Evaluation Question 3

What I have learnt from audience feedback

Focus Groups

A focus group is a type of qualitative research where a selection of people are asked about their perceptions, opinions and beliefs towards a product or service. A focus group is and interactive open discussion where participants are encouraged to join in. A focus group is the most grass-roots way to learn about a media product. By gathering a group of regular people it is easy to find how a product has come up against competition or similar products. The feedback given can help direct a product path.

An advantage of focus groups is that different people can represent different demographics and backgrounds creating a wider range of answers. As well as this, participants have no commitment to the company so they are more likely to give honest answers. Furthermore, the answers given by the participants can improve the original products by suiting it more to the participants needs and wants. 

The disadvantages with focus groups are that the leader of the group can word questions as a way to get the desired answers. As well as this, some participants may over influence other participants making them just agree with them rather then saying how they actually feel. Furthermore, participants might fall under "right answerism" and just give the leader what he wants to here, rather then what they actually think about the product or service. another disadvantage is that the group of being being questioned may not fit the whole target audience due to income, religion, age, gender and location.

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is gathered information that can not be analysed in a numerical form. Examples of this include, diary accounts, open ended questionnaires, unstructured interviews and unstructured observations. Qualitative data is typically descriptive data and as such is harder to analyse than quantitative data.

Qualitative research is useful for studies at the individual level, and to find out, in depth, the ways in which people think or feel, such as case studies.

Analysis of qualitative data is difficult and requires accurate description of participant responses, for example, sorting responses to open questions and interviews into broad themes. 

A good example of a qualitative research method would be unstructured and group interviews which generate qualitative data through the use of open questions. This allows the respondent to talk in some depth, choosing their own words. This then helps the researcher develop a real sense of a person's understanding of a situation. However, it can be time consuming to conduct the unstructured interview and analyse the qualitative data.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is data which can be gathered in a numerical form which can be out into categories, or in rank order, or measured in units of measurement. This Type of data can be used to construct graphs and tables of raw data.

Experiments typically yield quantitative data, as they are concerned with measuring things. However, other research methods, such as observations and questionnaires can produce both quantative and qualitative information. 

For example, a rating scale or closed questions on a questionnaire would generate quantitative data as these produce either numerical data or data that can be put into categories (e.g. 'yes' or 'no' answers.) whereas open ended questions would generate qualitative information as they are a descriptive responce.