Public relations focus group report 
Conducted for the University of Oregon's School of Journalism

Introduction 

 

This focus group was conducted by the SOJCPR Team, Account Supervisor Jane Nyman and Account Executives, Emma Adams, Kylie Searfus and Mia Singh. As PR Majors, we hope to gain insight from other PR majors and have more perspectives. 

 

The purpose of this focus group was to find out why students are and are not Public Relations majors. We gathered information about why various PR students are PR majors and what led them to their decision. 

 

Methodology 

 

Participants Demographics: 

-The Focus study consisted of five seniors and two sophomores. 

-All of the participants are majoring in Public Relations and two are double majoring in Advertising as well. 

-All participants were female.

 

The session was conducted in Allen 213 on Friday, Nov. 18, and lasted an hour. Participants were voluntarily selected and had an incentive for extra class credit.

 

Findings

 

Main Findings:

 

• Many of the students came in as super J majors and realized Public Relations was a better fit for them.

 

• Many students found PR and liked that it can be so customizable to their personal interests, hobbies, and passions (sports, food, etc). Many talked about how they find the major so customizable and personal.

 

• Many of the participants enjoyed how many of the PR sequence courses provided real-world experience and portfolio work and a lot of students’ least favorite courses were J core context courses (Gateway, Communication Law, etc.). Seems like the majority of the students had lots of praise for J Professors who are accommodating and easily approachable. 

 

In Student's Words:

 

• “We both wanted something that is creative and grants more freedom so we switched to PR and I think hearing the experiences of other PR majors helped influence our switch.”

 

• “I think there's a lot of room for community within the SOJC, at least in the things that I've plugged myself into. I feel like it's made a really big school feel really small for me and just being able to collaborate with and opportunities to branch out and even network. I feel like the professors and the faculty make it, for the most part, make it really accessible to like utilize your resources and push them through.” (When asked about a favorite part of being part of the SOJC)

 

• “I guess like if there would be, if there could be a way to improve like the system for group work, yeah. It would be better maybe” (When asked about any improvements the SOJC can make.) 

 

Surprised to Find:

 

• Many students enjoyed their higher division public relations classes most because of the real-world work done in them.

 

• It was surprising, in a good way, how many of the students felt so supported by faculty and professors in the SOJC compared to experiences with other departments. There were lots of comparisons made between the SOJC and the business school in terms of how they felt supported and had opportunities. It seems as though the SOJC offers more opportunities based on these students’ experiences.

 

• Some students were not a fan of the amount of group work done in many of the PR classes. There were also a few instances where a professor was non-understanding and made students feel frustrated with their class experience.