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Difficulties in obtaining research were faced on various fronts. The author at times needed to work to convince actors within the Department and at regional health corporations that although he was at times an employee of the Department, his research was for something outside his employment and would not be reported to others in the Department or the health corporations. The author feels, however, that he was successful in making this case, and his interviews and contact with those involved in developing and implementing the communications effort in the case were candid and valid. Secondary research: Research into applicable theory was conducted through academic text searches. Secondary research also took the form of topic searches of journals and popular media through business and health CD-ROM directories, the Lexus-Nexus commercial and academic network and Internet searches. All secondary research was conducted at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada, and Leeds Metropolitan University in Leeds, United Kingdom. As the bibliography reflects, the author found very little in the way of academic study of the communications problem of communicating to illiterate populations. Therefore, materials used by, and interviews with those facing the problem directly such as those in the New Brunswick Department of Health and Community Services and regional health corporations and those working in community centres provided most of the insight gained in the research of this communications problem. Despite the dearth of study of the specific topic in an academic way, there is theory that applies. The author was able to apply communications theory, found through secondary research, to his topic. The theory includes models that can be applied to the task of communicating to illiterate audiences and theory on communications campaigns. Statistics on the target demographic of the case were provided by the New Brunswick Statistics Agency and Statistics Canada. There is no specific statistical information available on the literacy level of the target demographic of the case presented. Some conclusions can be drawn from existing studies, and the author was provided with the best information available on the demographic from the author of the most recent, most comprehensive study. This information, however, is, in the words of Statistics Canada,
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