Unit 3 - Research Log

Audience info grid

Primary and secondary research

Primary:

This is when the research is done by yourself, So it is in first hand experience as you go out and collect data yourself, it is usually based upon opinions. There are many ways of conducting primary research, through questionnaires, face to face interviews, focus groups, forums, personal observations and feed back on your own project. These types of research will mean that you will get the opinion of other people about what they think on a topic. 

Questionnaires are often longer, but with shorter questions usually closed ending such as yes or no answers, or rating something out of 5, 10 etc. They are possibly the quickest way to collect data as you can collect massive amounts of data from just one questionnaire as they have 20 questions plus, however it actually takes time to get people to actually do your questionnaire as it is =time consuming for the person to think and give their honest opinion of all 20 plus questions and will usually just tick or just answer randomly near the end as they will be bored and will just want to finish it, also getting a large amount of participants also means that it will take time and usually not everyone has the time to be doing questionnaires.

Interviews are more personal and often 1-1 so the person may feel more comfortable and relaxed and may be able to expand on their answers, it is usually open ended questions where the audience can give their opinion with description, and explain why, Interviews are more time consuming, Interviews just consist of a few people so you may not get a large amount of data, and also you may not get very different opinions especially if you do interviews in a certain area, which has a dominant demographic. The few people will also not give you a variety of opinions and usually will just differ slightly giving you a narrow view of what people think, so doing a lot of interviews with a variety of people and areas is necessary.

Forums are also another type of primary research, it is usually on an online environment where people are not easily identifiable so they usually give their honest opinion as they know they cannot be judged in real life for it, and usually they are not under pressure or time conditions in say like a interview, they are often in a 'friendly' environment, and friends tend to be most critical, as they would like you to be better and improve. However the disadvantage to this is that due to people hiding their identity, the information is usually from unknown sources, and they may not be reliable, and often people may create multiple accounts to be able to flood opinions on a matter. A website like reddit can be used as a forum to discuss and talk about different topics.

Feed back on own project, this is a way of getting people to review the first draft of your project/ work and asking them what they think of it and what could be improved, the constructive criticism will improve and allow you to tailor your project to the target audience.

Secondary:

Secondary research is when you use data that was done from previous researchers and using the data to use it in your own project, usually done through the internet or the library and it very cheap usually free or relatively very cheap. The fundamental problem with this type of research is that you cannot be sure if it is from a reliable source of information, although the official websites or books based on autobiography's will be most reliable. There are various types of secondary research, being: Library, ,Archives, Ratings, internet and government statistics.

The library is most probably the most worthy trustworthy source of information, the publishing company will have a read through the book, to make sure it doesn't contain wrong information, and the author would have done his own research to be able to bring a book together, and will usually state the references or the information where they got it from. However the problem with this is that you will have to go through a lot of individual books in the library which can be the most time consuming out of all secondary research, however if there is no time constraint then this will be the most reliable source.

Archives are also related to the library, being also reliable when done in thorough research, again time becomes a problem. Archives are again free and low cost which is an advantage to the researcher, archives may also be more confusing at start, as a library has all the books in a organised way, and it would be easily accessible in the library, where as archives may require at bit more 'digging' to find the right source of information that applies to your scenario.

The internet is the most common way of finding secondary research, it has a very broad pool of information that can be easily accessible with a few clicks of the mouse, The official websites of what you are researching will have the reliable trustworthy information that you need, and also if there is no official website, then professional websites run by a company or a trusted source will give the information needed. The internet is free in public places such as the library or schools, and it is the quickest type of research that can be done. The disadvantage is that some websites will be biast, especially fan websites so you will only get one view point and also people's personal computers at home require broadband to be purchased so it is not entirely free if the research is done at home. Websites such as Wikipedia, can be edited by every one of the public, who has access to the internet, so it not very reliable and can often give wrong information. Social media sites are often where you can find a variety of opinions and information, social media can be trustworthy, but mostly it will be very biast as they are fans or people who have a certain belief that can really alter their information that they give, also social media is known to be 'informal' so the source of information cannot exactly be trusted as anybody can set up a social media count and start typing.









Ratings, are also another type of secondary research, they look at what the critics say about something, this can be applied to music video production very well, as you can look at what reviews a music video got and see if it was seen as good or bad, and alter your music video accordingly. They are quick and cost-free, and they are easily accessible, so they save time and are the most easiest way of applying them to a music video production. Also personal opinions can effect the rating critics may give it a bad review on purpose as they may not like the genre or the music type, so it may be biast.

Qualatative and Quantative research

Types of Research

Quantitative:

This is when the results are based on numerical data, This is used in media to record specific numbers or statistics do show the amount of views a TV show has got, or the amount of ticket sales a film has got, then people will look at the success of it and draw inspiration of allow it to guide them.

it is numerical data and can be shown on graphs and tables to show how much a thing had one, so how many views or how much sale sit can be beneficial to the institute as they can use this information as a basis to do further projects or call off a project if the data that they are given does not look good or able to make it successful in the long run, there will be no point for the studio to fund projects if they have no data or evidence to prove that it will be a success, as they would want to maximise profit and having information allows them to tailor their projects to the audience and demographic and in the time zone where it will be the most successful.

Quantitative research can be done through a number of ways, mainly being through counting the participants and their each individual vote/opinions, or how much people have done something in a amount of time. It gives a solid hard fact that can be used to back up argument points etc. It could also be used to benefit the audience as they can see if a movie/film was successful or not and so based on the critics and reviews and the percentage that liked it they can also go ahead and watch the movie knowing that they have a good reason for watching it as it was liked my a majority of people, it can be used as a basis for making decisions as there is numerical data that is most likely reliable.

Qualitative:

This is when the results are based on opinions and views. They can be done via questionnaires and interview, surveys etc. You can ask questions to public or the target audience to find out their opinions and views on a certain project, idea etc. This is not a numerical data type so it is not solid facts, however it will give you a personal feeling and allow you to shape your project into what the target audience would want. The answers gathered will be varied as people will have different opinions, so it will give you a wide overview of the information you gathered in.

In the context of the media industry, it will be seen as reviews and critics of a film, TV show, music video. the opinions will be expressed usually through comments or the rating it received out of a numerical value, This can be used to see what project was received very good and what it consisted of that the audience really enjoyed it, it will mean that you can replicate or gain inspiration from the previous project to be able to reach the success that it did, and see what was not received very well to avoid that, also constructive criticism received will allow you to improve on the current project to be able to make  it a better experience for the target audience that you are doing it for.

However, Opinions are often influenced by a variety of factors, so the data collected will often be biased towards a certain side, so fan websites or asking fans of their favorite artists will mean that you find very biast opinions that are in favor of them. Also if the review or opinions are very long, to be able to pick them out and find a summary of what they are saying will also be a very long and time consuming activity to do, also if you collect a large pool of views then there are bound to be repeated views which means that the second opinion does not matter because the first opinion says the same thing.

Purpose of research

The purpose of research is to, find out the target audience that you are aiming the media product that you are producing. The research method you could use is to use a focus group, which is primary research, this is a more reliable source of information as you will be asking a small group of your target audience to give their opinions and you can see what their preferences are. Another way of finding out your target audience would be through demographics, this is used to classify your target audience in terms of location, this will be found out through secondary research through the internet, as we are in London it will be very hard to classify the target audience, as it is in a very big area. The data provided by the Government will be the most reliable. Demographics will allow me to see where my target audience is located, and i could possibly film where they live, in order to make them personally identify and relate to the music video when they watch it, this will make it more enjoyable for them. 

Another purpose research is to see if the product that you're making will appeal to them and if they will enjoy it, to find out results you could undertake a questionnaire, this is a form of primary research and it will be reliable as you will be collecting the data your self, so there will be no doubt over the reliability of it, however this may take a while as it will be open-ended questions to get the audiences opinions and preferences in a music video, so you will have to deduct what they think about the music video idea, and the questionnaire may not be a very successful type of research as it will take a long time.An example question would be "What do you think makes a music video enjoyable to watch?". The secondary research i could use to find out the preferences of my music video would be to, look at existing songs from that genre, and looking at forums or comments that are left on similar music videos, to see what the reception to it was like and i can shape my music video accordingly, if a video was received very positively i can see what part of it they like and can work out my target audiences preferences and likes about specific parts of the music video, and i will hopefully implement them into my own music video. 

Another purpose of research is to see what conventions of a music video makes it successful, i can find this out by another type of primary research, i can conduct interviews with people who are 'fans' of the genre and ask them questions that are qualitative, that will make them explain what they think makes a music video a success, and use the data that i have collected to use in my music video, the conventions they explain, will be put into consideration when making my own music video. an example question would be "What is the most enjoyable part of a rap music video for you?" .The secondary research i can do to find out what conventions make it successful, can again be used by looking at successful music videos from the same genre, watching the whole music video by my self and see what conventions are included it it, this will require me to deduct all the relevant conventions, but it will give me an idea in what to use in my own music video production. I could follow a similar structure to a successful rap song, and use the conventions that they have included, however this may leave me restricted in terms of creativity, as if i break away from the normal conventions of a rap song, then it will confuse the audience, and may lead them not to like it.

Research reasons