Types of research
Primary/self generated research
Primary research is carried out by yourself or by your group/team and not by another source. You are the one who is collecting, compiling and publishing your own data that you have collected, through the form of questionnaires, surveys, interviews, etc. Primary research is commonly done when information does not already exist that is needed. It is also more reliable as you are the one who has all the results, meaning you can provide a more reliable and full answer and a secondary source who may have distorted some facts. For my own project, I conducted a questionnaire (using SurveyMonkey) into if people would be interested in the topic for my documentary, as well as what they thought about the subject. My survey covered a range of occupations, age and gender, as I wanted a general overview of the topic from my audience. I asked one question ("Is Kickstarter a good way to fund a project?") which I also asked the interviewees for my documentary. On its own, primary research can help give an insight into a topic, however it can be aided with secondary research.
Secondary research
Secondary research involves looking for research that has already been carried out and using it to support your primary research. Secondary research can involve looking at websites, archives and books/journals about a particular subject. This can easily be combined with primary research for comparison for differences or similarities. For example, I looked at Kickstarter for statistics on existing film projects on the site. From my research, I found that only a few of the 'Most Funded' Kickstarter film/video projects have been fully made after the pledge period had ended. Projects such as 'Blue Mountain State: The Movie' are still to be released and projects such as Zach Braff's 'Wish I Was Here' have been released, although not well received. I used the information I gathered about Kickstarter and the success/failures of these projects to help shape the questions I would ask during interviews.
Quantitative research
Quantitative research is data found through primary and secondary research that is mainly numerical, such as ratings, video hits, sales, etc. This data is easier to collate into graphs/tables for easier viewing of the figures. It can tell you how many people had seen/heard of a particular thing but it cannot tell you their opinions and what they think about it. This type of data is highly useful for basic figures, as you can get a fairly accurate idea of these figures without spending too much time carrying out the research. I gathered quantitative data in my primary research survey; I was able to find the distribution of genders my audience would be consisting of. For example, I found that around 58% of my audience was male. Also, I found that all of the participants of my survey were aware of Kickstarter.
Qualitative research
Qualitative research is data also found through primary and secondary research but is rich in data, such as reviews, articles, opinions/responses, etc. Data such as this cannot be easily condensed into graphs or tables and instead must be analysed in detail. Because of the detail, it takes more time and effort to collate these results, however these are more useful than quantitative research as you get a full picture rather than basic numbers. For my project I collected responses for particular questions, such as "Do you think Kickstarter is a good way to get funding for projects?". From this, I was able to have a good understanding of what my audience would think about Kickstarter as well as the projects on it. Ideally, the outcome would be that the audience would have a positive view of Kickstarter.
Data gathering agencies
Organisations such as the Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board (BARB) collate their own figures such as the demographics of viewers for certain channels/TV shows. They process their data and produce 'top 10/30' graphs for every channel on a weekly and monthly basis. There are other organisations such as the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) and Boxofficemojo. These organisations gather a wide range of data, including what shows/movies are popular, the ratings/reviews/opinions from the general public and critics, as well as the channels that had the biggest audiences.
Purposes of research
Audience and Market research
For my project, I conducted a Surveymonkey questionnaire from which I was able to gather demographics of my audience as well as the audience that would be likely to watch a project funded by Kickstarter. I found that my audience consisted of around 58% male, 28% female and 14% other. This suggests a significantly higher male audience demographic may watch my documentary. I was able to use this information to help shape the look and feel of the documentary to reflect what I had found in my audience/market research.
Production research
For my project, I conduced research into what questions I should ask in the interview. I did this by asking certain questions in my Surveymonkey survey for my audience research. From the responses, I could determine what questions I would ask during production that the audience would want to hear. Also, I did production research into the short film itself, as well as the group behind it to help give context to the audience using pictures and Kickstarter website screenshots for cutaways.
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