The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication: A Guide to Internal Communication, Public Relations, Marketing, and Leadership

Importance of Research and Evaluation

Communicators around the globe note the importance of basing their government relations programs on solid research. Research underpins the importance of knowledge for all stakeholders: understanding of a government's agenda, being cognizant of the stakeholders' positioning within mandate, its progress on commitments, the issues capturing the attention of the day, preferences of decision makers, action drivers, and pace. Governments engage in various types of communications research, including public opinion surveys and focus groups on numerous initiatives prior to launch or during rollouts.

Organizations should position themselves to understand how their actions can affect government's social or economic ...