Joseph Dootson
In this essay I will be writing about the advantages and
disadvantages of a range of research techniques. I will be writing about the
different types of research techniques such as Qualitative Research and
Quantative Research. Also I will be investigating the methods and sources of
research that are Primary Research and Secondary Research. The purpose and
nature of research I will be writing about are Audience Research, Marketing
Research and Purpose of Research.
Qualitative Research
There are different types of research that are qualitative
research and quantative research. Qualitative research is text-based research
and a source of information that is used to explore, describe and explain and
also can be to predict. McQueen and Knussen (2002) Qualitative Research approaches explore and describe, explain and
predict. P28. Reviews. Examples of this research would be books and
journals. The Advantages for using this type of research are that the source of
information that is used is more reliable as the content that has been
collected is from a book. This could mean that the person you are collecting
the information from will be professional in the business industry and him or
herself may have a degree in this field of research. The disadvantage to
Qualitative research is if you are using journals. The content that has been
written in journals would be non-reliable and the source of information isn’t
professional and could have been found on Wikipedia and the information might
have mistakes.
Quantative Research
Quantative research is a numerical based source of
information, which is used to measure, to find statistics and collects data
from a group of people. This is done by using surveys and to ask a range of
questions to a specific audience. When data is collected the data will be
formed into bar and pie charts or into columns. The advantages to Quantative
research is that for example if you are researching about what the most popular
program on ITV 1 is this week you would research the viewing figures on the
BARB website to find out that during the week in late may the Champions League
Final between Real Madrid and Athletico Madrid Had 8.3 Million people watching
it. The disadvantage would be that the source of information that you have collected
might be false data because the answers that you are getting might be false
data. The data could also be incorrect if you have misused the statistics when
creating the pie chart for your results.
Methods of Research Primary Research
Primary Research is your research that you find
out for yourself for example if you are going to make a podcast on How much
Manchester has changed over the past 50 years you would go and organize
interviews with people who work at Museums in Manchester or maybe speak to the
people of Manchester in the city Centre who have maybe lived in Manchester over
the last 50 years and seen the Changes. Another way of using primary research
could be Questionnaires for example if you want to find out some information on
How Manchester has changed you could make a questionnaire asking different
questions such as How much has transport changed over the last 30 years and
with my documentary being aimed at ages 50-80 year olds mainly men I would be
able to get some good feedback from then because it could be one of there
interests. An advantage of primary research is interviews as your primary
research because you are able to use structured, semi structured and grouped
interviews and this is beneficial because you are able to allow the interviewee
to go into depth and then this will enable you to collect more information. A
disadvantage of primary research is that if you are using your notes from the
past you might not be able to understand what you have written and this could
cause you to have false information when you are interviewing someone which
could cause confusion and you wont get the information you will want.
Methods and Sources Secondary Research
Secondary Research is different to primary because
with primary you are find out research by yourself in contrast to secondary
research where you are finding out the information from somebody else such as
Books and Journals. An example of secondary research could be that if you were
making a podcast on How Transport has changed in Manchester in the last 50
years and you wanted some statistics on The soldiers using trams in the second world
war you would go and find that information on using books or maybe going to a
museum in Manchester to find this relevant information out. Another example of
secondary research could be that are you getting your information from a
reliable source for example If you wanted more statistics on how many people
use the trams in Manchester yearly you would make sure you use the Metrolink
website because this is a reliable source rather than using Wikipedia for your
source of information because Wikipedia isn’t a reliable website for your
information. An advantage of Secondary Research could be the information that
you find out will be from a reliable source such as the Metrolink website or a
Museum. A disadvantage of Secondary Research could be that the information you
are receiving from a website such as Wikipedia could be incorrect data.
Purpose of Research Audience Research
Audience Research is divided into categories in the
media industry which is known as the Anthony Giddens theory. These different
categories are social capital, cultural capital, financial capital and
education capital. These different capitals are used to find out how much
equity a person might have Anthony
Giddens (2009) “Sociology Is the scientific study of human life social groups whole
societies and the human world as seen.”P6. Social class is split up into
different class such as A- upper middle class B- middle class C1- lower middle
class C2- Skilled working class D- working class E- non working class. Audience
Research is also used to find out what people are interested in so that the
audience of your product is satisfied with it for example a Television program
such as Coronation Streets viewers will increase instead of the views
decreasing.
Market Research
Market Research is used to find put what people want
to see and listen. Market Research can be also used to find out peoples
interests and see what they approve of when they watch television programs and
listen to the radio. market research is similar to audience research because
when market researchers are making a questionnaire or survey they will divide
each category by age, sex and interests. An example for market research would
be RAJAR as a market researcher for radio stations would be able to use RAJAR
surveys to find out which is the most popular radio station is this week. Also
you will be able to see what age group of this radio station reaches out to for
example Radio one Breakfast Show presented by Nick Grimshaw the age group that
this radio program reaches out to is ages 15-27. Market Researchers can also
find out If the certain radio show should be showing hard news or soft news for
this type of audience for example with radio one they show soft news because of
the age group that this radio show is aimed at and with showing soft news they
can gain more viewers.
Production Research
When using production research you will be looking at
financial, copyright, locations, timeline and facility issues. These issues are
a big part for when researching as if are not look into when creating a product
such as I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and Ex on the Beach. If you are
using a song in the product you are making you will have to make sure that it
is referenced as you are likely to be done for copyright. When creating a
product you must make sure that you have enough funds for the facilities you
may be using or certain location you will want for example if a certain
location you need costs £500 to use hourly and the actors are not available at
this certain time this could cause your product to fall through and your
sponsor’s will leave you and this could leave you in massive amounts of debt
and then this will be a waste of time.
Bibliography
Anthony Giddens sociology Polity Press Cambridge 2008
McQueen and Knussen 2002 Methodology Quotes Sheet
Research Methods for Social Science an introduction.
Prentice Hall. London.
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