The nature & purposes of research in the creative media industries

The nature & purposes of research in the creative media industries BY GRACE EXLEY

Methods of research; primary research • Primary research is where the researcher gathers information by themselves. This could be done by providing surveys, questionnaires, experiments or even having an interview with someone to get information from them. The advantage of using this method of research, is that the researcher gets a better understanding of the information that you are gathering. However, a disadvantage is that it could be time consuming and costly for the researcher to carry out this method. Primary research can be vital in the media industry, getting peoples opinions and interests can help the media industry help get a better understanding of what their target audience likes, dislike and want. For example, a magazine might provide questionnaires to see what their target audience want to see in their magazine and also what they don't want to see, so that the company can make improvements and making their audience happier with what they're spending their money on. • Another example of how primary research might be carried out within the media industry is if was creating a computer game, you would research information about the target audience, games market and the production process. Using primary research, you could provide surveys/questionnaires and have questions that will give you a better understanding of what interests your target audience. You could also use this method of research to see what the target audience are wanting and what they don't want. You would also research which games are currently popular/favorites of your target audience and see if there's a particular genre that the audience like.

Methods of research; primary research • Another method of primary research is a focus group. This is where the researcher asks a number of random people to watch a movie or play a game for example and ask for their opinion to see if there are any improvements the company can make the film/game (any media) better and perhaps appeal to a wider audience. Another method is reviews from the audience. This can also be vital to the industry as it gives the company a better understanding about what the audience like/dislike about their product. • The link below is a website that has information about the newly released movie this year called Lucy. This website tells you which actors/actresses star in the film and what the plot is. But it also tells you what the public think by giving a rate out of 5 stars on what they think about the film and also publishing peoples reviews of the film by telling us what they enjoyed and didn't enjoy about the film. This helps the film creators, production team, anyone involved in creating the movie understand what viewers like to see and if their film went down well with their target audience. • http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872732/

Methods of research; secondary research • Secondary Research involves the summary, collation of existing research rather than Primary Research, where data is collected by the researcher themselves. In other words, accessing information that’s already gathered. In most cases this means finding information from third-party sources, such as marketing research reports, company websites, magazine articles and other sources. An example of using secondary research is going on websites online. In the media industry, if you planning on creating a new television programme, you may do some secondary research by going on the BARB website and researching which programmes are currently popular, by choosing top 10 category. This can allow you to research other programmes and see why they are popular and why the public like it so much. By going on this research, this can inspire the producer to have something slightly similar but still different.

Methods of research: secondary research • The advantage of using this method of research, is that there is ease of access, this could be by visiting the library or waiting for reports to be shipped by mail. Now with the availability of online access, secondary research is more openly accessed. Another advantage is the low cost to acquire. Secondary Data allows researcher to access information for little or no cost at all to acquire. Therefore secondary data is much less expensive than if the researcher had to carry out research themselves by using Primary Research methods. • A disadvantage of Secondary Research is the quality of research. The originators of the primary research are largely controlled by the marketer. Therefore, the secondary research used must be scrutinized closely since the origins of the information maybe questionable. • Another disadvantage of using this method of research is the data may not be presented in a form that’s exactly meets the researchers needs, meaning the researcher needs to rely on secondary data that is presented and classified in a way that is similar to their needs. In many cases, researchers find information that appears valuable and promising. The researcher may not get the full version of the research to gain the full value of the study.

Types of research; qualitative research • Qualitative data is research that is based on attitudes, opinions, preferences, thoughts and feelings. This method investigates the why and how of decision making. The advantages of this research is it answers exploratory ‘why’ questions and provides face to face/ non-verbal indicators. • This kind of data cannot be plotted on a graph or measured. There are many data collection that An example of quantitative data is asking a number of people where there is a variety of answers that can be given. One question could be, 'What's your favorite scene from the Inbetweeners 2 movie?’ • On the next slide is an example of Qualitative research.

Types of research:qualitative research

Types of research; quantitative research • Quantitative data is research that is based on measurable facts & information that can be counted, producing numerical and statistical data. This can be produced by providing surveys and questionnaires and then working out the statics. For example, you could give a questionnaire to 100 people and one question was asking, 'Do you prefer horror movies or comedy movies?'. This allows you to count how many people prefer which kind of movie and will be able to work out a percentage or any numerical data.

Types of research; quantitative research • On the next slide are some Quantitative Data that shows how many people, weekly, watched the programmes that were viewing on these 2 channels. These are the most popular programmes that people tuned into watch and it shows you the time and how many thousands watched the programmes on a particular channel. This could help people who are creating a new programme by seeing what kind of programmes are popular and which programmes aren't so popular. This could help the company to create a programme that is similar or has a similar style so that there will be more viewers.

Types of research:Quantitative Research

Data gathering agencies; NRS • The National Readership Survey, otherwise known as NRS, is a joint company in the UK between the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA), the Newspaper Publishers Association (NPA) and the Periodical Publishers Association (PPA). The National Readership Survey began in 1956 and today provides the most authoritative and valued audience research in use for print and digital advertising in the UK. The survey covers over 250 of Britain’s major newsbrands and magazines, showing how popular they are and what they achieve. The NRS help generate new ideas for the survey and to ensure it is fit-for-purpose for users of the data in media planning and buying. The NRS can help media producers to plan their products by being able to look at the most popular magazines and top newsbrands, enabling the producers to be inspired to create something similar and see what people (who are a similar target audience) are/aren’t interested in.

Data gathering agencies; NRS

Data gathering agencies; BARB • The Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board, known as BARB. Created in 1981 to replace a previous system; BARB provides official viewing figures for UK television audiences. It commissions specialist research companies are, Ipsos MORI, Kantar Media and RSMB. These companies collect data that represent the television viewing behavior of the UK’s 26million TV household. BARB is jointly owned by the BBC, the TP companies, Channel 4, Channel 5, BSkyB and the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. BARB viewing data give broadcasters, advertisers a minute by minute breakdown of viewing at regional and national levels. This is information is vital to any media producer who are wanting to create a new TV programme, as they are able to see from the information BARB provide which programmes have the most views, monthly and weekly. This helps media producers get an idea why they are so popular and hopefully create something that is similar and achieve just as many views.

Data gathering agencies; BARB

Data gathering agencies; ABC • The Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC) was found in 1931 by the ISBA (Society of British Advertisers) to provide an independent verification of circulation/data figures to facilitate the buying and selling of advertising space within the UK national newspapers. The ABC also provides independents verification of data for prints, lists, databases in the UK and Ireland. In February 2014, Jerry Wright, chief executive of ABC announced that the organization would begin combining print and digital figures for consumer magazines. They help these people by monitoring the way advertising is traded across the converging media landscape in the UK and beyond. They do this so that things like advertisements are up to industry reporting standards so that it reflects on your market proposition. A media producer would use this website to make sure their advertisement are meeting reporting standards by using ABC to monitor their media products.

Data gathering agencies; ABC

Data gathering agencies; RAJAR • RAJAR stands for Radio Joint Audience Research and is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. It is jointly owned by the BBC and the RadioCentre on behalf of the commercial sector. RAJAR data is the industry wide currency for planning, buying and selling advertising on Commercial Radio. RAJAR has a continuous programme of innovation and development to meet its market’s needs. Media producers might use this information in the early stages of production to buy an advertising slot on the radio to promote their own programmes and make it become popular on both radio, online and television.

Data gathering agencies; RAJAR

Purposes of research; audience research • In the media producers classify industry audiences in order to construct their products to appeal to them. Effective and successful media products target the right audience and communicate them in an effective way. In the media industry, it becomes more fragmented and competition for a share of the audience becomes more intense. • Audience research is about investigating; • Statistical data about the size and profile of the audience for a particular media product. • The extent to which potential audience members are aware of a particular media product. • What members of the target audience think about particular products and services and their patterns of behavior. • All commercial media texts are created with a specific audience in mind. Media producers invest a lot of time, effort and money to find out what their target audience want from them. They could do this by providing surveys and questionnaires, asking specific questions about what their target audience are wanting. This method of research is known as Primary Research.

audience research;Demographic • Demographics is the way in which an audience can be classified according to a range of different socio-economic and personal factors. This could be, age, gender, social class, level of education etc. Most companies involved in media research and production pus people into different categories. This could be according to what sort of job they do and what kind of income they have. The scale makes some very broad assumptions.

audience research;Psychographic • Psychographics is information about someone’s lifestyle. This is vital information to advertisers and media producers, as it gives them important information about what interests they have, how much disposable income they are likely to be attracted to. For example, someone who has an active lifestyle are likely to be interested in media products that reflect health and sport/exercise/fitness.

Audience research:Geodemographic • Geodemography includes application of geodemographic classifications for business, social research and public policy but has a parallel history in academic research, seeking to understand the processes by which settlements evolve and neighborhoods are formed. It links with demography, the study of human population dynamics, geography, the study of the locational variation of both physical and human side and also includes sociology. • Geodemography is the study of people based on where they live. Systems estimate the most probable characteristics of people bases on the profile of all people living in a small area near a particular address.

Purposes of research;market research • Media companies are interested in the market that their products will be sold in and see if their product will survive or fail. This involves looking at what competition has to offer and comparing similar media products already in the market to see what the commercial opportunities are. • For example, if you were going to launch a new magazine, you will have to do market research and look at what media products already exist. You will also have to research what media products are currently popular in the market and why. This will help media producers expand their ideas and hopefully create a magazine that will get similar achievement and become just as popular in the current market.

Purposes of research; production research • Media producers will often go to a media agency to recruit talent and production personnel for a specific media project. Production research is needed to: • Provide content and gather material to allow a company to develop the new product • Research the viability of actually making the product • Investigate the technology and personnel available • Check out suitable recording and production locations • Thoroughly research and plan production and post production stages to ensure that it all runs smoothly as possible

Purposes of research; production research • This website below shows you the process of production research. You need to research the budget of all the production and how much it will cost to pay crew members. If you were going to create a film for example, you will have to plan a budget and create a schedule so that things run smoothly. Also you will have to research health and safety risks and how to avoid them. This websites shows everything that is considered before creating a film (this is similar for each kind of media product). • http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/filmmaking/guide/production/cast-and-crew#roles

The nature & purposes of research in the creative media industries