The Nature and Purpose of
Research in the Creative Media
Industries
Sarah Round
Primary Data
Primary data is valuable information you obtain yourself for a query or hypothesis.
This data can be collated by asking questions, maybe via a questionnaire or survey, and
conducting trials.
Big questions may be asked in the filming Industry on certain elements of a movie. These
can be tested by trial screenings.
For example:
(Tvtropes.org) DreamWorks questioned including the loss of
Hiccups leg in How to Train your Dragon. Of course to some this may be upsetting but the
audience took a liking to it and encourage it to be kept in the movie.
Surveys are used to acquire information from a section of a population.
Surveys are usually for topics that are quite general, though would be tricky to ask everyone.
Here is a survey on people’s general
internet usage.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/general-internet-usage-template
This could help with advertisement
of a project, if people generally
used the internet a lot then it would be
seen as a good method to use.
Also on how to execute the ad’
as popular as possible.
Analysing previous work
Primary data can be acquired at analysing past projects similar to the one
in preparation, market data.
This will help see what elements work with the target audience, and also
see what is missing from ‘the scene’.
Advantages
The information will be more reliable to the focus.
The amount of data should me more acquirable.
Disadvantages
Takes more time and planning
May not be feasible, too hard to conduct a proper investigation
Secondary Data
Secondary data collected information for a pass cause which can be
used for other projects.
Secondary can be found in textbooks, or records of some kind;
For example the census could help provide valuable data.
But really you can find secondary data most places that store data.
There are websites which provide loads of secondary
data on television subjects such as the size of the
audience for a programme, or what channel has the
biggest audience. BARB, Broadcaster's Audience
Research Board, is one of these sites.
Here is a table showing the the most popular
TV shows on 4Music on 7th Sep’ 2014. This
could help a producer to see what the
audience of 4Music like the best to see if it
would be beneficial to publish their show on
that channel.
Advantages
It takes less time to collect,
easier to access,
and it’s cheaper than primary data
Disadvantages
May not be completely appropriate or accurate enough.
There will be a lack of control of the data.
Quantitative Data
Quantitative data is data that is usually numerous,
it’s something that can be measured.
These statistics are usually very clear, and straight to the point. There is usually one area of
investigation, so only one group of information.
Here is quantitative data on how many people listen to the radio in the space of half a
year. This presents multiple quantitative data in a infographic, showing that the majority of
the UK tune into the and shows which time of the year they listen to the radio the most.
This could help someone in the media
industry as radio can help promote a piece,
therefor you would plan to publish it at a
time that many people are listening. Also
if they have the time to listen to the radio
a lot they may have more time to watch TV.
Advantages
Easy to organize and analyze.
Correlations are found easier.
Disadvantages
Lack information on the cause.
The bigger the number of results the better, therefor takes more time to
gather results.
Qualitative Data
Qualitative data is data that cannot be measured, it is more concerned
with something non numerical, for example someone’s
opinion on a statement.
There aren’t websites to gather secondary information as easily for qualitative data as
it is very sensitive and precise to the cause. It is data that is more helpful when
researched primarily. Here is a table I found, it has 5 people and includes 7 pieces of
information, these are qualitative as they are pieces of personal information.
This kind of information is necessary to
research as it helps you understand your
target audience better. These pieces of
information can help you determine what to
feature from the age range, what time to put
it on depending on the occupation and
if subtitles are needed, the table suggests
English is their second language.
Advantages
‘Freedom’ to investigate more on the subject.
Presents more detailed information.
Helps with social causes, such as media, as it looks at opinions.
Disadvantages
Time consuming.
The data’s meaning can be interpreted differently.
Data Gathering Agencies
Data Gathering agencies are what it says, they ‘gather’, collect, data for things
such as media audiences.
Two of these agencies that are helpful to Media are:
National Readership Survey (NRS)
This website provides information on the amount of audience for newspapers
and magazines. It provides the number of audience, audience of different ages
and how the audience views the page. Here’s an example of the later.
Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR)
They provide the statistics of the UK audience for 310
radio stations. Again they may present the data in age groups,
this website also states where the audience are (but
subscription is necessary). This data is presented in infographics like -
Audience Research
Audience profiling is finding out the economic and social characteristics of
the target audience.
Demographics is the study of factors from a population such as age, gender,
employment, ect.
Geodemographics concentrate on demographics of a population in a specific
geographical area.
Using demographics are helpful as they
help the researcher determine the target
audience and how big that audience may
be, as well as other factors that could
effect the target audience.
Audience Research
Psychographics are the study of people based on the personality, aspiration and other
psychological areas.
Both demographics and psychographics are helpful in
audience research as they help you understand your
target audience better: who’s in the audience, how much
they may invest, what they want, what they need,
how it may effect their lives.
Market Research
Market research is gathering information about the audiences’ needs and preferences,
however unlike audience research this information is gathered by looking at other products,
or services ect, the audience like and dislike.
The information collected about the competitors will consist of figures such as what the
product or service is, how popular it is, reviews, pricing, location. Basically information
that effects the target audience.
In this article from Qualtrics.com
it explains how Coke apparently
lost millions from releasing
“New Coke” but the wrong
or lack of marketing research
lead them in the wrong direction.
So this is very important as if
you don’t research enough
or in the right ‘area’ it could
lead the final result to not be
as successful as expected.
Thank You
For Reading