Research Techniques

Research Techniques

With every successful media product, a large amount of research has been done to create it. Research is finding out what people like and are interested in. Without this research, the product may not sell well, as the target audience is completely off. Whether the product may be a magazine, a television programme or a film, there are always people researching what the audience will enjoy, so that it would be perfect.

Audience Research:

Qualitative audience research engages with relatively small numbers of individuals in order to gain a complex, detailed and in-depth understanding of their experiences and response to a certain thing, which could be their opinion of a magazine or what they think of a certain television programme. Research can be done by having a focus group with members of the public, so that a company can understand their views. Audience research includes audience data, audience profiling, demographics, geodemographics, consumer behavior, consumer attitudes and audience awareness.

Market Research:

Market research is any organised effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy. Market research is a key factor to get advantage over competitors. Market research is the systematic gathering and interpretation of information about organizations or individuals using statistical methods and techniques. The reasoning for market research is to find out about the competition and the completion analysis, product market, advertising placement and advertising effects.

Production Research:

Production research is a component of market research whereby the characteristics of a good or service, that will satisfy a recognised need or want, are identified. Production research is the collection and analysis of information for the content and the production of a media product. Production research is very important. It includes the content, viability, placement media, the finance, costs, technological resources, personnel and locations. Production research can be applied to various products, such as radio presentations, talk TV shows, TV documentaries series etc.

The role of the researcher

A researcher working in the media industry has an important job. The researcher needs to find out about what the audience likes and what they want. This information is important in the creation of successful media product. The researcher’s role can be extremely broad and is such excellent experience for moving on. The researcher supports the Producer, contributing ideas, contacts and sources. They select and interview possible contributors and writes relevant briefings. Without a researcher, the product may not appeal to the correct audience, as information about what the audience wants is not there when creating the product.

What is the purpose of research?

When a successful media product is created, it is made to attract a specific audience. When research is carried out, information about the audience is found out, so that the product will appeal to them, and then become extremely successful. The information likely to be researched would be the audiences age, gender, occupation, their personal preferences to the product, their personal opinions and what they are interested in. Research is carried out because they need to know what the public want, in terms of their product. Three of the most common and useful purposes are exploration, description and explanation. It is conducted to explore the topic or to familiarize oneself with a topic.

Different Research Methods

Research can be done in many different ways; the two main ones are quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative research is using figures. This includes: programme ratings, readership circulation figures, hits on a website, box office figures and the sales of CD’s and DVD’s. It can be qualitative e.g. film reviews, game reviews, fanzine websites, attitudes to media products, responses to news coverage, responses to advertising campaigns and discussion.

Primary research is research that is done by one’s self. This would include interviews, observations, questionnaires, surveys, focus groups, audience panels and participation in internet forums. Secondary research is research already carried out by someone else, and you are just using the information they have gathered. This type of research can be found in many different sources. Such as books, journals, newspapers, periodicals, film archives, photo libraries, the internet and internet forums, ratings and circulation figures.  Research can also be self-generated. This is own videos, audio or photographic records of events.

Pros and Cons

There are many pros and cons of using different methods of research. Qualitative research including figures is helpful as they provide solid information about the ratings of a TV show, the selling of a product, or the readership of a magazine. Quantitative research provides peoples opinions of products and reviews, which is helpful.