Campaign
Research Starts With Strategy and Questions
To
develop a campaign research plan, you need to know two things:
1)
What are the goals of the campaign?
2) 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.)
A. How long would victory
take? What are the time constraints?
B. What are tactics and paths
to a victory?
C. What are the opportunities
or obstacles?
D. What has worked for other
organizations on similar campaigns?
6. Who are the other players?
A. Who would support change?
(Allies)
B. Who opposes change? (Opposition)
C. 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