Attracting Supporters

You work for HaberNat, a not-for-profit organization committed to environmental protection. HaberNat’s mandate: to generate public and corporate support—opinion and revenue—to influence businesses and governments to act more quickly and firmly on environmental concerns.

HaberNat needs inexpensive ways to communicate its message, and recruit support. The organization wants to explore the feasibility of using community and social networking sites to (1) establish and expand its presence, (2) raise Canadians’ awareness of environmental issues, and (3) influence people to act individually and collectively to agitate for change.

Your manager has asked you and your colleagues to research and report on the feasibility of the idea, recommending two free sites that would attract and build grassroots supporters.

As your instructor directs

a. Use PAIBOC analysis to identify the objective of your research and then draft a working purpose statement to clarify your objective.

b. Identify the demographic you want to interview and create a questionnaire after considering the following:

• Whom can we interview? Who are the experts?

• Who is the population for a survey?

• Is our sample random, convenience, or judgment?

• What types of questions should we ask—open, closed, probes?

• How does the sample type affect our ability to generalize our findings?

• As you write your questions, ask yourself:

? Are the questions clear and neutral?

? Do the questions cover the information we need to know to research, analyze, and identify two appropriate sites for HaberNat’s purposes?

? What assumptions do my questions make? Are these appropriate assumptions?

? Are we using branching questions where appropriate?

? Are the questions sequenced so that easier ones precede more difficult ones?

c. Write a report to your manager on the feasibility of the idea, recommending two free sites that would attract and build grassroots supporters.

d. Prepare a slide presentation explaining the conclusions of your research and recommending a course of action.