The Nature and Purposes of Research in the Creative Media Industries Hayley Sharpe

Research Primary Secondary Data gathering agencies Quantitative Qualitative Market Audience Production Interviews, surveys/questionnaires, audience panels, focus groups, product testing, participating in internet forums Internet, books, film and photography archives, government statistics, journals, ratings and reviews, library Competition, market share, product market, advertising effects, competitor analysis, advertising placements Demographics, consumer attitudes, audience data, audience profiling, audience awareness, geodemographics, consumer behaviour Viability, finance, technological resources, content, infrastructure, placement media, costs, personnel Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB), Radio Joint Audience Research Ltd (RAJAR), records of events. Programme ratings, website or post hits, sales or figures, readership circulation figures, sales of cds/ mp3s/dvds Game and film reviews, responses to advertising campaigns and news coverage, attitudes towards products, fan websites and accounts, disscussion

Primary Research Primary research is original, unknown information that is carried out by a researcher from a business. Although the data collected can be new and up to date, it can be costly in time and money to retrieve. This type of research can be conducted by: Questionnaires Product testing Participating in internet forums A new company that want to invent a catalogue app may need to use primary research to start discussions about the idea and find out the usability by a variety of consumers.

Examples Questionnaires: These are made up of questions about the brand, product and consumer. This method can categorise customers into particular groups depending on their wants needs, personal information and expectations of the product, presenting the most targetable audience and how to persuade them to buy the product. This method of primary research can be useful for a games designer as it can ask the consumers for a favourite genre of game, how often the person play video games and on what console, with all questionnaires combined this can give an overall idea of the base form of the game and it’s customers wants and needs.

Product testing: This is when a member of quality assurance, a product specialist or sometimes even the customers get to test out the product. This can test the durability, usability and enjoyment of the product. Product testing is very important when making multiple versions of a product as sometimes during the production process elements of the product can become damaged or made incorrectly according to the design. This method can be costly but if not done it can be extremely expensive to repair if there ends up being something wrong with every product sold. However if potential customers have consented to be filmed testing the product and enjoying doing so this footage can be used for advertising. A lot of mobile phone companies use this method to make sure their product is usable for everyone so that they have a varied audience but also to check for any mistakes or improvements. Toyota car manufacturer have had thousands of product recalls all of the world for a variety of their products due to their clutch, breaks and accelerator becoming stuck, not working or stopping the car, this has taken lives of customers, reduced loyalty with other customers and gave the company a major financial setback all from the lack of product testing. Apple have recently produced and put on sale their new product the IPhone 6 after countless reviews and customer complaints they have realized their phone product bends and eventually breaks this could be a setback for the company and an advantage for other competitors.

Participation in internet forums: Internet forums are a use of electronic data collection based on public websites which allow people from different geographical areas to discuss subjects by exchanging their experiences, opinions and arguments online for other users to challenge without long-distance travel. This is a good way to get people talking about the product, using this method of research can be positive as it is easily accessible, usable and observable. However internet forums may not give credible information or can be misinterpreted This method of research could be used by a drama tv show producer to find out how popular the show is and where most of the audience are but also their opinions on certain scenes or actors, costume or ideas and on other similar shows in the market.

Secondary Research Secondary research is data that has already been collected by another company or researcher. This method is very inexpensive and time saving, however the data could be not up to date and/or incorrect or not give you information that can be useful or specific to your company. This information can be found: In newspapers Rating and reviews Online

Examples Newspapers: Newspapers document up to date and important information about companies, generally giving information and statistics about that company’s financial state, market, audience and sales according to the story about them in the paper. This can be helpful with advertising or press and can be easy to find after published. However the truth can be fabricated and the information twisted to make the story more interesting. A researcher for a new bank app could look in Business Weekly to find out what the technology expert thinks of similar products by giving his opinion, facts and statistics.

Rating and reviews: This is when the consumer or critic experience using the product and publishing their own opinion, this also shows a rating normally out of 5 stars and anything that could be improved to suit them personally. This research can help see what similar products consumers react to and if the new product needs to improve. However this can give the producers mixed signals about how to change the product to keep up with market trends and customer desires. A lot of consumers read and take note of reviews before buying a product, especially technology and electronic equipment. A laptop designer could consider reviews about using Microsoft 7 software and its advantages above Microsoft 8 software which is less popular.

Online: A lot of companies now have to publish their yearly financial statistics online, this shows expenses, income, profit and predicted statistics for the next financial year. This can be good to see how other similar companies have succeeded or failed and what you can do to avoid failing in the current market. However some information can be held back and you may not see how other companies have gone about success. Tesco is a good example of a company who held back information, this year it was revealed that they overestimated profits by £263m, if their statistics were found online and used by a similar business before the error was released they could have also made the same mistake.

Quantitative Data Quantitative data focuses on collecting numbers and statistics. By doing this you will be able to estimate the future of products cycle and rises in expenses. However customers can feel not listened to and could change brands for a similar product in the same market. Examples of quantitative data can show how popular something is: Views, favourites and likes on a YouTube video Sales of a product Box office figures This information can be useful for a producer of a film to see similar film ideas or genres success by seeing how many people watched or bought it.

Qualitative Data Qualitative data is made up of the consumers’ opinions and criticisms. This can make the customer feel their views are more valued. However the improvements asked for the product may alienate some customers or reasons for disliking or liking the product may cause. Examples of qualitative data: Film reviews Responses to news coverage Trailer or game reaction videos Fan websites or accounts A strategy video game designer would use this information to find out what customers thought of the first game in a series, to see what they liked and disliked about the characters in the game or the type of difficulty of the puzzles to improve the next game.

Data Gathering Agencies Data Gathering Agencies collect, record and maintain company specific data and information as well as operating data entry devices. This information can be used for decisions to change ideas and products but the information can sometimes be sold to other companies. Examples of agencies are: BARB (Broadcasters Audience Research Board) RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) These examples both have a board of specialists who collect, update and monitor statistics for television (BARB) and radio (RAJAR). A TV show writer could use BARB to find out what genre of shows are most popular on what channels, this could then decide what happens throughout the course of a certain episode. A radio show director could look on RAJAR to find out which presenter is most popular with what audience to make sure the show gets the most possible listeners with each show.

Audience Research Audience profiling is categorising consumers into a specific group according to their personal factors. This is essential when creating a new product to launch into the market to see what audience to target. Demographics means the audience can be classified social economically including some personal factors. For example according to: Occupation, gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality, social class and level of education. Demographics can be useful for a games designer when choosing the genre of the game, a word puzzle app game would be best with people who have a lot of leisure time but like to challenge themselves, therefore the game would advertise to young school children or OAPs.

Audience Research Geodemographics is an extended version of audience profiling, this includes looking at the consumers’ demographics, annual and disposable income, interests, hobbies and personality traits. This can be especially helpful if the product is going into a niche market. An mp4 designer would use geodemographics to find out if people who listen to classical music prefer surround sound or concert hall modes for earphones, therefore adding extra software settings to a product. Pyschographics is a selection of groups that the audience can be split up and put into, this can help the producers see what consumers are more likely to use the product. However the spectrum is very vague and can often alienate some consumers who consider themselves not to fit in any of the suggested groups. A dvd cover designer could advertise to consumers categorised as Aspirers by making the packaging bright and colourful with scenes of the film on the back, main charcters on the front and bold text highlighting all features.

Market Research Market research is looking at data about competitors the market your product would fit into. whereas audience research focuses more on finding information about the consumers. The product can be put into a niche market or a mass market depending on who the product appeals to and how specific the genre of the product is. Market research is used to find out which product and company has the biggest share of the market, this can be shown by sales and expenses statistics online. Doing this research can give your business a huge advantage over others as it can help predict what company will bring out a new product or advertising strategy by their current expenses and previous reactions to the market movement. A mobile phone brand could use market research to find out the best time of year to launch a new phone according to other companies sales figures, this could give the company an advantage if they launch their phone product before the rival company.

Production Research Production research is gathering information about the product and all the elements of making it. This is different to market research as it looks at the product being made and how it can financially be compared rather than sales of companies that are in the market. Production research can help compare and contrast similar companies techniques and production process to improve the overall finished product. A design and editor of a motion controlled video game should be able to compare types of software from simile motion games to decide what will cost less time and money to create and update or what would take less workers to finish the process efficiently.