Research within the industry.

Primary research types

•Observation. Watching how consumers behave provides many insights but can leave questions unanswered.

Observation research is where the researcher observations the test subjects in their natural environment. This means there is no bias coming from the researcher as they can only record the natural behaviours of the induvial person.  This can be undertaken in two ways. One is getting people to come to the organisation and put them in different scenarios or you can go out to the test subjects and observe them that way. The most beneficial method for the researches is to undertake the first option as this would save time and money.  

•Telephone interviews.

A telephone interview is undertaken over the phone and these are generally random numbers, so they aren’t targeting a certain group of people. They have a prepared questionnaire to ask the other person. They are generally closed questions as this would be easier to record than open end questions.  

•Surveys.

Surveys are written or typed questions which produce a result which can be turned into data and sometimes displayed in a graph if the results have a numerical value. These can be undertaken face to face where you’d ask the questions and write their answers down. You could post it in the mail and get them to fill it in and post it back or you can email them and get an electronic response. Within the current world an email is more likely to get a response quicker as a lot of people use the internet and this would also mean you can get aa higher range of responses as you can reach more people within a quicker time.  They are made through a series of questions related to the demographics first. This would include age, gender and location. Then the questions would change to what the topic is based on. For example, if the topic is video games, the questions would be topical around that.

•Focus groups.

A focus group is a group of people getting together to discuss a product before it is launched to get feedback or gather ideas. They would gather together in one room and voice their opinion on what they like about the product and what they think can be improved. They will talk about how to advertise this to their target audience and document the responses and feedback.

 

 

•Test marketing.

Is the research done within the business environment to get an idea of what the product sales might look like. The subjects aren’t knowing of research being taken. These results can be recorded and will have a numerical value and can be put into graphs as there will be no questions asked only based on what the buyer does. This allows for accurate results based on the real-world market.

 

Secondary data types

Textbooks and Encyclopaedias.

This are informational books containing loads of information. The textbooks can be used in the research as you can find topic related books. This will allow you conduct further research around the are you need based on the findings within the books. An encyclopaedia is used similarly to textbooks as they have information around everything and is in alphabetically order and is generally the first secondary research most people start off with as it offers knowledge about the topic or subject. They are undertaken simply by going to find the source material and reading what has been recorded within the books or what’s been typed out online.

 news articles

news articles are good source of secondary research as if a lot of news articles write about a problem with gaming for example loot boxes being bad as they promote gambling. Then this could change the business model of the business as they would want to either continue what they had planned or listen to the media. This can sometimes be very impactful on a company and can ruin a game or the business. However, the news is articles generally don’t do that as they will comment on minor things within games.

 review articles

review articles are a good source of secondary research as they can help give you feedback on the product and if you had multiple reviews saying the same things then the business can the alter the game to make it better for their player base. This can be undertaken online as they might request people to play the game and give an honest opinion based on the game they played.  This would be done online as this would be easier to request the reviews and you could send them a link to the game. This can affect the game going forward in a positive or negative way.

 meta analyses.

Meta-analysis is a form of quantitative data in which multiple studies by independent sources are done on the same subject. This uses the results of a previous study which helps derive conclusions and see if the results match. This would be used to help back up your research and theirs by doing the same study and seeing If the results match. This would give you more of an idea if the research you have done is accurate. They generally are randomised and in a controlled environment.   

 

Primary research I have used

I have made a survey with questions relating to the product. A survey is a series of written questions spilt into two different parts. They ask questions about the demographics of the person answering like age, gender and occupation. They also ask questions based on the topic in question. Such as do you play games and how long do you play for? 

The pros to making your own survey is you can choose the questions and can get the results back yourself. You know these results are your own. You can then construct your own graphs and display the information you have collected. You can choose whether the questions are quantitative date or qualitative. You can also ask a wide range of people.  

Cons to making your own survey is you can get the answers people think you want to hear or give you silly answers with then can mess up the findings you have. You will have to take this away from the overall results as they wouldn’t make them accurate. This means that the findings will include less people. It could also take time for the responses to get back to you, so you can display the information.

Overall, surveys are a good source of research as if you use these efficiently, then the results can help you decide how successful your product is going to be. It also helps you find out good information on your demographics.

 Another primary research is a case study.  A case study is trying the product out for yourself and saying your opinion on it.

A pro to this is that you can study the game for yourself and write your own opinion based on what you have played. You can see the major and minor aspects in more detail and can also enjoy the game yourself.

A con is that you can be biased in both ways. If you are really good at the game, then you are more likely to write positive things whereas if you are bad and have a bad time then you are more likely to write negatively.

Secondary research I have used.

I have used news and game articles. These are articles where people report on the game and add their opinions about anything based around the game.

Pros about using this is that you can see if a lot of people agree with each other about a certain aspect of the game and what can be improved. You can also read about the good parts of the game. This can help a business shape their game or an aspect to help people enjoy it more. They will also listen to the game reviews as that means they have played the game and if loads of reviews have said then they can change it.   

A con to news articles and game reviews are that they don’t voice everyone’s opinions and especially with the news articles. They are more willing to stretch the truth about a certain thing in order to sell that story and this can have a negative impact on the company if people believe the stories. The games reviews can be biased as the company can pay the reviewer to write a positive review meaning that would be a false review. Games reviews can also be impartial and generally are biased because just giving the game for free to a reviewer means they are more likely to be biased towards saying nicer things.

Evaluation

Overall both primary and secondary have their uses and should be used together when looking into a topic or finding out information. The primary research is good as you get your own results and can see the answers first hand. Then if you also use secondary research then you can back up your findings with other people’s results and you can also find out if they have different results. This will allow you to see if the research you’ve done is correct or if there has been any bias or anomalies. There are bad things about both as well such as a company can buy the reviewers to make the responses biased towards the company or game which means that wouldn’t be a truthful statement so if you use one of these to back up your research then it could affect that as well. You can also make your results biased in a questionnaire if you get current people to answer your questions.  The primary research is a good way to help determine your market and demographics as they will give you information and this data can be displayed in graphs if it has a numerical value. This can help you decide whether the product is going to sell towards a certain demographic of people. This can then influence the advertising you do as you need to make sure that they will be interested and see the advert. If you were advertising towards 18-year olds, then you would find out data about them and see where they are most likely to see the advert. You should use both primary and secondary research when trying to find out a data about a certain demographics of people as this will be the most beneficial to the business. 

 

 

Qualitative data

Qualitative data is data that has open end questions which allow for a more in-depth response. This data has no numerical value due to the nature of responses you can have. This would be known as categorical data.  An example of qualitative data would be a game review. For example, https://uk.ign.com/articles/2017/06/01/friday-the-13th-the-game-review. This was a review done by IGN about the game.

 

Quantitative data

Quantitative data is information collected through closed questions which then give you numbers and statistics which you can turn into facts based on the results of the research. This can then be displayed into graphs which have a numerical value.  An example of this would be sales and units sold.

 

 

Market research

This is research around the target audience of your product. This is used to help with the advertising of your product. they will know what the target audience are into and watch a lot. They can then play their adverts around this or base the adverts using the data collected about what the main topics are. This would be an effective advertising strategy as more people will see the product.

Product research

This is research done to see what customers want from a product. This is used to see if the product you want to develop is going to sell to the demographics. If they aren’t interested, then you can start developing an Idea based of the customers wants as you would know that they would sell.  

Audience research

Audience research is asking a range of questions based around business. This helps find out what interested them, who influences them, what problems they have and what they think of the existing branding and products.  This would be done through a lot of primary research such as focus groups. This would be usefully for the business as if they have a bigger budget then when advertising the product, they can use the research and use the most common stuff from the answers within their advert.

 

 

Barb

Barb is the viewing numbers of a program at certain times and by certain people. This data gives the people who do advertising a demographic of people at certain times, so they can figure out when the target audience is watching tv and then can advertise the product to them.