Research (Inc. Example Questions)

Primary – carried out by the company (via surveys, focus groups, etc.)

Secondary – already carried out and available to the company (prior surveys, focus groups etc. with the results online)

Both primary and secondary research can be:

Qualitative – gives you information in the guise of thoughts and feelings (or long form answers)

Quantitative – information that can be broken down into numerical data 

There are three main purposes of any research during the planning phase of a media production: audience, market and production.

Audience Research:
Information about the proposed target audience is collected and analysed in order to ensure that the final product targets the correct audience in the correct way.

The size of the potential audience, together with their preferences, is gathered and analysed.

Research is carried out into the target audience's awareness of the media product's sector and its benefits, together with their willingness to purchase the product. The research tends to be carried out using primary sources with target groups being directly asked about their views.

This information is then used to create the design of the product and formulate its development so that its chances of being successful increase.

Market Research:
The media market is crowded, and when a new product is in development, research into its sector of the market is an important part of the planning process.

The creators have to figure out:

Are there any other similar products?

How successful are they?

What features do they have?

Who are they aimed at specifically?

How much revenue do they raise?
How much revenue can be projected from the new product?

Carrying out this research allows a more targeted approach to be used to develop the final product.

This allows less money and time to be wasted as some of the issues found not to be useful can be discounted at this stage before having the chance to be put into development.

Production Research:

Once the audience has been chosen and analysed, the production team needs to carry out research into the product itself. In doing so, they must:
Collect source material that can be used in the media product - material that will vary depending on the particular product being developed.

Establish how viable the project is in itself, and whether it will be commercially successful and if it's even worth making.

Determine what locations and resources will be needed, and whether there are any new developments which are able to be incorporated into the product's production.

Who Carries Out The Research?:
The research needs to be carried out during the planning and pre-production phase, and is time-consuming as well as requiring a wide variety of resources.

The resources available to a media production process are finite and as such their use needs to be optimised.

There are a number of specialised market and audience research companies, such as Ipsos MORI and Touchstone Research, Inc.. These companies can be used to carry out this aspect of production, utilising their experience and resources. This is often a cost-effective method to save the production company wasting resources employing specialised people within their own organisation to carry out what may turn out to be a poorer job. This is especially the case with smaller companies, who can't afford to mess it up taking a risk and doing it in-house.

Things to Say While Gesturing Vaguely at this Thing:
1. Research is carried out during pre-production and often by hired third party companies.

2. Audience research makes sure the product is targeted effectively towards the right target audience.

3. Market research involves looking at what has already been released in the same market to assess the success and other such aspects of that, to give us an idea of how our product might perform.

4. Production research involves collecting source material and find any locations and resources which might be needed later.

5. Research is either primary - directly sourced out from a source, if you'll pardon the pun - or secondary - retrieved from a third party who has already conducted their own primary research.

Example Questions:

3) Marcus has asked you to help him research the interactive features of apps.

Identify three primary methods, other than a focus group, that would allow you to research the interactive features of apps.

1. Tasking someone with the job of choosing a variety of apps and evaluating their features.

2. Attempt to get into contact with the creators of the apps about their processes.

3. Talk to users of the apps to gain some form of audience/market research feedback

Other ideas - Questionnaires, interviews, forms with both users and developers of similar apps to gain a qualitative response.

Examiner Feedback:

7) MyDesign are willing to use celebrities to model their clothing.

Identify two secondary sources that Stephen could use to find out which celebrities would be suitable to act as models for MyDesign.

Explain why each source is suitable.

1. Some kind of agency? Or something?

2. Hiring someone else who's delved into the celebrities' Twitter profiles to make sure they've never done anything controversial?

I honestly have no idea. This has broken us.

- Magazines and other such relevant publications (fashion and lifestyle) to see what the celebrities you're looking to hire have done before, and also see who is popular with your target audience.

Examiner Feedback:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwNDyt_mM_o

Context, Bob:

www.mydesign.co.uk is the website of new unisex fashion company, MyDesign. The website is popular, but the company requires an app to compete with other fashion companies. Their customers have said that they would like an app that allows them to create an avatar of themselves, using their own photograph, so that they can try on clothes in the app.

MyDesign have contracted a local company Active Apps to develop the app. Active Apps have three members of staff:

Aurora is responsible for the design of the graphics and making sure that MyDesign’s corporate house style is used for the app. Aurora is also responsible for the visualisations of the new avatar function.

Marcus will develop the functionality of the avatars and photographs. Stephen is responsible for testing and market research.

Stephen will also be the main contact between the client and the team.

Active Apps have taken you on as an intern.

Product Brief:

MyDesign would like Active Apps to create a fully interactive app so that customers can upload a photograph to an avatar template. The user can then choose and try outfits so they can see if the outfits suit their body shape and height.

MyDesign want the app to be easy to navigate and provide the user with a positive and fun experience.

The app must contain e-commerce features that would allow users to immediately purchase their outfits after they have seen the outfit on their avatar.

The app should also connect with social media accounts of celebrities and reality TV stars. This will allow users to check out the latest fashion trends to support their choice of outfits.

The target audience age demographic is 16-30 years old.

MyDesign hope that the content will also be engaging enough to appeal to a range of cultural groups.

MyDesign want the app to be available in 3 months’ time, so there is a planning, testing and production window of 12 weeks.