Role of Research and
Readership surveys
Definition of Research
Herbert Lee Williams defines ‘Research’ as
“the act of probing for accurate reliable
useful information and of organising that
information so that sound conclusions can be
drawn”.
Research can be simple and inexpensive or
elaborate and costly.
Need for Research
To Promote authenticity and credibility
 To acquire legal protection
 To generate goodwill
 To facilitate investigative journalism
 To facilitate self appraisal
 To improve marketing potential
 To support sales promotion efforts

Types of Research
News Media / News Paper Research can
be broadly classified into 3 broad categories
such as:1. Research about the market.
2. Research about the News Media / News
paper.
3. Product Research.
1.Research about the Market.
Market Research helps the unit as stated below :
To indulge in self appraisal and estimate its position
in the news industry.
To identify market potential and threats.
To understand the requirements of
Advertisers and to provide them with details.
To facilitate the emergence of new ideas.
To understand Dealership problems and potential
To foresee the threat of competition and overcome it.
Research about the Market….
To facilitate Developmental journalism.
To identify the scope for investigative
journalism.
To enable the creation of Reader’s / consumer
panels
To generate content for feature writing.
To plan for growth and expansion.
2.Research about the Newspaper
Research about the News Paper may be conducted from
various angles.
a) On publication aspects:- This kind of research based on
content analysis .
It is conducted through a questionnaire.
b) On circulation aspects:- It is carried out for legal purposes
as well as to provide information to advertisers.
c) On public acceptance / goodwill aspects:- It is carried out
with the help of ‘assisted recall’ method.
d) On technical aspects :- It facilitates the evaluation of
technical and professional excellence, leading to quality
improvement.
3. Product Research
Product research is the latest development
in News Paper research.
It provides vital information to the
manufacturers about the acceptance of a
product in a market.
The news paper Readers Panel provides a
continuous feed back to the manufacturers by
maintaining consumer diaries.
Problems in Research
Identification of the target audience
 Difficulties in gathering demographic data
 Geographical hurdles
 Psychological hurdles.
 Socio legal hurdles
 Political hurdles
 Cultural hurdles.

Research sources
The Secondary research sources may be
listed as below: 28 Indian universities have Departments of
Journalism which publish research findings.
 Indian Institute of Mass communication.
 Dr.Rajendra Prasad Institute of
communication studies.
 Press Institute of India

Research sources…
Research and reference Division of the
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
 National Documentation centre on Mass
Communication, 1976.
 Department of Audio Visual Publicity and
Research (DAVP).
 On line search engines, portals, blogs.
