Methods of Research: Primary and Secondary

Primary Research

One of the methods of research is Primary Research. Primary research is defined as a form of Primary research is new research, carried out to answer specific issues or questions. It can involve questionnaires, surveys or interviews with individuals or small groups', http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/food-standards-agency/market-research-and-consumer-protection/primary-and-secondary-research.html. I would definitely add to this research that it is usually done by oneself therefore not obtained by Third Parties therefore an independent source. An advantage of the use of Primary research is that it enables the person who conducts the research(researcher) to be able to understand new ideas as well as grasp concepts for themselves.This being said, through carrying out their own research, media organisations or companies are able to tailor and understand specific situations in terms of their own products as often, Secondary research focus on a more general study whereas through Primary research, a media group is able to pilot their own study and identify what would be suitable and not suitable for their own individual product.
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A further advantage of Primary research is that the are key in enable 'Greater control' of your research - in terms of what you choose to study, which method you use to study as well as the information which is most valuable to you finding out and would be more necessary in your department. Through having greater control, Media organisations would be at great advantage as they are able to further develop their product as they are able to get exactly the information which they need to know exactly what is required for their product to be successful.

On the other hand, A disadvantage of Primary Research is are based upon time and costs. In considering time, carrying out research effectively often requires time which often may not be of essence especially considering the type of content which is produced by media organisations for instance, Music Videos which may need to be released by a particular date or even products which are on demand which therefore means that this could potentially be very time consuming. In terms of costs, Carrying out primary research independently would require various resources as well as professionals who may be able to help in understand the research and a great deal of preparation in terms of sources and how the research can be conducted which may be a downfall especially in the use of media organisations as the data has to be collected independently therefore the cost will be much more higher than that of a Secondary source. 

Secondary Research

A further method of research opposing Primary research is Secondary Research. 'Secondary research

makes use of information previously researched for other purposes and publicly available. This is also known as 'desk research'. Secondary research includes published research reports in a library, surveys or the Internet.' http://businesscasestudies.co.uk/food-standards-agency/market-research-and-consumer-protection/primary-and-secondary-research.html. In relation to media organisations, this would enable organisations to collect information such as their competitors, where the gap in the market is and how their product would fit so and also information collected beforehand about the audience and previous products of the same sort.

A common advantage of this form of research would be that it is easy to obtain - This form of research is already available to view and ready to be interpreted however need fit which therefore not only makes the research easier as time is not consumed by actually needing to go out and carry out such research but however, media organisations would already be exposed to this research which would enable them to draw comparisons between these findings and their own products as well as being reliable as due to who secondary research is conducted by, it is much more likely to be valid therefore giving a better representation.

However an opposing view of Secondary research would argue that it may often lack indepedence therefore making it more likely to be influenced by biased opinions thus making them less likely to be accurate as those who carry out the research possess their own ideas which may influence the way research is conducted as well as the fact that unlike Primary research, it fails to enable the option of being tailored to specific content which may be a downfall for media companies as to find a piece of research relative to their product may be very difficult and general whilst also not answering specific questions which may be required to further develop a product or determine success of a product for instance Music videos.

Assignment 1: Qualitative and Quantitative

Qualitative Research:

This assignment will consist of exploring the purpose of the research methods of both qualitative and quantitative data within the media industry most specifically Qualitative and Qualitative whilst exploring how they carry out research on media productions or products. I would like to start off by saying that the main reason which would come to mind concerning this topic would that it helps us understand exactly what the preferred audiences or even wider audiences - (those who connect with the product or the music video) are more inclined to engage with therefore making the end product much more worthwhile as knowledge is increased.

Qualitative Data/Research is a form of research method or rather a research category which is defined as ‘Qualitative Research is primarily exploratory research. It is used to gain an understanding of underlying reasons, opinions, and motivations. It provides insights into the problem or helps to develop ideas or hypotheses for potential quantitative research. Qualitative Research is also used to uncover trends in thought and opinions, and dive deeper into the problem.’ https://www.snapsurveys.com/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-qualitative-research-and-quantitative-research/. I believe that the main aim of qualitative data in this context of music video producers is essentially to be used to understand opinions of those who make as well as interact on the different media products and how that has an impact on individuals.

Some of the main benefits of the Qualitative data consist of:

•      Often uncovers thoughts and opinions – This therefore enables Music video producers to be able to truly understand how exactly firstly their potential audiences feel and think about how music videos are conducted as well as what works and what isn’t so effective in this aspect.
•          Provides depth and details – Through the quality of the research it enables us to be able to understand not just the shallow specifics of the research but enables us to really understand and look deeper through analysing whether that be through reactions, feelings, etc.

As with any form of research methods, there are cons to Qualitative Data. 
It is above everything very time consuming as getting everyone within the surveys opinion would be lengthy and would take some thinking for the interview in the sense that it would require in depth analysis which would take more than just hours. The interviewee may not want to take some time to answer these questions which may be asked and if they do there would be the chance of them "winging" some of the questions given not to mention forms of research such as -  unstructured interviews which may lead to the conversation going off on a tangent. This form of data research is effective but just like quantitative it has its disadvantages in terms of time consumption but remains highly effective in helping industries - in this case, Media companies get an opinion detailed answer thus giving them more detail to work with when marketing off their product.

Quantitative Research

Another research method or aforementioned research category which is also often spoken about in conjunction with Qualitative data is Quantitative research which is defined as ‘Quantitative data is any kind of data that can be measured numerically. For example, quantitative data is used to measure things precisely, such as the temperature, the amount of people in a crowd or the height of a structure.’ https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=9&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwi4kNLOzs_TAhWpJsAKHbFxDdAQFghYMAg&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.reference.com%2Fmath%2Fquantitative-data-mean-7183ca415cad2c27&usg=AFQjCNGY3cx2rkcHPgQUvyfjJx64jE7EGQ&sig2=SSxcw6um4Hr7gMMaaWnkSQ, therefore often referring to methods such as Surveys, Graphs, Questionnaires, Opinion Polls or even Numerical data such as Box Office Figures, Youtube Views, Number of Itunes Purchases or even Views of a particular music video on any given platform – All of which produce quantitative research.

Some of the main benefits of the Quantitative data consist of:

• Can allow for greater objectivity and accuracy of results. Generally, quantitative methods are designed to provide summaries of data that support generalisations about the phenomenon under study.
• Allow for a broader study, involving a greater number of subjects, and enhancing the generalisation of the results.

However, There are some disadvantages of using Quantitative data; one of which would be that the stats and figures may not always be accurate and reliable for that matter as they often tend to fluctuate. In addition, in the example of an institution trying to find a specific audience based on age and gender, some figures only show amounts and do not go into detail on more specifically who and what. So the audience information is often missed out so there would be no ideal way of targeting an audience. Quantitative research does not go into the the opinions so therefore the "detailed" aspect of the results aren't reliable as we aren't able to further understand the audience's preferences. Which can cause a incorrect or inaccurate answer for results/data.