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Evaluating public relations: a best practice guide to public relations planning, research and evaluation Tom Watson and Paul Noble Kogan Page ISBN 0 7494 4306 5 pp. 224 £19.95
Review DOI 10.1108/13632540610646463
During my research for the series of PR evaluation Toolkits, I was struck by how much had been written - especially of an academic nature - about the subject over some 40 years and how modest had been its impact on public relations practice. It was, therefore, with a mixture of anticipation (because of my vested interest) and curiosity (to see "what's new?") that I read this guide by Tom Watson and Paul Noble.
It takes a very broad overview of the subject, embracing the development of the theory of evaluation in the context of PR's evolution; the processes involved in evaluation; how the architects of recent evaluation models have refined the work of predecessors; and the practical application of evaluation through examples.
The result is something of a hybrid that weaves, somewhat indigestibly at times, the theories of Grunig, Dozier and Pavlik et al. through a labyrinthine guide to evaluation at a more practical level. Which left me wondering for whom is the book intended. It reminded me of the debate among PR practitioners, market researchers and evaluation providers who met under the aegis of PR's professional bodies and PR Week, which eventually gave birth to the Toolkit series. The conclusion was: we have had the theory, let us produce something a busy...