Unit 3 - Research

 Methods of Research

Primary Research - Primary research is information which has been sourced by a researcher(s). This is normally done after secondary research so the researcher has an idea of what they are looking into. After reading secondary research they may be wish to continue their own research in curtain subject areas. This is all in the control of the researcher as they can choose the way research is collected and what questions to ask. Although setting up interviews and sending surveys can be time consuming and costly it does allow the right people's feelings and opinions to be known. So this does mean that money is well spent. I also think that when i talk to people i need to i get a better understanding and i feel like a part of the subject. 

Research Optimus. (2014). Primary Market Research Methods. Available: http://www.researchoptimus.com/article/primary-research-methods.php. Last accessed 18th Jun 2014.

Secondary Research - Secondary research is data which has already been collected and exist for others to read about. There are more reliable sources of secondary, for example if you wanted to find out about a certain event which took place you could read about it on Wikipedia which would inform you but if you were to read a book from someone's perspective who was at the event it would be better. This research can be found in books, websites, magazines and newspapers. Quotes are a good source of information but somtimes newspapers and magazines can be opinionated. 

Data Gathering Agency - Broadcasting Audience Research Board (BARB) is the official source of UK television viewing figures. BARB commissions specialist research complanies to collect data.


(BBC3 - Top 10 - May 26 - Jun 01 2014)

 Self-Generated -  This is a type of primary research which can be done by the researcher themselves rather than gathering data from questionnaires. An example of this is keeping a tally of information of types of adverts of a music chanel, this could tell us who the adverts are aimed at and maybe why? To do this i will firstly write down a list of the adverts and then put them in categories.  

Types of Research

There are two main types of research Quantitative research and Qualitative research. 

1. Quantitative research is when the researchers have thought through and planned how they will carryout the research experiment in a controlled way. The questions will normally be answered yes or no so that the data can be collected easily without having any deeper meaning or thoughts behind the answer. This allows data to be turned into precise mathmatical charts and graphs. Quantitative research is about "how many people did something?" rather than, how what they did effected them? This type of research is about the statistic facts made up of numbers to generalize large groups. 

Example - The Great Gatsby

Total Budget: $160,000,000 | Opening Weekend: $50,085,184 | Worldwide Gross: $351,840,419 


Tickets sold per person in U.S./Canada
 
 

2. Qualitative research is about uncovering the deeper meaning behind the statistics. The research will start with a theory and looking for a patterns in the quantitative research. The data collection may be carried out in several stages as the researchers can may adapt the process mid-way. The reseachers will interview people or observe a set number of people for their reseach. When the data is collected it is not turned into statistics and is not converted into numerical form.

3. Pragmatic Research is a mixed method.  

Alzheimer Europe. (2009). The four main approaches. Available: http://www.alzheimer-europe.org/Research/Understanding-dementia-research/Types-of-research/The-four-main-approaches. Last accessed 18th Jun 2014.

Purpose of Reseach

Audience Research

Knowing and understanding your audience is key for any industry not just film.  The first thing we need to do is to find your target audience for your product.  We do this by building an audience profile, which will feature their behaviour, attitudes and interest.  To find out this information we need to use secondary and primary research. For example if we where going to make a new TV drama aimed at young adults we would want to send a short surveys around colleges and universities.

These surveys would try to understand their TV viewing habits and also to understand their social life such as friends and relationship. Their habits would help us know if we should show a three-part drama or a series based show.  Their social life will help us base episodes on problems young adults face and by watching the program it could help them with their problems. An example of these sorts of helplines is seen at the end of Hollyoaks. 

Once we have are research we can put this information into an audience profile. For example are audience are aged between 16-21 and a mixed gender. They will have a TV in their room where they can watch the show in peace allowing them to relate to the story. They also want to watch something, which is comical but involves serious drama, which could help with their home life. This program should be shown at a time when they will be back from studying so around 7pm.     

 
Market Research

An important component of business strategy is to gather information about target market and customers.  Market research is vital to have an advantage over competitors.  You should frequently analyze the size of the market and its needs. Successful research will allow you to gain an insight into how to make a need for your product in the market.

Production Reseach

Production research helps companies get the most out of their investment and still make a great product for their audience. Companies do this by researching into the finance, location and personnel.  When you go to make a product you need to know whom it is designed for and where you can market it.  Finding sources of finance.  Maybe you could be sponsored globally by using Kickstarter.com or locally by friends. how would you balance income and expenditure? Knowing how much money you should spend on advertisement. You do not want to underspend on adverts because you need people to know the product and to be excited by it. To make sure your project is completed at its full potential you would need to pay for a professional production crew that have the skills the task requires.  You may find that paying a little more money for a crewmember may be worth it because they can over the production a wide skill set that could allow the project to be completed at a higher quality. If you have a tight budget you might not be able to afford an actor so you will have to compensate. This goes for all requirements of the production. 

Once you have your final project you will want to promote it. Maybe you could show it at an exhibition. To make people aware of the date you could use newspapers or magazines, which share a similar audience. You can also market it on social media for example you could have a trailer on YouTube. If you are a small company you might not have ‘in house’ software and professional equipment. As a result of this you may wish to hire equipment and facilities. This is normally cheaper because you might want to use a camera that is expensive to buy and instead you could just hire it for your required time.  If you only need a piece of equipment of one day there is not much point of buying it. In this situation hiring it is the best option. 
 

Tbells. (2010). Market And Production Research in the media Industry . Available: http://schniz-n-tish.blogspot.co.uk/2010/09/market-and-production-research-in-media.html. Last accessed 16th Jun 2014.