Unit 6.1 – Task 1

Unit 6 Assignment 1 – Task 1

IN CLASS ACTIVITIES

A)  ‘Qualitative research’ is the term given to types of research which allow the researcher to gather in-depth information about a specific audience and their feelings/opinions. This type of research is useful for finding out WHY and HOW the audience will react in different situations and when they’re exposed to specific products. This information is extremely useful because it identifies what the targeted demographic enjoy. The data collected from this kind of research is a lot more detailed; it changes for each specific person within a demographic. Because the data is a lot more in-depth and specified, it must be written up as documents and reports.

B)  There are many different ways to collect Qualitative research., for example;

Interviews. This method involves a face-to-face discussion between two people. It is a widely used method to gather detailed information from a single person at a time. This is very useful when the researcher wants detailed data from a small group of people. However this method is very time consuming, as it is, unlike the other methods, very personal and specific to a single person. Once the research is completed it would need to be written up as a document/long report. This is because each person would have their own individual opinions, meaning it can’t be sorted into categories.

Focus Groups. This type of research involves a larger group of people discussing a product. It allows the researchers to gather detailed information about the group’s opinions and reasoning’s about the product. However it is not as in-depth as conducting an ‘Interview’, but it collects more varied data over a faster period of time. Once the research is completed, like and interview, it would be written up as a document/long report.

Observations. This method of research involves observing an audience as they’re exposed to a specific product. This kind of research allows the researchers to gather information of the audience’s true and initial reaction to a product. This can be conducted many different ways, but it is usually then followed up by an interview or a focus group. This kind of research would be written up as notes and then used in a report along with data from an interview or a focus group.

C)   ‘Quantitative research’ This is the term given to types of research which allow the researcher to gather a large amount of statistical information. This information is very useful as it allows the researches to find out WHO and HOW MANY people will enjoy a product before it’s produced. This is achieved by asking question that have set answers which the audience must choose from. Because of the simplicity of this type of research it can be sent out to a very wide audience. The data collected from this research can easily be categorised, enabling it to be turned into statistics, graphs and charts.

D)  There are many different ways to collect Quantitative research., for example;

Closed Questions. These are questions, which usually have set answers for people to answer, for example “What is your favourite genre” is a closed question as there are only so many genres to choose from. This type of method of collecting quantitative information can be used within interviews or questionnaires. It is very useful to find out what existing products people enjoy. The researcher is also able to select answers for the audience to choose from.

Questionnaires. Often consisting of closed questions, this method is a large amount of questions (Relative to the information they need) which can be distributed by post. Because no researcher needs to be present when the questions are filled out, the questionnaires can be sent to a very large group of people to collect large quantities of information. Making it very useful for making statistics and estimating how large a demographic is.

Existing Statistics. These are very useful for researchers and should be considered to be the first notes to examine. This is because if researchers already have or can find recent statistics and information about a demographic, there is no need for them to carry out the research themselves. This is known as “Secondary Data”. This method is very useful as it allows the researchers to save time, giving them more time to find out more information and conduct more research.

E)   Quantitative and Qualitative Research are both very useful methods of researching, however they should BOTH be used together in order to get the best results from the research. This is because they’re very different types of research, which give completely different types of information.
Quantitative research is very useful for finding out very personal and in-depth information, where as Qualitative research is very useful for finding out statistics and numerical information on a mass scale.

‘EXTENDED LEARNING’ ACTIVITES

A) Media Producers would use both Quantitative’ and ‘Qualitative’ research to plan a new product. The producers would first start off by collecting Qualitative information, as this will help them gage how large their audience will be. This would be done by sending/handing out questionnaires with questions relative to the product that they’re planning to produce. The questionnaires would also have simple questions related to the product, such as important features/designs. These can be open or closed questions.
Once the data is collected from the surveys, they will then interview a small select group from that demographic to find out what they like, in more depth, about specific products. After interviewing people from the demographic the product will then be released to a select few members of that demographic, their reactions would then be observed, then followed up by a Focus group or an Interview. The producers would then make necessary changes to the product before conducting more research. After they’re happy with the product it would then be released to the general public.

B) If I were producing a film I would first need to find out what genre I would use for my product. This would be done by sending out questionnaires asking people of all ages questions about themselves and what genre they enjoy watching the most. I would also need to find out what films they like the most from that genre.

After finding the most popular idea genre I would look at the age groups to find the age of my target demographic. This is essential because different age groups prefer different styles and themes within films. It may also mean I would need to restrict specific content within the film. Now I have a rough idea about my demographic.

Before I begin pitching the idea of the film I would need to gather more in-depth information about my target demographic. Interviewing people Individually, from my demographic, can easily do this. This in-depth information is essential as it helps develop an idea of which themes and styles would be better used within the film. For example it would allow me to rule out a horror film that features monsters instead of ghosts.

After these interviews I can show people my product and observer their reactions and initial thoughts of the film. After they’ve been exposed to the product they would be included within a focus group to discuss the film and share opinions and their thoughts. This is essential because it gives me, the producer, a real life test of the product. If this small audience the product accepts it can be finalised and then released. However if the audience do not enjoy the product it will need to be reviewed and changed accordingly to please the audience. It is crucial the audience enjoy the product, as they will decide the success of the product.


BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.slideshare.net/engelby/media-quantitative-and-qualitative-research-2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantitative_research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualitative_research