PRIMARY RESEARCH

Primary research is data that is collected by ones self. Examples such as interviews,
surveys, observations etc. Conducting primary research is a useful skill to acquire as it
can greatly supplement your research in secondary sources, such as journals,
magazines, or books. You can also use it as the focus of your writing project. Primary
research is an excellent skill to learn as it can be useful in a variety of settings
including business, personal, and academic.
 Interview techniques
Interviews are small either one to one or small group questioning and answering sessions. Interviews are
one of the most important aspects within getting a job.
Some interview tips consist of:
Research
Consider appearances
Focus
Smile
Ask something
Make notes
End positively
One of the most important methods used within primary research is to ask people questions and it is likely
that you will use some form of questioning technique for the research tasks that you under take. In
undertaking this form of primary research you may decide to:
■ Create a questionnaire to survey a large group organised on a focus group.
■ Have a one to one interview with a few people.
 Focus groups
Focus groups are a group of already selected panels of people who represent a certain group of people. Focus
groups are mainly popular within advertisement agencies to test responses towards a product that is being
advertised.
Large film companies also sometimes use focus groups to preview screenings of new films and this is done to
ensure that the reaction the focus group gives to the screening is the film produc3ers desired reaction.
■ Types of focus groups:
■ Two-way focus group - one focus group watches another focus group and discusses the observed interactions
and conclusion
■ Dual moderator focus group - one moderator ensures the session progresses smoothly, while another
ensures that all the topics are covered
■ Duelling moderator focus group (fencing-moderator) - two moderators deliberately take opposite sides on the
issue under discussion
■ Respondent moderator focus group - one and only one of the respondents is asked to act as the moderator
temporarily
■ Client participant focus groups - one or more client representatives participate in the discussion, either
covertly or overtly
■ Mini focus groups - groups are composed of four or five members rather than 6 to 12
■ Teleconference focus groups - telephone network is used
 Surveys
■ Surveys are a method of gathering information from individuals. Surveys have a variety of
purposes, and can be conducted in many ways. Surveys may be conducted to gather
information through a printed questionnaire, over the telephone, by mail, in person, by
diskette, or on the web.
■ This information is collected through use of standardized procedures so that every
participant is asked the same questions in the same way. It involves asking people for
information in some structured format. Depending on what is being analysed, the
participants being surveyed may be representing themselves, their employer, or some
organization to which they belong.
 SECONDARY
RESEARCH
Secondary research can also be known as desk research where a person can find
information that is already accessible such as the internet, books etc.
Secondary research can be more complex and a lot easier to find as someone has
already found the research for you, although you must be careful as sometimes people
take advantage of this and write up incorrect information.
 Newspapers
■ Newspapers are huge within the UK and there are many different ones such as the daily mirror, the
sun, the star, the guardian . Newspapers can have different genres of information within them such as
the sun is more of a tabloid newspaper where as the daily mirror is more of a broadsheet newspaper.
■ Newspapers keep the public up to date with the news and some news papers are specific to a area so
that the news within that newspaper will be things such as houses for sale around a certain area etc.
■ Newspapers along with having news and information can contain entertainment such as word searches
and crosswords they can sometimes also come with a free gift like a DVD. Generally newspapers are
sold for under £1 which makes them affordable.
■ Within this day and age the news and entertainment can be found on social media and it can come for
free so unfortunately newspapers are not as popular as they used to be.
 Worldwide web
■ The worldwide web can also be popularly known as the internet. The internet is mainly used to search
information and with million of different websites, information is very easy to find. From things such as
information about space to buying a dog, the internet gives a user access to it all.
■ If a user can not find the information they are looking for, they can narrow search where the user will
get more of a defined result in what they are looking for.
■ The internet can also be used for entertainment purposes, the internet holds social media, gaming
sites etc. social media websites are some of the most popular websites people will visit daily.
■ Different search engines can be used within the internet such as google, yahoo search, Ask Jeeves.
Google is the most popular search engine and some say its because it is the easiest to use.
■ Although the world wide web can be fun and exciting sometimes people take advantage of the site and
write up incorrect information etc so when a user is collecting information it is best to check other
websites too to see if it is correct.
 Books
■ Books can be used for entertainment purposes, to hold information etc. the most popular of places to
find many different books would be the library where it holds thousands of books on all types of genres
and the public are free to borrow the books for a certain number of days.
■ A book can be used for a user to find information, this can be a quick and easy way to find information
about a certain topic easily and correctly as usually the information in the book will be correct. One of
the only downsides of using a book is that the user will have to search through the book to find
particular pages they want but if the book has a contents page then it can be easier.
■ As well as information, books can be used for entertainment purposes and they can tell entertaining
stories for users to read. These books are very popular as many people enjoy to read a fiction book.
■ As well a the library, books can be bought on the internet for reasonably cheap prices where the user
can keep the books forever and the book is there's.
 Journals
■ A journal can be used to record a persons personal events which can also be known as a diary.
Personal journals can be popular with people as they help people reflect on their experiences and they
can also help people plan ahead for things such as appointments etc.
■ Another type of journal is a public journal which is a record of events in congress or parliament which
can also be known as a record or minutes.
■ A journal can also be used within business and accounting where it will be sued to file monetary
transactions. These journals are very important to businesses and hold a lot of information the
company may need.
■ Journaling can also be assigned to people, for example therapists suggest journaling to their clients so
that they can report their days and pick out certain episodes of the day to find triggers etc.
 QUANTITATIVE
RESEARCH
Quantitative research is the type of research that is based
on quantifiable and measurable facts information,
producing numerical and statistical data.
Programme ratings
■ Programme ratings tell you how good the programme is according to others, this could either
be according to a group of people employed to rate a programme or to the general public.
Specialist websites carefully analyse programme ratings, readership, sales etc. Weekly
magazines also usually have a section which rates new shows and suggests new shows to
watch.
■ Websites such as the telegraph dedicate a whole section of their website to rating and
reviewing programmes of the week.
■ To estimate the audience of a programme relative to the total universe is shown through a
percentage. This is the estimated percent of households who tune into a specific station to
watch a specific show.
Hits on a website
■ The amount of hits on a website refers to how many times the website has been viewed. The
higher the amount of hits a website has the more successful the website is doing.
■ When a page is loaded from a server the number of web page hits is the same as the number
of files requested. This means that one page load does not always count as a hit as pages are
not always made up of just one file and Image.
■ Hits are useful when evaluating the requirements of your server, depending on the number
and size of files which need to be transferred for one request.
■ Having a page load does not equal one hit. This is an inaccurate measure of a website's
popularity or web traffic. A more accurate measure of web traffic is how many page views a
web site has.
Circulation figures
■ Circulation figures according to newspapers is the number of copies the newspaper
distributes a day. Circulation is one of the largest factors used to set advertising rates for
companies etc. Circulation is not always the same as copies sold, often called paid
circulation, since some newspapers are distributed without cost to the reader.
■ Readership figures are typically bigger than circulation figures as the assumption that a
typical copy is read by one or more people.
■ Within this day and age circulation figures are falling down because of the rise of social media
being used for things that newspapers offer. Social media will have the exact same
information as a newspaper for the price of nothing and in the hand of the reader rather than
a reader having to go out and buy a newspaper.
 QUALITATIVE
RESEARCH
Qualitive research is the type of research that is based on peoples attitudes
and opinions rather than actual facts. Qualitative researchers aim to look into
depth of the behaviour of human beings and their reasons to why they
behave the way they do.
Film reviews
■ Film reviews are peoples personal opinions of a certain film, this can either be positive or
negative. Some people write film reviews as their job or sometimes people do this as a hobby.
■ Film reviews have a big impact on whether a person decides to watch the film or not. If a film
has a bad review then some people may read the review and decide not to watch the film.
■ There are many different websites that are dedicated to film reviews that offer completely
their own opinion and a rating of the film. Websites such as IMDB offer a film review, ratings,
the cast list, images of the film etc., this is probably the most popular site for film reviews.
■ Some magazines will also offer film reviews typically in the back of the magazine. Reviewing
the latest movies for their readers to read and decide whether or not to view the film.
Magazine film reviews are not as popular as website reviews as within this day and age
people are reading online a lot more than they are with magazines/newspapers etc.
Game reviews
■ Game reviews have a large impact of the sales of games. If the game review states that the
game does not perform well etc. then the sales will drop so game companies take game
reviews very seriously. As companies take reviews very seriously, some companies take it
upon themselves to write up their own reviews to which the review will be bias and not 100%
honest than from a actual consumer.
■ Websites that sell games offer reviews before the consumer buys the product, this helps the
buyer decide whether or not they want to buy the product. The reviews can either be written by
the website itself or by customers that have already bought the game. As well as a review
typically the review will come with a star rating. Websites offer reviews as it makes the website
look more honest.
■ The most popular of comments found within a review are comments around how the overall
game plays whether the graphics lag, the music is annoying, how realistic the game looks and
plays, how easy or hard it is to complete missions etc.
Fanzine websites
■ A fanzine website is a blend of magazine and fan which is a nonprofessional
publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for those who
share the same interest. This term was created in 1940 during October where a
science fiction was popularized by Russ Chauvenet.
■ Usually these publishers, editors and contributors of the articles do not actually
receive any commission from these websites.
■ Typically fanzine websites are based around sports like football groups such as
Manchester city.
■ A lot of people do this as a hobby and find joy in writing their opinions for others to
read and share.
DATA GATHERING
AGENCIES
BARB
■ The broadcasters audience research board can also be known as BARB and it is used by
the BBC and any other independent broadcasters, BARB helps to provide estimates of
numbers of people watching programmes.
■ It was created in 1981 and replaced two previous systems whereby ITV ratings were
compiled by Joint Industry Committee for Television Audience Research whilst
the BBC did their own audience research (BARB).
■ The data BARB provides includes information such as what programmes and channels
are being watched at specific times. The data also can create a breakdown of what type
of person is watching the programmes. This data provides data and stats for all analogue
and digital channels within the UK.
■ BARB records exactly what programmes a person is watching and the panelists indicate
who is present watching the programme all by pressing the button on the television
remote. The data that is collected through the evening is published as overnight ratings
around the time of 9:30 the next morning.
■ I could use BARB as a way of finding out if the public like to watch shows around drug
and alcohol abuse, this will also help ,e to find what types of ages are interested in the
subject.
Radio joint audience research
■ Radio joint audience research is also known as RAJAR and was created in 1992 and designed
to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry, other commercial
stations and all BBC. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and the radio centre.
■ RAJAR collects information of over 300 OFCOM licensed radio stations and BBC, this can
range from very small local services to the national network.
■ This diary based system is the most common method of measuring radio audiences. Typically
RAJAR had always been documented on paper but now RAJAR offers a online version as a
radio listening diary.
■ For my topic of drug and alcohol abuse I could use RAJAR to research whether people listen to
the radio more when drug and alcohol use is being discussed.
AUDIENCE
RESEARCH
Audience data
■ Audience data is described as a statistical data based around the size and composition of
audience for a specific media product, like for example how many people read the sun
newspaper and what type of people they are. The use of audience data can have many
benefits including the such as an increase within attendance, develop new audiences for the
organisation as a whole and develop audiences strands of work.
■ Audience data to is the number of people watching a programme. To do this you start by
finding data from a range of different sources, the data is then validated and all of the none
true and invalid stats will be thrown away. The data that is valid can then be stored and sorted
through to be analysed to find out the datas meaning and the effects it will have on a product.
A example could be that if a show was to be getting 1 million views then the show would be
kept on television where as a show only getting 100 views would be shut down.
Audience profiling
■ “Audience profiling can be described as socio-economic characteristics of a readership,
viewership or listenership“. It gives some idea of the behaviour and habits of a certain
audience. These audiences and socio-economic groups will be categorised into groups of age,
gender, class etc.
■ By organising the audience into groups it makes it easier for producers to target and identify
the groups of people with the same likes, needs and dislikes. Those within the research within
media organisations then look for categories they can use to split up the potential audience.
Thee groups consist of things like:
■ Age
■ Race
■ Class
■ Gender
■ Audience profiling can be used for my programme where I research what age groups are
more interested in this type of programme so that when it comes to things like the text
and the language used within the show it can be relevant to the age range.
Consumer behaviour
■ Customer behaviour refers to the interests, hobbies and spending habits of the customer. The
programmes the customer watches and what newspaper they read all reflects on what type of
person the customer is. A example could be that people who read The Sun newspaper are
stereotypically younger readers.
■ Consumer behaviour is the study of how, when, why and where people do and don’t buy
products. This study blends the elements from sociology, psychology anthropology and
economics. This study tries to understand why a consumer buys and does not buy products. It
studies the characteristics of each individual consumer such as the consumers demographics
and behavioural variables to help to understand what people want. This study also tries to
assess what influences the consumer to buy products.

■ This black box model shows the interaction of stimuli, decision process, consumer
characteristics and the consumers response.
MARKET RESEARCH
Advertising placement
■ “An advertising technique used by companies to subtly promote their products through a non-
traditional advertising technique, usually through appearances in film, television and
magazines”. This typically means where the advert is displayed/placed a example could be
when a TV advert is shown, each advert has a different time and slot. Another example of a
advert placement within newspapers, usually the advert would be placed in the centre of the
page.
■ Advertisement placement is very important as if the placement of the advert is at a time
people will not see the advert or the advert is positioned in a place that is not very clear, it will
not have many hits.
■ While references to brands may be voluntarily incorporated into fictional works in an effort to
maintain a feeling of realism or comment upon the brand itself, product placement is the
deliberate incorporation of a brand or product into a work in exchange for compensation.
■ When it comes to advertising the drug and alcohol programme I will advertise the show in a
time slot that gets lots of views so that the programme will get as many views as possible.
Competitor analysis
By identifying your competitors it helps the company to work harder and create something better
than other brands. It also helps to identify the companies strengths and weaknesses.
This analysis provides both an offensive and defensive strategic context to identify opportunities
and threats. Profiling combines all of the relevant sources of competitor analysis into one
framework in the support of efficient and effective strategy formulation, implementation,
monitoring and adjustment.
Competitor analysis is an essential component of corporate strategy. It is argued that most firms
do not conduct this type of analysis systematically enough.
It is not only commercial media organisations that undertake and commission media research.
The BBC derives the bulk of its income from the licence fee since it does not have any advertising
revenue to support its terrestrial broadcasting services.
For my programme around drugs and alcohol I shall research all of the other programmes around
the same topic and find out if they were successful or not and the reasons.
PRODUCTION
RESEARCH
Finance
■ The monument of revenues; the transaction or the conduct of money matters generally,
especially those effecting the public, as in the fields of banking and investment.
■ For my programme on drugs and alcohol finance will be very important as everything will need
to be managed around the budget given for the programme.
■ To manage finance typically a budget will be set. A example could be around £20,000 to pay
for the crew, employees, food and drink etc, the budget will have to pay for it all.
■ In terms of financial viability, you will need to explore the different ways in which you can fund
or generate income from your product and then balance the amount of income that it is likely
to generate against the costs of production and distribution. This will show to what extent your
proposed product would be viable were it to be launched into the competitive media market.
 Placement media
Placement
A publication is a printed copy of work that is offered for distribution and placement is the act of putting
something into a specific place. Within this case the publication will be advertised and placed.
Broadcast
Broadcasting is the sharing of video and audio signals which transmit programmes to a specific
audience. The audience may either be a sub- audience or the general public.
Webcast
Webcast is a media file that distributes over the internet using types of streaming media technology to
do so. The webcast can either be on demand or live.
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files, usually either audio or video that is made available for
download via web syndication. Podcasts can be used either to inform an audience of something, explain
documents and presentations and podcasts can also be used as a way to describe something to an
audience.