It is anticipated that in the coming decade the Department of Defense (DoD) will
field and test new advertising and recruiting initiatives designed to improve the
recruiting outlook. The DoD needs a comprehensive research and evaluation strategy
based on sound research principles that will ensure valid, reliable, and relevant results
to discover the most promising policies. The primary objective of this book is to help
the DoD improve its research on advertising and recruiting policies.

Evaluating Military Advertising and Recruiting: Theory and Methodology presents a
framework for evaluation that links different types of research questions to various
research methodologies. The framework identifies four major categories of research
questions and four broad methodological approaches. The first category of research
question asks "What does a target audience see as attractive or unattractive features
of a program?" It is well suited to examination via qualitative methods, such as focus
groups, unstructured or open-ended surveys, and interviews. The second category of
research question asks "What is the effect of a program on specified attitudes or
behavioral intentions?" It is well suited to examination via surveys, experiments, and
quasi experiments. The third category of research question asks "What is the effect
of a proposed new program on enlistment?" It is well suited to examination via
experiments and quasi experiments. The final category of research question asks
"What is the effect of an existing program on enlistment?" It is well suited to examination
via econometric modeling.


Table of Contents


Front Matter
Executive Summary
1. Introduction
2. Theoretical Approaches
3. Monitoring Trends in Youth Attitudes, Values, and Propensity
4. Advertising Planning: Generative and Evaluative Approaches
5. Determining Optimal Levels of Advertising and Recruiting Resources
6. The Timing and Levels of Joint and Service-Specific Advertising
7. Determining Optimal Types of Incentives
8. Performance Management of Recruiters
9. Conclusions and Recommendations
References
Appendix: Biographical Sketches
Index