutions and those teaching public relations are preparing those practitioners for their projected research responsibilities. Literature review In 1951 Stephen Fitzgerald, president of a New York public relations firm, predicted that five or 10 years would pass before public relations practitioners would recognize the importance of public relations research and use it (Fitzgerald, 1957, p. 145). Consistent with Fitzgerald's comments, the public relations literature contains many references to research and its use in professional practice. Nearly 15 years ago, communication researcher James Grunig concluded that "research (should advance) the practice and profession" (Grunig, 1983, p. 28) and later recommended that undergraduate public relations programs should introduce students to communication theory and research (Grunig, 1989, p. 23). Communication theorist John Pavlik identified applied research as relevant to practitioners situations and problem-solving (Pavlik, 1987, p. n 30). A number of formal studies document that research has gained practitioners' and educators' attention. David Dozier's 1981, 1985 and 1990 practitioner role studies all concluded that research use differentiated managers from technicians. Peter Finn's 1982 study of public relations directors at Fortune 1000 companies found more than 80 percent believed research would help practice (Finn, 1982, p. 14). Michael Ryan and David Martinson's late 1980s study of practitioners found that two-way communication practice used research more than one-way practice (Martinson and Ryan, 1990, p. 383; Martinson and Ryan, 1992, p. 43). Walter Lindenmann's extensive 1988 study of senior practitioners found that 75 percent of practitioners in Fortune 500 companies consider research a necessary component of practice (Lindenmann, 1990, p. 7). Hernando Gonzalez and William Adams' 1995 study of senior practitioners concluded that a majority of senior practitioners do use research in their work, and Judy VanSlyke Turk and Maria Russell's 1990 study of public relations managers found 62 percent of them said entry-level practitioners should have research skills. Educators have joined Grunig in recommending the incorporation of research into public relations programs. Gay Wakefield and Laura Perkins Cottone's 1984 study recommended that public relations curricula include research courses (Wakefield and Cottone, 1986, p. 2). Three major journalism/mass communication documents have outlined model public relations curriculum: the 1975 Commission on Public Relations Education, the 1981 Commission on Public Relations Education Report, and the 1987 Commission on Undergraduate Public Relations Education. The 1975 report did not specifically include a separate public relations research course but it did call for some type of introductory survey research course. The 1981 report expanded the 1975 report's research definition by stating that statistical concepts would be more beneficial if taught in a broader framework of general research methodology. The 1987 report was even more concrete in its recommendations about research for public relations because "it is research which provides the raw materials to be evaluated in the planning and policy-formulating stages of public relations management" (The Design for Undergraduate Public Relations Education, 1987, p. 15). The recommendation was that public relations research be taught as a separate course and include a mixture of theory and application necessary for public relations practice. …