This is the third powerpoint in the Theory Unit.

1. Research
Louis Dowson

2. Terminology
• Circulation
• How many copies of a print product that have been
distributed
• Hits
• How many times a certain webpage had been viewed
• Box Office Figures
– How much money a film has made at the cinema
• Ratings
• How something had been rated (4/5, 5 stars, 95% etc)
• Sales
• How many products have been sold

3. Primary Research
• Definition
– Research you do yourself
– Where the audience and the researcher are in direct contact
• Advantages
– You can create your own research to get the information you need for your
work
– You could ask extra questions during and interview
• Disadvantages
– It can take a long time to set-up your research. You then have to gather your results and then present them
– Finding the right people to ask can sometimes be a challenge
• Example
– Questionnaires/Surveys
– Interviews
– Focus Groups
– Vox Pops
– Product Analysis

4. Secondary Research
• Definition
– Studying previously undertaken research
– Using existing research in your own work
• Advantages
– The research has already been done for you. You just need to look at it and
then use it in your project.
– There can be a wide range of resources available
• Disadvantages
– The research may not be quite what you were looking for
– The research might not always be easy to find
– You have to rely on how well others have researched
• Example
– Internet research
– Library research
– Archive research

5. Quantitative Research
• Definition
– Expressed or expressible as a quantity
– Research that you can quantify/measure and put into percentages,
fractions and numbers
• Advantages
You get to see the straight up facts and math of the thing you’re researching
• Disadvantages
If you’re bad at doing maths you could get the numbers wrong and
then your research will be wrong which will be a very bad thing.
• Example
Quantitative research is conducted with closed questions
A closed question is when you ask a question which requires a
short, often one word answer.

6. Qualitative Research
• Definition
- Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides
insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research.
• Advantages
• Provides depth and detail : looks deeper than analysing ranks and counts by recording attitudes, feelings and behaviours
• Creates openness: encouraging people to expand on their responses can open up new topic areas not initially considered
• Simulates people's individual experiences: a detailed picture can be built up about why people act in certain ways and their
feelings about these actions
• Attempts to avoid pre-judgements: if used alongside quantitative data collection, it can explain why a particular response
was given
• Disadvantages
• Usually fewer people studied: collection of qualitative data is generally more time consuming that quantitative data collection and
therefore unless time, staff and budget allows it is generally necessary to include a smaller sample size.
• Less easy to generalise: because fewer people are generally studied it is not possible to generalise results to that of the population.
Usually exact numbers are reported rather than percentages.
• Difficult to make systematic comparisons: for example, if people give widely differing responses that are highly subjective.
• Dependent on skills of the researcher: particularly in the case of conducting interviews, focus groups and observation.
• Example
- Diary accounts, open ended questionaires.

7. Audience Research
• Definition
• Audience research is defined as any communication research that is conducted onspecific audience segments to gather information
about their attitudes, knowledge,interests, preferences, or behaviours with respect to prevention issues.
• Advantages
• Exploring a topic or idea with target audiences
• Gaining insight into what and how people think and feel about a topic or idea
• Understanding the language individuals use to talk about a topic or idea
• Observing the adoption of new behavior within the context of peoples' daily lives
• Discovering motivations that underlie behavior
• Identifying common themes within the group
• Determining whether information is relevant, understandable, and accepted
• Improving the planning and design of a new piece of material
• Disadvantages
• Significant amount of time and preparation required
• Incentives for participants are often necessary
• Moderator must be experienced and skilled for maximum benefit to take place
• Participants often are not randomly selected
• Some participants tend to express views that are consistent with social standards and try not to present themselves negatively; therefore, they do not give an
accurate picture of the target population
Often the number of participants in typical audience research is too small to be representative of the population.
• Example
• An online poll, an online webpage.

8. Market Research
• Definition
• The action or activity of gathering information about consumers' needs and
preferences.
• Advantages
• People get it. Surveys and polls are a known quantity. Those in the industry know how to ask the right question to assemble the necessary data, so it’s a
comfortable, obvious way to mine thoughts and opinions.
• There are better benchmarks. Because surveys and polls have been used as market research resources for decades, there’s literally decades of data to compare
results against.
• It’s easy to explain. Everyone knows what “In a recent survey…”means, so traditional methods make it easier for researchers to explain exactly how they got their
results. It’s a simple process of survey, subject, and response that can be tailored for just about any topic.
• Disadvantages
• It’s outdated. If users are progressing in the way they interact with technology and each other, shouldn’t research methods follow suit? We wrote about why
landlines are inaccurate for market research in today’s world, as it has simply become outdated.
• Users are gaming the system. Survey farms, incentivizing survey completion, and even fake data can result in skewed results that are unpredictable. What’s more,
participants sometimes simply tell survey-takers what they want to hear, so answers are heavily biased.
• Data quality is questionable. Survey participation is low, and the type of people taking the surveys may not be indicative of the desired research subjects, resulting
low-quality data.
• Example
• A survey of customers or workers.

9. Production Research
• Definition
• Definition: Product Research. Marketing research provides information on the desired characteristics of a product or service is
called product research. Product research helps companies to understand what the customers really want, so that the product can be
tailored to match the needs of the customer.
• Advantages
• Product research helps to explain the features of the product.
It helps to simplify the product line.
It enables a manufacturer to develop new products with good market demand in the existing product line.
Product research brings best sales returns.
It widens market for the product and also creates goodwill for the product and its manufacturer.
It facilitates appropriate price fixation of the product.
• Product research brings to the limelight the different uses of the product for effective publicity for sales promotion.
It facilitates modification and renovation of existing products so as to make them highly competitive and agreeable to consumers.
It enables a manufacturer to introduce attractive package and brand name to the product for sales promotion.
• Disadvantages
• The owners of the products may lie about their product to get others to buy it.
• They might fake surveys to make their product look better.
• Example
• A survey of the customers who bought the product

10. Terminology
• Objective
• (Of a person or their judgement) not influenced by personal feelings or opinions in
considering and representing facts.
• Subjective
• Based on or influenced by personal feelings, tastes, or opinions.
• Valid
• (Of an argument or point) having a sound basis in logic or fact; reasonable or
cogent.
• Reliable
• Consistently good in quality or performance; able to be trusted.

11. Harvard Referencing
Name of the film being researched;
Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
http://www.lordoftherings.net/
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Fellowship_
of_the_Ring