This document defines key terminology used in research including circulation, hits, box office figures, ratings, and sales. It also defines and compares different types of research such as primary research, secondary research, quantitative research, qualitative research, audience research, market research, and production research. Finally, it discusses objectives in research and defining what is valid and reliable. Harvard referencing style is also covered.

1. Research
Theory
Your Name

2. Terminology
• Circulation
– The amount of copies that have been printed and sent out.
• Hits
– How many times a certain thing has been viewed.
• Box Office Figures
– How much money a film has made at a cinema/online sites.
• Ratings
– How many stars a movie has been rated by the audience (1 star,2 stars ,etc).
• Sales
– How many products have been sold.

3. Primary Research
• Definition
– Any type of research that you collect yourself.
• Advantages
– Data collected is up to date, relevant and specific to your research objectives.
• Disadvantages
– Can be very time consuming, sometimes can take months or even years, also might
be expensive
• Example
• surveys, interviews, ethnographic research

4. Secondary Research
• Definition
• Advantages
– Fast, low cost and easy to find, you can do secondary research yourself using a
computer and internet connection.
• Disadvantages
– Broader results than primary research which offers more detailed, targeted data.
• Example
– Can be found at your local library and online in news stories, industry publications,
reporters, whitepapers, government, local government and business websites.

5. Quantitative Research
• Definition
– The process of collecting and analysing numerical data, it can be used to find patterns and
averages, make predictions, test casual relationships and generalize results to wider
populations.
• Advantages
– Allows you to reach a higher sample size, can collect information quickly, uses randomized
samples.
• Disadvantages
– No access to specific feedback, can be very expensive, individual characteristics don’t always
apply to the general population.
• Example
– Surveys, online polls, questionnaires.

6. Qualitative Research
• Definition
• Relies on unstructured and non-numerical data.
• Advantages
• Provides depth and detail, records attitudes, feelings and behaviours,
creates openness: encourages people to expand on their responses.
• Disadvantages
• It can lose data, it may require multiple sessions, create misleading
conclusions .
• Example
– Observations, interviews, focus groups, surveys.

7. Audience Research
• Definition
• Communication research that is conducted on specific audience segments to gather information
about their attitude, knowledge, interests, preferences, or behaviours.
• Advantages
• Targeting- knowing your audience can help you target the right group of people, promote your
product it is well known that advertising can be very expensive, attract new customers, time
savings, cost efficient, complete data.
• Disadvantages
• Time consuming so less people have studied, researcher unable to see a clear human perception.
• Example
– Focus groups, social media analytics, surveys and Questionnaires.

8. Market Research
• Definition
• The activity of gathering information about users’ needs and preferences.
• Advantages
• It helps businesses strengthen their position as it gains a better perspective and understanding of
your market or target audience. It helps discover yours and your competitors strengths and
weaknesses. It focuses on customer needs and demands.
• Disadvantages
• Conducting a market research for a new product can be costly. Inaccurate information, a biased
population or a poorly formulated research can result in false or inaccurate feedback.
• Example
• Survey, interviews, focus groups, observation.

9. Production Research
• Definition
• The process is to gather information on the content on the content of the production. The methods
of production research could be primary research; this means researching via books and setting up
groups to gather peoples opinions.
• Advantages
• The gain of knowledge of how much everything is going to cost and where to get all the main
resources from. It will help copyright violation to prevent buyers from being confused.
• Disadvantages
• Unreliable sources like with market research and unreliable people and suppliers which can affect
the deadline date.
• Example
• Age, gender, geodemographics, demographics, hobbies, social-economic, classification, and
ethnographic. Separating the audience into different categories make it easier for production
companies to establish and target their correct audience.

10. Terminology
• Objective
– Research that is not influenced by personal thoughts e.g. Feelings and
opinions.
• Subjective
– Research that has been influenced by personal thoughts e.g. Feelings and
opinions.
• Valid
– Whether the research that has been put forward is able to answer the asked
question.
• Reliable
• Research that produces accurate and consistent results

11. Harvard Referencing
Name of the film being researched;
1. Gage, J. (2019) After
2. Todd, A. (2014) After
3. Aviron. (2019) After
(http://aviron.com/films/after.php)
4. Klein, K. (2019) ‘After’ Is a Bad Movie, But That Is
Far From the Only Problem. The Harvard Crimson.
(https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2019/10/29/
after-review/)