The following interview is taken from Kalan Bailey on the subect of blogs;
1. What age do you think blogs are suitable for?
from mid teens to early 20s- because older people have time consuming jobs and younger people wouldnt understand the morals and reasons for blogging.
2. Do you create your own blogs?if so why?
No,due to laziness, and my blog would be similar to the ones already out meaning less impact on viewers.
3. Do you read blogs if so why?
Yes,because of entertainment purposes and looking interesting and starting picture collection.
4.What blogs do you follow? 3 examples
excuse my mood (tumblr0-diggy simmons- and the awards tour.
5. What type of blogs interest you? why?
Blogs with tatoos/piercings/hot ladies/sex and cool clothes/fashion=lifestyle.
6.What websites do you use to create blogs? why?
Blogger/Tumblr as the formats are easy to use and they are linked with facebook and twitter.
7.How do you promote blogs?
Word of mouth because my friends will be interested and like what i see, so it becomes topic of conversation.
8.Do you think blogs rely on promotions for survival?
not necassarily,but saying that,if blogging i would like to know many people are following me because i would know im not wasting time and blogging for no reason.
This interview was useful as it helped me to gain an opinion of someone who is in close contact with blogs on a regular basis.I could have had more interviews which would allow me to analyse and compare different results which would have been more effective in terms or research and results.
Thursday, 16 December 2010
Research Evaluation
Ries Thomas- Research Evaluation
Secondary research was how we began the project and was the first technique we learned.There are various different methods available to use within the secondary form.Thetwo forms of secondary research I used was the internet,where I used search engines such as Google and Yahoo to find information on my research topic.This led me to related blogs and the Media Guardian which is an online newspaper.This was useful as any information I found I could paste it in a word document and put them together with the subheadings of the topic. In the end, this allowed me to control different segments of the research and answer my questions accordingly.
Secondary sources allowed me to see similarities in results as there were many links on my ‘sources table’from google,which could lead to some results being unreliable due to the fact that google sometimes gives biased information depending on the search.It also became clear to me that all internet research was too similar. Researching secondary sources was easier as I broadened my search and was able to gather useful findings to further support my topic. Although it was easier to find related information,I struggled to use all obtained in the report made as there was so many different secondary sources to cover.
Iused different websites to gain research but if I had the chance to restart this project I would use other forms e.g. more books or podcasts as this would allow my research to be of a variety of different contents.My sources were methodically chosen as I was sure about what I wanted to find out regarding the impacts blog have.Reseaching allowed me to randomble find related sources which enhanced my research on a whole.
In comparison,for primary reseach the effect differed slightly as it was first hand research.The three methods I dcecided to use were a focus group in which I developed questions and openly asked them which lead to gaining a deeper understanding about my topic.This was useful as I gained a variety of different honest answers which were based on personal preference.The downfall of this method was that depth of the answers could have been explored deeper,but the time limits of 10 minutes couldn’t allow us to add detail.If I had the chance to do this differently I would have made the individuals expand on their answers,as that wouldve helped me more in the report.i was objective in this research as I sat back and just wrote the results down,which made the whole activity a good observation. I had decent people in my group although we were all the same age of 18, there were an even numbers of boys and girls.
Secondly I used a survey which in comparison to the focus group was more effective for storing results in time.i upgraded the questions I used for the focus group and made a multiple choice survey,in which additional information with text could be applied.This was useful as it was a website called survey monkey.Although it was easier to naviigate and send out all the participants through email, it was quite difficult to create.i was able to gather up the results and they were placed in to tables which allowed me to add them into my report.The downfall with the survey is that the results became unreliable as some participants didn’t reply to the emails,and the 8 that did complete my survey , this isnt enough people to get an overview on the subject.if I had the chance to do this differently I would have at least 10 people taking part in the activity which would allow me to gain more of a variery of different answers in comparison to the results I have now.
Finally, I hosted a one on one interview,which gave me a more detailed and personal approach through feedback and response in form of conversation.This was effective because we were able to take time and enter depth into my chosen topic.The downfall in the interview is that the information is biased because its formed on a personal opinion.i would need a few more interviews to make the results more reliable so I have different opinions to compare the similarities and differences.Another downfall is that the interview was recorded on paper which meant it was more time consuming.
The primary research would have been more effective if I used different demographic information e.g. gender and class.Meaning I couldve reached a deeper understanding on the backgrounds and impacts that have a relation to the types of people interested in my topic.
In future I would use both primary and secondary research as they have different prospectives. Secondary searching is quick and easy to use and allows you to experience views from other people whereas primary search may take longer but is more reliable as the research is done first hand and you directly obtain information.
Secondary research was how we began the project and was the first technique we learned.There are various different methods available to use within the secondary form.Thetwo forms of secondary research I used was the internet,where I used search engines such as Google and Yahoo to find information on my research topic.This led me to related blogs and the Media Guardian which is an online newspaper.This was useful as any information I found I could paste it in a word document and put them together with the subheadings of the topic. In the end, this allowed me to control different segments of the research and answer my questions accordingly.
Secondary sources allowed me to see similarities in results as there were many links on my ‘sources table’from google,which could lead to some results being unreliable due to the fact that google sometimes gives biased information depending on the search.It also became clear to me that all internet research was too similar. Researching secondary sources was easier as I broadened my search and was able to gather useful findings to further support my topic. Although it was easier to find related information,I struggled to use all obtained in the report made as there was so many different secondary sources to cover.
Iused different websites to gain research but if I had the chance to restart this project I would use other forms e.g. more books or podcasts as this would allow my research to be of a variety of different contents.My sources were methodically chosen as I was sure about what I wanted to find out regarding the impacts blog have.Reseaching allowed me to randomble find related sources which enhanced my research on a whole.
In comparison,for primary reseach the effect differed slightly as it was first hand research.The three methods I dcecided to use were a focus group in which I developed questions and openly asked them which lead to gaining a deeper understanding about my topic.This was useful as I gained a variety of different honest answers which were based on personal preference.The downfall of this method was that depth of the answers could have been explored deeper,but the time limits of 10 minutes couldn’t allow us to add detail.If I had the chance to do this differently I would have made the individuals expand on their answers,as that wouldve helped me more in the report.i was objective in this research as I sat back and just wrote the results down,which made the whole activity a good observation. I had decent people in my group although we were all the same age of 18, there were an even numbers of boys and girls.
Secondly I used a survey which in comparison to the focus group was more effective for storing results in time.i upgraded the questions I used for the focus group and made a multiple choice survey,in which additional information with text could be applied.This was useful as it was a website called survey monkey.Although it was easier to naviigate and send out all the participants through email, it was quite difficult to create.i was able to gather up the results and they were placed in to tables which allowed me to add them into my report.The downfall with the survey is that the results became unreliable as some participants didn’t reply to the emails,and the 8 that did complete my survey , this isnt enough people to get an overview on the subject.if I had the chance to do this differently I would have at least 10 people taking part in the activity which would allow me to gain more of a variery of different answers in comparison to the results I have now.
Finally, I hosted a one on one interview,which gave me a more detailed and personal approach through feedback and response in form of conversation.This was effective because we were able to take time and enter depth into my chosen topic.The downfall in the interview is that the information is biased because its formed on a personal opinion.i would need a few more interviews to make the results more reliable so I have different opinions to compare the similarities and differences.Another downfall is that the interview was recorded on paper which meant it was more time consuming.
The primary research would have been more effective if I used different demographic information e.g. gender and class.Meaning I couldve reached a deeper understanding on the backgrounds and impacts that have a relation to the types of people interested in my topic.
In future I would use both primary and secondary research as they have different prospectives. Secondary searching is quick and easy to use and allows you to experience views from other people whereas primary search may take longer but is more reliable as the research is done first hand and you directly obtain information.
Friday, 5 November 2010
Focus Groups/ Primary Research
The focus groups were over a 10 minutes time period,where i gave my questions to a friend and wrote down the results on the questions i had written.
My questions and answers;
What age do you think blogs are suitable for?
The results showed that blogs were suitable for people in secondary school, 12/13 year olds, Year 8 and 15 year olds. The results varied through ages because of personal preference, using it in schools or different types.
What type of blogs interest you?Why?
The results showed that picture blogs, T.v blogs- Games and technical help.It is also used for photgraphy and music.
What websites do you use to create blogs?Why?
The most popular websites used, were tumblr, blogger and wordpress and these were because the formats were easy to use and have the funnest elements.
How do you promote blogs?why?
The ways that i found you could promote blogs were social network websites like facebook and twitter as they have the most people to interract with socially and allow you to link blogs to them which gives promotion for both the sites.
What effect do you think blogs have on other social websites?
The results show that as the years go on blogs could take over other websites, or there could be one specific blog site instead of all these different as more get increasingly popular such as tumblr.
Where do you think blogs will be in the next 10 years?
The results showed that it is believed that blogs will be more school based, or could even transform technology wise to talking base or merge into skype. on the negative people might not be interested n skype in the near future if something bigger and better emerges.
When did you first discover blogs?
The results showed that the years were 2008/2009 and present year 2010 as blogs have become more personal and have started to attract all different types of people through topics, and social reasons.
The focus groups, helped me find out different views on how blogs are used, the ages they are used from and the types of blogs that are used in day to day life.I will take this information into account as the answers i recieved were relevant and needed to carry out my research into blogs.
My questions and answers;
What age do you think blogs are suitable for?
The results showed that blogs were suitable for people in secondary school, 12/13 year olds, Year 8 and 15 year olds. The results varied through ages because of personal preference, using it in schools or different types.
What type of blogs interest you?Why?
The results showed that picture blogs, T.v blogs- Games and technical help.It is also used for photgraphy and music.
What websites do you use to create blogs?Why?
The most popular websites used, were tumblr, blogger and wordpress and these were because the formats were easy to use and have the funnest elements.
How do you promote blogs?why?
The ways that i found you could promote blogs were social network websites like facebook and twitter as they have the most people to interract with socially and allow you to link blogs to them which gives promotion for both the sites.
What effect do you think blogs have on other social websites?
The results show that as the years go on blogs could take over other websites, or there could be one specific blog site instead of all these different as more get increasingly popular such as tumblr.
Where do you think blogs will be in the next 10 years?
The results showed that it is believed that blogs will be more school based, or could even transform technology wise to talking base or merge into skype. on the negative people might not be interested n skype in the near future if something bigger and better emerges.
When did you first discover blogs?
The results showed that the years were 2008/2009 and present year 2010 as blogs have become more personal and have started to attract all different types of people through topics, and social reasons.
The focus groups, helped me find out different views on how blogs are used, the ages they are used from and the types of blogs that are used in day to day life.I will take this information into account as the answers i recieved were relevant and needed to carry out my research into blogs.
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Reliable Websites
Who?What?Why?When? are the questions that will help when analysing whether websites are good or not.Through the research process you need to think about the reliability of a website,which could be determined by the date it was created.This is important because it shows how reliable information is and relates it to current times otherwise the uses would be minimalised which makes it a bad source.You also need to think about who was involved in updating the pages content, why the information is relevant,where else the similar information can be found so you could compare and cross reference the reliablilty and also what the subject is and whether it is useful.
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
Dubstep research process'
Step by Step
first he breaks down his research into things he wants to achieve.
then he does a broad research by doing some background research into the history of dubstep
then he analysed the dubstep communtiy in detail looking at the Dubstep Demographics.
Research your topic in detail, make yourself familiar with research techniques and search engines results and make a note of communities and popular sites along the way.
Through the internet he wanted to find online communites that would focus on dubstep.He looked for groups on
Step By Step:
· Websites
· Record labels
· Artists
· Blogs
· Forums
· Radio stations
· Magazines
Step By Step:
Give Yourself a Brief History Lesson
Cruise SERPS (search engine results pages) and make a note of communities and popular sites
Have a look at some of the more popular publications
Check out related searches for other ideas
Check out some websites you have researched popularity through DoubleClick Ad Planner
Hunt for Directories
Document URLs for quality and relevance
Other forms of research
Experiments- a test to see if something is true.
A disadvantage in using experiments is that the results maybe innacurate as the results depend on the number of people the test is used on. The benefits are that experimenting is easy to see where you have gone wrong and easy to change parts of it to make the results and tests more accurate.
Participant observation- the researcher participates in the activity in order to better understand it. A benefit is that it Allows you to have a first hand experience which allows a deeper understanding.A disadvantage is that if the researcher isnt of the target audience that he is researching for how would they be accurate in their results?
Historical Research- looking at the history and development of something, or studying old examples of something and comparing with contemporary examples. A benefit in this is that you have an understanding of how successful the subject of research was previously which allows an idea of how far something similar may go.A disadvantage is that depending on how old the subject of research may show how out of date is is in regards to present day.
Rhetorical analysis- analysis of the techniques used to persuade the audience(can tell us something about the audience and the purpose of the text).A disadvantage shows you what the creators of the product think about the audience which is innacurate as the audience may act in different ways in different scenarios.
Comparative analysis- research that compares/contrasts behaviours/media products.
Comparing products or behaviours allows you to see similarities and also differences within behaviours and products which allows you to try a different approaches especially if you know how the audience is going to react as you know the way you have reacted in previous situations.A disadvantage is that comparing may show the weakness in your product by seeing how others have previously succeeded.
Competitor analysis- close analysis and rating of a range of competitors products.
An advantage is allowing you to see what competitors have in store so you know how to be one step ahead of rivals selling similar products to the same target audiences.
objectivity is taking yourself out the equation to make it unbiased; not looking through any angles.
subjectivity is the matter of opinion in the equation
The website that i analysed i rated at 4/5 which was an opinion because others analysing the website would rate it differently.
if your comparing something you need to explain what a 1 criteria- 5 criteria otherwise it would have been seen as a matter of opinion.
A disadvantage in using experiments is that the results maybe innacurate as the results depend on the number of people the test is used on. The benefits are that experimenting is easy to see where you have gone wrong and easy to change parts of it to make the results and tests more accurate.
Participant observation- the researcher participates in the activity in order to better understand it. A benefit is that it Allows you to have a first hand experience which allows a deeper understanding.A disadvantage is that if the researcher isnt of the target audience that he is researching for how would they be accurate in their results?
Historical Research- looking at the history and development of something, or studying old examples of something and comparing with contemporary examples. A benefit in this is that you have an understanding of how successful the subject of research was previously which allows an idea of how far something similar may go.A disadvantage is that depending on how old the subject of research may show how out of date is is in regards to present day.
Rhetorical analysis- analysis of the techniques used to persuade the audience(can tell us something about the audience and the purpose of the text).A disadvantage shows you what the creators of the product think about the audience which is innacurate as the audience may act in different ways in different scenarios.
Comparative analysis- research that compares/contrasts behaviours/media products.
Comparing products or behaviours allows you to see similarities and also differences within behaviours and products which allows you to try a different approaches especially if you know how the audience is going to react as you know the way you have reacted in previous situations.A disadvantage is that comparing may show the weakness in your product by seeing how others have previously succeeded.
Competitor analysis- close analysis and rating of a range of competitors products.
An advantage is allowing you to see what competitors have in store so you know how to be one step ahead of rivals selling similar products to the same target audiences.
objectivity is taking yourself out the equation to make it unbiased; not looking through any angles.
subjectivity is the matter of opinion in the equation
The website that i analysed i rated at 4/5 which was an opinion because others analysing the website would rate it differently.
if your comparing something you need to explain what a 1 criteria- 5 criteria otherwise it would have been seen as a matter of opinion.
Friday, 17 September 2010
Interview iin comparison to questionnaires
We had a one on one with a partner next to us to see the advantages/disadvantages and differences of a questionnaire and a face to face interview.
Follow up questions is an advantage as you can feed off each other to create comfort and realness in form of a conversation. Although a disadvantage is conversation going onto a tangent or giving brief answers instead of fully answering the questions.
A disadvantage with an interview is that the people may act differently if they are not anonymous like a questionnaire is.This may be due to the fact that it could lead too further trouble or circumstances where they refuse to finish the interview which is problematic.
Advantage is its easy to record and transcribe it. In comparison to a questionnaire i think face to face interview works better as you will have more of an insight on who your interviewing and understand more in depth whether they are being genuine with answers or not.
Questionnaires
Closed- they only have a few possible answers
disadvantages- this means that they are limited and they cant explain why they chose it
Open ended- There are endless possibilities of answers
disadvantages- these questions can be biased, infinite amount of answers which would lead to a broadened conclusion allowing the results not to be specific enough.
The best questionnaires are a mixture of both closed ended and open ended questions so you can get their answers and opinions.
When making a questionnaire you have to think about how are the questions going to help you and how are you going to sum up all the questions being answered after the person has filled out the questionnaire.
Advantages of questionnaires
Its cheap and easier to navigate for the people that may not want an interview face to face. if writtten correctly could help you find definite answers.
disadvantages- this means that they are limited and they cant explain why they chose it
Open ended- There are endless possibilities of answers
disadvantages- these questions can be biased, infinite amount of answers which would lead to a broadened conclusion allowing the results not to be specific enough.
The best questionnaires are a mixture of both closed ended and open ended questions so you can get their answers and opinions.
When making a questionnaire you have to think about how are the questions going to help you and how are you going to sum up all the questions being answered after the person has filled out the questionnaire.
Advantages of questionnaires
Its cheap and easier to navigate for the people that may not want an interview face to face. if writtten correctly could help you find definite answers.
Friday, 10 September 2010
How and why does the media use research?
The reasons i believe why media would use research are as following;
to find content, to find their competition, and
to find suitable and related information on the their target audience.
Details of who its for,
how many people are going to buy it so they need to know
how many prints you would need in regards to a magazine.
distribution methods,
finance/funds competition,unique selling point,sponsors..
how much the Audience is prepared to pay.
Advertising and finding out what target audiences like within that category e.g They have to sell their magazine to the audience and the advertisers.
Audience profiling is used to tell the advertisers what there audience is like.
There is a way of labelling the audience due to the income they have in a demographic style.. A being the highest in regards to status and wealth and E being the Lowest.The middle parts are divided due to the fact that there is more people that fall into that category. They are divided like C1,C2 etc. Demographics also includes your age,gender, where you live, relationship status all in order to build up a picture of the audience.
Lewis Tucker, Ad Director- www.ipcadvertising.com December 2009
In style magazine, the company ipc southbank have made a page for the advertisers showing information on their dempgraphics. The readership is 306,000 with a circulation of 186,251. The reader profile upmarket 75% abc1 and 39%ab which shows that they have quite an upperclass audience which goes no deeper then than c1. The magazines average age is 30 years old which is also a good key to know.
The way the magazine has approached their idea of their audience is in regards to the audiences attitude and what they need within the magazine.In my opinion this is a good way of using their research to benefit their sales and audience in many ways.
another way used to appeal to advvertisers is having their own definitions of their target audience for example. Theyve created what an up market male and female feel, interests and what they think is important. This is also known as psycho-graphic values.
Social Media Research
5 August 2010 By Sean Hargrave
Speed is a very good advantage of the social networking research
It is also economic which means its good value for money
coca-cola uses facebook in order to let their audience suggest new ideas in regards to the coke brand. On this facebook page it shows that coke has 7 million fans which is also key.source http://www.nma.co.uk/features/social-media-research/3016672. article was accessed on 9.9.10
to find content, to find their competition, and
to find suitable and related information on the their target audience.
Details of who its for,
how many people are going to buy it so they need to know
how many prints you would need in regards to a magazine.
distribution methods,
finance/funds competition,unique selling point,sponsors..
how much the Audience is prepared to pay.
Advertising and finding out what target audiences like within that category e.g They have to sell their magazine to the audience and the advertisers.
Audience profiling is used to tell the advertisers what there audience is like.
There is a way of labelling the audience due to the income they have in a demographic style.. A being the highest in regards to status and wealth and E being the Lowest.The middle parts are divided due to the fact that there is more people that fall into that category. They are divided like C1,C2 etc. Demographics also includes your age,gender, where you live, relationship status all in order to build up a picture of the audience.
Lewis Tucker, Ad Director- www.ipcadvertising.com December 2009
In style magazine, the company ipc southbank have made a page for the advertisers showing information on their dempgraphics. The readership is 306,000 with a circulation of 186,251. The reader profile upmarket 75% abc1 and 39%ab which shows that they have quite an upperclass audience which goes no deeper then than c1. The magazines average age is 30 years old which is also a good key to know.
The way the magazine has approached their idea of their audience is in regards to the audiences attitude and what they need within the magazine.In my opinion this is a good way of using their research to benefit their sales and audience in many ways.
another way used to appeal to advvertisers is having their own definitions of their target audience for example. Theyve created what an up market male and female feel, interests and what they think is important. This is also known as psycho-graphic values.
Social Media Research
5 August 2010 By Sean Hargrave
Speed is a very good advantage of the social networking research
It is also economic which means its good value for money
coca-cola uses facebook in order to let their audience suggest new ideas in regards to the coke brand. On this facebook page it shows that coke has 7 million fans which is also key.source http://www.nma.co.uk/features/social-media-research/3016672. article was accessed on 9.9.10
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Magazine Research
On the front cover of in style the magazine, we realized the target audience was predominantly white women with an upper class status and this was targeted by having mostly white models in the magazines and the ethnic minority wasn’t shown as much. I believe that this doesn’t represent ethnic minorities badly in this case by using the majority of white models as it’s relatable to the target audience and they’re upper class nature.
One way that magazines may portray an unfair nature is due to the fact that most magazines made aren’t made for ethnic minority which means they’re are fewer seen in magazines as they don’t have magazines designated for themselves.
The type of research used was in style magazine as that’s where we got our information from in a primary fashion. We found that target audience related to the races of people used in the magazines and this affected the amount of other races that were seen and appeared in the magazine. In this case of in style magazine we have proved that this magazine isn’t racist it just doesn’t appeal to a wide range of audience in the eyes of Rashid and I. we would have more accurate results if we used more of a range of magazines which would have been a big improvement in regards to research.
The good thing about the research technique we used was that it was primary, which made us able to make our own judgments and not be swayed by any other comments made about the research subject.
The not so good thing about the research technique is that it wasn’t broad enough die to the fact that we had only one magazine to gain the research from.
Research Methods
Primary- when information comes straight from the source and is directly obtained e.g surveys, questionnaires,interviews,focus groups gather and talk about what they like and dislike about a product.In films you may have screenings which is inforced to gather first hand opinions of films to get a more understanding of the films rating.focus groups are specifically designed for the target audience of the product.It is also usual to have one on one interviews so that you can interrogate easier and find out more to the point and directly what is liked and what isnt;one on ones are proven to be more effective.Another primary sourcve is observation and allows you to see a first hand account. Emperical research is any type of research that is observable.Contacting the person whos producing the text is also another way of primary research.Chat rooms/gaming is another way used; forums.
secondary- normally something written said or broadcasted in other peoples thoughts opinions and analysis from another source.e.g books are a good use of research as some are made on specific subjects, internet can be used although information can be biased depending on the information, newspaper; specialised articles media guardian which comes out on mondays, telegraph and technology section.podcasts film and documentary.
we use more then one technique due to reliabilty reasons and how strong or weak the sources are in truth.
counting or anything with numbers is called quantative research
looking for content filled things are called content research
qualitative is anything to do with the the auality of the research
secondary- normally something written said or broadcasted in other peoples thoughts opinions and analysis from another source.e.g books are a good use of research as some are made on specific subjects, internet can be used although information can be biased depending on the information, newspaper; specialised articles media guardian which comes out on mondays, telegraph and technology section.podcasts film and documentary.
we use more then one technique due to reliabilty reasons and how strong or weak the sources are in truth.
counting or anything with numbers is called quantative research
looking for content filled things are called content research
qualitative is anything to do with the the auality of the research
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