ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews a stream of research on the diffusion of program research as an innovation in the practice of public relations. Program research is the use of social scientific research techniques—both quantitative and qualitative—to plan public relations programs, monitor their implementation, and evaluate their impact. The chapter provides a partial explanation for why the innovation of research has diffused through the practice of public relations. This can be understood usefully at the individual level of analysis from a diffusion of innovations perspective. The two-way models differ from traditional press agentry and public information practices. Information is collected by the practitioner from the environment to contribute to management decision making. Two-way symmetrical public relations practices, as typified by action strategies in the planning process, require practitioner participation in the dominant coalition. Scholarly research of public relations practices has found only weak links between what goes on outside organizations and how public relations is practiced inside organizations.
