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Research unit booklet
1. Research Unit
Information Booklet
This booklet is designed for fellow students on the importance of research
Contents
Chapter #1:
Quantitative and Qualitative Research
Page 3-4
2. Chapter #2:
Methods & sources of research
Page 5-8
Chapter #3:
DATA GATHERING AGENCIES
Page9-10
Chapter #4:
Research board (barb) and radio joint audience research ltd (rajar)
Page 10-11
Chapter #5:
Self-Generated RESEARCH
Page 12
Chapter #6:
Purposes of research
Page 13-17
Chapter #1:
Quantitative and Qualitative Research
Why is this chapter important?
This chapter is important for many reasons. One of the reasons why
this chapter is important is that it helps define what Quantitative
Research is and why it’s important. It also helps define its counterpart,
Qualitative Research and why that is important. This chapter is also
important as, whilst it gives the definitions in a detailed manner, it also presents a table below if you are left
confused, making it a lot easier to understand the main differences between the two types of research, with
an example being that Quantitative Research features closed questioning techniques whilst Qualitative
Research features more open-ended questioning techniques. This chapter is also important as it gives
examples on how students could go about collecting either one or both of these type of research clearly and
finally has in-depth information that gives a wider context on the world of Quantitative and Qualitative
Research.
What is Quantitative research?
Quantitative Research is a research technique found in social sciences that investigates social phenomena using statistical, mathematical
or computational techniques. The use of Quantitative Research usually comes under the social sciences of psychology, economics,
sociology and political science with less frequency in anthropology and history.
Quantitative research usually includessurveys, customer questionnaires and panel research that can help small firms and businesses
3. improve on their products and services as this enables them to make informed decisions. When discussing the use of surveys, customer
questionnaires and more for Quantitative Research, typically it’s not just to help small firms and businesses improve on their products but
at its core to ask people for their opinions in a structured manner so that it is easier to produce facts and statistics. It is important to get
these reliable statistical results as surveying in large numbers can help produce a representative sample for a business’s target market. The
questionnaires themselves can also be used to measure how people might feel, think or act and consist of closed questions or questions
with set responses.
However, these Quantitative methods typically produce information for particular cases and generate conclusions that are only
hypotheses but the Quantitative methods themselves can help verify which of such hypotheses are true. Since this type of research is
generally used for scientific methods, it can usually be found in not just models, theories and hypotheses but the development of
instruments and methods for measurement, experimental control and manipulation of variables and the collection of empirical data.
All in all, Quantitative Research is the numbers behind market research. It is about measurement and attachment to numbers in a market,
such as market size, share or market growth rates but can also be used to measure attitudes, satisfaction and commitment. The data
gathered is absolute, such as numerical data and is examined in the highest unbiased manner possible. It comes later into a project’s
research but that doesn’t hide the fact that it’s able to generate numerical data into a statistical review with a simple example of this being
that of “How much did you enjoy the Wine? Under this very question please state from 1 to 5 where you would rate the wine with one
being severely disappointed and 5 being extremely pleased.”
What is Qualitative research?
Qualitative Research is a research technique found in social sciences as well as market research that investigates the why and how of
social phenomena instead of the what. Qualitative Research’s aim is to gather in-depth understanding of human behavior and thus,
smaller more focused surveys and types of research takes place in order to consist with qualitative research’s aim.
Qualitative Research can be used to collect data with different approaches whether that be storytelling, classical ethnography, narratology
or grounded theory practice. Whilst surveys and the types of research Quantitative Research holds still has its place in Qualitative
Research, the forms of data are typically more loose and consist of group discussion, observations, interviews and various other text and
imagery-based materials. This type of research can often be categorized into patterns in order to give a primary basis for results and help
makes the more, focused replies from social phenomena on the why and how and not the who, what and when, a lot easier to organize.
The information is unstructured when it’s analyzed and doesn’t just reply on statistics or numbers, unlike quantitative research. It’s often
used to gain insight into people’s attitudes and behaviors, their concerns, motivations, aspirations, culture and or lifestyles. With this
information, it can help inform business decisions and policy formation as well as build a greater understanding of communication.
All in all, qualitative research is naturalistic. There are three major focus areas: the individuals, the societies and cultures, with language
and communication included. Qualitative Research allows the researches to learn from the participants of understand the meaning of
their lives as well being standing alone and reliably in terms of its responses and validity.
Table displaying the key differences between quantitative and qualitative information:
Quantitative Information Qualitative Information
Large Samples Smaller Samples
Statistically Valid Directional Findings
Analyses Numbers – How Many think “what?” Analyses Thoughts and Feelings
Closed Questioning Techniques (Less Open Questioning Techniques
Opportunity to ask “why?”)
Who thinks what? (Measuring) Why do people think/behave as they do?
(Explaining)
Analyzed in Aggregate Allows us to provide anecdotal type
information – for example, we can highlight
case examples for “interesting” companies to
demonstrate certain points
HOW WOULD STUDENTS GO ABOUT DOING THIS?
4. Students could go about gathering Quantitative Information by making sure they have a large sample rate of people and asking them
questions in a survey that is closed questioning and is the analysis of number as that helps explains better the “what” and can be seen as
statistically valid. An example would be what was mentioned earlier with the definition of Quantitative Information with the wine
question.
For Qualitative Information, students could go about gathering a much small sample rate of people and making their surveys or
questionnaires a lot more specific but also allowing them to be loose and open ended questions. This would help analysis the thoughts
and feelings of the people and give directional findings on why people think and behave as they do. It gives explaining and gives an
interesting take of the study and an example of this could be to find why the people thought the wine tasted good and bad and give their
reasoning, expanding on the wine question example for Quantitative Research.
Sources:
Quantitative Research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_research
http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/market-research/what-is-quantitative-research-
http://www.medicine.ox.ac.uk/bandolier/booth/glossary/qualres.html
http://www.marketresearchworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11&Itemid=64
http://www.dobney.com/Research/quantitative_research.htm
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-the-difference-between-quantitative-and-qualitative-research.htm
http://rmsbunkerblog.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/what-is-quantitative-research/
http://www.snapsurveys.com/techadvqualquant.shtml
Qualitative Research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research
http://www.qsrinternational.com/what-is-qualitative-research.aspx
http://www.marketresearchworld.net/index.php?Itemid=64&id=10&option=com_content&task=view
http://www.health.utah.edu/qrn/what.html
http://www.qualitativeresearch.org.uk/
http://www.experiment-resources.com/quantitative-and-qualitative-research.html
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/about-ons/who-we-are/services/data-collection-
methodology/what-is-qualitative-research-/index.html
Chapter #2:
Methods & sources of research
Why is this chapter important?
This chapter is important for many reasons. One of the reasons why this chapter is important is that it helps
detail the differences between primary and secondary research in a clear table detailed below but it is also
important if you want to find various examples of research that are consisted in primary and secondary. It also
defines what exactly these types of research are and that is the final reason why this chapter is important.
There are 2main types/methods/sources of Research you need to consider:
Primary & Secondary Research
PRIMARY RESEARCHcan consist of the following:
INTERVIEW TECHNIQUES:
Techniques used for Interviewing which can consist between the interviewer and the
Interviewee. The interviewer usually has a strict set of techniques used to gather Research, mostly in a job scenario which typically lead
with an introduction and give open-ended questions, whilst the Interviewee decides to ask to the best of their ability, as clearly as possible
depending on the circumstances.
OBSERVATIONS
Observations are activities or an activity in which you look back at a living being to gather Research; this could be to look at medical
records or anything similarity to help expand the Research Statistics needed for a chosen purpose.
5. QUESTIONNAIRES
Questionnaires are research instruments that consist of a series of questions in order to gather research. They are often designed for
statistical analysis from the responses and have certain advantages over surveys in that they are cheap and don’t require as much effort or
communication.
SURVEYS
Surveys tend to be more expensive and time consuming than Questionnaires but share many different variations, designs and purposes.
Surveys are used to gather Quantitative Information which, as explained above in the table detailing the differences between Quantitative
and Qualitative Information, it is statistically more valid and less open-ended but instead closed-ended than the questionnaires and consist
of rather specific measures but of large samples requiring surveys to take a lot longer than their counterpart, questionnaires.
TYPES OF QUESTIONS
Not all Research has the same questions and that you need consider the types of question you are going to put into your research
gathering methods in order to obtain it. Some of these questions can be very different with such examples as Open-Ended Questions,
Closed-Ended Questions, Hypothetical Questions, Leading Questions, Multi-Barreled Questions and Behavioral Questions.
FOCUS GROUPS
Focus Groups is a form of Qualitative Research whereby a group of people asked about their perceptions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes
towards a certain service, product, concept, advertisement, idea or packaging. Focus Groups can prove useful as in large quantities; a
focus group can persuade an organization into buying into a project from within the company. They tend to be cheap and easy to
assemble, along with being good for capturing rich data but hold limitations as responses of each participated individual might not be so
independent.
AUDIENCE PANELS
Audience Panels are a method of Research, primarily presented as feedback by the
public when they are asked on their thoughts and opinions. You usually find
audience panels within a Television Programme or outside a Television
programme but they are taken part in Radio Broadcasts and other forms of
media as well. Having an Audience Panel can be useful but rather experience,
depending whether it’s incorporated into the television programme itself, such as a
Game Show Television Programme or rather
PARTICIPATION IN INTERNET FORUMS
Participation in Internet forums is a method of Research as a forum is a place
on the internet whereby people can discuss whatever they want across a wide
range of subjects, so long as they go by the rules of the moderators and
because of this, this can help build research and give understanding on a
chosen topic as it allows people of all ages and places to experience their
opinions or thoughts of whatever it might be but it shouldn’t be considered as
fact.
SECONDARY RESEARCH can consist of the following:
BOOKS
Books are a method of Research as they are written material that can store a variety of research due to their flexibility of being written
into almost any context
JOURNAL
Journals are a form of Research as they can contain records which can provide useful information for specific reasons
REFERENCE-BASED BOOKS AND DIRECTORIES
Reference-based books and directories are written pieces of Research that can prove useful in terms of finding a certain local or a
reference to a piece of information.
PERIODICALS
Periodicals are a form of Research that is written literature that is published with a new edition on a regular schedule for a certain amount
of time or forever existing so long as the company goes out of business
NEWSPAPERS
Newspapers are a form of Research and Periodicals that are released on a regular schedule, usually on a weekly basis and contain
different articles and news stories that try to appeal to one specific audience or a general audience.
FILM ARCHIVES
6. Film Archives are a form of Research that hold of film across many years of its lifespan in the way of an archive where many films will be
organized by date of publishing, director, producer, genre and other sub categories.
PHOTO LIBRABIES
Photo Libraries are a form of Research that holds many similarities to Film Archives as they hold Photographs in a categorical, organized
manner but display them in a library of sorts other than an archive which is typically more classy.
WORLDWIDE WEB
Worldwide Web, Abbreviated as WWW is a form of Research that runs through most of the computers across the globe, hence the name
and gives a lot of opening for research and information to be published.
SEARCHING INTERNET FORUMS
Searching Internet Forums can be considered a form of Research by looking at Internet Forums that can contain potential useful
information to further Researching. Searching Internet forums could mean looking up various other forums in Search Engines or looking
within the forums themselves in their own threads.
CD ROM DATABASES
CD ROM Databases are a form of Research that come in the form of CD ROM’s that contain databases that, in turn, can contain
information that be useful for Research Purposes
AUDIO MATERIALS
Audio Materials are a form of Research in the auditoria sector that can have materials such as Podcasts or Sound Effects that you can
listen to in order to build up your Research
RATINGS
Ratings are a form of Research that can sometimes come in the form of words or numerical values in order to express an opinion which
can prove useful for discovering critical feedback by other people for your Research practices.
CIRCULATION FIGURES
Circulation Figures are a form of Research that usually consist of figures to portray how much a certain product Is sold, newspapers usually
use circulation figures but these can prove useful in understanding marketing and financial aspects of a product when researching it.
GOVERNMENT STATISTICS
Government Statistics are a form of Research that are certified statistics from the Government that cover a wide range of things to either
give out a message or to bring some legitimacy to a chosen topic of discussion, usually quite controversial.
Table displaying the key differences between primary and secondary research:
PRIMARY RESEARCH SECONDARY RESEARCH
Data created by yourself Data created from an already existing source
(Someone else)
Tends to be less ethical, mostly down to your Tends to be more ethical, so long as you consider
own perspective and research technique your source material
Data that hasn’t been collected before Data that is analyzing existing data
Research taken from Scratch Research has necessary data available
Constructed by Primary Sources Constructed by data collected by someone else
More Direct More analytical
Sources:
Primary Research
Interview Techniques:
http://www.interviewtechniques.org.uk/interviewing-techniques-and-tips.html
http://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice/interview-techniques
8. Searching Internet Forums:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Internet_forum_software
CD-ROM Databases:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-ROM
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/C/CD_ROM.html
http://searchcio-midmarket.techtarget.com/definition/CD-ROM
Audio Materials:
http://www.miusa.org/ncde/tipsheets/languageguide/infoguide/audiomaterials
http://www.loc.gov/rr/record/audiodup.html
http://www.shared-visions.com/explore/libraries/audio.htm
Ratings:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rating
http://www.esrb.org/esrbratings_guide.asp
Circulation Figures:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspaper_circulation
Government Statistics:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/hub/index.html
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/publications/all-releases.html?definition=tcm:77-21589
Differences between Primary & Secondary Research:
http://www.ask.com/questions-about/Difference-between-Primary-and-Secondary-Research
http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-primary-research-and-vs-secondary-research/
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_primary_and_secondary_research
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080316084303AA4dewT
http://custompapers.com/writing-tutorial/primary-secondary-sources/
http://uk.ask.com/question/what-is-the-difference-between-primary-and-secondary-research
Chapter #3:
DATA GATHERING AGENCIES
Why is this chapter important?
This chapter is important as it helps describe what a data gathering agency is, their role and other features in a
simplistic but also rather detailed manner. There are also some examples of data gathering agency featured in
this chapter to help build a bigger scope and make the role, the purpose and ultimately, the understanding of
what a data gathering agency is a lot easier. This chapter features a total of three prime examples of data
gathering agencies with others being found in the sources.
What IS A DATA GATHERING AGENCY?
A Data Gathering Agency, as you would imagine, is an agency that collects data for various different purposes
with various different methods. Some of these methods could include filling in surveys or taking part in
interview in order to gather data. This data could then be used in products in order to improve It or even for
the government, it really just depends what is the purpose for but many people will go out to data gathering
agencies as they can find there skills useful and enjoy the prospect of many people, working as a team,
gathering data for them as it can help save time and money for the individual or business.
9. EXAMPLE OF A DATA GATHERING AGENCY:
Sul& Associates
Sul& Associates is a professional Monitoring and Evaluation firm that serves clients with culturally competent
practices. The data gathering agency provides technical assistance for government agencies, non-profited
community-based organization, schools, regional clinics and other originations.
They provide the data, assessments, research and evaluations as services to all these types of organisations
and have skills to provide these into the two broad areas of research methods being that of qualitative and
quantitate. Sul& Associates has been taking this on board since 2001 and is a limited liability corporation.
Sources:
http://sulandassociates.com/?page_id=13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_assessment
http://www.hesa.ac.uk/content/view/602/603/
http://www.marketresearchworld.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=3448&Itemid=76
http://www.business.com/sales-and-marketing/market-research-data/
http://www.intelligence.gov/about-the-intelligence-community/how-intelligence-works/data-gathering.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hsrinfo/datasites.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DoubleClick
http://www.indiamart.com/varahii-consultancy/
http://www.marketinsightconsultants.com/
http://www.marketresearchindia.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKQA
http://dir.indiamart.com/indianservices/market.html
Chapter #4:
RESEARCH BOARD (BARB) & radio joint audience research ltd (rajar)
Why is this chapter important?
This chapter is important for many reasons. One of the reasons why this
chapter is important is that it helps define B.A.R.B.; the Broadcaster’s
Audience Research Board as well as defines R.A.J.A.R., Radio Joint Audience
Research Limited. Both of which are important factors in the world of
Research Regulation and Analysis. Furth more, this chapter isn’t just
important to explain what both companies/boards are, but to display their
10. importance amongst the world of media and research whilst occasionally slotting in interesting tidbits to keep
you interested.
BROADCASTERS AUDIENCE RESEARCH BOARD (BARB):
The Broadcaster’s Audience Research Board, which can also be abbreviated as B.A.R.B. is responsible for
providing the official measurement of UK television audiences. They commission specialist companies to help
provide television audience measurement in service of their behalf. They are responsible for providing
estimates of the number of people watching television across a varied amount of channels and
analysesprogrammes as well. The various catergorised that come under the viewing data can be when they are
watching these programmes or channels, the type of people who are viewing at any one time and can get very
specific with second by second data delivery program they are under at a minute by minute basis.
The viewing estimates themselves are obtained from a panel of television owning private homes to help
represent the viewing behavior of over 26 million TV households within the UK. The panel homes are selected
with multistage sample design in order to make the panel representative for all the television households
across the UK. The survey is carried out on a continuous basis and is a random probability survey which allows
the opportunity of every private household within the UK to have an interview conducted. These face to face
conducted interviews can vary in length but they help ensure that the panel can be updated and adjusted in
order to get a stronger reflection on the television owning population.
With all this research, the numbers BARB provide become very important for commercial television stations as
the higher the BARB numbers, the more money a television station will make. BARB is owned by the BBC, the
ITV companies, Channel 4, Five, BSkyB and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising.
Radio joint audience research limited (rajar):
RAJAR also abbreviated as Radio Joint Audience Research Limited was a measurement system for the radio
industry established in 1992 by BBC and UK licensed commercial stations. It is operated as a single audience
measurement system is the company is wholly owned by the RadioCentre.
The method in which RAJAR goes about in order to collect measurements for the radio industry is based on a
paper diary which is filled on a quarter-hour basis for one week by a representative sample. Approximately
130,000 people complete the RAJAR diary with the research itself carried out by contractors. Controversy
springs to mind with the collection methods as the diary method has been criticized for consistently under
reporting station audiences, notably with the former owner of TalkSport, Kelvin MacKenzie but when this
came to court it was “impossible to see” his case.
RAJAR has conducted extensive testing of electronic devices by picking up encoded signals within station
transmission and is then further captured in a database of all transmissions. This allows measurements to be
captured for ‘conscious’ and ‘unconscious’ listening but as of 2007, RAJAR has taken a joint venture with BARB
with the establishment of an electronic measurement panel with the further testing of ‘The Portable People
Meter’ in order to capture radio listening and TV viewing.
Sources:
Research Board (BARB):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcasters'_Audience_Research_Board
http://www.bbc.co.uk/journalism/glossary/journalism/broadcasters-audience-research.shtml
http://www.barb.co.uk/about/tv-measurement?_s=4
http://www.companiesintheuk.co.uk/ltd/broadcasters-audience-research-board
http://finds.org.uk/blogs/blog/category/broadcasters-audience-research-board/
http://www.creationvideo.co.uk/videolibrary/corporate/barb/
http://www.upmystreet.com/findmynearest/community-charities-and-advice/broadcasters-audience-research-board-ltd-located-in-
westminster-5943248B-research-institutions-and-organisations.html
http://www.ofcom.org.uk/static/archive/itc/itc_publications/itc_notes/view_note66.html
http://www.localmole.co.uk/business/4525489
11. http://www.barb.co.uk/index/index
http://www.barb.co.uk/report/weeklyTopProgrammesOverview?
http://www.barb.co.uk/facts/index
http://www.barb.co.uk/facts/since1981?year=2008&view=top10
http://www.barb.co.uk/facts/tv-ownership-private?_s=4
http://www.barb.co.uk/news/index
http://www.barb.co.uk/news/news?_s=4
Radio Joint Audience Research LTD (RAJAR):
http://www.rajar.co.uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAJAR
http://www.rajar.co.uk/content.php?page=about_organisation
http://www.rsmb.co.uk/
http://www.cdrex.com/radio-joint-audience-research-limited-3177261.html
http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/sound/radio/radioresearch/research.html
https://www.outsellinc.com/data/companies/profile/8088-outsell-company-profile-radio-joint-audience-research-limited-rajar-
http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/Press-Office/Rajars/
http://www.rajar.co.uk/docs/news/data_release_2011_Q1.pdf
http://www.rajar.co.uk/content.php?page=listen_release_dates
http://www.rajar.co.uk/content.php?page=news
Chapter #5:
Self-generated RESEARCH
Why is this chapter important?
This chapter is important as gives a clear definition on what self-generated research is. Knowing this can lead
to further understanding of what self-generated research by giving certain examples of what could be
considered as self-generated research, thus explaining why this chapter is important.
What IS SELF-GENERATED RESEARCH?
Self-Generated Research is Research that is provided on your own merits. This is Research that you created
and have originality to it, whether it is a video you produced yourself, a music piece or photographic records of
events. This could simply see as your forms of media and that is correct but it becomes Self-Generated
Research when you’re looking back at your own produced content for your or someone else’s Research
Purposes.
EXAMPLES OF SELF-GENERATED RESEARCH:
Your Own Video:
Video Production you’ve made which becomes Research once you are looking into elements of filming
techniques and shot types, so long as you’re looking back at your own work
Your Own Photography Collection –
Photography Collection that includes photographs, typically in a binder folder that becomes Research once you
consider yourself a photography “artist” and are looking at other elements of photography, involving your
work.
12. Your own Music Piece -
Likewise with the photography collection, your music piece becomes Research once you look into involving
elements of music, just remembering to consider yours as a piece of Music worth researching.
Sources:
http://sites.google.com/site/visualrepresentationproject/research-overview
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/self-generated
http://www.scholars.umd.edu/events/showcase/
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1612263
Chapter #6:
PURPOSES OF RESEARCH
Why is this chapter important?
Similarly with Chapter #5: Self-Generated Research, this chapter is important for two main reasons. One of the
reasons why this chapter is important as it gives defines Research as a whole into three main categories:
Audience Research, Market Research and Production Research and with this can lead to the second of the two
reasons on why this chapter is important and that is because, since it is categorized into this three main types
of research, it helps arrange the various purposes of research in a clear format to help give a greater
understanding on the purpose of Research.
There are 3main types OF RESEARCH ALONG WITH THEIR OWN DIFFERENT PURPOSES,
THESE TYPES OF RESEARCH ARE:
AUDIENCE RESEARCH, MARKET RESEARCH & PRODUCTION RESEARCH
Audience research
The purposes of audience research:
There are many different purposes when it comes to Audience Research. Audience Data is a big part of research in the
media and it holds many different purposes when it becomes linked with overall audience research.
There is audience profiling in which you find out the correct profile of your audience beforehand. This allows you to get
across your message to the right people for the most effective results. Categories can include that of age, sex, educational
qualification, work experience, financial background, interests, mood, etc. It’s very in depth and helps delegate more
13. specific information correctly for the best results.
Along with audience profiling, there are other purposes to audience research such as demographics and geodemographics.
Demographics are studies based on the characteristics of human populations and population segments. These are
important in terms of audience research as they allow clearer identification of consumer markets. They help indicate
growing population within businesses and other companies but demographics are slightly different.
Geo demographics are a form of study that are typically used in business, social research and public policy making geo
demographics a strong choice in the field of audience research. They are used to study human population dynamics but in
terms of the location of the physical and human phenomena on Earth. They share very similarities with demographics but
slight differences as well with the fact that geo demographics are more based on human population in terms of space and
location and not in general.
In short, demographics are the study of the characteristics of human populations, geo demographics are the study of
characteristics of human populations within terms of location and space but both are good methods of audience research
and help indicate growing population in a field of different elements which is why they are good methods. They are both
important methods as they can provide consumer behavior, attitudes and overall audience awareness when looking into
audience research.
Market Research
The purposes of market research:
There are many different purposes when it comes to Market Research. One of them is in the product market.
Product Market is purely a mechanism that allows people to easily buy and sell products. Services are typically included in
the scope of things and product market regulation is the term used to describe economic restrictions in a particular field or
market. Various different countries have what is called an OECD ranking, a ranking by the organization for economic co-
operation and development that helps stimulate economic progress and world trade. It does not include however the
exchange of raw materials, scarce resources, factors of production or any type of intermediate goods. Instead it includes
the others and the total of value of goods exchanged each year is measured by a gross domestic product. Demand side
includes such elements as net exports, government purchases and more whilst the supply side of product markets is
production business based.
Countries such as The United Kingdom have some of the lower OECD rankings which make them have the least regulated
product markets. It’s important to know this as you can understand what’s in and what’s out and what countries are most
effective for buying and selling under the OECD but the product market is very important and almost essential since
without a product market, companies can go burst overnight and the mechanism that once allowed people to buy and sell
goods easily, is now a lot tougher, not just on the buyers or the sellers but everyone and can effective an almost global
economic struggle so it’s important to have a product market and organizations such as OECD as they help stimulate this
economic progress and world trade.
Competition is extremely common in all fields of life as well in the field of market research. There are three levels of
economic competition that can be identified. Direct competition is the narrowest form where products that perform the
same function compete against each other. Another form is a substitute or indirect competition which is where products of
very close similarities compete for one another’s dominance and lastly the broadest form of competition, budget
competition which is where companies try and compete on the consumer’s expenditure.
It is very important that with competition all around and in market research that analysis is taken hold as it is an important
strategic process. Some business might work best on their own plans and ignore competition but others, it’s critical. Some
can be obsessed with locating all the actions of its competitions in order to be top dog or just to keep up and stay in the
game. Many businesses copying their competitors moves or react to changes similarly but do it in such a way to set them
apart from the rest. Competitor analysis generally helps management and understanding of the advantages and
disadvantages when relating to their competitors and can help generate an understanding of the competitors past, present
and future strategies as well as provide and develops strategies that could prove useful in the future if needed.
Simple Competitive Analysis could include the links of this table below:
14. Criteria PETCO.com PetSmart.com
Products No specific products, links to product categories and specials Home page features six products
Search box Upper-left-hand corner, adjacent to primary navigation Upper-right-hand corner, between primary navigation and account
navigation
Navigation Primary navigation organized by pet. Additional navigation for Primary navigation organized by pet. Additional navigation for
retail services account management
Contact Linked from left-hand navigation Linked from top navigation
information
This small competitive analysis table helps look into two particular the home page contents of two prominent pet-related
web sites that so happen to be competitors and helps illustrate in different categories, criteria that helps provide a
comparison of the two pet-related web sites in a competitive manner and whilst it is simple, simple competitive analysis
such as this still displays two critical dimensions and that is the competitors themselves and the criteria they provide,
which is also known as competitive framework with the purpose of this being able to present data to make it easier to see
how various competitors compare when their criteria is put alongside each other.
Lastly, in the field of Market Research is advertising placement and advertising effects.
An advertisement placement is a specific group of ad units where the advertiser decides to choose to place them in using
placement targeting. Ad placements can be massive billboards, entire websites or something a lot smaller and a single ad
unit such a logo or a mobile phone. They are meant to be made visible to advertisers in two ways; there are placements
that are automatically created by the system. An example of this is where a publisher’s website could have an AdSense
network automatically connected to it, meaning that ad placements may be placed and appear anywhere on the website
as long as that website as an AdSense network attached to it.
The latter is where Placements are defined by their publishers where you, the publisher, can have the ability to define and
choose where to place your advert so long as you have permission. As mentioned, they can come in all shapes and sizes, all
kinds of units but these publishers are typically a lot more specific and try and place ads in order to appeal to their target
market or audience.
The location, the topic, the format, the elements that can come into the ad are just some of the common elements that are
considered by publishers who wanted the ad placements defined by them and it can either make or break as advertising in
any form can be expensive and can be a bad move if placed incorrectly but you can be more specific this regard and not
have to rely on the placement by an advertiser. Some of the latest trends in advertising are to be more subtle and move
away from the “in-your-face” ads as those can prove to frustrating, annoying and not help be a good ad placement as they
15. don’t seem to help your company achieve what it wants and that’s to get people to come to your product or whatever your
advertising.
Some companies will produce mini-movies or make it so the product is the star in order to emit an audience and in essence
this is the practice of product placement combined with the skills of ad placement. Ad placement can also mean hovering
the product(s) in the background and creating “real-life scenarios” where the product would be used regularly in a suitable
situation. A common example of a product hovering in the background is the Back to the Future film posters. The
DeLoreon car has played a prominent role in the movies but also in the posters if you look below:
The effect of this advertising placement is varied. In short, it’s to create attention and achieving that attention to the target
audience these advertisements are appealing to but in all honest, advertisement placement’s effects are not really too
different than general advertisement effects. Some of the positive effects of doing product placement is that is makes you
look back and spot that product continuous, having to wait time and time again to watch the television advertisement/spot
in order to see it take place again. Other positive effects can be that if used effectively, especially in the real life scenarios
and making the product be the star, it can get in your head. Catchy jingles or songs also help and are just small elements
that can make a big difference in ad placement. It only helps further is they are placed in other big products such as
blockbuster films that are prone to be viewed by hundreds of thousands or millions. These positive effects usually cater to
the company or business themselves whereas the negative effects usually appeal to the actual consumers/potential
costumers. Hidden costs, lying to customers and censorship are some of the negative effects that come to ad placement as
it can mean that there is some falseness to these ad placements. It can make consumers think whether they are being lied
to for a quick buck and can lose fans or respect for the company so it’s a risk reward with ad placement but typically if it’s
done well and isn’t used to lie to customers, then it’s effective.
Production research
The purposes of production research:
There are many different purposes to the final three of these research types and that is of production research.
Content is a main bulk of the product. It can mean the make or break with your product as if the content is not good
enough it could falter but if it, then it can be successful. Content is extremely important to your business and the
consumers you’re trying to appeal to as without content, the product is an empty shell and isn’t anything. Content is the
product in essence and with dangers with the content comes the viability side.
It is important to identify where viability might be prone in a product as business is about making money and you can’t
survive in business if you’re not making at least a profit, unless your company is a non-profit organization, money is the
end all or be all and viability is where you study how to position your product, view your competitors and ask yourself what
is it that I’m selling in order to reinvent yourself and continue a successful business and production plan. If content is the
product, viability is the term used to explain dangers with the product, how viable it is to attack from either competitors or
itself with money loss.
Placement media and finance costs are pretty self-explanatory as well as personnel locations. Placement media is the
16. media in which is placed in various locations in order to help build up the production of the product. This could mean job
placements but it is the posters themselves that act as the placement media. It is important to have this as it can mean
potential hope in a troubled company and that’s where finance costs come in.
Finance costs can come under many categories such as how much it costs to rent the buildings, the staff but in this vain,
more specifically towards how much the product is going to cost to make. It’s important to have this as you don’t want to
lose a large margin with a business, unless it’s your intention, which it should, but finance costs help explain where things
might have gone wrong and where adaptations might have to be made in the company in order to be more successful in
the future.
Personnel locations are what it is. It’s locations that are either handmade or chosen naturally in order to help the
production. This could mean a set for the filming of the products television campaign/debut and the technological
resources such as camera, stands, editing software and more become very important here in order to make this happen. It
is important to have these as whilst they might not be necessary in all cases of business, typically business is about making
money and without taking these elements into consideration, without taking the time and patience to undergo this
research, whether it be production, market or audience research, your company could be very void and open to
competitors, open to unhappy consumers and open to a downfall but with the right research, considerations and
techniques, understanding their purposes and so on, success can be found.
Sources:
Audience Research
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080929075444AAPJwsK
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/discover-the-importance-of-target-audience-profiling-HA001141467.aspx
http://www.slideshare.net/leannacatherina/audience-profiling-powerpoint
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodemography
http://areaclassification.org.uk/getting-started/introduction/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics
http://www.answers.com/topic/demographics
Market Research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_market
http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/guidelines/horiz_book/11.html
http://glossary.econguru.com/economic-term/product+market
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Competition
http://tutor2u.net/business/strategy/competitor_analysis.htm
http://www.digital-web.com/articles/competitive_analysis/
http://support.google.com/adsense/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=160534
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_placement
http://www.alchemyinteractive.co.uk/online_marketing/display_advertising_placement.php
http://money.howstuffworks.com/product-placement.htm
http://www.daniweb.com/internet-marketing/advertising-sales-strategies/threads/16222/advertising-placement
http://www.bookrags.com/research/advertising-effects-eci-01/
http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/6414/Advertising-Effects.html
http://www.realcool.biz/articles/The_Negative_Effects_of_Advertising_a34_f0.html
Production Research:
http://cnetcontentsolutions.com/solutions/content_structure.aspx
http://www.quotewerks.com/realtimeproductcontent.asp
http://www.ehow.com/how_4493168_determine-market-viability-product-service.html
http://www.school-for-champions.com/marketing/product_viability.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_viable_product
http://www.productmanager.co.uk/PM_PVModel.htm
http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/04/18/coming-sooner-law-school-job-placement-data/
http://newsandinsight.thomsonreuters.com/New_York/News/2012/02_-
_February/Law_schools_hand_over_job_placement_data/
