research questions

Jack Bennett Media 13PH

Research Questions.

Knowledge check 1

1. The two main forms of research undertaken by the media industries are Market Research and Production Research.Market Research is the process of collecting data about the market in which your product competes for audience and revenue. For instance, if your media product were a new television show to be aired on ITV1, then you would perform market research to gather data on the market in which your product will compete for audience and revenue. Said information would involve statistical data on the target audience’s properties, such as size and composition, how aware the target audience is to that particular type of media product, what people think about that type of media product and the competitors in that market that are targeting the same audience and revenue by using a similar product.

Production Research is much more related to the production of the product. This research is essential in making sure that the production of your media product runs smoothly and goes to plan, it also makes the production of the product possible, giving you information on things such as the cost of production, staffing and production equipment. A lot of research will be generic, but a lot of the research that is performed depends on the product that is being developed. For example, a documentary filmmaker will have to perform both secondary and primary research but will get extra time to perform production research into the cost of hiring equipment and staff to produce the documentary in addition to performing a location recce, which involves research into the locations for the shoot, they will also have to complete all of the necessary post production paperwork.

2. a. The full name of the organisation, NRS, is The National Readership Survey. This organisation provides information to the media industry on what the public is reading and specifically who in the public and what they are reading. This information is important for newspapers and magazines because it shows what is currently popular umong the target audience. This screenshot is of the NRS’ figures from April 10th to March 11th.


The full name of the organisation, ABC, is The Audit Bureau of Circulation. This organisation provides information on circulation to the newspaper and magazine industry. Below is a screenshot of the ABC’s research on the circulation of the Daily Mail newspaper.

The full name of the organisation, BARB, is The Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board. This organisation compiles audience measurements and television ratings in the UK, the participating viewers have boxes placed on top of their televisions that track the shows they watch for research purposes. The screenshot below is an example of the research performed on the Discovery Channel by the BARB organisation on the television ratings of June 20th to June 26th, taken from their website.


The full name of the organisation, RAJAR, is The Radio Joint Audience Research Limited. This organisation operates a single audience measurement system for the UK radio industry, paper diaries filled in by participating audience members gathers their research. This organisations main aim is to find out the ratings for the radio industry, to find out who is listening to what. Of coarse some of this information could be flawed in the fact that it is not possible to tell whether someone is actually listening to the radio, or whether it is just on in the house. This example of the RAJAR organisations research was taken from their website.


3. There are many ways in which the media industry or the research organisations they hire organise the public. They classify and segment the audience into categories such as age, gender, culture and income. It is important to section the audience out and organise them because it makes it easier for the media industries to target specific groups.

Age is a highly used classification for a potential audience, for example the media product could be targeted at an audience of 16 – 25 year old mainstreamers and this target could be used as a trigger for research into people of that age group. More general or more specific age classifications can be used appropriately; this method of segmentation is a very flexible one.

Knowing whether the sectioned audience is male or female is also very important because many media products are aimed at one specific gender; for instance, television channels that focus on sport mainly target a male audience. Further examples of specific gender targeting is within the magazine industry, where it is obvious that there are magazines designed for men and magazines designed for women, although this does not mean that some men do not read magazines designed for women and vice versa.

Taking into account the amount of multicultural societies today, culture and ethnicity is an extremely valid and important method of segmentation. Newspapers from all over the world are easily obtainable in the UK and because of this many media product developers aim to sell their products to audiences abroad. Because of the UK’s growing multicultural society there has been a massive demand for media products that target diverse ethnic groups.

Another commonly used method of audience segmentation is by classifying them from their job, income and social class. This information is useful to media product producers because there is no point in advertising a high tech gaming system to a family that cannot afford it. The audience can further be segmented into ‘Socio-economic groups’ a system, which most media research organisations use. This system involves groups such as A (Upper middle class), B (middle class), C1 (lower middle class), C2 (skilled working class), D (working class) and E (people such as pensioners and lowest grade workers) which identify the different types of socio-economic class.


4. Advertising is a major factor in the funding of many of the media products we use. Youtube.com and social networking sites such as Facebook, both extremely popular and successful websites, rely on advertising as their main source of income. Advertising is an effective way of reaching out to an audience, and uses the popularity of the thing it is sponsoring to get more views, so for instance, it would be wise to sponsor and advertise with a popular television show because it then becomes likely that the viewers of that show will see your advertisement and sponsorship. A recent example of this would be ‘Coronation Street’ a popular television soap that has been sponsored by the company ‘Cadbury’s’ for more than ten years because of the show’s massive amount of viewers. This however does not mean that the advertisers aim is to get as many people to see their product as possible, although that can be an important factor also, they also aim to reach their target audience, the audience that they believe would be the most appropriate for their product. For example, a car manufacturer would not advertise on a children’s television channel because, no matter how many viewers that channel has, the product is not needed by that age group, so the advertisers would have to figure out the best possible group of people that would benefit from that product. But while advertising is important in the media industry and has been proven to work, it cannot be guaranteed that the advertising will cause the viewer to buy the product, for example, many of the advertisements on social networking sites go largely ignored and can prove better as a nuisance than a method of persuasion.

5. A researcher is a member of the preproduction team that is employed by radio and television to produce a media product. This persons role in the preproduction team is to research a specific subject, for example a researcher for the show QI would need to research deep into some of the key subjects that would appear in the show, and for the obscure facts that the show revolves around, this research would have to be as deep as it gets, they would also need to find a way of knowing for sure whether the facts they have found, which sometimes sound like nonsense, are legitimate. Researchers for the radio are often called upon to find the news stories of that day and the details behind them arrange interviews and find potential sources of information. Basically a researchers job is to gather information that would be useful to the production of the media product.

6. A product that is viable is a product that is workable, in the sense that it has the potential for success in the media industry. To assess whether the media product is viable, you must first test it on the levels of its financial viability, if the producer of this product has the means to begin and proceed with production, whether the equipment is available and whether the producer will have enough time to create the product. For


example, the viability of a product could be questioned if the producers of said product do not have the time, equipment or sufficient funds to go create it, simply because it would be impossible to make under those conditions.

7. S.W.O.T is an abbreviation of Strengths, Weakness’, Opportunities, and Threats and is a method of assessing the traits of your product. This type of analysis is usually completed in conjunction with general product research. Using S.W.O.T you can identify your products strengths, its advantages over other products, its weakness’ which involves the aspects of the product that need to be improved; you can also identify the products opportunities, for example, an opportunity would be a gap in the market or a major competitor discontinuing your products opposition and lastly you can identify your products threats, such as its main competitors and its disadvantages against other products.

8. Copyright is an intellectual property and cannot be used without the permission of its respective owner, if this material is used without the proper permission, than legal action can be taken. Copyright can be bought or sold and owners of copyrighted material can give permission to others so that they will be able to use that copyrighted material as normal, while the owner still retains their ownership of the rights. For example, if I were to have drawn and copyrighted a picture and a friend of mine wishes to use it as an asset to their media product, than I can give him permission to use it or I could sell him the copyright so that they have the rights to said picture and can use it freely or sell it onto someone else. Using a still shot that has been taken from a film or a clip from a song would constitute as copyrighted material and it costs money to be able to use it in a project, contacting the owner of said material and requesting usage, you will then have to make a payment to use that material. This is an important obstacle to consider, it means that a producer of a media product cannot simply take an image from the Internet, they must use original material to save money, but it is important to be aware of copyright laws to prevent unexpected costs and legal action. Some copyrighted material can also be very expensive, costing more than £1000, but the cost is highly dependant on the material itself and the owner of that material.

Knowledge check 2

1. The four main methods of research are, Primary research, Secondary research, Quantitative research and Qualitative research.


Primary research is research that is original, such as interviews, questionnaires and observation.Secondary research is research that has been undertaken by others, for example, books and researching through the Internet. Quantitative research is focused around measurable, numerical and statistical data. Both primary and secondarily research can produce quantitative data.Qualitative research is focused around opinion rather than fact. Information gathered by interview would be a good example of Qualitative research. Both primary and secondary data, again, can produce this type of data.

2. A questionnaire has be proved to be an effective method of gathering information from the public, but to maximise its effectiveness many things must be kept in mind.It is important that your questionnaire looks professional; it must be aesthetically pleasing to keep the public interested. For example, in my work, I planned to draft a questionnaire that looked interesting so as to stop the public from thinking it was boring and throwing it away. Another important thing to keep in mind is the title of the questionnaire and whether it is appropriate to the study or not. A brief of whom the questionnaire was set by, what the results will be used for and how it is to be properly filled out should be present at the top of the questionnaire and be clear and understandable to all who take it. The questions can be open, meaning that the person answering the questionnaire can give their opinion in their answers and should start with what, why, when, who and how. Or a question can be closed, meaning that the answers are easy to answer and are generally more specific such as asking the gender of the participant. A questionnaire should also include a way to send the results back for analysis.

3. A focus group is a selected panel of people who represent the target audience. Advertisers and other media industries, to predict the likely response of the target audience toward a service or product, use focus groups.

4. Secondary research can yield a wealth of information that could be useful to your media production but there are some issues that are worth considering, such as actually reading the material that you gather from books etc and making sure that the information is properly understood. Also, any information that is gathered must inform or supplement your own research. It is also a good thing to think about whether the information you have obtained in your secondary research is reliable or valid, for example the information that you have found is a survey, but it is possible that


this survey could have been taken in the U.S but not the UK. You cannot always trust what you have found on the Internet to be true.

Knowledge check 3

1. In presenting the findings of your research, it is important to cover several key areas that will increase the professional value of the presentation itself and present your information in a clear and civilised way.

Such areas are as follows: An introduction; an introduction to your research should inform the viewer of your presentation to the overall aim and purpose of the research and outline what you intend to achieve through it. An introduction is important as it opens up the presentation and introduces it to the viewer; it also gives the viewer a first impression of the research.

An explanation of the methods and techniques used to gather, organise and make use of your research. This explanation is important because it shows the audience the skills that you have in this field, such as organisational skills, skills in research and the skills needed to put that research to good use.

Data and other research, clearly presented in a form such as graphs, tables and diagrams. Diagrams and other visual methods of research presentation are a perfect way to get the point of the research across to the viewer without having to spend time on talking excessively on the subject.

A summary of the findings must be included. The results of efforts made must be shown.

What is deduced from these findings must also be included. The conclusions drawn from the findings and how they could be significant is also very important.

How you intend to use those conclusions in a proposal and the proposal based on the research, findings and conclusions is a good place to begin the closing of your presentation; working in all of your research findings and data into a viable proposal and giving the strengths of that proposal, ending with giving the viewer of the presentation an idea as to what the best coarse of action would be based on the research proposed.

2. Explain fully what the following terms mean:

Intrapersonal Communication – Communication within you. It involves all of your thoughts, fears and anxiety that you have about your presentation and controlling them. If you do keep them under control using intrapersonal communication, than it is more likely that your presentation will go well.


Interpersonal Communication – Communication with others, such as face-to-face conversations and general interaction with another person.

NVC – Non-Verbal Communication, this refers to things such as body language, the clothes you wear, your posture and facial expression as well as movement of the hands and arms while engaging in interpersonal communication.

Paralanguage – This refers to how you say things, for example saying “ummm” a lot during a presentation is an example of bad paralanguage, and paralanguage can be used as a technique during a presentation to add effect or an alternate meaning to a sentence. Other examples of paralanguage involve adding inflections to words, volume of speech and pauses/hesitations.

Visual Aids – Visual aids are things such as props, objects and anything that can prove a point through visual representation. For example, graphs and charts are very useful visual aids.

3. What should you do to make your oral presentation as professional as possible?

First impressions are extremely important, and it is equally important to keep that in mind when entering the presentation room. Dress to impress and dress in a way that is appropriate for the setting, for example, you would not wear your best hooded jumper to a meeting full of high stakes executive types. Always keep in mind non-verbal communication, what do your clothes tell other people about you, how does the way you interact with others leave an impression. Learning to control your non-verbal communication cannot only boost the professional feel of your presentation; it can also boost your confidence, which will help greatly when it comes to meeting the people you will be presenting to. Of coarse it is okay to be nervous, it is natural, but it is the way that you handle your anxiety that can really make a difference in presenting your hard work. Make your hard work show, after all, you didn’t spend hours of time researching and analysing to have your ideas washed away by the people you are presenting to.

Keep in mind the way you stand and move your hands when you talk, a lot can be told about what a person is feeling from there posture, if you do not control your anxiety and posture, it could show your nervousness, lowing the professional standard of your presentation. Giving a presentation is much like putting on a play, you are acting; for example, you have to act around your anxiety by adjusting your posture, movement and speech accordingly. Many presentations will involve a professional, business like approach. This does not mean that you should take out your best wedding tuxedo and wear it to your meeting, keep things casual in a professional sense, over dressing could leave the wrong impression. Wear a suit that is comfortable and smart, so that you can still look professional while still being in something comfortable, this could possibly boost confidence. Speech can also say a lot about you during your presentation, practise in a mirror what you are going to say and how are you going to say it, that way if something goes wrong in the presentation, you will automatically go back to the way it was rehearsed, potentially saving you. Remember to use eye


contact, people will see your anxiety if you are too busy looking at the floor to look at others. Making eye contact with one of the people you are presenting to can show your authority in that situation and show people that you are confident. Show that you can control yourself under pressure and that you know what you are doing and you should be fine. Relax yourself before a presentation, listen to your favourite music and take a minute to clear your head of worry, maybe even eat your favourite biscuit with your favourite tea before the presentation to relax yourself, when it comes to the presentation you will be calm and relaxed, making it easier to recover from a bad situation and to give you a boost of confidence, it will also make you more comfortable. I often use this technique and it works. Remember that in that room, you are the authority figure, they will ask you questions and you will answer them; they will look to you to give them the information they need, be proud of that fact and be proud of yourself and the presentation should become second nature to you in no time at all.

5. What should you do to make your written report as good as possible?

A written report can be given out in your presentation or in your final portfolio of evidence, presentation of that written document is important in showing your information to your colleagues.As with any formal document, spelling, punctuation and proper grammar are fundamental, without it your document would look unprofessional and others will get the impression that you are not that bright. In a presentation you will have to control your NVC and other aspects of your behaviour to show a specific image, that image must be continued onto paper by insuring that your grammar, spelling and punctuation does not ruin it for you. Remember that there is no specific or set way to write your report, so make sure that all information is presented in a clear and logical way for all to see, while still leaving a professional feel, using subheadings and headings where appropriate and using spell-check as often as possible. Using the correct terminology can improve your written document by a significant factor, it shows understanding of the subject, which in turn shows that you know what you are talking about, which is an important thing to show in a presentation. The structure of your written report must be clear and be set in a similar fashion to your oral presentation, making the written document flow with the presentation, giving out a written report gives you a chance as a presenter to include more detailed information saving you talking time. A bibliography should be clearly shown at the bottom of your written report that lists all of the books and newspapers etc, you have used for research in your project. Additional research material such as questionnaire results, tally charts should also be present in a part of the document under the heading of appendices.

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