80 ◾ Jenifer E. Kopfman and Amanda Ruth-McSwain
Research: Assessing the Campaign Situation
Most communicators recognize the need for a campaign without conducting
extensive research; however, to truly understand the present issues, organizational
involvement, as well as the relevant publics, the rst step in the planning pro-
cess is to conduct an analysis of the situation requiring various forms of assess-
ment. It is important to stress that both formative and outcome research should
be conducted throughout the entire campaign process. Marking the start of the
campaign process, formative research should be conducted to create a thorough
understanding of the situation; this research process is often referred to as situa-
tion anal