Documentary Assignment 1.

In this assignment I am going to be talking about research methods and the advantages and disadvantages of different types of research methods.

When doing a documentary you need to research things there are many different types of research methods/data. For example:

Qualitative data, Qualitative data are basically peoples opinions. The opinions that have come from somebody. For example, a film review. A discussion, a reaction to a television programme. Qualitative data is a good method of finding things out. The results you get from it can guide a project to success. This means that if your film isn't very good you can get the feedback from people and then you can collect all of their data, look over it and make them changes to your film.
Another advantage of Qualitative data is that it can inform future research. It is also a rich source of information. You can have lots of detail, it's quite bespoke. Qualitative Data isn't all good. There are some disadvantages. For example, it can be quite tricky to get actual results. It's very general, not really exact. The findings are a result of a lot of variables. Like, if a guy is reviewing a love story film and he just broke up with his Girlfriend he might be a bit naff about it and just say that he doesn't like it because of the situation he is in. The data also has the impression of being less valid. A lot of people have different opinions of it. It isn't as black and white as quantitive data.

Quantitative data is numerical results. For example, Audience breakdowns, box office sales, DVD sales, Audience viewing figures. Quantitative data is a good method of getting straight forward results. It's easy to analyse. You get clear results from graph charts. The facts can be used in your favour. You can say things like 55% of people enjoyed my film. Only 45% thought it was bad. You can manipulate the facts. If you only interviewed 10 people then 55% isn't a very good number, but you don't have to tell them that. The disadvantages of quantitive are that the results you get from it are without detail. It's like binary basically. It doesn't inform you for future research. The data is usually an end product of something.

Comparing the two I would say that it is better to use a bit of both. You should use Qualitative data because you would get a lot of information and be able to further better your project. Then at the end of your project you should use Quantitative data because you get straight forward results and it's easy to see how well you are doing and so that you can show the public so that they can get a better understanding of if other people like your documentary.

Production research: Production research is research into setting up of production. It might be things like production costs. So going back to my first second paragraph, quantitative data would be 'How much is it going to cost to buy this camera' and then Qualitative data would be 'Is this camera good, what do other people think of it, is it what I need?' So you can see how helpful those two bits of data are because they help you understand whether you will need something and how much that something would cost. (This goes for all equipment, Cast and Crew, Content, tech resources, personnel and locations)

Primary research is research that is undertaken by yourself or your group. First hand. For example, a questionnaire could be given to the public for them to fill in. It could be about what kind of breakfast cereal they like. (Preferably using closed questions) A few other examples of primary research are: Interviews, Surveys, focus groups or participating in internet forums. An advantage of Primary Research is that it's an accurate way to get information because you were actually there to witness it being gotten. A disadvantage of primary research is that it is very time consuming. The answers people give may not be true or they could be biased.

Secondary research is previous research undertaken by others that you can use to inform your one research. For example, taking things from Wikipedia, books, text books, the internet, documentaries and just searching internet forums. Not actually partaking in them. The advantages of secondary research are that it is easy to acquire. You don't have to do much work to get a lot of information. You can just turn on your computer and there it is. A disadvantage is that it's not as reliable as primary research. The things you find may not be true and you don't have many ways of proving that it is if you didn't do the research yourself.

Comparing them both I would say that it is best to do Primary research first, despite the fact that it may be costly and time consuming, if you're making a documentary then it has to be built on facts otherwise it won't be accurate and people will call you out on it. I think after you have done Primary research just to back it up you should do some Secondary research to make sure that they things you have found out are actually true.

Another type of research is Audience research. Audience research is research into the audience of a film. For example a focus group  into a rough cut of a film. An audience Profile is a stereotype for that certain age/gender for example a male 16-34’s profile is a man who is difficult to reach through TV as they do not watch much of it. It writes about what, when, why and how they watch it. Which channels are watched the most with a list of common ones included as well as including a list of shows watched.

An advantage of Audience profiling is that Audience profiles provide a general stereotype for many people. This means that it's easier to fit people into certain categories. A disadvantage of Audience profiling is that not everyone fits into a ‘profile’ leaving them alone.

Another type of research is Market research. For example looking at your competition. You could look at similar documentaires and compare the documentary you have made or are making to see what changes/improvements you could make. It's basically research into your competition. Seeing other people who have made documentaries and seeing how many DVDs did the other one sell. Looking into reasons as to why that might be.

An advantage of market research is that you get the information that you can then compare to your own documentary making it easier for you to see how your documentary is doing against the competitors.

A disadvantage of this is that sampling errors can have a big impact on results and lead to bad decisions. Also, like the other research methods is that it's costly.

Comparing Audience research and Market research I would say it is best to do Audience research because you're going straight to the audience and there is nothing clearer than just basically going straight to someone and asking them what they like and why. It will make your documentary better in the long run and you will understand more.