Unit 1: P1, M1, D1Why would you complete research if you were creating a new media product?

• To find out if your target audience would buy your product• To find out how much you could sell your product for• To find out how to make your product more appealing to your target audience• To find out how to market your product to your target audience

Method Definition Advantage Disadvantage

Primary

Going out and physically collecting the data yourself for a specific purpose. This can be done through questionnaires, focus groups etc……

You can gather specific information through specifically chosen questionsData will be accurate and up-to-date

Time consumingPeople might not answer the questions honestly – inaccurate data.

Secondary

Gathering data that has already been collected for another purpose (by somebody else). This can be done through the internet, magazines etc…….

This is a quick process to obtain dataUsually cheaper – (not paying anybody to collect the data)Wide choice of data – more information

Can be really expensive to pay for such dataMay be biasedOutdatedInaccurate

Quantitative

Quantitative research is a logical approach which is a method that is used to determine and generalize the results from a large sample audience. It quantifies people’s opinions, reviews, attitudes and behaviours using measurable data, making it easier to spot patterns in data. This can be obtained through, internet surveys and questionnaires.

It is easy to spot patterns in the data by looking at the mode of numbers and positions of data.

It averages the feelings of candidates, making it easier to analyse the results and create data groups.

Results are limited as they provide numerical descriptions rather than detailed analysis and human perception.

Can be expensive and not suited to the type of information required

Has to be conducted frequently as numbers changed often

Qualitative

Qualitative research is a type of market research that aims to find out people’s opinions and feelings rather than a rating of numerical value. A deeper insight into the results.

Looks deeper into the results with ‘why’ and ‘how’ the results have been obtained by recording attitudes, feelings and behaviours.

Collection of qualitative data is generally more time consuming so is necessary to include a smaller sample size.

Unit 1: P1, M1, D1It can be joined with quantitative data collection and therefore explain in more detail why a particular response was given.

Because fewer people are studied, it is difficult to generalise the results.

It can be difficult to compare results as responses differ.

What research methods did you use when completing the assignments in year 10 for Unit 9: Photography Techniques – Portrait and Magazine covers? (e.g. primary, secondary, qualitative, quantitative)

For my Year 10 photography research I used secondary research a lot of the time when researching existing magazines, common styles, content and fonts and when deciding which magazine to re-create. This was mainly through the use of the internet. However I did use primary research occasionally when annotating my own magazines. I mainly used qualitative research as I need the depth of perception when deciding about colouring and imagery so the use of numerical collection was unnecessary.

What research techniques did you use when completing the assignments in year 10 for Unit 9: Photography Techniques – Portrait and Magazine covers? (e.g. using the library, the internet, watching videos, reading info, recces, practises, plans etc)

Again when researching my style, content and features of my portrait and magazine cover I used the internet all the time. I read information such as ‘colour connotations’ on web pages and many other helpful tips when designing a magazine cover. Occasionally I would watch videos. I would do this when I needed to learn how to construct something on Photoshop. I would then practice a skill that I had just watched or read to see whether it would work, so it was a case of trial and improvement most of the way through.

How did you collate, store and use the information trail for Unit 9 ? (e.g. did you book mark key websites? Keep a list of websites used? Print off or save any info for your folders?)

When I had found or annotated a magazine cover I would save that cover (into my documents) to refer to if I thought I could replicate any of the features in my own cover. Occasionally if I had found a detailed web page that had answers to

Unit 1: P1, M1, D1my questions I would often just copy and save the link on a word document ready to access quickly for the next time

How and why might you use the four research methods in a real life situation? For example if you worked for the BBC and were tasked with creating a new reality TV show how might you use the four research methods to help?

I would use primary research methods to specifically design a questionnaire or conduct a focus group on the thoughts and feelings of a similar reality TV show. This would also link in with the use of qualitative research by obtaining deep attitudes, thoughts and feelings of each audience member and try and adapt my product according to these feelings and cater for all audience members.

I would also use secondary research when creating a new reality TV show. I would use the internet to look at reality TV show reviews and maybe even iconic scenes and plots that run throughout a reality show.

Finally I would use quantitative research methods, for example BARB’s audience research website, to gain numerical results. I would need to know the number of people and at what time they would watch a similar TV show. I could then easily group this data and compare it to other channels or programme times. It could then be joined with qualitative research to explain why a certain number of people and of what gender watch a type of programme.

All methods would have to be used to accurately obtain all thoughts and feelings of my potential audience members and estimate the likely demand and the level of success that my TV show would receive.