Task 3 Research

Quantitative Audience Research

The objective and purpose of quantitative research is to
quantify data and generalise results from a sample to the
population of interest, measure the incidence of various views
and opinions in a chosen sample and is sometimes followed by
qualitative research, which is used to explore some findings
further. A sample of quantitative research is usually a large
number of cases representing the population of interest with
randomly selected respondents. The data collection is
structured techniques such as online questionnaires, on-street
or telephone interviews. Statistical data is usually in the form
of tabulations and findings are conclusive and usually
descriptive in nature. The outcome is used to recommend a
final course of action. Advantages of quantitative research is
that it allows the reader to analyse and measure data, it can be
used to test hypotheses in experiments due to its ability to
measure data using statistics and it can expand the overall rate
of amount of results at which are being produced due to the
greater amount of results. Disadvantages of quantitative
research would be that because it is all based on figures its not
always reliable due to it not being up to date, the context of the
study or experiment is ignored and a large sample of the
population must be studied, the greater the statistically
accurate the results will be. Overall, even though there are
many disadvantages of using quantitative research there are
also many advantages and I think that it is very valid way of
getting research and a good way to collect information through
statistics.

Qualitative Audience Research

The objective and purpose of qualitative research is to gain an
understanding of underlying reasons and motivations, to
provide insights into the setting of a problem, generating ideas
and hypotheses for later quantitative research and to uncover
prevalent trends in thought and opinion. A sample of qualitative
research is usually a small number of non-representative cases
with respondents selected to fulfil a given quota. The data
collection is unstructured or semi-structured techniques, for
example individual depth interviews or group discussions. The
data analysis is non-statistical. The outcome of qualitative
research is exploratory and investigative. Findings are not
conclusive and cannot be used to make generalisations about
the population of interest. It develops an initial understanding
and sound base for further decision making. Advantages of
qualitative research is that it measures detailed responses, you
also would be able to get new responses and that you can build
new theories. Disadvantages of qualitative research would be
that it is very time consuming, it can be labour intensive
meaning it will be expensive and that the location could affect
or influence the response of the subjects. Overall I think that
qualitative research it a good way of getting information that is
need easily but can be very time consuming. Gathering wrong
information is the main disadvantage, the location needs to be
thought about before taking action or receiving information.

BARB
BARB stands for broadcasters audience research board and is
owned by bbc, ITV, channel 4, channel 5 they are not for profit.
BARB commissions contractors and helps to provide research
services, this includes the production of audience viewing
figures which they do for you instead of you having to look for it
yourself. This includes them watching to see what programmes
are viewed and what the particular audience type would be.
ABC
Activity-based costing (ABC) is an accounting method that
identifies the activities that a firm performs and then assigns
indirect costs to products. An activity-based costing (ABC)
system recognizes the relationship between costs, activities
and products, and through this relationship, it assigns indirect
costs to products less arbitrarily than traditional methods.
Some costs are difficult to assign through this method of cost
accounting. Indirect costs, such as management and office staff
salaries are sometimes difficult to assign to a particular product
produced. For this reason, this method has found its niche in
the manufacturing sector.
Activity-based costing (ABC) is mostly used in the
manufacturing industry since it enhances the reliability
of cost data, hence producing nearly-true costs and better
classifying the costs incurred by the company during its
production process.
This costing system is used in target costing, product
costing, product line profitability analysis, customer profitability
analysis and service pricing. It is also hugely popular since
organizations can develop a much better corporate focus and
strategy if costs are better grasped.