Research Methods for Campaigns
Definition
The set of methods a campaign uses before launch — and during — to ground its analysis in evidence: desk research, stakeholder interviews, polling, secondary data, opposition research, and the synthesis of all of the above into the campaign plan.
The discipline distinguishes primary research (interviews and focus groups the campaign conducts itself, which yield depth and contextual nuance but not generalisability) from secondary research (existing datasets, published reports, peer-reviewed literature, which yield generalisability but may not fit the campaign’s specific context).
Practitioner guides (Community Tool Box, the Centre for Community Change’s research curriculum, the New Tactics in Human Rights research guides) treat the synthesis as the active ingredient — a campaign that has collected the desk research but has not turned it into a campaign plan has produced inputs, not strategy.
Full page: [[research-methods]]. [source: research-methods] [source: community-tool-box]
FAQ
What is research methods for campaigns?
Research methods for campaigns is the methods a campaign uses before launch — and during — to ground its analysis in evidence: desk research, stakeholder interviews, polling, secondary data, opposition research, and the synthesis of all of the above into the campaign plan. The full-page version of this definition lives on [[research-methods]].
How does primary research differ from secondary research?
The discipline distinguishes primary research (interviews and focus groups the campaign conducts itself, which yield depth and contextual nuance but not generalisability) from secondary research (existing datasets, published reports, peer-reviewed literature, which yield generalisability but may not fit the campaign’s specific context). Most campaigns need both, with the synthesis step converting the two streams into one evidence base.
What is the role of synthesis?
Practitioner guides (Community Tool Box, the Centre for Community Change’s research curriculum, the New Tactics in Human Rights research guides) treat the synthesis as the active ingredient — a campaign that has collected the desk research but has not turned it into a campaign plan has produced inputs, not strategy. The synthesis is what converts raw research into a usable evidence base.
What is the research-to-plan handoff?
The research-to-plan handoff is the explicit step at which the campaign’s research is converted into campaign strategy. The Community Tool Box treats research as the first phase of the public-action model; without an explicit handoff, research becomes a parallel activity that never reaches the campaign plan. The handoff is where research becomes strategy.