CPRS Research and Analytics 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which sampling method divides the population into subgroups and randomly selects from each to ensure representation?
- Convenience sampling
- Stratified random sampling (Correct answer)
- Snowball sampling
- Cluster sampling
Correct answer: Stratified random sampling
Stratified random sampling divides the population into homogeneous subgroups (strata) and draws random samples from each, ensuring proportional representation.
Question 2: A PR team wants to measure share of voice (SOV) for a brand. What does SOV primarily quantify?
- The brand's advertising spend relative to competitors
- The brand's media mentions as a percentage of total industry mentions (Correct answer)
- The average sentiment score across all media coverage
- The number of earned media placements in a quarter
Correct answer: The brand's media mentions as a percentage of total industry mentions
Share of voice measures what percentage of total industry conversation or media mentions belongs to a specific brand compared to all competitors.
Question 3: When coding qualitative media content for sentiment, an analyst marks a story 'neutral' even though the headline is slightly negative. This is an example of:
- Intercoder reliability failure
- Measurement validity error
- Coder judgment under an ambiguous coding scheme (Correct answer)
- Confirmation bias in data collection
Correct answer: Coder judgment under an ambiguous coding scheme
When coding rules do not clearly define borderline cases, individual coder judgment fills the gap, which is why detailed codebooks and intercoder reliability checks are essential.
Question 4: A PR practitioner uses Google Analytics to find that the press release landing page has a 90% bounce rate. The most actionable next step is to:
- Increase the paid media budget to drive more traffic
- Investigate page content, load speed, and CTA relevance to understand why visitors leave immediately (Correct answer)
- Declare the campaign a failure and halt all PR activity
- Remove the landing page and redirect traffic to the homepage
Correct answer: Investigate page content, load speed, and CTA relevance to understand why visitors leave immediately
A high bounce rate signals a mismatch between visitor expectations and page experience, so diagnosing content, UX, and relevance is the correct diagnostic step before making changes.
Question 5: The PESO model categorizes media channels into four types. Which combination is correct?
- Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned (Correct answer)
- Print, Electronic, Social, Online
- Public, Editorial, Syndicated, Organic
- Promotional, Engagement, Sponsored, Outreach
Correct answer: Paid, Earned, Shared, Owned
PESO stands for Paid (advertising), Earned (press coverage), Shared (social media), and Owned (brand-controlled channels), providing a framework for integrated measurement.
Question 6: Which statistical measure best indicates how spread out survey responses are around the average?
- Mean
- Median
- Standard deviation (Correct answer)
- Mode
Correct answer: Standard deviation
Standard deviation quantifies the dispersion of data points around the mean, helping PR analysts understand consistency or variability in audience opinions.
Question 7: An organization conducts a benchmark study before launching a reputation campaign and a follow-up study six months later. This research design is called:
- Cross-sectional study
- Longitudinal tracking study (Correct answer)
- Experimental design
- Ethnographic research
Correct answer: Longitudinal tracking study
A longitudinal tracking study collects data from the same population at multiple points in time, making it ideal for measuring change in reputation or awareness over a campaign period.
CPRS Research and Analytics 2
Which sampling method divides the population into subgroups and randomly selects from each to ensure representation?