Operational Definitions
A term was deemed properly used if it followed the explanation of public relations given by Cutlip, Center, and Broom (as cited in Wilcox & Cameron, 2006): “public relations is the management function that identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the various publics on whom its success or failure depends” (p. 5). If the term did not follow this definition, it was determined to be an improper use. Often, improper uses of terms involved clichés such as “PR nightmare.”
With regard to the valence of the individual PR-related terms, the researchers coded the use of each term in the stories as positive, negative, or neutral. The definitions for those levels were pulled from Jo’s (2003) study:
A positive meaning displays the positive role of public relations, suggesting the accurate meaning of public relations and a beneficial outcome to an organization. A negative meaning involves a dilemma of image, or failure of reputation management toward the organization. In this case, public relations was portrayed in a derogatory manner. A neutral meaning denoted a general adjectival use of public relations as in the phrases public relations strategy and public relations campaign. (italics added, p. 402-403)
Using Hosti’s (1969) method, intercoder reliability was tested on a random selection of 30% of the stories. Intercoder reliability was found to be 83%. The remainder of the stories were divided randomly and coded separately by the researchers.