Unit 3 Research into Media Industry

Quantitative                                                                                                        

Box office figures                                                                                              

Programme ratings - numbers of watching  - score/ numbers

Readership figures  circulation

Bfvsgf subscribers
Number of hits/views/subs
Final sales


Qualitative 
 Film Reviews - social  websites - fandom pages
Websites - game reviews
Music reviews
Foram all opinion based


ADVANTAGES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
• Interviews are not limited to particular questions and can be redirected or guided by researchers in real time.

• The direction and framework of research can be revised quickly as soon as fresh information and findings emerge.

• The data in qualitative research depends on human experience and this is more compelling and powerful than data gathered through quantitative research.

• Complexities and subtleties about the subjects of the research or the topic covered is usually missed by many positivistic inquiries.

• Data is usually gathered from few individuals or cases therefore findings and outcomes cannot be spread to larger populations. However, findings can be transferred to another setting.

• With this type of research, the researcher has a clear vision on what to expect. They collect data in a genuine effort of plugging data to bigger picture.

DISADVANTAGES OF QUALITATIVE RESEARCH 

• Rigidity is more difficult to assess, demonstrate and maintain.

• The quantity of data makes interpretation and analysis time-consuming.

• Qualitative research is sometimes not accepted and understood especially within scientific 
communities.

• The presence of researcher in the process of data gathering is unavoidable and can therefore affect or influence the responses of subjects.

• Issues on confidentiality and anonymity can pose problems during presentation of findings.

• Findings can be time consuming and difficult to present in visual ways.

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One of the pros to quantitative research involves the fast speed that data can be collected. This data can also be analysed fairly quickly. In addition, using statistically valid random samples, a survey can quickly be generalised to the entire population.

 Another advantage involves the planning process for programs and messages. With the reliable, repeatable information that quantitative surveys can provide, a trusted set of statistics can give confidence when making future plans. 

Quantitative research can also be anonymous, which is useful when dealing with sensitive topics. Another major pro of quantitative research is that it allows you to generalise your findings beyond the participant group.

One con of quantitative research is the limited ability to probe answers. Also, people who are willing to respond may share characteristics that don't apply to the audience as a whole, creating a potential bias in the study. In addition, quantitative research experiments can be costly.

Unit 3 - Research techniques for the media industries

Primary Research: Primary research is new research, carried out to answer specific issues or questions. It can involve questionnaires, surveys or interviews with individuals or small groups. 

Secondary Research: Secondary research makes use of information previously researched for other purposes and publicly available.

Qualitative Research is primarily research.  It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research

Quantitative Research is used to quantify the problem by way of generating numerical data or data that can be transformed into useable statistics. It is used to quantify attitudes, opinions, behaviors, and other defined variables – and generalise results from a larger sample population.  

Market Research: The process of gathering, analysing and interpreting information about a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about the past, present and potential customers for the product or service;  - audience v. important 


Pro:

 People get it. Surveys and polls are a known quantity. Those in the industry know how to ask the right question to assemble the necessary data, so it’s a comfortable, obvious way to mine thoughts and opinions.

There are better benchmarks. Because surveys and polls have been used as market research resources for decades, there’s literally decades of data to compare results against.

It’s easy to explain. Everyone knows what “In a recent survey…”means, so traditional methods make it easier for researchers to explain exactly how they got their results. It’s a simple process of survey, subject, and response that can be tailored for just about any topic.

Con: 

 Users are gaming the system. Survey farms, incentivizing survey completion, and even fake data can result in skewed results that are unpredictable. What’s more, participants sometimes simply tell survey-takers what they want to hear, so answers are heavily biased.

 Data quality is questionable. Survey participation is low, and the type of people taking the surveys may not be indicative of the desired research subjects, resulting low-quality data.

Traditional methods are expensive. To get the most participants and statistical significance, organizations are having to spend money on incentives, as well as multiple survey phases, making the process extremely expensive.

Production research: is related to the production process itself. Production research is always needed when developing a new game or product. It is research to help give information on the characteristics of the product. The purpose of production research is so that the producers are able to see what the consumer is wanting in the game and how you can offer that to them.
       
Pros 

You know your target audiences characteristic

You are able to develop the game according to their sex, age and gender
      
You are able to develop a game that appeals to both sexes.
     
 It helps to provide additional content
     
 It helps you gain information on commercial viability
 
 Helps you plan pre post production
Cons 

If you have already got a game concept it may have offensive content or characters included within it so you will get told to create new characters or start the game from scratch.
Expensive


Time-Consuming



Audience Research - Audience research is defined as any communication research that is conducted onspecific audience segments to gather information about their attitudes, knowledge,interests, preferences, or behaviours with respect to prevention issues

Pro's

The benefit of audience research is that it will assure that your campaign will respond directly to your target audience and that the most productive campaign will be implemented; that it will be focused, on target and above all, motivating.  Audience research will allow you to understand—and  in some cases, confirm—people’s attitudes, information needs and to test potential communications messages.  It is often impossible to accomplish these things without at least some demand-side feedback.

Cons

Small companies spend lots of money on target marketing. They often conduct primary research to determine who buys their products, especially when servicing regional or national markets. Those who sell to multiple markets cannot identify their target audiences by simply doing a few hundred in-person surveys. Most small companies pinpoint target customers by conducting primary marketing research. The marketing research manager may hire a research agency to conduct phone surveys, which can costs tens of thousands of dollars.

Business owners who promote strictly to target consumers may overlook other users. A significant number of consumers may fall outside the typical demographics of the average customer. For example, a small cereal manufacturer may advertise its new sweetened products during cartoons or kids' programs. However, many adults also may enjoy the cereals for breakfasts and late-night snacks. The failure to target secondary consumers may cause a small company to lose significant sales.