Qualitative Research Methods in Public Relations

• Main Author: Renata Demeterffy Lančić
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia 2005-01-01
• Series: Anali Hrvatskog Politološkog Društva
• Online Access: http://hrcak.srce.hr/file/60213

This paper analyses various approaches to public relations. Three development stages feature prominently in the development of this branch of communication science. The fi rst two stages – press agentry or the publicity phase and the information/explanatory phase – are characterised by an exclusively one-way communication progressing from organisation to public.Within the framework of the one-way model, public relations play the role of information dissemination. The management makes a decision, and public relations only transmit it to the public. In practice, the informative model is most represented, even though it is based on one-way communication and is used by 50% of modern organisations. This can be accounted for by the fact that the traditionally one-way practice is prevalent in public relations, which are designed within an organisation primarily in order to support other departments. In the last, mutually satisfying, stage we recognise two mutually engendered twoway models – one asymmetrical and the other symmetrical. However, the two-way asymmetrical model is a result of short-term tactics whose goal is to achieve a shortterm advantage. In contrast to these short-term goals, the symmetrical model off ers a strategic philosophy for a more developed practice of public relations. This model has contributed to the solution of many ethical questions in terms of public accountability of public relations.