LO1: Task 1

Understand the nature and purpose of research in the creative media industries 

In this report, I will be looking at the purpose of research and will be looking at each type of research and what it contains. I will explore the advantages and disadvantages of its use. I will also cover market and product research, primary and secondary research. In addition to the quantitative and qualitative research.

Types of Research: 

Quantitative Research

Quantitative Data is purely based on figures, it the opinions of individuals presented in a form of statistics, ratings, Percentages, and web hits. This use of data is very popular in businesses to allow them to maintain their profit and inflow and outflow within a business. 

Quantitative Data will allow information to be reused or adjustments to be made to meet the specifications of the individual whom is conducting the research. Having quantitative data can be a great method insuring that researchers can use it to test a hypothesis as it is a great method in measuring data from the use of the statistics.  The use of quantitative research allows the researcher to measure and also analyse the data. You are able to use quantitative data in order to establish relationships between the variables. This element is an advantage as the researcher will be in a more objective position in the response collected. It can also be a great method in being able to identify developing trends, this being for example from the use of on-going ratings.

The main disadvantage from the use of quantitative research is it could be unreliable and very time consuming. The larger the sample size of the population must be studied. in order to get more statistically accurate results as it is insuring that a fair amount of results are gained and so that the results are not one-sided or biased.

An example of this may be the use of trend growth over the years allowing the same research to take place but an adjusted variable of the time. As you are able to see below:

For more information on graph: http://blog.trade.gov/2011/08/16/did-you-know-that-ita-has-new-import-trends-and-data/

Quantitative data is statistical analysis allowing research gained to be backed up with statistics; therefore allowing the information gained to have more s,upport and gives a clearer image of the situation.

Programme Ratings

An example of quantitative research is program rating, this is when the amount of viewers is counted and used to see which shows have the highest viewers. 

This is a great method of research in finding out the ratings on different channels, allows clear identification of popular programmes shown on TV. This type of research is quantitative research as it is providing ratings with an additional ranking of the TOP 10. The benefit of this specific quantitative data, is that the ratings allows a clear identification of what is a the high spectrum and what is at the lower end. You are able to see that this benefit is reinforced with the ranking of TOP 10 being provided. 

From the example you clearly are able to see the TOP 10 programs that are shown on ITV, with the use of the year and month allows information to be altered to suit the users. You are able to see that the figures show that Britain's got talent is number one with 9,174 viewers during april 2013. Looking at the ratings it helps present a clear interest of programmes, this type of research can aid many individuals. In relation to ratings within media it could have supported my Unit for advertising production as it could help support my decision on where to air the advertisement created and what type. This quantitative research can also help support by the decision made, you are also able to see that the use of ratings can also provide trends over a long period of time. This can be a great advantage in allowing predictions to be made and more effective decision being made. 

Other types of quantitative research include:

Hits on a website

This can be a great way to be able to see the success of the product or an item depending on the amount of hits received. It can be a great method to see how well a product or item has done. An example of this is on Youtube, this being that you are able to see how well a video has done depending on the amount of reviews gained but also the likes and dislikes likes included:

Looking above you are able to see that the use of hits can be a great method in conducting research, looking at this example you are able to see how many individuals viewed this advertisement. It also provides a brief understanding of how well it did by the use of the like and dislike buttons. This method of quantitative data is a great method in finding information as the responses are made by individuals who want to and is a lot easier to conduct. 

Sales on CD'S, DVS and Movies in Cinema

Another example of conducting quantitative data is through the use of Sales made, this can be a great method to see the success by monitoring how much profit comes into the business. You are able to see that this is a great method in being able to measure if their is a success in product as the more sales gained therefore meaning the higher amount of interest from users.

http://www.the-numbers.com/market/2013/summary

Looking at the image above you are able to see the sales made from the different movies that have come out. You are also able to see the release date of the movies. It gives you the amount of tickets sold for the shows being watched. This is a great way to see the success made as it allows you to place the different films in ranking. This will allow you to identify the popular choice and what has done more successful, this is shown above by providing the ranking in addition.

Qualitative Research  

Qualitative Research is around facts which an individual will use to help make judgement or to allow them to answer questions in the interest of an area they are looking into. In organisations it allows the exploration is the arising problems and the answers to resolve the circumstances. Examples of qualitative research would be the opinions, attitudes and behaviour patterns that people are having.

Advantages of qualitative data are that the information provided is realistic and it allows a clear understanding on the individual's perspectives. It also allows the information gained to be more in depth and be more detailed. This is gained for example in focus groups as the questions are more concentrated and allows more expression and overall opinion to be made as there is no restriction in the expression of their feeling and attitudes. This allows researchers to have a clear idea of what is expected of them.

A major disadvantage in the usage in qualitative data is that it is very difficult to repeat this and is expensive in training for researchers. It is labor intensive therefore costs will be very including training employees or going to hire researchers. The use of qualitative data could lead to complications in that if the employees within the business are not trained then this could impact the standard of the research. As they may not be able to interpret the responses in the intended way and this could lead to results not being valid or even biased. Another impact of not having trained researchers is that if they themselves are easily influenced by other they can then be subjective towards their opinions, which would cause the results to be biased. This being if the researcher imposes their own opinion in the final results. 

Example of qualitative research include the following:

Film & Game Reviews 

One method in gaining qualitative research is by gaining reviews from individuals, this is very useful as you will be able to see what an individual's thoughts about the topics. The example that I will be looking at is the use of reviews from a game.

As you are able to see that one method in gaining responses is looking at reviews, looking above you are able to see the reviews gained for the game "The Walking Dead". From this you are able to see that the reviews gained are from users and their thoughts. Looking at the one above you are able to see that they are mostly positive. From the use of reviews it can be an advantage as it can help aid in this case on purchasing the product. In a similar scenario reviews for films can also have its perks in the sense that it can help aid the decision for individuals in what they want to watch and decide to go watch.

The use of reviews as shown above can be a great method in research as you are able to gain a more direct opinion and it allows a better understanding of the product as it the response is detailed and specific. Looking at the review above you are able to see that the response also looks at the positive elements that has left the individual satisfied.

Fanzine Websites

This is another example of qualitative research, these websites are created by fans of a particular production. This can range from example such as filmes, games, book and son on. They are published for free to express different perspectives and viewpoints.

Due to the advance in the use of technology, social networking sites such as facebook and twitters are great place for discussions and views from individuals. Looking at the example above of a fanpage for both Rihanna and Beyonce you are able to see that is also a great method in promoting artists and their work.

These are a few examples of qualitative research, other examples of gaining this type of research is through the use of the attitudes to media products. This being from reviews on websites for example boots where consumers provide reviews on the products they are selling. This gives good feedback to those about the products and can help prompt their decisions in buying the products. I am able to see that the use of responses to news coverage can also be a great way for individuals to express what they are feeling on the topics that is being talked about. Examples of feedback from news coverages are on website such as daily mail - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html and when selecting of the topic and scrolling to the bottom you are able to see a wide range of users opinions on the topics. It also at times leads to discussions being made on the site.