What is Quantitive Audience Research?

Quantitive Audience Research is a certain type of research used to understand audiences interests
and needs. It uses numbers to collect data and carry out research, for example 8 out of 10 people
said horror was their favourite genre. It is used commonly by producers to get their research from
their audiences as it is all to do with numbers, making it easy to retrieve what they need to know. It
will make use of graphs and charts so that the date can be analysed easily. By doing this the
producers can garner information through percentages, which gives them straightforward factual
audiences such as telling the producers 60% of the males enjoyed the film. There are large
number of ways in which that quantitative research can be done, however most of the methods are
usually done through surveys, questionnaires or interviews.
There are many advantages to using quantitive audience research, the most obvious being that it
gives the researcher a straightforward factual answer. While this is good because it tells the
researcher exactly what they need to know, it does not tell them any other opinions about the
product being researched. For example it will tell you why say 70% of females did not enjoy the
comedy, however it will not tell the research why the audience did not enjoy the comedy.
Furthermore the results are a convenience to the producer as they can me collected easily and
quickly, and can be generalised to an entire population if need be given the producer a large
sample. However, the people who do respond may all share similar characteristics that make them
a niche audience, which creates bias in the study. Additionally quantitive can show a clear
correlation between the dependent and independent variables, helping producers to fix the
problems that are faced in their product.
The type of producer who would use this kind of research would be a film producer, or a television
producer etc. as it helps the producers to tell them what is current and trending in the business at
that moment in time. For example if a producer has a choice to producer an Adam Sandler comedy
or a DC superhero film, they would go with the superhero film as quantitive research such as box
office figures would tell them superhero films are making more money than Adam Sandler
comedies.

What is Qualitative Audience Research?

Qualitative Audience Research differs from Quantitive Audience Research due to qualitative
providing producers a richer, more detailed filled answers. Unlike quantitive research, it will look at
smaller groups of people like 10-20, as opposed to looking at millions of responses that can be
analysed from statistics with quantitive data. The primary difference between this and qualitative
research wold be that this is more opinion based, where as quantitive research would be based
upon numbers. There are numerous different ways in which this kind of data can be collected,
however the primary methods are focus groups and one-to-one interviews.
One of the advantages that comes with qualitative research is that the topic is delved into more, as
opinions are more appreciated when being told in smaller groups. Furthermore it offers flexibility
and ease when conducting the interviews and surveys due to the smaller number of people that
are being interviewed. Also this kind of research gives the researchers a better understanding of
how they can improve their product. Quantitive data will give simple responses such as yes or no,
or will make use of numbers and statistics. While this can help the audiences to improve their
product, it limits how much they can do. By using opinion based answers it actually tells the
researchers exactly what needs to be fixed. Also this kind of research is far cheaper and less time
consuming as less people are needed to conduct the research.
The problem with this research however is that peoples answers may not always necessarily be
true. It could be possible that people will answer the exact same thing that other people answer as
they feel like the answer that they have may be false or silly. The most likely reason fro this to be
happening would be because there is a particular member in the focus group who is dominant with
their opinions, influencing other peoples opinions. The other problem that is faced is that due to it
being opinion based, the answers can not be anonymous. Because of the lack of anonymity in the
focus groups, people may feel somewhat uncomfortable when answering.

BARB
BARB, or the Broadcasters Audience Research Board is non-profit company that was set-up in
1981 to provide broadcasters and advertisers with an audience measurement service. It is owned
by UK television stations; BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, BSkyB, and the IPA (Institute of
Practitioners in Advertising. It was established so that the channels can see there viewing figures,
and determine whether or not to pull a show off the air.

ABC
ABC, or the Audit Bureau of Circulation, is the industry body for media measurement. It is made up
of media owners, media agencies, advertisers, rights owners, investors and management. they
represent the differing interests of the media industry and meet regularly to agree new standards
for industry data. ABC has an industry Stamp of Trust which underpins the way advertising is
traded across the converging media landscape in the UK. As advertising platforms develop, our
Reporting Standards and audit services continually evolve to ensure they reflect the changing
industries needs.

References
Jacks A2 Media Blog
Media Fort
Orau