Audience Research

Quantitive: Data which is based around statistically based fact. This means that it can be organised in numerical terms, providing data which is easier to understand and analyse. Quantitive data has been criticised for not providing such information as explanation. Qualitative: Qualitative data is based around personal opinion, thus beckon a more descriptive and detailed response that cannot be organised into numerical data. Primary Research: Research that is conducted personally be the researcher, without the use of existing research. It is often done after some kind of context has been established through the study of secondary research. Primary research can be conducted using several different methods, with questionnaires being a popular resource. Secondary Research: Research that is conducted into existing data by a researcher. Resources used within this area of study include things such as books, magazines and online articles. This mode of research is often used as a context instatement before primary research is conducted. Open Questions: Open questions are ones that allow the answerer to give personal views and opinions on the matter being asked. These could be used effectively to gain qualitative data. Closed Questions: Closed questions are ones that limits the amount of potential answers that can be given, something as simple as a yes or no answer question can be considered a closed question. Demographic: A method of describing a particular group of people in terms of several attributes. Age, gender, sex, class, sexual orientation for example. This is used by researchers to name a general target audience. Audience Proling: Audience proling is the process in which media producers presume about an audiences most likely consumption and preferences. This assumption is based around two primary factors: economic and social. These factors presumably contribute heavily to the personal tastes of an individual. Geodemographic: The method of categorising of a group of people on the basis of their regional identity, which is sometimes sorted by post-code. Psychographics: A method of categorising a group of people through such characteristics as personal preferences, opinions and life style.

Niche: A selective, specic group of people for which there is a gap in the market. Therefore, all marketing efforts are targeted at this audience. Niches are created by the marketer in order to identify an audiences needs and wants that have yet to be sustained by the current market so that they may supply this. This is also known as micomarketing. Age: A group of people that can be categorised by being within a certain age range such as 25-40 or 40-60. These demographics can be further titled through such names as young adult or middle aged. Gender: An audience prole which is not always as clear as some. It is still considered that Socio-economic status: This audience prole revolves around someones class. The general consensus regarding class is that the more someone earns, the further up the scale they are. Of course, there are exceptions to this rule, Upper Class people without much money and rich people who still call themselves Working Class, from which they were raised. Sexual Orientation: An individuals sexuality may also affect their preferences, be it heterosexual or homosexual. The recent pink pound style of marketing targeted at homosexuals is an example of this. Race or Ethnicity: This broad audience prole can be dened in an array of different ways. This need not be skin colour: people often characterise themselves in terms of their nation state, such as Jamaican or African. Perhaps also their religion, notably Jewish. Mainstream: The mainstream is the current form of normality, the tastes of the majority that consequently become conventional. Alternative: Refers to anything outside the mainstream, which makes this term a broad one. There is no denitive denition of what constitutes the alternativesimply something that deviates from the social norm of the mainstream.