Read Online

Assessing and Evaluating Department of Defense Efforts to Inform, Influence, and Persuade

Worked Example

by Christopher Paul

Download

Full Document

FormatFile SizeNotes
PDF file 0.9 MB

Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher for the best experience.

Purchase

Purchase Print Copy

 FormatList Price Price
Add to Cart Paperback80 pages $19.00 $15.20 20% Web Discount

Research Questions

  1. What are good practices for identifying objectives and assessing IIP efforts to ensure that they support the larger goals of an information operations campaign?
  2. How can a logic model support assessment planning and connect activities to objectives?
  3. What measures are best for gauging progress toward objectives, and how should this information be collected?
  4. How can assessment inform refinements to IIP efforts, and what are the indications that an effort is succeeding or failing?
  5. How should an information operations staff officer approach the planning and execution of assessment in preparation for and during an operation?

To achieve key national security objectives, the U.S. government and U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) must effectively and credibly communicate with a broad range of foreign audiences. These activities also represent a significant investment: DoD spends more than $250 million per year on inform, influence, and persuade (IIP) efforts. It is clearly important to measure the performance and effectiveness of these efforts, but assessment has remained a challenge for DoD. To better support IIP planners and assessment practitioners, this report presents a realistic but fictional scenario as context for a step-by-step example of how assessment planning should work in practice. In the process, it demonstrates several core principles of effective assessment articulated in previous RAND research, along with insights and best practices for developing assessments that can accurately measure progress toward campaign objectives and directly support decisionmaking.

Recommendations

  • Ensure that the objectives of an IIP effort are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound).
  • Break objectives into smaller subordinate objectives or sequential steps for a clearer picture of progress toward larger objectives.
  • Develop a logic model in reverse to avoid bad assumptions and identify possible constraints, barriers, disruptors, or unintended consequences. Begin by identifying objectives and work backward to identify the activities and resources that will support the objectives.
  • Be thoughtful in selecting measures: Choose multiple measures that will detect both success and failure and capture trends over time. Seek out existing sources of data to support the assessment and measure only as precisely as required.

Table of Contents

  • Chapter One

    Introduction and Purpose

  • Chapter Two

    Review of Relevant Assessment Principles

  • Chapter Three

    Scenario: MNF-DP's Takanwei Campaign

  • Chapter Four

    Worked Example of Assessment Design and Planning for Selected Campaign Elements

  • Chapter Five

    Conclusions and Review

  • Appendix A

    Telecommunications and Media in Takanwei

  • Appendix B

    Timeline and Road to Crisis, January–July 2022

Research conducted by

This research was sponsored by the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center and conducted within the International Security and Defense Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute, a federally funded research and development center sponsored by the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Combatant Commands, the Navy, the Marine Corps, the defense agencies, and the defense Intelligence Community.

This report is part of the RAND Corporation research report series. RAND reports present research findings and objective analysis that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors. All RAND reports undergo rigorous peer review to ensure high standards for research quality and objectivity.

Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.