Research Techniques

JUDE MCGROTTY
What is research
Research is the gathering and studying of information to do with a production in media. Research is very
important in media, it ensures productions are made correctly and accurately, that the cast and crew
involved are of the correct skill level and helps set out a list of main assignments that the team need to do to
create the production correctly
Types of Research
Quantitate Research
This type of research is focused on numeracy, a list of questions is usually given to the researcher who
specializes in mathematics, and the outcomes of the questions are formatted into number. This research is
used as it is very east to present and easy to read, the downside is that it is very limited and can be
expensive
Qualitative Research
Qualitative research is the focus on non-numerical data particularly people opinions and rules of literacy.
This form of research can be unreliable as people's opinions may not always be the correct answer or biased.
This type of research is good for studios on a smaller budget as it is much cheaper and promises a lot
quicker results.
Sources of Research
Primary Research
Primary research is information gathered by the researchers themselves and is not publicly released
information. This could be conducted from observing a site or conducting work within the community like
surveys and questionaires.
Secondary Research
Secondary research is researching texts that already exist and have been created by other people who were
seeking the same information. This is a much cheaper way of getting info, but it will more than likely have
already been used by other countries and is less valuable. This information could be found in books, films,
newspapers etc.
Purposes of
Research
Audience Research
This form of research is gathering information on the target audience of the production, to find out what
they like and don’t like, so the information can be used to create the most appropriate production for that
group of people. This info can be expensive and time consuming to gather, but does allow for the production
be up to the standards of the people and vital information could be uncovered.
Marketing Research
Market research is the analysis of the target market to be able to make an educated prediction on how the
product will be received to make sure it is up to standards of the area it is targeting. This can give a
production an up to date and reliable source on the market they are targeting, the downside is that this can
be very expensive and can take awhile to receive.
Production Research
Production research is used to gain knowledge on how to create a production by staying on track, using
funds appropriately and making sure everything that is required is bought and on set at the correct time. This
can be time consuming though, but could save you much more time if your production is delayed due to
lack of production research.