Dubstep research method

Dubstep demographic research. you would research into:

·         Websites

·         Record labels

·         Artists

·         Blogs

·         Forums

·         Radio stations

·         Magazines

 Research history to gain a general understanding of the topic. 

Look through SERPS and look into popular existent sites. Check out related searches for other ideas. 


Visit double click where you can find some of the more popular websites around the topic which will give you an idea of the websites popularity and other sites which your target audience visit. 


Look at back link which will help you get an idea of the scale of the site as it will tell you how many links there are on the net to the site your looking at.


Hunt for directories to do with the topic. Document URLs and research them in terms of their quality and relevance. Look at other audiences which could be linked in with your target (example, dupsteps sub genre is Urban which links in with clothing, there fore a clothing audience is included) You would then research through these other sites to find a wider audience.

Other forms of research

Experiments: a test to see if something is true.
This would be good as it can give you solid results, then you can give correct figures when advertising a products etc. For example, with skin care products you would experiment to find out how the product works with the consumers and how effective it is. The drawback to this method is that the consumer may not want to be experimented with. you would have to ensure you got the correct target audience to provide the best results. It also may not be completely reliable as to test the product with a significant amount of people would be costly therefore a smaller number of people may be used and therefore effecting results.

Participant observation: the researcher participates in the activity in order to better understand it.
This is good as the researcher can fully understand the product and use it to its full potential. It also means any mistakes in the product or technical faults etc can be identified and corrected as the consumer may not understand that there is actually a problem with the product. The bad this about this is that the researcher already understands how to work the product and therefore has an advantage over the general consumer. Also the researcher has a bias opinion and may be reluctant to change the product.

Historical research: looking at the history and development of something, or studying old examples of something and comparing with contemporary examples.
This is a good research method in the fact that if for example the product is a computer game, the researcher will be able to compare the oldest game to the newest game, therefore he can see what changes have been made and what has stayed the same. He can then look into it further and decide if he should change more or create new things, what went well before and why things were kept similar etc.
A drawback to this method is that ideas may not progress quickly and may focus around old ideas.

Rhetorical analysis: analysis of the techniques used to persuade the audience (can tell us something about the audience and the purpose of the text)
This method works well on persuasion for example with skin care products, the carefully chosen script will help persuade the audience that this product is best for them. It would suggest the audience are slightly gullible and therefore the researcher will have carefully selected their target audience. This method would also encourage word of mouth advertisement as once one consumer has bought the product they will most likely tell friends who may then go and purchase the product.This is good as a research method as it shows how the audience respond to the media.
A drawback to this is that there are a lot of these techniques around therefore consumers are becoming wise to it. This method is not particularly specific or factual, therefore I would be less likely to use it.

Comparative analysis: research that compares/contrasts behaviours/media products.
The comparison between products, for example, magazines. By comparing different women's magazines, you can understand what topics would be in different magazines for different audiences and what new ideas you could introduce into a different magazine etc. This could be beneficial to challenge your rivals and bring new ideas to a different magazine, also find out new ideas and maybe target a different audience that's not already being targeted. The drawback to this is that to get fully beneficial results, you would have to compare a significant number of magazines which would be time consuming. The fewer items you compare, the less informative your results will be.

After completing a task using comparative research between two websites I found I don't like using this method. I found the method to be very subjective as I found it difficult to be unbiased in my opinion. To complete this method successfully you would have to be extremely objective.


Competitor analysis: close analysis and rating of a range of competitor's products.
This method is good for seeing what products are already out there and enabling you come up with fresh ideas which are nothing like anything anyone else has done yet, also for expanding on an idea had by someone else and improving it. This gives you a unique selling point which helps advertise your company. The drawback to this is that you may find yourself copying ideas and not coming up with fresh, new products.

One on One interview

One on one interviews are good however not time effective. They allow you to obtain a lot more specific answers as you can use follow up questions to explore deeper into the question. They allow for open questions to be asked and you are able to guide them in the direction of the answer you need. A disadvantage would be that is isn't anonymous therefore people may hold back on their answers and not answer as truthfully as they may do if it was an anonymous questionnaire. The person may not answer the way you wanted them to answer and therefore effect your research. Note taking is not the most effective way of recording an interview. To be thorough, you would need to record the interview on tape and transcribe it later on, however this can be time consuming and can become costly.
I don't particularly like the use of one on one interviews. I can see the positive aspects of them however i feel they aren't time or cost effective and will probably not give you the volume of answers you could receive through other methods, although i do understand you may not get the same in depth answers from other forms.

Questionnaires.

There are many pro's and cons to using questionnaires. You have to consider whether it is a reliable form of research. People may lie in there answers giving you incorrect results or they may answer in an open question which is not relevant to your research. To amend this, a carefully structured questionnaire can overcome some of the problems and therefore be an effective research method reaching a wide range of people and gathering varied results.
I like the use of questionnaires as I feel they are a quick way of getting information from your target audience, however I would use another research method along side this to ensure I received accurate results, however this may not be cost effective. Questionnaires are good to use for close questions however difficulties come when open questions are used as you can get such a variety of results which may not be beneficial. Questionnaires must remain unbiased otherwise will attract unfair and incorrect answers.

Audience Figures

There are many websites where you can gain information about audience figures, whether it be viewing figures for TV or listening figures for the radio. it is important information to have for a number of different reasons. it will highlight the success or underachievement of a show, it will determine when the show is broadcast (peak/off-peak), the success of the station, whether the station is worth investing in, rates charged for the advertisers and the choice and pay of performers within the show.

We got together in focus groups to find out what advertising methods work well.
we found viral works well, if friends recommend a link to you then you are more likely to click on it. No one really liked text messages, we all agreed if a text was sent to us we would generally delete it without looking. no one liked pop-ups as we fear that we would get a virus as a result of clicking on the advert.

i like the use of focus groups as i feel you have voiced your opinion openly and are part of a select group and therefore may be listened to more. most focus groups will award money for taking part which is a good incentive for people to do it and they may therefore give better answers.

Why and how does the media use research?

Market research - target audience, competition, distribution, funding, content, sponsorship and advertisers
Good research to begin with can save money later on and is attractive to advertisers.

Audience Profiling (demographics)- gender, age, occupation, ABC1(social class) , average budget, sexuality, living arrangements,
Psychographics (personality and interests) - often a magazine will create their ideal person with specific details naming and designing a lifestyle

Social media research - is being used to listen to customers and ask them questions. products are starting to be launched based on social media research. social networking sites such as facebook and twitter can largely contribute to questionnaire responses. social media research is only beneficial to companies whose target audience engages with social media. social media research doesn't reach all of the intended market so some traditional research techniques may also be necessary. by using social media research, fans of the product can easily contact the company to share their views on a product and suggest changes or improvements they might wish to see. this is also a much more cost effective way for companies to get instant feedback from consumers.

Hargrave, 2010, Social Media Research, accessed on 09/09/10

i like the use of social media research as i think its a good way to keep in touch with their target audience specifically, especially with the likes of facebook as consumers specifically 'like' the group and are therefore changes made to the product will directly affect them as a consumer of the product.
there may be a few drawbacks to social media research. for example, your target audience may not be accessible meaning a different research method would need to be used. 

Research Methods.

Primary and Secondary research.

Primary research - straight from the source.
Examples; news reporters, surveys and questionnaires, one on one interviews (get more specific answers and more personal information), focus groups (specifically chosen (target audience) groups to voice opinions on a certain products), observation, empirical (research you can observe, example, someones behaviour), contact (get in touch with (example) the author of a book, director of a film etc, to talk to them), chat rooms/forums.
Secondary research - passed on information from another source.
Examples; Books, Internet, newspaper specialised articles (media guardian, telegraph technology section), radio 4 (the media show), podcasts.

Both primary and secondary research would both be used to ensure that information is correct and reliable.


Quantitative research

Research using numbers.
As a short task, we looked through magazines to see if they were representing ethnic minorities fairly. We counted the number of white models and article features and the number of coloured. White had a much higher count throughout the magazine appearing 10 times the amount compared to coloured. We also found that the majority of articles used a white model, this meant that a lot of the bigger images throughout the magazine were white and therefore white seemed to dominate. The magazine we used was 6years out of date which would have had an effect on our results so to improve our research i would have used up to date magazine and researched over a range of magazines with different target audiences.
This technique is very general, i think if more detail was wanted on the subject then more research would have to be completed such as why coloureds appear less frequently than whites.
However this technique is good for providing quick statistics.