This report is a narrative description of what the best public affairs programs within and beyond the Department of Energy Office of Science are doing to formulate and assess their operations. We focus on appropriate procedures for formative and evaluative research rather than suggesting specific outcomes. Finally, we organize our white paper along the levels suggested by theoretical literature in the field: program, function, organization, and society. The entire report is grounded in the scholarly body of knowledge in public relations and public affairs.

Our remarks emphasize employee communication, community relations, and media relations. We highlight the need for public affairs people to reach beyond the press to other key constituencies; the internal audience, for example, is always primary. Public affairs personnel must go beyond media placement as a measure of their effectiveness.

We hope to develop standards that are helpful for all public affairs people concerned with doing their jobs better. Developing those criteria often begins with a determination of what the organization's goals truly are. Too often, public affairs people are unclear on any goals beyond those of their own department. We also hope that through increased reliance on appropriate research methods, public affairs professionals might become part of the organizational team that actually determines the organization's mission and goals.