DEFINITION 2 SOURCES Strengths of this Method Weaknesses of the Method

TERM IN YOUR OWN WORDS (WEB LINKS, BOOKS)

QUALITATIVE Qualitative research is The complete A-Z media This method allows more This method of research
RESEARCH research that deals with & communications individual and specific results may be very demanding
data from investigation Handbook. through research to gain more of and time consuming for
(opinions). Stuart price. a human perspective on the the researcher.
“Intends to discover subject.
more meaning about
events through
individuals than
statistics”.

QUANTITATIVE Research which is used The complete A-Z media This method allows a larger This method once again
RESEARCH to gather information & communications amount of data to be simply read can be very time
from a wide range of Handbook. and concluded. consuming considering
individuals using figures. the researcher would have
Stuart price. to tot up all the figures
“Uses surveys to provide
information about broad from each individual
social trends and simple survey or questionnaire.
preferences”. Also the answers may not
be genuine as not a lot of
thought is required.

PRIMARY Primary research is http://en.wikipedia.org/wik This methods show’s that the Weakness is that this
RESEARCH when the information i/Primary_research primary researcher whoever it method may not be
gathered has been may be (can be anyone) has carried out correctly, also
obtained through and discovered this information alone can be time consuming.
independent source without using any external
(yourself). “Also known sources, e.g. internet or books.
as field research is data You have full control over what
that does not already you research. Research funds are
exist, which is research spent efficiently because of this
to collect original data”. control.

SECONDARY Secondary research is a http://en.wikipedia.org/wik Strengths of this method would Weaknesses of this
method in which data is i/Secondary_research be that researching is made method are that the
RESEARCH retrieved through easier and less time consuming. information may not be
external sources such as There are millions of different genuine. The information
 the internet or books. sources out there to use to gain may not be valid (out of
“Secondary research information from e.g. books, date). Also research
(also known as desk internet etc. cannot be made specific
research) involves the to an individual’s field of
summary, collation interest.
and/or synthesis of
existing research rather
than primary research,
where data is collected
from, for example,
research subjects or
experiments”.

INTERVIEWS An interview is a method http://en.wikipedia.org/wik Strengths of this method are you Weaknesses are results
used to gain information i/Interview gain a clear and in depth are not able to be
which is specific to yours understanding of the issue or generalised, also where
or the interviewee’s http://ec.europa.eu/region situation. Views and opinions of interviews take into
needs. al_policy/sources/docgen individuals are gathered properly. consideration individuals
“An interview is a er/evaluation/evalsed/sou circumstances you cannot
conversation between rcebooks/method_techniq draw a general
two or more people (the ues/collecting_informatio conclusion.
interviewer and the n/stakeholders/strengths_
interviewee) where limitations_en.htm
questions are asked by
the interviewer to obtain
information from the
interviewee”.

QUESTIONNAIRES A questionnaire is a form A dictionary of If you use closed questions you Questionnaires may not
of interview which is on communication and can gain facts and statistics be filled in genuinely
paper, the questions media studies second mainly from questionnaires from a making the results invalid.
may vary being open or edition. James Watson large group of individuals. If you They can cost a lot to
closed which can and Anne Hill. use open questions you can gain produce and take a lot of
provide both quantitative opinions and thoughts from a time to create and
and qualitative data. large group of individuals also. conclude.
“A questionnaire Main strength you can gather a
consists of questions lot of data at once.
designed to obtain
factual information and
 or information about
people attitudes, values,
opinions, or beliefs about
a particular subject or
issue”.

FOCUS GROUPS “A focus group is a form http://en.wikipedia.org/wik This method can produce data Researcher has less
of qualitative research in i/Focus_group and insight which is unobtainable control over a group than
which a group of people without this sort of interaction. a one-on-one interview.
are asked about their This can help a lot with gaining Also humans being
perceptions, opinions, opinions, beliefs and attitudes human discussion which
beliefs and attitudes towards a particular subject. is irrelevant to the
towards a product, researcher’s topic can be
service, concept, brought up which wastes
advertisement, idea, or valuable time and time is
packaging” money. Also if someone is
very strong about their
opinions it may create an
influence which will lead to
bias results.