text: Chapter 8
  considerable time, assessment planning may choose to break the objective into smaller increments, each with
  more immediate observable outcomes. Finally, it is also important to analyze and understand the cultural
  relevance of time in the area of operations and account for and adapt to it.
  8-22. Developing informational, behavioral and sentiment baselines often requires significant time and
  resource investments. Sentiment baselines, such as those determined through surveys or interviews, may
  require contracted labor to accomplish. The IO officer must factor in the lead time necessary to contract a
  third-party, provide it time to develop the survey instrument, administer the survey, and tabulate and report
  on the results.
  8-23. Commanders and staffs, particularly the IO officer, must account for the order of effects when
  assessing IO or, more broadly, any effect. For example, an effect in the physical dimension (1st order) can
  resonate in unexpected ways in the informational and cognitive dimensions (2nd and 3rd orders). During
  Operation Enduring Freedom, night raids, while operationally necessary to root out insurgents, caused
  significant backlash among the indigenous population, local leaders, and the national government. Part of the
  IO officer's task is to anticipate second- and third-order effects and conduct a risk analysis to determine if
  potential higher-order effects outweigh the benefits of achieving lower-order effects. The aim is to amplify
  intended consequences in all dimensions of the information environment, while mitigating unintended
  consequences.
  8-24. Units must account for directness of effect and understand the difference between causational linkages
  and correlational ones. Certain effects, even desired ones, may not be directly tied to friendly efforts in the
  information environment; however, friendly forces may still be held accountable for these effects and must
  react appropriately. This fact underlines the importance of developing a logic of the effort for each IO
  objective. This logic explicitly states how synchronized IRCs will lead to the desired change expressed in the
  objective. The logic also differentiates planned activities from other possible contributing factors and
  articulates expected outputs and outcomes.
  8-25. Effectiveness in the cognitive dimension typically requires variety and repetition. Rarely does a single
  tactic, task, method, action, or message change behavior. Assessment plans must therefore build in varied
  actions and repeated messages and measure their cumulative effect.
  MEASURES OF PERFORMANCE
  8-26. A measure of performance is a criterion used to assess friendly actions that is tied to measuring task
  accomplishment (JP 3-0). Measures of performance help answer questions such as "Was the action taken?"
  or "Were the tasks completed to standard?" A measure of performance confirms or denies that a task has
  been properly performed. Measures of performance are commonly found and tracked at all echelons in
  execution matrixes. They are also commonly used to evaluate training.
  8-27. There is no definitive number of tasks to support a given objective; therefore, there is no definitive
  number of measures of performance to support any given measure of effectiveness. Again, variety and
  repetition necessitate that multiple tasks typically support each objective and the corresponding measure of
  performance is the means to confirm or deny that each task is executed in the first place and properly
  performed.
  8-28. Delivery, especially means of delivery, is a critical consideration when developing IRC tasks and their
  associated measures of performance, particularly when it comes to message delivery. No matter how well-
  crafted the message, if delivery assets are unavailable or only available in insufficient number, the objective
  will likely not be achieved. Means of delivery should also be considered in terms of accessibility and
  acceptability to the target audience. For example, if only a small percentage of the population listens to radio
  or watches television then these means should not be the only means of delivery considered.
  INDICATORS
  8-29. An indicator is an item of information that provides insight into a measure of effectiveness or measure
  of performance (ADRP 5-0). Indicators take the form of reports from subordinates, surveys and polls, and
  information requirements. Indicators help to answer the question "What is the current status of this measure
  of effectiveness?" A single indicator can inform multiple measures of effectiveness.