Campaign Research Starts With Strategy and Questions

To develop a campaign research plan, you need to know two things:

• What are the goals of the campaign?
• What questions need to be answered to reach those goals?

This is a list of general campaign questions to help start your research process. These are not research questions. Each general campaign question should generate a list of more specific research questions. For example, “What is the issue/problem?” could lead to the question, “What is the history of lead poisoning in our community?”

General questions to ask about a campaign

1. What is the issue/problem? (Understand their arguments.)
2. What are the solutions or alternatives? (Develop our arguments.)
3. Who else is trying to change the problem, how effective are they, and what are their solutions? (Potential allies. Locate a niche. Avoid obstacles and duplication of effort.)
4. Who can implement those solutions? Who has the power? (The Targets)
5. What kind of campaign would it take to convince them? (Feasibility test.)
   • How long would victory take? What are the time constraints?
   • What are tactics and paths to a victory?
   • What are the opportunities or obstacles?
   • What has worked for other organizations on similar campaigns?
6. Who are the other players?
   • Who would support change? (Allies)
   • Who opposes change? (Opposition)
   • Who could become allies/opposition, but are currently neutral?
7. Does our base have the power and resources to win this campaign?
8. Will this campaign build our movement, base, or organization?

Now you are ready to plan your campaign research process… using the Ten Campaign Research Steps