Applied Media Research

The areas that we covered in this module are;

• Designing and Utilising Quantitative Research Methods
• Designing and Utilising Qualitative Research Methods

In the first two session of the module, we all got into group of four and five. In the first session we were given a question to answer using quantitative and qualitative research, the question given to us was how to “Market a degree to potential students”. Once we had the question we had to create a questionnaire to find out ways, students would like to be informed about university degrees. And also the problems they may face to becoming a student e.g. money, location. 

Within groups we made a questionnaire that consisted of a number of questions about university life and potential degrees. After each group had made a questionnaire we learnt that in the next lecture everybody within our class would be filling each questionnaire. This meant that we would find out the results about what appealed to the student. Also after they completed the questionnaire they would leave comment on how they found filling the questionnaire in. 

After everybody had filled in each others questionnaires, each group got their completed questionnaires back. With comments on how we could of improved the questionnaire e.g. needed more detail to questions. We were then asked to collected all the information back and created a graph showing the percentage of people who answered which question. We decided our questionnaire could only be answered with YES or NO. Which made it easier to calculate the percentage of people. After we collected all the information up each group had to present our findings, personal I thought that each group found something different in their results. 

We also had to create an activity that people could do and also so that we could see a detail answer to a certain question. Our groups idea was to have a ladder and a couple of boxes with university names on them. Students would then place their first choice place university onto the ladder. The Image below shows the results we got back, the top would be most favourite university and the one on the bottom would be least favourite university. After receiving the results we were shocked as Liverpool came in 3rd, even though the students who took part in the exercise are at a university in Liverpool. Qualitative research allowed people to just take part, instead of coming up with different universities people found the exercise easy to do.

Over the next couple of lectures we had people come in to speak about their jobs and the companies they work for and also to set us a question. So that we could research information to answer the questions set. The first guest lecture would be Ian from the ‘Digital Fiction Factory’. Ian began to explain who he was and the job that he does and also information about what the company does and who they work with e.g. Conker Media, Channel 4. He also showed us examples of the work they have either took part in or made themselves. Once discussing about the company and their work, he then set us the question the ‘Digital Fiction Factory’ had come up with. I found the lecture interesting but was looking forward to find out the other questions.

Digital Fiction Factory - The internet, social media and other open systems have allowed for user generated content (UGC), crowd-sourcing and other forms of audience participation to prevail in digital media. But how do we translate these features into storytelling experiences, without treading on the toes of the author? 

Our second guest lecturer was Jon Wetherall from ‘Onteca’ the company makes apps for small companies and also for Apple and Androids. Jon discussed the company he works for and also the background in video games and how successful they become over the years. But also how people using apps on phones don’t want to spend money on apps, people think if they pay 99p for an app they have been robbed. But you can’t just give away stuff! Jon then set us the question ‘Onteca’ had set for us. Personally I didn’t realise how many people only download free apps, nobody actually thinks about how much an app costs to make and launch. 

Onteca - What new models are there for selling media? When people download so much media freely, what are people willing to pay for and how? What are and what can we learn from the best monetization mechanics for Freemium games on mobile?

Our third and final guest lecturer was Mike Lewis from ‘Nine Lives Media’. Nine Lives Media is an independent television production company based in Manchester. They make documentaries, current affairs and drama documentaries for all the major UK broadcasters and for American channels. Examples of broadcasters are; BBC, ITV 1, Channel 4, Channel 5, BBC Three, CBBC, BIO Channel. Mike discussed about a Dispatches program called ‘Do You Know Your Partner’s Past? He explained that alongside the program that there was an app that would send viewers information about the things getting addressed in the program. After discussing about programs that have multi platforms, Mike set us the question ‘9 Lives Media’ came up with. I really enjoyed this lecture and at the end of this lecture I had already realised I wanted to answer this question. 

Nine Lives Media - Which are the three most successful ever examples of cross platform television programming, how did viewers participate and most importantly, what did they gain from the experience? ( I would anticipate answers such as the London Olympics/Paralympics & Embarrassing Bodies) 

I was glad to find in the next lecture I would be answering the question, I wanted to which was the Nine Lives Media question! I was also placed in a group with friends so I knew we would work well. As a group we started to do research for the question, the research consisted of finding information about types of apps people use over multi platform programs e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Game Apps. Also we did some research on the red button and websites. Plus we also did a rough draft of a questionnaire, which we took to a meeting with Sarah. In the meeting Sarah explained what other types of research we need to do for the question and that we need to add a lot more questions, onto the questionnaire and to ask a range of people to answer the questionnaire. And also to maybe to get an app for people to test out.