Features of Qualitative Research:

- The aim of qualitative research is to be able to get a complete and descriptive section of

information.

- The researcher will have a small understanding of their objective in the project and will need more

detailed information.

- This is the most common method of researching when at the beginning of the project with no

knowledge of the product of service.

- This data is in the form of words, pictures and objects.

- Qualitative data is less efficient and harder to generalise for use.

Example: “Memorable and Great Chick Flicks”

Why is Qualitative Research important?

Qualitative research is important to students as this is the initial form of research when beginning a

project as the students could have a lack of knowledge on their topic and therefore this method of

research means that the students can see through documents and context on their topics to help

them gain more knowledge.

Features of Quantitative Research:

- The aim of quantitative research is to be able to help explain or present your findings when

researching into a particular topic

- The researcher already has a clear understanding of their objective and will find the basic

information needed using quantitative research.

- This is a common research method when beginning a project to gain some information and

understanding of the topic.

- The data is in the form of numbers and statistics.

- Quantitative data is more efficient although it is not descriptive enough as it lacks text.

Example: “MPAA Statistics: Who Goes to the Movies?”

Why is Quantitative Research important?

This method of research is important to students as this helps them to gain a full understanding of

their topic and this is shown through graphs, numbers and statistics. This method also helps students

to back up their own documents on the topic.

Primary Research:

There are some common primary research techniques such as observations, questionnaires, surveys,

focus groups, audience panels and participation in viral questionnaires.

Example: “What’s your favourite type of movie?”

Why is Primary Research important?

Primary is an important method of research as this means that your results from your chosen method

is reliable and means that you aren’t breaking any copyright laws or needing to reference your

findings, this means that this is a more reliable form of research although it is not time or cost efficient.

Secondary Research:

There are some common secondary research methods such as books, journals, reference based

books, periodicals, newspapers, film archives, photo libraries, worldwide web, searching internet

forums, CD ROM databases, audio material, ratings, government statistics.

Example: “Prepare for a new chick flick migration”

Why is Secondary Research important?

Secondary Research is important as it already provides the information that you could be looking for,

although the information is not reliable and could be more opinionated than fact or could even be bias.

Even though you could face difficulty with referencing and copyright, it is a more time and cost

efficient form of research.

Data Gathering Agencies:

Market Research analyses data about a particular target market, competition or environment. This

form of research will usually include both primary and secondary research in order to be able to

collect all the necessary data, the purpose of this is so that a market research project has an

increased understanding of the subject.

Example: “Geographic Information Systems (GIS) at CSA: Mapping Future Collaborations and Data

Gathering”

Why is Data Gathering Agencies important?

Data Gathering is an important method of research as it relates to primary research which means that

when collecting the data, you already have a clear understanding that your source is reliable. This

form of research also relates to audience research as you’re receiving feedback from audiences so

that you can decide on your target audience and on a small scale how successful your product or

service is.

Research Board:

(BARB) The Broadcasters Audience Research Board shows different forms in which audiences have

been recorded in terms of broadcasting on either the radio or television.

Example: “Weekly Viewing Summary”

Why is BARB important?

The Broadcasters Audience Research Board is an important method of research as when deciding to

advertise a product or service, one of the forms of advertising could be radio or television as these are

the most popular. This research method will help a student to depict which station should advertise

their product or

service and to gain a

rough idea as to the volume of their target audience they are affecting.

Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd:

(RAJAR) Radio Joint Audience Research Limited was formed to operate a single audience

measurement for the radio industry, this means that this business is tracking one particular target

audience in order to get a more specific reading that BARB.

Example: “All individuals 15+ for period ending December 2011”

Why is RAJAR important?

Radio Joint Audience Research Limited is an important method of research due to the fact that it is a

more specific form of discovering the percentage of your target audience to your advertising which will

give an advantage of knowing the most effective advertisement process.

Self-Generated:

Self-Generated research means that the information comes directly from yourself, so in other terms a

fact that you know through experience or previous knowledge which means you don’t have to

research in order to know the fact.

Example: Study 4: Questions, Anchors and Results

Why is Self-Generated important?

Self-Generated research is important because it proves that you have knowledge over a topic and did

not need to reference the information because you had a full understanding and didn’t read the

information from another source. This is different to primary research as it still needs to be researched

but not for self-generated information.

Audience Research:

In the beginning stages of a project, researching audiences is used to learn about potential target

audiences for the project or topic. This means that you can use audience research in order to discover

who is to be the target audience and how specific that audience is.

Example: “Youth Tribe Audience Research”

Why is Audience Research important?

Audience Research is important as it will depict your target audience so that the student could gain a

full understanding of their target audience and what their target audience requires in order for their

product or service to be successful.

Market Research:

Market Research is an effort to gather information about markets and customers; it is an important

component in a project because the student is attempting to discover where their product or service

fits into the market and which market.

Example: Market Research

Why is Market Research important?

Market Research is an important form of research as the student would need to discover which

category their product or service would fit into, and this will also help depict his target audience even

more so than just through audience research.

Production Research:

Production Research means that the student has reached the stage of completing all research and

now has the research to help with the production of the product or service. This is the stage where

after all research has been complete, the student must decide and depict the best options from the

amount of research undertaken in the beginning of the project. This also means that all areas of the

product or service need to be researched, such as other competition, legal issues, health and safety

issues etc.

Example: DreamWorks, Film Production Business

Why is Production Research important?

Production Research is important due to the fact that it is known to be the last stage in the research

chain where the student has collected all the necessary data and can now continue to producing the

product or service. The student must also consider the legal issues and health and safety issues

through reading the research again to insure there is no risk of copyright when the student moves on

to the production stage.