This document provides information about different types of research used in creative media industries. It defines primary research as original research collected through methods like questionnaires and interviews. Secondary research is already published work from sources like the internet, magazines, and books. Qualitative research gathers opinions and views through open-ended questions, while quantitative research uses numbers and statistics from closed questions. Examples of each type of research are provided, along with discussions of their advantages and disadvantages. Primary research allows customization but takes more time and money, while secondary research already exists but results may be outdated or biased. Both qualitative and quantitative research are useful to understand opinions and popularity.

1. BTEC Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production 2013_14
Name: _____________________________________________________________
PART ONE (Covers criteria 3.1 Understand the nature and purposes of research in the creative media industries)
What is primary and secondary
research and provide an
explanation?
PRIMARY RESEARCH
Primary Research
Primary research is the original primary information gathered by questionnaires and interviews or by other methods. with
questionnaires they could hand them out to you on paper or send them to you via email but there are advantages and
disadvantages to primary research.
Advantages of Primary Research
You can research exactly what you want, how you want, and don't have to rely on other peoples work.
You can interpret the results how you want, and dont need to rely on other peoples interpretations.
The research will be accurate for the current time / place / situation you are studying
It is created exactly to your needs
Disadvantages of Primary Research
It can take a lot of time and cost a lot of money to conduct primary research
You might not always have the necessary things to conduct it, e.g. samples etc
Research/Pre-Production assessment grid
(Evidence for 1.1 Understand requirements for a specific media production; 3.1 Understand the nature and purposes of research in the creative
media industries)

2. BTEC Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production 2013_14
Name: _____________________________________________________________
SECONDARY RESEARCH
Secondary Research is already published and is the cheapest and easiest form of research because the data has already
been done for you. Secondary Research can be split in to internal and external.
Internet
Magazines
Journals
Newspapers
Books
Encyclopedia
Document
Advantages of Secondary Research
It already exists so it will save you time
It is often cheaper than doing Primary Research
It may allow you access to data you could not otherwise get
Disadvantages of Secondary Research
It can be very expensive
You may have less control over how the data was collected
There may be biases in the data that you don’t know about making the data wrong
Its answers may not exactly fit your research questions
It may be obsolete data
http://nfomation.net/nfo.white/1358159021.The_Official_UK_Top_40_Singles_Chart_13-01-2013.nfo.png
The above link shows the UK top 40 link but what it doesn’t tell me is how many sales each song made and how money
or views did each song get to make them end up with results like this.
Research/Pre-Production assessment grid
(Evidence for 1.1 Understand requirements for a specific media production; 3.1 Understand the nature and purposes of research in the creative
media industries)

3. BTEC Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production 2013_14
Name: _____________________________________________________________
Give 3 examples of primary
research and evaluate its
effectiveness i.e. advantages
and disadvantages.
Provide examples to support
your points.
1. Questionnaires, they are very an effective as they are the most popular form but some don’t take them seriously and
you could get lots of information due to the amount of you ask.
2. A disadvantage is that it can be time consuming and expensive because for example you would have to send out the
questionnaires or make sure that they get filled out one by one. Then again you could email them or put them on a
website.
3. Focus group are a good way to receive primary research so you can get opinions of others for example when you get
games being released you get a selection of the people who have bought it and played into a room and ask what they
think about it and how it could be improve nut however it wouldn’t be 100% accurate because you would only have a
small selected audience.
Give 3 examples of secondary
research and evaluateits
effectiveness i.e. advantages
and disadvantages.
Provide examples to support
your points.
1.you can find secondary research on the internet for example you could find the sales figures throughout the whole
country this is good because its accurate information because it’s done by a company possibly like The National
Readership Survey so that we know that it is correct and current information.
2. Magazines are a place to find secondary research because you can find game reviews, latest sale figures.
3. Reading books is a source of good research but it is time consuming and the information is generally correct.
Research/Pre-Production assessment grid
(Evidence for 1.1 Understand requirements for a specific media production; 3.1 Understand the nature and purposes of research in the creative
media industries)

4. BTEC Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production 2013_14
Name: _____________________________________________________________
Explain Qualitativeresearch
(indicate whether they are
primary or secondary).
Give examples and how they
might be important?
QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
Qualitative Research is research that gathers people’sopinion’s and views. It is important in the media industry
to look people’s opinions for example why they like it why they don’t like or why did they buy this product or
why didn’t they buy that product.
you could get Qualitative Research by giving out questionnaires with open questions not closed
Metacritic - Qualitative Research example
the above example shows us qualitative research because it has game reviews about a game called LEGO
Marvel Super Heroes and it have been reviewed by game company’s and has also received a rating out of a
hundred.
Qualitative research is very important in the media because gathering other people’s opinions on a game and
so you can ask them what they think about it and why they bought it or why did they buy it.
In my opinion I think that qualitative research is better than quantitative research because I prefer opinions so I
can get direct feedback.
Explain Quantitative research
(indicate whether they are
primary or secondary).
Give examples and how they
might be important?
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
Quantitative research is to do with numbers and statistics and is also mainly involved with closed questions
preferably yes or no. an example of quantitative research is like sales figures or ratings for programmes and
can also deal with how much money products make and for example how many purchases a newspapers
have throughout the country or even the world.
8/10 people watch the news or purchase a newspaper this clearly shows how popular it is.
Quantitative research can be very easy to come by you could just search it up on the internet and get the
results you want or you could do the research yourself but this however could take a lot of your time.
Research/Pre-Production assessment grid
(Evidence for 1.1 Understand requirements for a specific media production; 3.1 Understand the nature and purposes of research in the creative
media industries)

5. BTEC Extended Diploma in Creative Media Production 2013_14
Name: _____________________________________________________________
Research/Pre-Production assessment grid
(Evidence for 1.1 Understand requirements for a specific media production; 3.1 Understand the nature and purposes of research in the creative
media industries)