Unit
3
Task 1: Understand The Nature And Purposes Of Research In The Creative Media Industries
The two types of research that are used for most purposes are Qualitative and quantitative research. Qualitative research is the type of research that includes many texts and words that are found throughout sources such as: books, articles and newspapers. This form of research is effective as it is very formal and usually has many explanations and gives research with a lot of detail, which will help the users to write things like reports and will be able to add fine detail, if this type of research is used. Qualitative research has its downsides as it is only words, and by only having words there can be no possibility of having statistics that could support the research that have been found. People tend to really like statistics as it gives the users some reassurance of the data that has been found, and it also allows the users to know the research with a degree of accuracy, like knowing how many people do some one thing specifically. Quantitative research is the form of research that uses mostly statistics as well as using words for some form of explanations. This form of research is very effective as it allows for valid information to be found and will allow the user to be able to provide facts along with statistics. Having statistics in the research is good as it allows the data to be understood more easily and clearly, it also means that some percentages can be used within the research to show certain facts/falsehoods about a certain topic.
There are two main methods of carrying out
research. These types are: Primary research and Secondary research. Primary
research is when a user or researcher carries out tests, questionnaires, and
surveys, to obtain all the information that is needed from their own resources.
The advantages of using primary research are; the information that is obtained
can be trusted by the user as the results have been carried out the person
themselves and they can trust the information they have. Another advantage is
that the research can be carried out to certain limits/boundaries, which allows
the user/researcher to find out exactly what they want to find out. Some
disadvantages of using primary research is that the information may not be fully
accurate, in other words there might be mistakes that could appear within the
results of the research process, and when all the results are processed along
with the outlier the overall result will be affected and will give the
user/researcher false information and will give false statistics, if they are
going to be used. Another disadvantage of using primary research is that
overall it will take longer to obtain information, and if the information has a
mistake it could possibly take time for the user/researcher to correct these
mistakes and will result in a loss of time, which can ruin a whole schedule,
and possibly require a change in plans for the user.
Secondary research is research that is
obtained through already existing resources, such as; magazines, newspapers,
interviews and one the main sources of secondary research, which is the Internet
and other websites. The advantages of using secondary research are that the
information obtained is usually very reliable and can be trusted as it has been
carried out by professionals and has been properly processed and will most
likely contain very few, if any, outliers. Using this information will allow
the users project to be very accurate and will make the users project reliable
and trustworthy. Another big advantage of using secondary research is that is
saves a lot of time, as the information can be found directly on a website,
which also requires less effort as the information is there and can be used. The
disadvantages of using secondary research is that sometimes the information
that is found might be carried out a unprofessional and may not be very
trustworthy, and could possibly be false. Anther disadvantage of using
secondary research is that the information that the user is looking for might
not be found on other sources as the information on secondary sources, like the
Internet and magazines, might not be specific to the users project, and
therefore may take a longer duration of time to find the information required.
Primary Research Example:
This hyperlink is directed to a website
which provides a movie survey. This survey is a good survey because it has some
good questions that are relayed to the topic, movies, and they are very clear
and to the point. One of the questions that were asked is ‘How often do you see
movies in the theatre? This is a good question to be asked as it is a very
clear question, and it gives choices that would be appropriate for most people,
as it gives options for seeing movies in a theatre once or twice a week, which
is the highest option. The lowest answer that can be chosen is ‘rarely, if
never’ which can be chosen by those who don’t go to the theatre at all. In
between these options there are more reasonable options, which makes it easier
for the users to choose the correct option. The questionnaire is set out so
that it is closed answers, meaning that the questions can only be answered with
the options that have been provided to the users. This could be a disadvantage,
as it does not allow the user to answer the question to their exact preference,
which could limit the extent to which the question could be answered. However,
this feature could also be an advantage as it is easier to answer and gets
straight to the point of the question, which prevents any chance of confusion.
Secondary Research Example:
An example of secondary research would be something like a book within a library. Books can consist of a lot of information, which are both qualitative and quantitative. Books are a good source of research as you can get a book to nearly any question that needs to be answered and this will allow the user to be able to achieve very factual data, as a book will only/most likely be published if it has the right facts and figures inside of it. The books can also be very helpful, as they tend to have a lot of explanations within them that will help with understanding the data that has been provided. The negative side of using a book is that sometimes the information could be dragged on quite a lot and would end up being very difficult to summarise and then put it into a smaller form of text, but still providing all the details that have been found.
Sources Of Research:
BARB: The
broadcasters’ audience research board is a provider of television related
research. The researched information that is found on the BARB website consists
of information for topics such as: weekly viewing summaries for certain
television programs like the BBC, ITV and other programs. The website gives
information like: the average amount of time a person spends watching a certain
program. This information can be used for things like showing what television
programs are the most popular and the trends in the different views of television
programs, which will allow for the different programs to maybe change some of
their views or even viewing times, according to what has been determined about their
channel. This will allow the different channels to improve/make changes to
their channels to increase the amount of people that view their channel and how
long they view it for. The bad features of the BARB website is that it is very
dull and plain. This is a bad feature because it prevents the website from
being understood easily, it is also fairly difficult to find other forms of
information on the website.
RAJAR: the
radio joint audience research is a website that is in charge of measuring radio
audiences in the UK. This means that they provide information like how many people
use certain radio channels, how long they stay on them and how popular a
certain radio station/channel is. This website has a good interface as it is
very clear and simple. It shows the research results of the previous years and
the current year. However, the website homepage is slightly confusing, because
it does not show any clear links to any other page, and the links that are
provided have to be found first, which will make the process of finding a link
very hard. This website in comparison to the BARB website is that it is better
as it is more aesthetically appealing as it has more colours on each page; it
also has a clearer layout of information. However, the BARB website is a lot
more easier to navigate and use. In conclusion the Barb website is better for
finding information but the RAJAR website is more pleasant to be on.
OFCOM: The
office of communications is a communications regulator. It regulates the T.V.
and radio sectors, fixed line telecoms, mobiles, postal services plus the
airwaves through which wireless devices work. This website starts off by having
the homepage with a good interface, and an easy to use system. The website has
a clear search bar at the top of the page which will allow users to search for
certain criteria whenever they want. There is also a drop down option next to
the search bar to provide for a more specific/categorized search. The website
also has different things used, like moving images on the idle of the screen,
which can be moved at the will of the user. The website also has colours which
will allow the website to be less dull and more attractive. The bad features of
this website is that the homepage itself is fairly bland and plain, and might
be slightly confusing to navigate. This website compared to the RAJAR and the
BARB website is not too bad as it is informative and helpful, but it is too
difficult to navigate and might make it harder to find the information
required.
BBC: The
British broadcasting corporation is a website that gives information on Britain
itself. Some of the information that can be found is things like the weather in
certain cities in Britain, the different news headlines that are happening in
the UK. This website is a good website as it is starts wit its homepage having
things like the local time, the local weather, the different news headlines/breaking
news and things that were shown on the BBC television programs. This website
has some good features like having pictures of the different news headlines
that can direct the audience to the page that it is linked to. The website also
has very clear sub headings to show what section of the website is, and this
makes the website a lot more easier to use and navigate. The bad features about
the website is that it is very plain in terms of the colour scheme of the
website. The website homepage has only got one colour which makes it very
boring and plain. However his website compared to the other websites named
previously, is very good because it is very easy to use and can be easy to find
the information needed. The layout of the information is also very simple and
clear, which gives it a good reputation as it is one of the simplest websites
and it has some of the most detailed information.
NRS: The national
readership survey is a web site that provides information of how many people do
things like read a certain newspaper or magazine. This website is good and easy
site to use, because it is very simply laid out. The website is also very good
because it can be navigated very easily. The proof of this is there are some
very simple and understanding links that are on the webpage. Another good
feature about the website is that it gives the user an option on which format
you wish to open a certain file, Excel or PDF. This website also gives very good
standard statistics in the form of an excel file, and all the information can
be seen easily and can be understood easily. Compared to the other websites
that have been researched, this website is very good because it is one of the
simplest websites to use and the page is very well laid out and has many simple
features to it.
Research Log:
e
|
Website
|
Accuracy
|
01-10-12
|
|
Good
|
01-10-12
|
|
Excellent
|
01-10-12
|
|
Good
|
01-10-12
|
|
Good
|
01-10-12
|
|
Good
|
01-10-12
|
|
Good
|
Research Strategy:
For the media project primary research will
be used to find out different information like what movie genres people prefer
and things like what times people watch movies. This is a good use of research
because it is very reliable and can be trustworthy information. Questionnaires
will be used to find out the information, and the information will be used to
overall decide on the different features of the short film. The questionnaire
will then be analysed to get as much information from the research as possible.
This will help with making the short film as it will be more appealing to the
audience, as it will be made according to their preferences.
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