PR measurement in the course of time
Bernd Günther / pixelio.de
The measurement and evaluation of communication is a topical issue in practice and research. According to several studies, the importance increases more and more. However, this topic can also look back on an interesting history of development.
Fraser Likely and Tom Watson turned their attention to this topic in an article, appeared in the "Festschrift" (celebratory book) "Public Relations and Communication Management: Current Trends and Emerging Topics", which was edited by Professors Krishnamurthy Sriramesih and Ansgar Zerfaß and Jeong-Nam Kim.
Milestones in the history of measurement
The beginnings of practices of public relations measurement and evaluation can be traced back to the late 18th century. Since the mid-1970s, the measurement and evaluation of communication is – both for practitioners and academic research – a major subject. Fraser Likely and Tom Watson redraw the past 40 years in public relations measurement based on historical evolution and key development milestones. The stages of its development are closely connected to people who started the international discussion and influenced it in different phases. Even their insights and perspectives are integrated in this article. Likely and Watson focus particularly on the scientific work of James E. Grunig `s, who was one of the first academics dealing with this issue. He played an important role by initiating and shaping the debate on financial and non-financial indicators of public relations value.
Status quo and future challenges
Based on the designs of these governing developments Fraser Likely and Tom Watson deal with the current debate about measurement concepts from business administration - led by return on investment and possible alternatives. Subsequently, the authors devote the future challenges for the communication controlling. To tackle these tasks, the cooperation between PR practitioners and researchers is particularly important, as the authors conclude.
Conclusion: Interesting overview of the history of PR measurement
On about 20 pages the English article "Measuring the Edifice: Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation Over the Course of 40 Years" provides an interesting and concise overview of the history of communication measurement. Moreover, the article combines a worth reading but unfortunately U.S. centric summary of the current status quo and the future challenges in communication measurement.
About the authors
Fraser Likely
Fraser Likely is Partner in and President of Likely Communication Strategies, an independent consulting firm founded in 1987. He is also author of several professional articles on communication measurement appeared among others in "Strategic Communication Management", "PR Journal" and other public relations publications.
Tom Watson
Tom Watson is Professor of Public Relations at Bournemouth University, UK. His research focuses topics such as measurement and evaluation as well as reputation and issues management. He also concentrates on research on the subject of PR history and has established the annual International History of Public Relations Conference in 2010.
Further information on the article
Likely, Fraser/Watson, Tom: Measuring the Edifice: Public Relations Measurement and Evaluation Over the Course of 40 Years. In: Sriramesih, Krishnamurthy/Zerfass, Ansgar/Kim, Jeong-Nam (Eds.): Public Relations and Communication Management: Current Trends and Emerging Topics (celebratory book for James E. Grunig und Larissa A. Grunig). New York: Routledge 2013, pp. 143–162.
The article is also freely available as a PDF document at the website of the Institute for Public Relations.
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