Comments on Classmates Blogs

The first blog I have decided to comment on is Jessica's Blog. In this blog she discussed how a professional baseball team used surveys. The Chicago Cubs, Jessica stated, sent out a survey to fans in hopes to gain better insight of what they can do to make their experience at the Cubs stadium a better one. This to me is very smart. Not only is it a good Research method but it is also a great PR tactic. By sending out the surveys, yes they will get a better insight of way to improve but they are also letting the fans know that their opinion is important. Fans will feel appreciated and that is great PR. If this is something that the Chicago Cubs do on a regular basis then it is easy to see why despite their loosing streak they still have many consistent fans.

The second blog I have decided to comment on is Andrew's Blog. Like Jessica's blog, he talks about surveys being used in Major League Baseball. However, where Andrew's blog differs is surveys being used as a voting mechanism. In his blog, Andrew explains how surveys are handed out at numerous baseball teams so that fans can vote for their favorite players. The surveys are then tallied and the player with the most votes at a given position is selected to the All-Star team. Like the survey the Cubs sent out, it will give baseball fans a sense of value.

It was interesting to read my classmates blogs to see different ways surveys can be used. When learning about surveys I initially thought of a corporation trying to market a product, and then using a survey to find out what people think about them. As that is true, Jessica's and Andrew's blogs made me realize that the purpose of surveys is not limited to a business trying to sell a product but can be applied to many other different situations.

Experimental Research and Ethics

Experimental research is very important in the world of Public Relations. There are often times where research methods such as surveys or focus groups cannot be used and experimental research is the best way to find the answer.

However, when looking at ethics and experimental research some might argue there could be a problem. Because there is a lot of information that is kept from the participants a line of ethics could easily be crossed. Let's again take a look at the Tuskegee experiment where participants who had syphilis were being studied and wrongfully being denied drugs (without their knowledge) that could cure their disease.

Cases like this show the gaps that experimental research has. Unless there is a system in place where every experiment conducted is regularly monitor it is very easy for people to practice unethical behavior.

Surveys: Could We Survey Ethics?

As we have learned, surveys are the most used form of quantitative research. The reason why is because you can ask specific questions, get a lot of responses, they are easy to analyze and, you can have your respondents be geographically and demographically diverse.

Surveys have been conducted to research a variety of things. However, thinking about my blog focus I wonder if they would be the best method to research and analyze ethics. There is still a large part to peoples ethics that research is still unsure of. Yes, we have a general idea of the ethics of people from specific geographics and demographics but there are still many questions about individuals' ethics.

Would a survey be the best way to fill this information gap? Could sending out a survey to diverse people all over the world about their individual ethics answer all the questions we have about it? I would say no, this would not be the best method. I do not think people would answer the questions honestly and instead put what they think they would do not what they would actually do. For instance, if one of the survey questions was, "Would you hold the door for an elderly woman who is a couple steps behind you even though you are late for your meeting?", majority of the respondents would probably say yes. However, if it were a real situation, majority of the respondents would not actually do so.

My point is that surveys are a great research method, but they will only be effective if they are used correctly. You must look at the question you are trying to answer and ask yourself, "would surveys be the best way to get my answer?"

Qualitative Research and Ethics

For the past couple of weeks our class focused on qualitative research. Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research is not searching for numbers or statistics. This type of research is, instead, used to gain insight into people's attitudes and behaviors.

In relation to the focus of my blog, ethics, there are some aspects of qualitative research that some might argue pushes the boundaries of honoring those ethics. In previous blogs I had talked about how some focus groups can violate research ethics due to lack of information given to the participants. In another blog I addressed some ethical dilemmas that unobtrustive research holds. This blog will focus on if or if not giving incentives for participating in a focus group is ethical.

As stated, the purpose of qualitative research is to understand people's attitudes and behaviors. With that said, if a company conducts a focus group about a new product they are launching wouldn't giving an incentive alter the participants attitudes and behaviors towards that product? It could almost be looked at as a bribe- and as we know bribes are unethical.

Lets take a look at the example we had in class last week, the King of the Hill youtube clip. The moderator almost used the $50 as a way to not only get participants to come but also to make them favor the product when it was clear that the majority of the volunteers did not care to be there or about the product, just the money.

Now, I am not saying that giving incentives is completely unethical. In fact, in some cases I think it is necessary. For instance, if a company is trying to research the minds of college kids, more likely than not they will get more respondents if they offer an incentive. However, if the incentive is used as a way to get people to favor a product or an idea then there are ethics that have been violated.

Classmates' Unobtrusive Research Blogs

Last week we were assigned to create a blog about unobtrusive research. For me, unobtrusive research has been one of the most interesting subjects we have learned this semester so far. It gives researchers a chance to play the detective they always admire on Law and Order- a change to investigate the "crime" scene and solve the "mystery" (answer research questions).

What I found even more interesting was reading my classmates blogs about my favorite topic. Since my blog focuses on ethics, last week I discussed the debate of whether conducting unobtrusive research was unethical or not. So it was exciting to see how unobtrusive research was discussed using other topics.

The first blog that I want to comment on is Devon's Blog. In this blog Devon talked about how unobtrusive research is relevant to social media via celebrity Twitter updates. Social media is a tool that can be used to market a product, create relationships with customers, and more. However, I never thought of it as a tool to conduct research. Devon's blog was a perfect example of how social media can be used to conduct unobtrusive research and it opened my eyes to the possibilities this type of research has.

The second blog I want to comment on is Kevin's Blog. Kevin's blog focused on how unobtrusive is relevant to fitness and the supplement industry. It was useful to see how a specific industry would use this type of research. In his blog, Kevin discussed how the fitness and supplement industry uses both social media and different stores as outlets to perform unobtrusive research.

Discussing unobtrusive research through an ethical standpoint and reading my classmates blogs who discussed the topic in a different way helped me gain a much better understanding of this type of research.

Unobtrusive Research and Ethics

This week we learned about unobtrusive research. In this type of research the subjects do not know anyone is watching them. According to the guidelines of ethics in research there must be a voluntary participation. So one could conclude that unobtrusive research is unethical right?

Although unobtrusive research might not follow one of the guidelines to ethics in research that does not necessarily make unobtrusive research as a whole unethical. For instance, when performing the assignment this week we had to figure out which door to the School of Communications was used most. One of the ways I figured it out was observing people as they walked in an out of the doors. I was hidden and the subjects did not see me nor know that they were being watched. Some might argue that performing that research was unethical because the subjects were unaware hence an invasion of privacy but I do not think most of the people would mind being part of a study of opening up a door therefore I do not feel I violated any type of ethics.

However, there are some cases in which I feel the ethical boundary is pushed a little. Studies that are done to research a sensitive subject like racism and there is a hidden camera recording people about how they feel about the issue might be crossing the line of ethics. Unlike the door study the participants might not be fully OK with them being secretly taped for a study on racism.

So I do not think unobtrusive research is unethical but there is a fine line and when it is crossed there is a  violation of ethics in research. But, what is the alternative? If researchers need to know how people feel about racism, is there another way to find out an accurate answer not using unobtrusive research?

My Classmates Blogs

The first blog I chose to talk about was Mallory's Blog, labeled "Research Results." In this blog Mallory talks about research in NHL. She was very surprised to find that the NHL actually conducts a regular research and frankly I am too. I think it is very interesting that research that has intent to change things is conducted in an already extremely established organization. And like Mallory, I find it disappointing that the two articles she read about did not state what is done with the research.

The second blog I chose to talk about is Jordana's Blog. Jordana's blog focuses on the American Cancer Society. As a volunteer of the American Cancer Society and someone who has lost many loved ones to cancer, I found this blog extremely interesting. In this particular blog, Jordana addresses research that the American Cancer Society conducts in particular, The Cancer Fact and Figure Report. Among other things, this report consists of statistics and like Jordana I was shocked at some of the numbers and I'm sure many other people would be too.

This type of research that the American Cancer Society conducts is extremely important to what they do. Releasing some of these shocking numbers to the public would definitely create awareness to the  public, but more importantly to cancer. I'm sure everyone is already aware that cancer is a big problem but I don't think they realize how big it actually is and this type of research can force them to come to that realization. Creating awareness would then hopefully create action among many people.

Finally someone's practicing ethics in PR: New York Jets

I'm going to safely assume that everyone knows who the New York Jets are. This high profile football team has been in the news a lot lately. Other than the Revis debacle, the NYJ have experienced some negative press. First was due to the HBO Series Hardknocks and the second involved sexual harassment allegations to a female reporter. Despite their wrong doings, the Jets handled both situations from a PR perspective with morals and class. 

In the HBO Series, Hardknocks, the Jets were filmed while at training camp this summer. The behind the scenes footage of the coach, Rex Ryan using profanities created some stir. Many people spoke out again the use of the language and claimed it hurt the reputation of the New York Jets as a franchise. After the show aired however Ryan apologized for his words. He stated that he was sorry for offending people but what impressed me the most was that he was also honest with the public explaining thats just who is is.

Often times in PR companies or people try and pretend to be something that they are not. To me this is wrong. I think Rex Ryan practiced great PR by apologizing for offending people while admitting that's just him. He did not deny anything or pretend to be someone he is not- he was honest, something that is crucial when dealing with PR Ethics.

The second situation that the Jets handled nicely was the harassment case with the female reporter. After an incident in the locker room where the Jets went a little too far with a female reporter, Inez Sainz' the owner of the jets issued an apology. Saying, “I called her the minute I found out about it, and I finally spoke to her later on in the day,” the owner told the media. “We take this very, very seriously, as you can imagine. We want all of our reporters, female or male, to be comfortable wherever they are, on the sideline, in the locker room or at a game. We have to make the working environment professional, representing the New York Jets well.”

Although the players involved in the event also issued an apology I think the fact that the owner was so concerned says a lot about the ethics the NYJ possess.

Ethics in Research

So I thought it would be good to talk about the two research experiments we addressed in class this week since they have to do with ethics and are strongly related to my blog focus.

There are a few guidelines to understand when dealing with Ethics in Research. The first is to keep the participants anonymous or keep their participation confidential. The second is that the research conducted should not inflict any harm upon the participants. The third is that the research conducted should be voluntary participation. Keeping these guidelines in mind and basic human ethics lets take a look at the two studies presented in class...

The first, Tuskegee Syphilis Study, in my opinion is completely unethical. How can the researches justify that allowing 400 people to suffer for 40 years and die to be ethical? Yes, it is true that the study allowed them to save millions of lives but who is to say one life is greater than another and one person should be saved at the others expense? I am taking the deontology approach on this one. The good (saving millions of people) should never have been achieved by evil means (killing 400 people).

In addition, two out of three of the ethical guidelines in research were broken. There is obvious harm to these participants- the majority of them died. The study also violated the voluntary participation. The participants thought they were being studied to find the cure of syphilis, they did not sign up for a study that research of their deteriorating bodies so the cure to other diseases can be found.

The second, Milgram's Obedience Study, also violates research ethics. The participants were not harmed on a physical level but were on a psychological level. Many people became depressed and some even committed suicide due to being a participant in the study.

I do believe there is a great importance in research. It can help businesses, cure diseases, give an explanation of why people do things, and much more. Although research can provide great insight it should not be abused- there is an ethical obligation researchers should adopt and if they want to research something bad enough I am sure they will be able to find a way to do so without breaking those obligations.

Since when should we promote a role model to be a liar?

OK, so it shouldn't come to any one's surprise that celebrities lack some moral values. But when did it become acceptable for those celebrities' publicists to advise their clients to try and cover up their dirty tracks?

Some might argue that celebrities have an unfair life because everything they do is under a magnifying glass and they aren't allowed to make any mistakes. Yes, it's true celebrities are people too and people are allowed to make mistakes. However, ccelebrities are the role models for many young people, and their actions mean more than just the average person.

I am not saying that if a famous person slips up they are a horrible person- what will define their character is what they do after  they mess up. If they do something wrong, they should own up to their mistakes and take responsibility. And more importantly their publicists should strongly advise them to do so. Just like a large corporation, if they mess something up with one of their products their PR person would advise them to recall the product and apologize to their customers. I mean its PR 101, does Hollywood need a little refresher course?

Lets take a look at the whole Tiger Woods scandal; after the affairs became public Tiger fessed up to his actions and sincerely apologized for them. Although Tiger was wrong for having the affairs in the first place, he took the right next step, taking responsibility for his actions. Whereas party girls like Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan who have been caught with possession of cocaine not only deny the accusations but came up with an absurd, fabricated lies. When Hilton was caught twice in the last two months with cocaine possession her rep commented saying it was a "misunderstanding" having Hilton comment, "the drugs weren't mine." This to me is what gives PR a bad name. I understand Hilton's publicist wants to protect her client's image but denial is not the way to go. Instead, she should have advised her client to admit to the drugs and then check herself into a rehab program.

I'm not sure if these wrong PR practices in Hollywood will ever stop but I think for the sake of the youth they should.

Blog Focus

Hey everyone! I'm excited to start blogging- I love reading blogs but I've never had my own one so this should be interesting... The focus of my blog is going to be Ethics in PR (or the lack of). At the start of Public Relations, PR people would lie or exaggerate the truth which gave our field a bad name. Although  overtime, Public Relations has improved their reputation there are still some ethical dilemmas. Throughout this semester this blog will be relating various issues to ethics in PR- I think this topic can relate to many things that are going on. I hope to make my blog fun and interesting to read so please follow! Talk to you next time...