Task 1 - Types of Research

PRIMARY RESEARCH:

 Primary research is ‘New research’, a type catered to finding specific information directly.  Examples of primary research are surveys, interviews and questionnaires. The can be carried out on a one to one basis or in small groups. This would give the people being interviewed, a feeling of security and anonymity and as such, giving the researchers results a greater level of accuracy. This would also apply to their data.

 The entire premise of primary research is that all information is straight from a source like for example in gaming, a developer of a game the researcher wants information for. Due to the fact the developer made the game themselves, they will the most accurate information and due to their role, the most direct information. This can be gained by a one to one interview. The positive to this method is that since it is one to one, the developer may feel more at liberty to speak more honestly and explain things fully, allowing for greater and more accurate results.

With a survey, the researcher can give them out to members of the industry, and due to the direct information from members of the industry, get an accurate set of results. This method can also be distributed to many people, rather than a select few, allowing for a greater range of results, and due to this, a greater accuracy to the researchers overall data. These can be given out via many means. For example online. If the researcher is looking into the quality of their game, after a beta, they could give the player an option to fill in a survey about their current experience of the game. This would include what’s good, what’s bad and how to improve the game via suggestions.

The same can be applied to questionnaires.  They can be mass produced, and can be given to all members of the industry. A setback to this however, is that if the questionnaires are distributed via the post, the people who received them, may not answer them and send them back. This could be avoided by giving them out directly. A positive to this method is that if answered honestly and fully, it can give the researcher a great place to take accurate information and data boosting their overall accuracy.

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SECONDARY RESEARCH:

Secondary research is when information is taken from people or documents who have gathered the information beforehand. For example, a text book is a form of secondary research. This is because, the information has already been taken and is been taken in from a second perspective meaning there is a possibility of the data shown being bias or outright inaccurate.

 An example within gaming, of secondary research is reading articles from the internet. This is because you wouldn’t be getting information directly from the source, but rather through another perspective. The website will have put their own spin on the information originally gathered. This would somewhat decrease the accuracy of the data presented by the secondary research, and effect the overall accuracy of the researchers results.

An advantage to secondary research, is that most of the work has already been done, giving the researcher more time for other things and for putting together the gathered data. Also, the data gathered, has been received and put down by experienced researchers. This means that the data being observed has greater chance of being accurate and because of this, gives the observing researcher a greater accuracy to their data and a more reliable set of statistics

However, a disadvantage is that the resources being accessed have already been written by another, meaning that the author of for example, a text book may have had a bias opinion and word the information how they want to, opposed to putting it how it was found, leading to the information being gathered being false or heavily altered, affecting the overall accuracy of the data of the researcher using the secondary data. 

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QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH:

Quantitative research is when you ask people their opinions, but in a structured and well defined manner. This allows for the discovery of facts and statistical data. This is normally gathered via large groups of people for greater accuracy and representation in the results.

 Examples of quantitative research include structured questionnaires (e.g. yes or no questions), paper surveys (with a defined structure) and online surveys. An example of this in the industry could be that a researcher gets together a group of teenagers from 13-16 and ask them did playing violent videos during their early child hood affect their mental state and personality, now their childhood is coming to a close. The nature of the focus group would induce a personal feel to the interviewees, and as such, would be more willing to answer the questions given more accurately. Also, the questions would be structured to a way that the researcher would squeeze the most useful information out of his volunteers, allowing for greater accuracy in their results.

An advantage to this research technique is that if a researcher is asking for public opinion, this method is perfect due to it being aimed towards getting people’s opinions in an easy and informative way, In order to maximize the size and accuracy of the gathered data. Another advantage is that since the method is aimed at getting information from large groups of people, this means that the data gathered represents a larger number of people, allowing for greater accuracy in the researchers results.

A disadvantage to this is that if a researcher is not aiming to gather public or private opinion, this method is next to useless, due to its nature as a technique aimed towards gathering opinions. This would lead to a loss of accuracy in the data gathered from this method if the researcher is not aiming for opinions.

An example within gaming would be a researcher looking into how a game or a game franchise sold the past year. To find out, they would need official data and would the publishers maybe by sending out questionnaires asking for the sales figures and their opinion on what they think about the sales, and how fast the game sold. They also may have an option to put down their projected sales figures and how they compared to the actual sales.

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QUALITATIVE RESEARCH:

Qualitative research is when the researcher aims to find out target audiences behaviour and habits. It is also a form of exploratory research used to find things such as opinions and motivations.

An example of qualitative research is focus groups. This is where a small group of people is brought together, and is asked about certain things, in this case, certain questions of great interest to the interviewer.

Another example would be individual interviews. These would be specifically structured to get the most out of the person being interviewed. A final example is observations. This entails a researcher observing a group of individuals at certain times, doing certain actions, to help with their research, and to analyse the subject’s reactions and actions during that observational period. This would give a great amount of accuracy to the researcher’s data, due to the Qualitative research’s similarity to primary research.  This significantly increases a researcher’s accuracy within their data.

An advantage to this method is that with the nature of the method being small focus groups, the individuals being interviewed may feel that their opinions are confidential and their identity will not be revealed. This would make them be more open and honest when answering the questions given, allowing for more data and the data gathered being more accurate.

A disadvantage to this method is that a way of using this method is sending out forms like surveys and questionnaires. They can be given out using many ways, but if they are to be sent out through the post, they may never be answered of even if they are, may not be posted back. However, if posted back, they may be answered more honestly, due to them being answered in a personal and comfortable environment, and may of not felt pressured to answer with what they feel is right for the situation, but more honestly which will boost the accuracy of the researchers data.

An example within gaming would be that the researcher brings together a few developers into a focus group and ask them about how satisfied they are with their jobs and their role within the games industry. The researcher then would write down what they say and use it in their data which they look at towards the end of the research process.

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