This document defines key terminology used in research such as circulation, hits, box office figures, and ratings. It also defines and compares different types of research like primary and secondary research as well as quantitative and qualitative research. Finally, it discusses different focuses of research like audience, market, and production research. Key advantages and disadvantages of each research type are provided along with examples. The document concludes with definitions of objective and subjective research and how to evaluate research validity and reliability.

1. Research
Josh Bailey

2. Terminology
• Circulation
– How many units of a book or newspaper or any other print product
have sold. (Are going around. ‘circulation’)
• Hits
– How many times a website has been viewed by people
• Box Office Figures
– How much money a film has made at the box office (Money made
while in cinemas)
• Ratings
– How a medium is judged/criticised (measured in mostly stars,
percentages or fractions)
• Sales
– How many of a product has been sold

3. Primary Research
• Definition
– Research/information you find out yourself
• Advantages
– Most of time, quick and easy to collect
– You can double-check if correct yourself
• Disadvantages
– Can misinterpret your research
– Can be timewasting
• Example
– Questionnaires/Surveys
– Interviews
– Focus Groups

4. Secondary Research
• Definition
– Finding and taking advantage of existing research
– Information that has been researched beforehand
• Advantages
– Good chance that the information is from a reliable source
• Disadvantages
– Might be impossible to check this information for yourself
• Example
– Internet research
– Library research

5. Quantitative Research
• Definition
– Research/information you can turn into an integer or are able to
measure in any way
• Advantages
– Turning your research into numbers may make it easier to read
and understand universally
• Disadvantages
– It may turn out to be difficult to convert the research into
feasible figures
• Example
– On a survey, a question may require a one word answer, with
this you can count how many people pick which answer

6. Qualitative Research
• Definition
– Research that is backed up by opinions and subjective
reasoning
• Advantages
– Get an insight on peoples beliefs and I why they think what
they think
• Disadvantages
– People might not want to share their opinions
• Example
– A question which would require an explanation behind it,
thus including a ‘why?’ or ‘explain’ after the question

7. Audience Research
• Definition
- Identifying the customers who consume a product
• Advantages
- Get to know your customer base
- Can discover if there is a secondary audience
• Disadvantages
- Might take a long time to examine
• Example
- Finding out details of the player base of a game to
identify it’s key demographic

8. Market Research
• Definition
- Referring to the market place where a product sold
• Advantages
- Understand where a product is being sold and where to
purchase
• Disadvantages
- Can take a long time to get results
• Example
– A library/book shop is the perfect market place for books
or really any printed media

9. Production Research
• Definition
- Obtaining the information and materials in order to
create a piece of media
• Advantages
- Helps explain the features of the product
• Disadvantages
- Equipment needed for the product might be expensive
• Example
– Seeing and downloading which programmes are used
to edit and produce videos for social media (i.e.
YouTube creators)

10. Terminology
• Objective
– Research not interfered by personal opinions o feeling
• Subjective
– Research that is influenced by personal opinions and
feelings
• Valid
– If the research is able to answer the question opposed
or not
• Reliable
– If research appears to be real and consistent

11. Harvard Referencing
Name of the film being researched;
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
1. Columbus, C. (2001) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
2. Rowling, J.K. (1995) Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
3. Warner bros (2001-2018) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
https://www.warnerbros.com/harry-potter-and-sorcerers-stone
4. TIME Magazine (1999) The Magic of Harry Potter