Contents

TYPES OF RESEARCH
Qualitative Research
Quantitative Research
METHODS OF RESEARCH
Secondary Research
Primary Research
Data Gathering Agencies
Self-Generated Research
PURPOSE OF RESEARCH
Audience Research
Market Research
Production Research

Qualitative Research
Qualitative Research is about finding out what someone thinks and why they think it. This normally
means getting a group of people together and asking for their opinions so they you can better
understand their feelings and reasons why they think something. (1)
Interviews is often the most prevalent method of this type of research, with person-to-person
sessions being the most common way. This consists of one person asking another person questions
which are relevant to the issue being discussed.
Alternatively, focus groups or group interviews can happen to gather information, which is particularly
useful when the people involved have been exposed to the same media or when a comparison is
needed on what people thought of something, for example, a song, CD or music video etc. (3)
The questions which are asked in these can be either those that will end in closed ended responses to
ones which can end in a conversation. For example, if you were collecting data on peoples opinions
on a festival, you could ask people there what they think of it and record their responses. (4)
This type of research can be beneficial to the person collecting data as it can explore topics in more
depth and detail than quantitative data can. As well as this, it is often less expensive than quantitative
research as it less participants are needed for it to be successful. Qualitative research offers more
flexibility as you dont need a large number of people to interview at once meaning locations and
timings etc can be varied.
On the other hand, qualitative research has limitations too. For example, you cant quantify how
many of your audience answer one way or another. You also cannot generalize your findings to your
broader audience or the general public. (2)
Ed Sheerans latest album multiply came out in the middle of July. Since then it has had many reviews
written about it. The reviews that are written are the opinions of the reviewer which means they can
be used as a form of qualitative research. For example, the telegraph reviewed this album 5 stars
saying it is genuinely great (5) whereas a metacritic user said it was much worse than his first album
plus. (6)

Quantitative Research
Quantitative research is when questions are asked to either a focus group or members of the public
which will provide conclusive data. The data then gets used to measure the interest of something. It is
information which is derived from numbers, for example the results can be collected in things such as
ratings figures. (9)
Quantitative research can come if the form of surveys or questionnaires and they can help small firms
to improve a product or service by helping them to make decisions. (7)
This type of research can allow the researcher to analyse and measure data. It can be sent to many
people and is often quick for someone to respond to. For example, a survey can be sent to however
many people and will be quick and simple for them to fill out and send back. However surveys and
questionnaires often get ignored and therefore it is difficult to collect a lot of responses, meaning the
results could be less statistically accurate. (8)
Because the data is collected in numbers it a lot easier to collate and place together into something
like a chart. However because it is collected in numbers it prevents the responder to fully express
their opinion on the matter and can sometimes produce less accurate results. (9)
An example of quantitative research in the music industry is the number of hits a music video gain on
services such as YouTube of Vevo, or the amount of download streams, etc. It is counted and
quantitative data as you can see the hits it has which can then be fed back to the artist or the public.
By informing the public on their viewing/purchasing habits it makes us aware of what the current
trends are. This is how things like music charts are formed, and can help to confirm the popularity or a
band or artist. (10)

Secondary Research
Secondary research mostly consists of collecting information from sources such as marketing research
reports, company websites, magazine articles, etc.
This type of research is used in the music industry as it can help to see the past success of other
artists and producers in order to promote and improve your own music production and the style you
are creating.
This method of research may have limitations, for example it might be difficult to find all the
information that you need or the information that you do find could be out of date. Not all of the data
could be correct as anyone could have written and posted it, it is difficult to make sure whether it is
true or not. (12)
This form of research is good because it is easy to access, it has a low cost to acquire, and it could
help clarify the research question or answer the research question. (11)
Primary Research
Primary research can be a much more personal research method and is less based on medias
promotion of a topic. This research is collected from things such as focus groups and questionnaires
and will produce information that will have come directly from a source.
Primary research if good because it can generate research that is directly linked to your objective, it
can assess the psychology of the customer and it can collect the latest information from the market
place. However, it can be very expensive, and there is a risk of biasness in the results. (13)
During production, this form of data can be helpful as it allows the crew to have the exact responses
they are looking for and can allow them to examine the points they need help with. It also means they
can help decide which questions should be asked to the selected people that fir their target audience
which can be done through face to face interviews or focus groups, or surveys/ questionnaires.
On the other hand, unexplained or misinterpreted answers can affect the production and the
statistics of the research.
Self-generated research
Self-generated research is where a company will work with research that has been done with no
other help other than their own. It is beneficial as it allows them to use their own knowledge to
improve their production. Also, as it comes from a personal source the research doesnt need to
worry about the information being false and they wont have to spend money on things such as
organizing a focus group or sending out a survey.
However this type of research can be difficult as it is not always guaranteed to be 100% true and can
lead to the company following untrue information which can negatively inflict the production.
Data Gathering Agencies
Data gathering agencies are responsible for collecting and maintaining company-specific data and
operating data entry devices. (15)
For example the organisation RAJAR operate a single audience measurement system for radio stations
in the UK and work with the BBC as it is a channel of high priority regarding audience measurements.
Despite having the statistics, these agencies can often have badly explained information as its simply
data consisting of numbers so the responses have little detail on the audiences opinion. (16)
These statistics could be valuable regarding music videos as it records the most popular time people
are online and how popular other music videos can be in comparison which gives the company a
better idea of the competition.

Audience research
Audience research is any communication research that is conducted on specific audience segments to
collect information on their attitudes, knowledge, interests, preferences, or behaviour with respect to
prevention issues. These may be based on various grouping strategies such as race, ethnicity, age,
education or family income. (14)
For example, a music company could ask their audience questions to collect data relating to music
videos which would then inflict the way they produce music videos to a more popular taste.
It is also important to music videos as it will affect the way the public view a music video after it has
been made and released. It is an important step in the production of a music video as it ensures
record labels and music companies are successful and popular and will have a positive feedback from
the audience.
Market Research
Market research is the action of collecting valuable information for a proposed product or service.
The information acquired helps to make profitable decisions. (17)
This form of research can be practised in the music industry by record label companies gathering
information about the people or other companies which will be buying their music and can be used to
discuss and debate the expected success of a product or how much they will make from it.
Market research can be twisted however to try and sabotage the competition or ensure the company
has the upper hand.
By doing market research, the company can gain knowledge on the age, gender, culture and ethnicity
and income and social class of the audience. (19) The data can then put the audience into groups of
upper middle class, middle class, lower middle class, skilled working class, working class and those at
the lowest levels of subsistence. This can help to determine which is the best target audience for the
production and how would be the best way to make the music video depending on the type of person
that it will be aimed at. (19)
Production Research
Production research is done when a new product is being developed. The research helps to gain
information on the characteristics of a product. It focuses mainly on the production of a product. For
example, a music video is made to help sell and promote the artist/ song, therefore the producers of
the music video must ensure it keeps up a certain image of the artist and represents the song in a
relevant way. When organisations do production research it helps to get an overview of the
commercial viability which is businesses skills to be successful and gain profit. (18)
Production research can help to gain an understanding of the viability of what is being sold and how
much profit is estimated to be made. For example, it will be taken into consideration the costs of the
production, including the staffing, equipment requirements, locations, licenses, rights, distribution
costs, adverting/ promotion and copyright. An estimation on the income of the production can then
be made, by adding up potential acquisitions of the production, for example sales of tickets and
albums, merchandise, competitions, subscriptions, user involvement, product placement, etc. (19)

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