The Learning Process Focusing on Communication Arts Students’ Public Relations Research

Abstract

The purposes of this research were: 1) to study the learning process of communication arts students in a public relations research course, and 2) to study the essential factors in regard to supporting the learning process of PR research. Qualitative research methodology was employed consisting of 5 stages: 1) informing the students in order to motivate them to develop the research problem and title; 2) during the research workshop of the students, providing advice on PR Research; 3) auditing the research project workshop; 4) presenting the research results for each research project, and 5) analyzing the essential factors of the students’ PR research by checking with them in class. There were 22 students registered for the PR research class for the 2/2010 term. The results of this study were as follows: 1) the students developed the 6 PR research projects regarding the issue of evaluation of the PR project campaign and the PR media; 2) there were 4 steps in the learning process: 2.1) PR research project planning, 2.2) data collection and analysis of the data, 2.3) research reporting, and 2.4) presentation of the research; and 3) 3 essential factors were seen in the effective process of learning: the lecturer as a research counselor, the students as researcher, and the course description.