Evaluation: The Beginning of a New Effort

Dear journal, this week’s readings cover the comprehensive study of Research and Evaluation (R&E) and sponsorship and even management.
Frankly speaking, I found these two chapters extremely useful to my understanding of the job scope of a PR practitioner. They covered the two important contexts of the job, the beginning and ending of an event or proposal.
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First of all, the qualitative VS quantitative research appealed to me as we are currently exploring these two examinations in another module, Audience Studies. One important difference between these two researches that I’ve learnt from this chapter is that quantitative research can be replicated. Having done a qualitative research (focus group) myself for an Audience Study assignment, I understood how hard and tedious it gets to compile the required information and sieve out the important ones. Much analysis is needed as compared to the usual quantitative ones that I’ve did in past projects.

From this chapter, I’m exposed to the magnitude of research and evaluation. Adequate research must be done, such as knowing the clients’ tastes and preferences, in order to have a successful and easy time in evaluating the results. Also, the examples depicted in this chapter aided me in future questionnaire designs.
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Another main point is from Chapter 10 of Sponsorship and Event Management, where I’ve gathered the knowledge of Ambush marketing. It is definitely an interesting read where the chapter actually teaches you on how to prevent an ambush. I gained much insight about the profession of PR practitioners, especially where the earlier chapter of ethics came into mind.

I find that ambush marketing is an ingenious yet sneaky way of marketing, and it is indisputably an unethical act. It should not be practiced in the real world, and it totally defeats the purpose of paid sponsorships. We, as future PR practitioners, should educate ourselves sufficiently on how to prevent such ambush from occurring.
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In wrapping up, R&E is a basic need for every occupation and should never be taken lightly. An innovative idea would fail with inadequate R&E; like how an event would fall short with insufficient R&E and careful execution. Be careful, reality bites.

Love, Erika