Mikayla's Media Blog: UNIT 3.1: RESEARCH TECHNIQUES

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Within the creative media industries, there are many purposes of gathering research, different types of research and several ways to collect research. Researching a topic will mean that you are able to understand it to a higher level. Ensuring you have a lot of information will help to broaden your knowledge. Furthermore, it can also mean your product will be of a higher quality therefore resulting in more views or higher sales. Researching methods in the media industries commonly include test subjects or analysis of media.

PURPOSES OF RESEARCH

The purpose of research can be to find precise information on a certain topic or product. There are two main types that are used within the creative media industry which are Market and Production.

Market Research

Market research involves collecting information about the (target) audience and what kind of product they would be drawn to. Google defines market research as:

‘The action or activity of gathering information about consumers’ needs and preferences.’

Exploring in depth what the consumer wants can help companies narrow down an idea and produce a well put together outcome. It is pivotal to understand your chosen category so your product can compete against others in that sector/market. The way in which this research will be executed, may include surveys and focus groups, involving the target audience. The most important thing to remember about market research is the target audience.

Production Research

Production research involves information which is linked directly to the product itself. This could include things like:

The product title
The cost of the final product for the consumer

TYPES OF RESEARCH

Primary Research

Primary research relates to any source that you first handedly put together yourself, it is new research as it is not information from a previous studies. Often in the creative media industries, it is pivotal to have unused data to help aid the creation of a new product (e.g. A documentary or film). There are several ways in which someone can collect primary research. However, each method has its positive and negative side (pros and cons).

Audience Panels - A live or virtual conversation about a particular topic among selected group of panelists who have contrasting opinions

Pros: It allows you to get live coverage of responses.
Cons: The equipment being used for the live / virtual conversation could fail.

Data Gathering Agents - People who are hired to collect information on a certain topic

Pros: It will save you time as someone else is doing that job for you, therefore allowing you to focus on other parts.
Cons: If you aren't gathering the data yourself it could mean you are not well informed on the topic.

Forums -

Pros: Forums will often have a mix (various races, genders etc.) and that could give you a wider range of answers.
Cons: Some people might not have a proper opinion on the topic and might mess around, writing anything. Some responses might not be that persons true belief.

Interviews - A conversation where the interviewer asks the questions and the interviewee answers them

Pros: You will immediately get answers as that person is normally in the room with you
Cons: The interviewee is put on the spot and might not always be able to give an answer

Observations -

Pros: These would allow you to see people experience that media product and therefore you could see reactions (e.g Facial Expression)
Cons: It could make some people uncomfortable being right in front of the other person and knowing their being observed.

Surveys - A way to collect information from a selection of people

Pros: A relatively quick and easy way to gather information from multiple people
Cons: Some people might not take it seriously which could affect the reliability of your results.

Secondary Research

Secondary research relates to any information that you did not put together yourself, it is research that other people collected. It makes use of sources that have been researched previously for purposes which will slightly vary to yours. It can be helpful to look at data that others have collected because it can guide you in seeing what methods work best. Potentially, secondary data can save costs and a lot of time as the information already exists. Within the creative media industry, often time is money.

There are several ways in which someone can collect secondary research. However, each method has its positive and negative side (pros and cons).

Audio Material

Pros: If the audio is coming from a place such as Youtube, then chances are the video with the audio would still be up there
Cons: The audio could be from a radio show, which could mean you weren't able to replay it.

Books

Pros: Easy to access
Cons: Some books will be opinion rather than fact which then can make it hard to formulate information from that source

Directories

Pros: They are a large source which can reach a vast amount of people.
Cons: Potentially could be out of date

Film Archives

Pros: These could help you to see techniques and styles other film makers have used.
Cons: Could be outdated

Government Statistics

Pros: Commonly can be trusted and is accurate.
Cons: It might not be useful to you

Internet Forums

Pros: Often behind a screen people won't be as afraid to be honest about your media product and therefore might be more inclined to be honest.
Cons: If you want factual information it may be hard to find that as often people write whatever they want to.

Newspaper

Pros: They are updated daily and checked over, this could make the reliability higher.
Cons: Can be subjective as it often will be influenced by the writers views

Photo Libraries

Pros: Can be an easy way to show your media product.
Cons: Some pictures could be very unclear or simply just too old.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is a method in gathering and studying information which has been collected from other sources. For example it could be data from a survey (Primary Research), which then is being analyzed in a mathematical way. It normally concludes all the information collected into a simplified version e.g. A Graph.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is basically the opposite of quantitative research; it does not deal with numerical data. This type of research involves analysing in-depth sources such as archives and research that involved people (participating activities).

DOCUMENTARIES

Carrying Out Research for Documentaries

When it comes to creating documentaries the amount and quality of research done can affect the standard of the final outcome.

In terms of producing a documentary, it’s important that preparation has been done, like finding a topic which may not have been researched already in depth. Initially this could start of as a mind map, brainstorming several topics and looking at ‘already-covered information’ linked to it. In the creative media industry it is critical to ask/brainstorm questions which do not have clear answers. Audiences want new content which newly/further educates them about a certain topic. Gathering questions linked to a chosen topic, as preparation, can help researchers decide what techniques and type of sources to use.

Another key thing is to look into the type of documentary, there are severals styles. The word style is relating to the manner of that particular thing.

Styles of documentaries:

Expository - Documentaries which are in this style are commonly non-fiction films, they can directly access the audience. Social issues are transformed into an argumentative manner with a narrator to highlight what is going on.

Observational - In these documentaries the filmmaker is an observer who is not involved in the social issue, they are on the outside. They are normally neutral, not supporting either side the situation being explored.

Participatory - In these documentaries the filmmaker will normally have their own personal opinion on the topic. The events that are shown 'are influenced and altered by the presence of the filmmaker'.

Performative - Documentaries in this style are aware of the emotional differences within people. They acknowledge that the subject being explored is subjective and therefore show different points of views.

Poetic - The documentary explores a topic which is personal to the people included, the presenter (sometimes) and the interviewees.

Relexive - A documentary where the audience will have engagement with the topic being explored.

ANALYSING DOCUMENTARIES

Stacey Dooley Investigates World's Worst Place to Be a Woman?

Within this documentary, primary and secondary research have been utilised. It appears that the this documentary has multiple styles, observational and participatory. The reason it is observational is because the presenter, Stacey Dooley, isn’t necessarily involved in the issue. However, it is participatory as throughout she gives her own opinion. At the beginning of the documentary she express ‘in Britain today, young women like me, take basic rights for granted’.

Throughout, the presenter hosts a number of interviews to build her knowledge. Most importantly they are also a way to inform us as the audience. One of the biggest forms of research in the documentary were primary interviews. There is a section in which Stacey Dooley interviews the mother of two woman who were brutally murdered. This was an effective interview as she immediately was able to get a response to her questions.

The issue being addressed in the documentary is about the high rates in which women are brutally attacked and murdered. Although many men are punished, many get short sentences and may be out within just a few years. Unfortunately, there is still a large number of crimes that go unpunished and it means men can reoffend.

In this gang populated city, Honduras, young women are often targeted by gang members as they are vulnerable and desperate for money. Then they may be recruited to do their dirty work; this can involve selling drugs and even killing other women and their kids. The worst part is that if they don't do what the gangs say, someone will still be killed and it will be the woman recruited. The only way to get out of that lifestyle is in a body bag, there's no other way really.

It seems the purpose of this documentary is to:

Highlight the cruel way women are treated in Honduras (San Pedro)
Show how often women are attacked and murdered
Highlight that for some just being female 'can put their life at risk'

Personally, I feel that the intended audience is woman who reside in Britain because:

BBC is a British television broadcaster, therefore it might mean that only people in the UK can access the documentary.
My other reason being that at the start of the documentary the presenter says: 'In Britain today, young women like me, take basic rights for granted"

I also feel that the documentary is aimed at men. There may be some men who treat the women in their lives in a certain way and may not be aware that they could see it as abuse.

Overall, the main purpose of this documentary is to importantly raise awareness on topics such as this one.

Stacey Dooley Investigates Mum Selling Their Kids for Sex

The issue being addressed in the documentary is about the way in which young kids are exploited and used as a means to make money. The documentary explores the vile acts that kids are made to do by their own family members, commonly their own mothers.

Once again this documentary also uses multiple interviews some where the presenter is asking the questions and others where she is being askes. Within this documentary we get to see a man who 'is deep undercover trying to rescue them', however, this can be a difficult job. Often if he is successful of getting children out of these situations, it still means a kid being separated from their mothers.

It seems the purpose of this documentary is to:

To show how desperate families are for money to the point that they would even exploit their own kids
Shows how at risk children are, if their own mum's are doing this then what would someone else
To show the 'most disturbing child sexual exploitation imaginable'

Personally, I feel that there may be more than one intended audience:

Potentially the intended target audience could include people who sit at their desk watching these liv shows. Seeing the documentary means that they really can see the impact of what their money allows to happen.
General Public - just to raise awareness and inform us of how hard life really can be