Bradley Connor | creative media |

Unit 3 L01
UNDERSTAND THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF
RESEARCG IN THE CREATIVE MEDIA
INDUSTRIES

Contents page
Types of research:
Quantitative (hits on websites sales of CDS)
Qualitative (song reviews, fan website opinions)

Methods of research:
Secondary
Primary
Data gathering
Self-generated

Purpose of research:
Audience research
Market research
Production research

Bibliography:

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Quantitative (hits on websites sales of CDS)

Quantitative research is research which analysis of results showing
the numeric quantity of something, an example of this would be
the YouTube what displays the amount of views a certain video has
displaying who popular the video is.
The usage of quantitative research allows the user to see how well
their released work is doing, it allows the user to create targets for
their work to reach e.g. for CD sales you may wish to sell a certain
amount before a certain deadline. Quantitative research is a more
logical and data lead approach of research technique which
provides a measure of what people think from a statistical and
numerical point of view. Quantitative research can gather a large
amount of data that can be easily organized and manipulated for
analytical purposes.
Positives
allows the researcher to
measure and analyze data
It allows the researcher to
have numeric values
linking to a query.
Can be analyzed easier
than qualitative data

Negatives
Only produces numeric
values
Restricts the depth of the
publics responses

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Qualitative (song reviews, fan website opinions)

Qualitative research is the focus on the opinion of those who have

experienced your work, the questions asked will help the user to
gather critical responses to their work, these questions can be
manipulated for a certain cause whether its finding out what
needs improving or what is good about the product. It can be used
to gain new ideas or improve/remove previously used ones.
Examples of qualitative research would be song reviews which are
used to help the musician to understand the publics opinion on
his or hers work, music video reviews are also used for by
producers to decide whether their work is suitable for the genre of
music or even the song. Reviews can also be used to help the
musician and producer to pre plan songs and videos they would
like to create as they can read what the public like and dislike.
Positives
This type of research does
not need a strict design
plan before it begins
the researcher gains a
more detailed written
description
can help to develop ideas

Negatives
it is more time consuming
to analyze
takes those participating
longer to answer than a
quantitative research

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Secondary
Secondary research is when you collect prerecorded research
created by someone else example of this type of research could be
using old newspaper surveys or reviews these can be used to
analysis how opinions change, it can still be used to see sales of
other similar products to allow you to make a more valid prediction
of how well your product would do.
Secondary research is known for being the analysis of primary
research which can relate to the work the user is researching. The
method of using this research is to collect primary research and
interpret and analyses what the primary research has found.
Secondary research would often include more than one sources of
information and would explain what their individual findings are
from the sources and what the sources tell us.
Positives
Time and Cost effective
Extensiveness of data
Basis of Primary Research

Negatives
Inaccuracy of Data
May not be Specific

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Primary
Primary research is research recorded during the current time and
is created and recorded by those who are a part of the study.
Primary research can vary from an experiment testing something
to a questionnaire however in relevance to music, primary
research you would find would be mainly focus groups and
questionnaires.
Primary research will always be the original research the technique
used will be one created by someone else however the data the
user collects will be their own unique primary research. Primary
research is used widely in the music industry by artists producers
and regulators this can differ for research needed to decide the
leader in a certain genre or to determine if a musician is worth
being signed for a label or how well a musicians work is selling, it
helps to allow the musician to know how well their musical career
is doing.
Positives
Targeted Issues are
addressed
Data interpretation is
better
primary data becomes a
more accurate

Negatives
High Cost
Time Consuming
Can face Inaccurate Feedbacks

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Data gathering
Data gathering is the systematic approach to gathering
information from a variety of sources to get a complete and
accurate picture of a certain area of interest this can be linked to
music as YouTube operates as a major data gathering opportunity
as displays how many views a certain video has received showing
the exact number.
Data gathering requires certain methods used to analysis the
results produced after gathering data, every evaluation of data is
different. It is important to realize that the gathering of data is
only recording the data everything else you do with the data is
linked to analyzing and sorting the data to be easy to understand.
Data gathering is sourcing the information needed to answer a
certain question.

Self-generated
Self-generated research is similar to primary research it is research
collected by those who have a query to answer this will usually be
surveys, these are will be created by those involved in the musical
project asking questions that link to their product.
Self-generated research can lack in professionalism depending on
who has created it however it will be allot cheaper than pre
created research. Major labels will not commonly be found using
self-generated research however smaller labels will rely heavily on
this type of research method

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Audience research
Audience research is that is used specifically for determining what
your audience is or to understand what certain audience segments
opinion on your work. An example of audience research would be
when a producer would want to find out his newly signed
musicians target audience, he would release a series of surveys
and organize focus groups to different people to determine the
best audience to aim his musician to influence.
Audience research is important to the music industry as the basis
of the music industry operates on the audiences opinion the,
musicians are expected to entertain the audience so analyzing
who the audience are and information about them is crucial to
help improve and maximize the amount of sales of their music.
Audience classification is used to identify the different segments in
the audience for instance people will fall into different

socio-economic groups
geodemographic groups
psychographic groups
ethnographic groups

Producers would analyze what groups their artists appeal to and

produce products which accommodate the interests of those
within them groups. Certain groups within these classifications
will spend more than others on music, some will watch more
music videos than others and some may prefer to stick to
traditional methods of listening to music this all would be
analyzed in audience research to allow the producers to
understand their target audiences needs and wants.

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Market research
Market research is the process of collecting valuable information to
help you find out if there is a market for your proposed product or
service. It is used in the music industry to understand the publics
opinion on current musical affairs whether its understanding what
genre is most popular in certain market segments, or what
advertising techniques are most successful when promoting a new
upcoming artist. Market research is quite similar to audience
research as they are used to find ways to extort the public to
generate the best amount of capital and publicity for new musical
projects.
Completion is a major factor in the music industry so producers
will always see what competition their artists will face in their
genre. Theyll use this research to find ways to make their artists
unique to others in the genre and find week points of their
competitors.
Market research is a good way to extort advertising the market is
where you would advertise your musical products so producers
would seek to find the most successful ways to promote their
products e.g. Travis Scott was unknown in the UK however he
performed at a festival called wireless which allowed him to
expand his fan base into the UK. Breaking the UK was key for his
quickly progressive career as a large amount of people listen to
the genre of music he belongs to.

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Production research
Production research is the research process used to pre plan how a
product is made, in terms of the music industry this can be used to
build an iconic music with a large public image and wide fan base
or the planning of a music video may also require production
research. This research process can be longitudinal as it requires a
lot of thought and time as a lot of money will be spent on the
production of any musical product.
Production research helps to provide content, research commercial
viability and plan the post production process. Production research
also includes advertising and where it might be placed to gain the
best possible reaction from the audience. It will help to gain
information on income and outgoing costs.
The production research will analyze the costs of creating their
project it would also be expected to locate all the necessities for
their project such as
personnel
talent
finance
suppliers
facilities
locations

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Bibliography:
unknown . (2014). What Is Market Research?. Available:
http://www.studententerprise.ie/phases/phase-2/module4/what-is-marketresearch/. Last accessed 14/03/16.
unknown . (2015). primary research . Available:
http://www.ianswer4u.com/2012/05/secondary-market-researchadvantages.html#axzz434XqPdti. Last accessed 16/03/16.
unknown . (2015). Secondary research . Available:
http://www.ianswer4u.com/2012/05/secondary-market-researchadvantages.html#axzz434XqPdti. Last accessed 16/03/16.

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