Unit 1 – research MP

1. 2 – What is research? 3 – Why do you need research? 4 – Research methods 5 – Quantitive research 6 – Qualitative research 7 – Primary research 8 – Secondary research 9 – Say no to research 10 - A career in research 11 – Is research worth it? 12 – Research politics 13 - Classification Unit 1 – research MP

2. What is research? When asking Google what research was the definition was as follows “The systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions”. So to break it down, you find something that you believe to be a fact and use resources/techniques to prove it to yourself as well as others. There are many techniques to this which are put into to category’s. Primary and secondary research. There are also sub-category’s in these which include internet based and survey based research. Certain research types have rules and boundary's like scientific for example. Scientific research must have evaluations and reviews of past discovery’s. For research to be classed scientific variables must not be manipulated (changing a product to make it work better for example) and that is why many scientific research is outcast of the actual definition.

3. Why do we need research? Research plays a key role in every aspect of life from shopping to getting into bed. Without research electricity would have not been created and, through lack of medical research the average age of death would be 30. Research is also used in a political way to decide how to run the country we live in by using referendum's to get an overall opinionated outcome. Without research decisions would be made on pure luck and further research no matter how important improves to help figure out better techniques. A key example of research as said on many websites but Wikepedia is the best in my personal experience; “to move back the frontier of science” is the main purpose of science today. In relation to the games industry in particular research helps to find out what your target audience is looking for, how to make a little extra revenue or where bugs on certain content can be found via forums.

4. Research methods There are many research methods which are split into 2 category’s, primary and secondary. Primary research is found with personal experience, your own research. It addresses the specific issue as the researcher is conducting it but can be more expensive and takes longer to do. Secondary research is collected from books, the internet and other forms of media. It’s quick and cheap but very un-reliable due to the fact that it has not been done yourself. Research on the internet for example is all written by average people at home and could be done by people with any knowledge, sometimes being false information for deliberate enjoyment. Although books and magazines are more reliable it can be hard to find the information you need in one book. Not time consuming but a very annoying process you must go through.

5. Quantative research This is referred to as a mathematical or computer based technique of research and often includes theories of a numerical basis. Often scientific and including many sections of data like pie charts, bar and line graphs. It is used mainly politically in sociology and other left wing agenda’s to further improve they’re gain against other political parties. To the right is a prime example.

6. Qualitative research This is often used in market research and highly reflects this specific industry. A technique often used on surveys and for that reason it often relies on human behavior. Social knowledgement is also relied on and you will need both of those key aspects to succeed on getting useful data. There are also different methods to this type of research including narrating/storytelling and is considered in this research category. Bar charts are an obvious choice for this particular way of research as there are many results varying with different answers. Pie charts require category’s of the surveyor and line graphs need to have a time or slowly rising period length which can not be achieved on a survey.

7. Primary research To describe primary research in detail we need to go through every separate example of primary research. • There’s observation which is watching consumer reactions and it might not prove to be perfect as everyone reacts differently. • There are postal surveys which will get completed with detail but only few will actually be sent. • Telephone interviews which is often confused with advertising and has short paced answers but gets done quickly. • Online surveys which are low cost but could crash or bug up anytime, • Personal interviews which are costly (unless you do it yourself) and often take a while for enough data to come through, focus groups where selected consumers go in groups to decide on how to answer specific questions • test marketing where you take your product and test on consumers which is always popular because of “free goods”.

8. Secondary research Secondary research in detail has two sections to it. • Internal which is data from inside the industry or company and external data which is from outside the industry and often tied in with other industry’s. It has always been collected for another person when external but sometimes relatable internally. Sources include product sales, customer usage rates, comments and complaints, sales people and past conducted research. • External research sources include marketing reports, industry media, government data and the internet.Wall street is a good example of research locations as need for certain goods are constantly going up and down.

9. Say no to research Some people disagree with conducting research for many odd and interesting reasons. One of them being that the decision might have already been made with the consumer. For example: If you were to ask a customer they’re preference of packaging and then ask them what they would do if the packaging differs from the one they chose they most likely will say nothing which means the research was pointless. Another reason is that the cost might not be worth the effort because the £10,000 project might save you only £1,500. The final reason is that it might be annoying for customers to constantly have to do surveys and will eventually stop shopping at the worry of having to answer another dreaded two hour questionnaire.

10. A career in research Some people take up the opportunity of working in the research industry. To get into research most create a list of people in they’re type of research and what topics interest them then set up interviews with the certain people (if possible) to conduct a day of relaxed conversation. Most relate research careers with informational sciences and marketing but there are small type research careers that still give a descent pay and a beneficial career. Critique research is a good example where you find particular places/creations for others to analyze and then finding out the details on how to get there. This is a very enjoyable choice as you spend the day varying from different types of research and different content. There is also an opportunity to become famous from this.

11. Is research worth it? On a medical perspective research provides economic benefits as it gets many able working body’s fit for preparation. But the amount of time it takes and the money spent might show that it is not worth it to conduct this. Although from medically researching the taxpayer would be able to pay up to 90p less on they’re taxes per month which could provide more income on a marketing perspective which brings us on to marketing. Depending on the company research could be a massive flaw or a big change for the better. Consumer research in stores are good but only for a while as customers will find it annoying to have to answer questions every time they enter your shop. However research for online production and other forms of industry proves to be well worth it as this provides an insight on how to improve your business.

12. Research politics There is a political side to research that can change your and others lives. It effects minority’s all the way to populations and regions. The UN does research daily to decide what way to deal with certain conflicts. For example: If they had not done the research into Libya's conflicts against rebel civilians then it could have possibly turned into too much help or too little. Research politics is often associated with sociology as it often tries to mix with the working class and get they’re opinion on decisions within conference. It is also used within the party’s to decide who becomes the regional, local and world/countrywide leaders of the party. Even something as simple as a petition could be some sort of survey to decide on weather to put further action into the topic at hand.

13. Classification There are different classifications in research including demographic, geographic and psychographic. Demographic often refers to a consumer profile like a 27 year old female for example. Geographic profiling is the analyzation of an area or plot of land and finally psychographic is the study of one’s interests, abilities ect. Geographic profiling tends to be scientific study whereas demographic and psychographic is normally within the subject or market research but it can vary. For example: geographic profiling might be used in market research to determine how to display certain products in supermarket stores.