The methodical avoidance of experiments in public relations research

Despite its ranking and reputation as the most rigorous of the available research methods, the experiment is rarely used in public relations research. In contrast, our colleagues in advertising and marketing have long accepted and effectively applied the experimental method to better explore and understand consumer behaviour and media effects. The ‘methodical avoidance’ of experiments is manifest in the public relations literature. The effect of this avoidance is worthy of the attention of the field’s scholars and educators, given intensifying practitioner attention to research methods that enable the effective measurement and evaluation of public relations programmes. This paper reports the results of a content analysis of all articles published in two of the discipline’s most prominent journals, Journal of Public Relations Research (JPPR) and Public Relations Review (PRR) in the 10 years from 1995 to 2004. Of the 400 articles reviewed in this study, just 21 report the outcomes of research that is experimental in design. Of the small number of experiments reported, some fundamental oversights are evident in the authors’ explanations of research design and procedures.While not contesting the validity of the research, these reporting oversights are symptomatic of the naivety with which experimental research is treated in public relations.