RESEARCH SKILLS

NATO's Strategic Communication as International Public Relations: The PR Practitioner and the Challenge of Culture In The Case Of Kosovo

NATO's Strategic Communication as International Public Relations: The PR Practitioner and the Challenge of Culture In The Case Of Kosovo

Introduction

The effectiveness of any research may remain limited if the research methodology has not been chosen properly. This is one of the sources of assuring the validity and reliability of a research study. The data collection and research method must be selected at the time of planning the research. This is the right time for deciding the various stages of research as well as the possible conclusions (L'Etang & Pieczka, 2001, p. 223). This is important in that many a times there are barriers to research that need to be overcome. If the research is not well planned in terms of data collection, then there is a chance that the researchers will face data collection issues.

The aforementioned discussion brings us to two conclusions. One is that interdependence between research effectiveness and research methodology and the second is the need to map research data collection process. A research map is something that helps the researcher expand the boundaries of his understanding on a certain topic and add new dimensions to his research (Johnstone, 2000, p. 169).

The paper analyses the research skills and the appropriateness of research methodology as selected in the chosen research article NATO's strategic communication as international public relations: The PR practitioner and the challenge of culture in the case of Kosovo.

Purpose of the article

The role of Public relations (PR) has traditionally been limited to private profit making corporations and multinational giants. This is reflected in the lack of attention that has been paid to public relations in supranational organizations. This is because these organizations do not rely or seek the consent of public (Schoenberger-Orgad, 2011, p. 376). They operate at a much bigger level. In other words, it can also be said that these organizations do not need customer loyalty, hence, they do not pay due attention to public relations.

The role of these organizations in the present day is not the same as the role that the organizations played in the past. This change has majorly taken place in the level of involvement in public affairs around the world. They not only respond to the different kind of events but are actively involved in finding solutions for the various problems faced. As a case in point, the article uses North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The organization has been using public relations at different points in time. To limit the scope of research, the researchers focus only on the media management strategies that were used by the organization during the 1999 military campaign of Kosovo (Schoenberger-Orgad, 2011, p. 376).

There is a link between culture and the media management strategies used by these supranational organizations. This link or relation is assessed through the circuit of culture model. The researchers shed light on the role of persona of the ...