Methods
The reports and analyses by commsLAB are primarily based on a continuous content analysis of selected leading media outlets (on- and offline channels). The media sample is tailored to each project’s needs. In data collection, commsLAB works closely with the Forschungszentrum Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft of the University of Zurich, in order to ensure a data basis that meets current social-science quality standards.
Data collection is carried out by means of a manual content analysis. Compared with purely automated content analysis, the data is in this approach predominantly captured by people, which makes it possible to ensure greater reliability and a lower error rate. Purely automated procedures are not yet able to offer the same quality.
The selected items are coded by trained coders according to scientifically derived conventions, supported by automated (control) procedures. To secure a valid, reliable and intersubjectively reproducible data foundation, data collection is accompanied by scientific quality-assurance processes.
Sedimented Reputation Index® (SRI®)
The central indicator is the Sedimented Reputation Index® (SRI®), developed by commsLAB AG and the fög – Forschungszentrum Öffentlichkeit und Gesellschaft of the University of Zurich. The SRI® models the historically grown reputation that is anchored in public memory and makes it possible to depict long-term, sedimented developments.
The SRI® follows the insight that reputation is defined not only by current events but always, to a certain degree and for a certain period, also by past events.
- The SRI® thus operates by a logic similar to that of a share price or market value.
- Sedimented resonance is a criterion for public anchoring, similar to market capitalisation.
- Reputation corridors show the realistically expectable target ranges of an organisation’s reputation.
- The SRI® enables a precise description of reputation dynamics and links them to the central issues (reputation drivers).
Reputation Concept commsLAB / fög
The secret of a good reputation lies in the difficult balance between conformity — i.e. meeting functional and social expectations — and differentiation, i.e. the authentic cultivation of a distinct identity.
Media reputation (incl. social media) focuses primarily on the fulfilment of functional and social expectations and can — unlike the public image — also be determined retrospectively and on a daily basis.
The public image is primarily a measure of popularity and shows the expressive strength of the profile.
Surveys and Social Media
commsLAB’s ambition, however, is also to enable companies and organisations to systematically integrate — or analyse in an integrated way — media-based reputation data, network-driven social-media data and survey-based stakeholder data (e.g. general population, customers).
commsLAB therefore offers integrated processing and analysis of the reputation data it collects itself, alongside the data — typically already available within companies — from social media and from stakeholder surveys. For targeted implementation, tailored dashboards are available via commsPORTAL.
On request, commsLAB also takes over the collection of social-media data and, in particular, the conduct of representative population surveys. This ensures that these are linked, in content and methodology, to the media-based reputation analyses.