PRCA 4330 Research Project Format

Students in my PRCA 4330 class asked for more details on the format for their Public Relations Research Projects that they are completing for Georgia Southern University’s Center for Excellence in Teaching.

Cover Page

• Client name & logo (if available)
• Research team name (if you have one) and list of all members
• Date

Table of Contents

• Include your Level One headings only (“Executive Summary,” “Introduction,” etc.)
• Use Word’s Table of Contents feature to make this easier for you

Executive Summary

• Written for client’s senior management team
• No more than one page

Introduction

• Research problem
• Importance of the problem to the client
• Purpose statement (use script from Creswell to write this)

Literature Review

• Should accomplish two purposes
  • make an argument for the need to conduct this specific study (identify a gap, or a need in previous literature)
  • present the previous theories, concepts, etc. that this study uses and builds upon
• Usually, each paragraph or small section of the literature review covers a body of literature. The best literature reviews are organized thematically; clearly identify and label these themes.
• Typically, this section will be several pages long and will reference a dozen or more sources

Methods

• Explain the research methods and procedures used for the research study, and your rationale for choosing said method(s)
• Include your specific research question(s), not survey or interview questions, but the question(s) that your research attempted to answer

Results

• Present your data, along with your (statistical or interpretive, etc.) analysis.

Limitations & Suggestions

• What constraints were on your team?
• What additional research is recommended based on your results?

Discussion

• What do your results mean, in the context of the literature you reviewed?
• Explain how the problem from the introduction is solved, how the research questions are answered, and whether the purpose of the study was accomplished.

Conclusion

• Summary of the entire project (in a paragraph or two)

References

• Cite sources using APA Style 6th edition. Use Word’s References feature or EndNote to make this easier for you.

Appendixes

• Number and content varies by project
• All projects must include
  • High-level project plan (Gantt chart format works well for this)
  • PowerPoint slides used in presentation to client (printed six to a page)
  • Consent agreement
  • Your team contract
    • Provide a signed copy of your team’s contract (the contract you turned in during the week of October 5)
  • Agreement re: final version
    • Each team member will sign a page agreeing that the version you are submitting for a grade is your final version

• Typically also includes
  • Complete survey, just as the participants saw it
  • Survey results, raw
  • Questions/scripts for focus groups or interviews
  • Verbatim transcripts of focus groups or interviews

NOT PART OF THE PAPER

Finally, each team member will individually submit in GeorgiaVIEW:

• Team Member Evaluation Form (this will count as part of your team members’ grades) Coming Soon; not yet available
  • Will include
    • Client service
    • Meets deadlines, keeps promises
    • Quality writing
    • Creativity
    • Quality of presentation capabilities
    • Research capabilities
    • Participates in all activities
    • Takes initiative
    • Is accessible & responsive
• Personal Reflection on Research Project (this will count as part of your own grade)
  • Roughly 500 words
  • Answer these questions
    • What did you learn from doing this project? (You can discuss what you learned about research in general, PR research, working with clients, working with teammates, what you learned about yourself through this process, what you might do differently next time . . .)
    • What surprised you?
    • What do you want to know more about?
  • This reflection is between you and me; your team members will not see it

NOTE 1: This information will be discussed in depth in class during the week of October 5. I will update this blog post after our discussion to add any necessary clarifications.

NOTE 2: Use APA Style for formatting your paper for citations, margins, headings, etc. The expectation is that you will use the most current version of APA Style (6^th edition) unless you clear it with me beforehand. (Using 5^th edition is fine, as long as you tell me ahead of time.)

NOTE 3: You will submit a PDF of your final project in GeorgiaVIEW (one per team), plus a professional-looking hard-copy for both your professor and your client. For your own portfolio, you may also want to print & bind your own hard-copy; it’s usually easiest if all the printed copies are created at once. The Eagle Print Shop on campus will have the best local prices for printing.