Research Techniques

When you're researching into documentaries, there are a few different types of research to look at and consider, they are;
Qualitative Research
This is feedback from people that is just opinions. Film reviews, discussion in focus groups and reactions to TV programmes are examples of qualitative research.
Quantitative Research
Opposite to qualitative, quantitative is feedback that includes numbers. Examples of this is audience viewing figures, DVD sales, box office sales, and audience breakdowns by group - so how many women or men like a certain programme.

Both types of research are different, ones advantage is the others' disadvantage

Advantages of qualitative;

• the feedback can lead a project in the right direction.
• it can be used in future research.
• it's a good source of information.

Disadvantages of qualitative;

• the feedback can be quite general therefore tricky to get exact results.
• the findings are a result of quite a few variables - e.g. where, who, when.
• can be less valid because it's not backed up by numbers.

Advantages of quantitative;

• results are easy to analyse - you can put the results into a graph or chart.
• the facts can be used in your favour and can back your opinion up.

Disadvantages of quantitative;

• your results can't really be used for future research because they're current.
• the results can sometimes be vague and not be in much detail.

Both qualitative and quantitative research are very useful, but in pre production, i'd say that quantitative research is more beneficial because it's your starting point and from the beginning you want to put in facts that are true and interesting. 

When you're making a point, it sounds more believable when you have an example to back yourself up. Say if you're talking about which supermarket is cheapest, you can go to all of the leading ones and see which is cheapest but that's just you, it would be a lot better if you could get a handful of people to do the same so then you can say that from your findings 3/5 people would agree that ASDA was cheapest. That way you've done primary research and it's accurate so you can put in into your report. 

There are two different types of research that you can do; primary and secondary. 

Primary research is research that you have done by yourself or your group these can be questionnaires, interviews, surveys or internet forums. 

Secondary research is research that you get off someone else, you can to rewrite it into your own words unless you're quoting and giving credit, examples of this can be text books, internet, or info off TV programmes.

The pro's of primary are that you've done it yourself and you don't have to worry about being accused of copying, the research is reliable and true because you've gone out and done it first hand.

The con's of this are that the process can be time consuming and you might get a low response off people which may lead to lack of evidence.

On the other hand the pro's of secondary are that it saves you time because you can just type in what you're looking for into Google and hundreds of websites will come up to help. This is also cheaper and can be the same as primary, only getting it off someone else.

The negatives of this are that any information you get might be dated, figures can be a few months or years old and aren't as relevant or accurate as they could be. You also have to think about how you're essentially copying someone else's work so you have to be careful about either making it a quote or re writing it in your own words which again, can be time consuming.

Primary and Secondary are both reliable because whether it's you or another person - someone's gone and done it. The question is just whether it's recent and if you can relate it to your work.

Prior to starting your project, it's important to do research so you know which market you're appealing to and what you can do to make your product sell more.
Market research is important because whenever you're starting a project, you need to know which products are similar in the market and how you can make something better. By looking at competing products (a new documentary for example) you can read feedback off it - what the public liked/disliked about it and you can use that to your advantage by including that in yours. Whether that being the type of documentary, the people in it or the way it was shot, this can be your starting point and can lead your project into being successful. You can do this by looking in catalogues or reading online reviews. 
Audience research so you know exactly who you're targeting your product at and what will appeal to them. Audience profiling is a way of doing this, audience profiling is splitting people up into different categories and getting a variety of opinions from people within those groups.
You can split people up into groups like; Men 16-34, Men ABC1, Men C2DE, Men 55+, Women 16-34, Women ABC1, Women C2DE, Women 55+, Housewives with Children, Children, Boys & TV, Girls & TV. 
Production research is important because you need to know what you need to achieve your end product. Things to consider in production research are;
Personnel: do the crew you've hired have the right skills to fulfil your brief or do you need to employ new staff to make certain parts of production easier?
Locations: are there locations in the local area that are available to shoot in/around? You'll need to do in depth research into where you can film because you have to get permission to film in most public places.
Tech resources: you need to think about what kind of equipment you need to use and how must it will cost so you also need to consider the financial side of things and your budget. With the technology you use, if you're renting it you need to think about the availability and book it out.
Production research is used to decide which resources you need to efficiently and profitably create and market your product.