Monday, 7 February 2011

Research Methods

Today, our media group had a lesson based on 'Research Methods'.

The main research methods are:
  • Primary - this is research you carry out personally
  • Secondary - research you gather from other people
  • Quantitative - this is when you carry out questionnaires/surveys and you look for a pattern or trend within peoples answers/responses.
  • Qualitative - this method investigates the why and how of decision making.
Examples of Primary research methods are:
  • Questionnaires - Advantages: can gather information quickly; easy to create; you can get direct answers. Disadvantages: people can lie; they can be time consuming.
  • Interviews
  • Polls/Surveys
  • Focus Groups (a group of people you get together and ask questions too)
  • Email/Text/Letter - Advantages: Not expensive; simple; can be fairly informal. Disadvantages: Can be reported as junk; may be misinterpreted; may be ignored.
Examples of Secondary research methods are:
  • The internet - industry websites (such as the BBC website)/websites by individuals
  • Books
  • Newspapers/Newspaper archive
Honestly, so far i have used secondary research for the information about NME. I gathered the information from the NME websites. This is because I have no personal information i can use as research which will change when i start to buy and read the NME magazine myself.

1 comment:

  1. There is something strange going on with your blog - I can see all your posts on my dashboard but I can't click on some of them! Have you written a post, added to it but then just saved it as a draft? It's your Rihanna and the 60s- looking singer pages! We need to investigate this!

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