Evaluating Public Communication Exploring New Models, Standards, and Best Practice

Cover — Title — Copyright — CONTENTS — List of figures — List of tables — Acknowledgements — Introduction — PART I The foundations of evaluation — 1 Why we need to critically examine communication — Communication: the ‘registry of modern longings’ — Public communication — Communication effects: direct, limited and contingent — Increasing demand for governance, transparency and accountability — The essentiality of evaluation — Defining measurement and evaluation — Overcoming barriers and obstacles to evaluation — Research questions of this study — Research methodology of this analysis — Summary — 2 Evaluation of communication: key concepts, principles and theories — Logical framework approach (log frames) — Programme theory — Theory of change — Realist evaluation — Performance measurement and management — Other approaches to evaluation — Information processing and communication — Other key communication theories that inform evaluation — Stages of communication: inputs and outputs to outcomes and impact — Cost centre vs value-adding centre — Causality: linking activities to outcomes and impact — Summary — 3 Models informing evaluation of communication — Advertising evaluation models — Political communication evaluation — Health communication planning and evaluation models — Development communication models — Public relations evaluation models — Broad-based communication evaluation frameworks and models — A taxonomy of evaluation — Future directions in evaluation models — Summary — PART II The practice of evaluation — 4 Metrics, analytics and beyond: the evolving evaluation landscape — Metrics and analytics — Traditional media metrics — Digital and social media metrics — Audience research — Summary — 5 Informal methods to evaluate public communication — Secondary data — Database records