The nature and purposes of research in the creative media industry

Primary Research/Self-generated research

1. Define Primary Research - This is research that you create and do yourself, whatever questions and surveys you like and you must gather the data then proceed to analyse and do what you wish with the information i.e graphs, conclusions, fact sheets, etc. Furthermore, primary research in the media industry is done to help the creators with the project, Most forms of media are very expensive and if you get the wrong and fail to break even or lose money it can lead to a failed career, bankruptcy or unemployment. In a attempt to prevent this media creators will do research to help to create what people will enjoy and will be successful.

2. What did you do? - In my Documentary I interviewed some of my friends and used their opinions and views in my documentary so this was my way of collecting Primary Research.

3. List examples from your project - When I was interviewing my friends I was also collecting Primary Research as I was asking questions that I created and wanted to know there thoughts and options on them.

In the creative industries, primary research would take place in the form of test screenings as films and video products are shown to people so that last minute changes can be made in an attempt to make the product more profitable.
For example:
http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/test-screenings/32412/51-films-and-how-they-were-affected-by-test-screenings

Secondary Research

1. Define Secondary Research - This is where you use someone’s already collected information and use it for your own use, this is a lot faster and cheaper than Primary Research usually costing you no money. Secondary research is also done for a similar reason which is to help the creators have to best change of making a good piece of media. Secondary however is much cheaper but less accurate and likely less specific to what you are looking for.  

2. What did you do? - I took most of my information from the internet, which other people had collected, this was a fast process but I was unsure of the accuracy of the data.

3. List examples from your project. - All the facts about Social Media that I stated in the documentary were from other people’s data, I also watched a few other documentaries about Social Media and used them for inspiration and I tried to make mine a little different.
In the creative industries secondary research could be conducted in order to make a product more authentic. For example, if you are making a historical film, you would want the costumes to look real and from the time period and, if it is based on a real event, you would want the information / details to be accurate.
For example:
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/making-titanic/
"In preparation for the most challenging job of her career, Scott spent months researching every available scrap of information on how people dressed in 1912, poring over newspapers, magazines, catalogues, personal journals and archives, including that of the White Star Line. So intensive was her research, it often surprised even her.

“I couldn’t believe how many birds were killed just to adorn women’s hats,” she exclaims, “I mean, hundreds of thousands!” She also scoured the globe to amass a museum’s-worth of original pieces, ensuring more than 60 per cent of costumes seen in the film were from the Edwardian era".

Qualitative Research

Comparing Primary and Secondary:
Primary research is often the better choice but it not always available as it comes at a much higher percentage of time consumption and cost. Other key differences include that primary research gives you your own raw data and secondary data will often give you pre-analysed information which can be not as good as your own. Lastly I would like to compare the type of data meaning when you are doing primary research it will be specific to what you are looking for but if you however use secondary data you may find the researcher as been much less specific to what you are looking for.


1. Define Qualitative Research - This is where you discover peoples thoughts and opinions about certain topic. You will hopefully understand their point of view and how they truly feel about the topic.

2. What did you do? - What watched a few documentaries about Social Media and used from of the thoughts and opinions that where in them. In addition, I had a few friends who gave me their opinions on the topic and I considered this when making my documentary. 

3. List examples from your project. - During the interviews my friends where stating their opinions and thoughts throughout the interview which I then used.

Comparing Quantitative and qualitative:

The main difference between to two is that qualitative data is where you gain an insight into something and is based on written narratives. Whereas Quantitative is used more in an attempt to predict or control something and usually focuses on numbers and statistics. I will now talk about the benefits and negatives for each; Firstly, Quantitative research which gives you easily analyzable data which is easy to compare with other pieces of data. A negative of this however is that very often the data needs to be regularly updated to keep all the information up-to-date which can result in large amounts of time being used aswel as more spending. Now I will talk about qualitative data and its benefits and negatives; the benefits include easily accessible data and it can be great market research for companies and people media as its quick and helps them to gather information.





Data gathering agencies Why the exist?:

These data gathering agencies exist because the media industry is such a large one that there is a market for gathering and storing data which can be later used for research resulting in more accurate and specific projects to be made in the future due to this data.



1. Explain what the BARB does. In addition, IMDB and Boxofficemojo can be mentioned.

Firstly, BARB stands for Broadcasters Audience Research Board. A large part of what they do is measuring television viewing for the whole of the UK plus a few more things. Other similar company's include IMDB standing for the internet Movie Database and Boxofficemojo. These companies collect information about TV shows, Movies and a decent about of what happens with in films e.i Actors, Directors, Extras etc.

Purposes of Research:(more detail)

Audience and Market Research
1. What did you do? - I looked more into the Market of Social Media and didn't look to in-depth at the at Audience status and viewers habits. I am hoping any one who uses Social Media and is interest in the effects of it will watch my Documentary.
2. Explain the audience research from your project.
I am aware that a fairly large amount of Social Media is used by teenagers and young adults but what I learnt was that there is also a large presences from older people on Social Media. Using this information I attempt to also made my product appeal to a winder and older audience.







Production Research(define more:why is it important)

1. What did you do? The first thing I done when making my final discussion that my documentary would be about Social Media was watch a documentary also about Social Media and tried to mimic this documentary while also putting a new unique perspective on the topic. My documentary was also very low budget as I was provided with all the tools I would need including for editing. I was also able to get a few friends to help with the documentary as well as being about to record within my College. Production research is often looked at as more important than audience and market research this is because production research directly effects what the project looks and feels like in terms of professionalism and quality.
2. Explain the production research form your project. - My documentary includes a voice over myself using a audio recorder follow my some cinematic shots and finally an interview with my friends, I also did a lot of online research when producing the facts and effects about Social Media that I made sure where correct. The last thing I did was to send a week editing and uploading my documentary.


References-
The first image is provided from Google Images
The second image is provided from Google Images
The third image is provided from Google Images
The forth image is provided from Google Images
Information about media techniques used from https://www.pearsonschoolsandfecolleges.co.uk/secondary/EnglishAndMedia/MediaStudies/BTECNationalInMediaProduction/Samples/Samplematerial/BTEC_Nat_Media_Unit01.pdf