This document defines various research terminology used in media production including circulation, hits, box office figures, ratings, and sales. It also describes different types of research such as primary research, secondary research, quantitative research, qualitative research, audience research, market research, and production research. For each type of research, definitions, advantages, and disadvantages are provided along with examples. Terminology around objective vs subjective research and valid vs reliable research is also defined. Finally, examples of Harvard referencing style for research sources like films, articles, and websites are shown.

1. Research
Andrew Downes

2. Terminology
• Circulation
– Is how many copies are sold on average per day.
– Example = Daily Mail = 1,491,264
• Hits
– It is basically how many views and page visits you get per movie or video.
– Example= Sean Mc Laughlin's YouTube = 16,872,511
• Box Office Figures
– Box office figures predict the success of new movies.
– Example = Dunkirk = 521.8 million USD
• Ratings
– Are effectively how other people enjoyed or disliked a movie these can be
found in news papers and websites such as rotten tomatoes.
– Example = Dunkirk reviews= IMDb 8.4/10.
• Sales
– Sales are based on advertisements in papers billboards etcetera and also
through selling subscriptions.
– Example = 105 million sold tickets global opening.

3. Primary Research
• Definition
• Research carried out be me.
• Advantages
– You are able to collect raw new data to help create the
next movie, game or piece of media.
• Disadvantages
– It is highly expensive to procure the information and very
time consuming.
• Example: polls on YouTube

4. Secondary Research
• Definition
– It is using existing research in your own work
• Advantages
– The research is already existing and so all you need to do it
is just put it in your work and it can be easy to find.
• Disadvantages
– It may not correlate to what you are doing, and you have
to rely on others for the research so it may be unreliable.
• Example
– Internet research using Wikipedia, Slideshare (Google),

5. Quantitative Research
• Definition
– It is research that you can easily put into numbers such as
percentages or fractions, or the people taking the Vox Pop will
be asked closed questions answering Yes/No or ticking a box..
• Advantages
– It is good for calculating the numbers for what people liked or
disliked.
• Disadvantages
– They are asked closed questions so they can only answer in one
way or another such as a yes or no question or by ticking a box
so no opinion is given only an answer.
• Example
– Box office.

6. Qualitative Research
• Definition
• It is pretty much a questionnaire that is in conversation
form which you have to expand on your answers to go
into your opinions.
• Advantages
• They are using open questions so you know more about
peoples opinions.
• Disadvantages
• However the person answering will have to expand a lot
more than just a few words.
• Example
– Forums such as some on 4chan.

7. Audience Research
• Definition
• It is basically finding out who buys the product you sell and
finding out their opinions on the product.
• Advantages
• It is easy to find out who you are selling the product to, but
it’s harder to find out their opinion.
• Disadvantages
• It costs quite a bit however to find out the information on
their opinions – such as going through Facebook etc.
• Example
– Using demographics from youtube and facebook and researchin g ths
comments scetions on YouTube or the normal Chat environment on
Facebook (Public/Open accounts only).

8. Market Research
• Definition
• Finding out where your product might be sold.
• Advantages
• It can help identify new and upcoming trends before
they happen and apply the trends to the product.
• Disadvantages
• It can be very costly.
• Example
– Surveys / Focus Groups

9. Production Research
• Definition
• It is basically finding what you need (the materials) to
create your piece of media.
• Advantages
• It is easy to find the materials needed to create the piece
of media.
• Disadvantages
• It is difficult to find the best way of showing your target
audience your product
• Example
– Surveys or questionnaires.

10. Terminology
• Objective
– Research that is made without counting your personal
feelings and opinions.
• Subjective
– Research that has been influenced by personal
feelings and opinions.
• Valid
– It is whether or not the research can answer the
question that needs answering for the company.
• Reliable
– Research that finds accurate and consistent results.

11. Harvard Referencing
Name of the film being researched;
Anton,G (November,20,2009) Assassin’s creed
Renaissance.
Justin,K (1,January,2017) Assassin’s creed
• Ubisoft (2007)
https://assassinscreed.ubisoft.com/game/en-
gb/home/
• Steve,J (1993)
https://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/gaming/e
dge-magazine-
subscription/?gclid=CjwKCAjwpfzOBRA5EiwAU0ccNy7
wVpiKI-
Hj33uS3f_ueYrPlqGv9QinAJW6ayZja2_gI6jMO4pEPBo
CUbEQAvD_BwE.