Evaluation

Evaluation

During this project I have used a number of different research techniques to find out more about illegal downloading. Some have been more useful than others. I found that I gained a lot more information using primary research methods such as interviews and focus groups than using secondary research methods such as internet or newspaper articles. I think this is because you can extract a lot more information from someone when you are face to face, you can ask them direct questions and follow on from their responses. This is a time consuming method of collecting information, however in some cases you can achieve far better results. Some forms of primary research can be very useful, for example someone could of conducted 50 interviews on your subject matter and posted their findings on the web, meaning you have information from 50 different individuals, without the workload. However secondary research like this is hard to come across.

A lot of the information I found I already knew, it was just a matter of going into further detail to find out certain statistics and hard facts. A lot of my secondary research was finding out different statistics, such as how much illegal downloading cost the music industry every year. I used 3 different search engines for my secondary research, Google, Yahoo and Ping, as some of them (Google) can be bias. I found very similar search results on all of the searches I did. Pretty much all of the online articles I found were writing arguments against illegal downloading and giving no real contrast, only focusing on how bad it is. This could be because many of the articles were written from a conservative viewpoint, as it is the media industries that are being hit hardest by illegal downloads, they may not want to portrait it in a positive way. Also I had to sift through lots of useless unreliable web pages before found a good reliable source, unless you find an article on a legitimate site such as Times Online, or Guardian, it is quite hard to find out how reliable a source is. A lot of my secondary sources were randomly found through searching things like “illegal downloading UK”. I think in future I need to refine my searches, targeting specific things I would like to find out. I did do this nearer the end of my secondary research, searching for “how much music was downloaded illegally in 2009”.

Doing my secondary research first was helpful as it gave me quite a clear idea of what questions I wanted to ask later in my study. It also allowed me to find specific things that I wanted to discuss further in my research.

We had to do three different forms of primary research, I chose to conduct a focus group, do an interview and an online questionnaire. I had three participants in my focus group excluding the group leader (Tasha) and myself who was documenting what was said. Aisha Thomas, Ruby Sulivan and Robbin Vans were my three participants, all three of them gave full answers to my questions and I gained a lot of relevant information from them, I think it was one of my most successful methods of research as each of them gave different responses and there was quite a lot of discussion and argument within the group. I tried to ask as many open questions as possible so as to encourage more discussion within the group, this worked well and some questions opened up debate between participants. There could have been a lot of improvements with my focus group. First of we had to do the focus group at the back of a class full of people so the participants were easily distracted. Because we were given such a short space of time to conduct one I was unable to find people of different demographics, which would have given the group a lot more contrast. Also we were only given around 15 minutes to conduct it, which was not nearly enough time, I think if we were given more time I could of collected a lot more information from them. In a real focus group it would have been a lot more structured and there would have been more time to discuss certain topics in depth. I was quite involved throughout the focus group, if there was something that I thought was relevant I would ask the participants to expand a bit further on it and maybe ask a few more questions. Because all of my participants were of the same age group I couldn’t really compare and contrast, which I would have liked to of done as I think it would have given my research a bit more depth.

I thought my interview went really well, I interviewed Steve Lewis who was one of the founders of Virgin Records, one of the biggest record labels of the late 80’s early 90’s. He gave me some really relevant and useful information, which I have used throughout my research. I wanted to get information from a legitimate well informed source and I am pleased that I managed to do so. Unfortunately due to his busy schedule I was only able to interview him for 15 minutes. I would have liked more time as I think I could have gotten a lot more information out of him. I recorded the interview on a small Dictaphone which enabled me to be fully engaged with the interview. I then typed the interview up and put it on the blog for later reference. Although the interview I got was really good it would of helped if I had more interviews, maybe from someone who benefited from illegal downloading, like an unsigned artists promoting themselves virally.

I made an online survey using survey monkey so as to collect some quantitative data for my research. I wanted to find out how many people downloaded illegally on a regular basis, and if any of these people have ever bought music from an online store. I think the questions I asked could of done with some improvement, maybe asking where they download from, if there are any specific website that are popular. However, survey monkey only allows you to ask 10 questions, which limits you to what you can ask. I sent out my questionnaire to 10 people, however only 6 completed it. This made my results unreliable as all of the percentages were bias, as more people from the age group 16 – 25 took the survey than people from other demographics. If I was to do it again I would send the questionnaire to more people so as to guarantee that I got some proper results that I could use in my research.

Powerpoint Report

Primary research - Questionnaire

 I created an online questionnaire using survey monkey to collect information on illegal music downloading, the questions and results are listed below.

Primary research - Focus Group

I have chosen to observe my focus group and have Tasha Turner – Wray leading the group, as i will need time to record the information discussed during the session. I have asked her to read out a few key questions to the group before the session so they have a brief idea of what to expect.
The Key questions are;
• Do you think live music has been affected by illegal downloading.
• Do you think online music is over priced?
• Do you even see downloading illegally as a crime?
• How often do you download?
• How easy is it to illegally download?
As I am using my class mates to run this focus group, I do not have a range of demographics to give me different responses, however the psychographics in the group do vary.
I think my focus group ran really well, everyone was fully engaged with the subject and gave information that I found relative and informative. I found that there were a lot of comments which I was surprised to hear, for example one participant said that they do illegally download regularly; however they would be happy to pay up to £40 to see an artist live in concert. Many of the participants have noticed that the live music scene is on the up. Many of the participant also said that everyone they knew illegally downloaded “79p is cheap for a single track, however when you can get it for free just as easily it feels like a bit of a waste of money” (Aisha Thomas -  student).
All of the participants that took part in the focus group all said that they own an iPod or mp3 player, they also all agreed that the mass use of mp3 playes linked to rise in illegal downloading. "It is so easy to pick a song you want, download it and put it on your iPod, it cann all be done in a couple of seconds" (Rubi Sulivan - student)
More than once the observation was made that although illegally downloading is stealing, it does not feel this was as it is so easily accessible through programmes such as limewire and pirate bay. It was also said by more than one person that young people do not have a lot of money, so they found the option of illegally downloading music ‘easier than spending £9.99 on a cd’. Many people commented that they found music overpriced.
The subject of iPods was brought up during the discussion as being partly responsible for this trend in illegally downloading music as most online music is found in mp3 form thus making it very simple to download.
One participant commented on smart phones making it much more difficult to share music with your friends when out and about. Previously anyone with a Bluetooth connection could share files quickly and easily, however most modern smart phones do not allow file sharing unless you have the exact same make and model phone.
Overall I have gained a lot of constructive and valuable information from this focus group, which has enabled me to further my research .

Primary research - Interview with Steve Lewis (former director of Virgin music)

1.       How do you think that the internet has changed the music industry?

a.       The internet has changed the way everyone experiences music, hard record sales as a whole have nearly halved in the last ten years, we are moving into a digital age, where everything is accessible via the internet. Due to illegal downloading, which for many is the norm for getting hold of music, the live music scene has boomed massively. Artists now earn the majority of their living threw ticket sales for gigs, rather than threw album sales. We have found that people are much more willing to spend £30 - £50 on a concert ticket than to spend £9 on a new album (or around £7 if downloaded legally), I think this is because people like to experience music rather than just listen to it.

2.       How has the invention of the iPod changed the way we listen to music?

a.       The iPod changed the way we all listen and enjoy music, we can now have music with us all the time, our whole music library with us at the touch of a button where ever you are. It has integrated music into our everyday lives. You get on the tube or on a bus and everyone is plugged in. I also think ipods are also partly responsible for the rise of illegal downloading, especially among the younger generation, getting the latest tunes on your ipod is essential. Plus you have to remember most young people are skint, meaning that the little money they do have certainly wont be spent on buying CD, especially when you can download them for free with little effort.

3.       Where do you see the record industry in ten years?

a.       Well I don’t think there will be traditional record companies as we know them thats for sure, the whole industry is changing at such a rapid speed its hard to keep up with, i think that everything will be in the hands of the artists and their managers, with sites like facebook and myspace music, it is becoming easier for new immerging artists to get there stuff out there, the underground music scene is on the rise also, unsigned artists get gigs for small festivals and that’s how more and more artists are getting spotted.

4.       How much has illegal downloading cost the music industry?

a.       I cant give you a direct figure on that one, however it is estimated that about £12 billion worth of shared music is available on the net per year.

5.       Do you see a solution to the amount of illegal downloading in the future?

a.       No, i don’t see a definite solution, i mean we can shut sown certain sites, like limewire, which was responsible for a huge amount of illegal downloads, not only for music but for films and games too, but this will only slow it.

Secondary research log

24.9.10

Assignment was set.

Topic decided on and discussed.

List of sub-questions created.

Initial web searches- secondary research – Wikipedia…etc

http://manuelmarino.com/how-has-the-internet-affected-the-music-industry/ 

Googled the topic –  found this article, had a lot of relevant information. Reliable source

29.9.10

Continued with secondary research, 

collecting different sources /  reading through articles. 

 

·         http://www.inspiredm.com/2010/09/27/how-the-web-has-changed-the-way-we-buy-music-infographic/

·         http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/techand

web/personaltech/article4144585.ece

Googled “how has itunes changed the way we buy music”

Yahoo searched “illegal downloading” Found an article from the Times media online about how teenagers download. “llegal copying in some form is undertaken by 96 per cent of 18 to 24-year-olds surveyed, falling to 89 per cent of those aged 14-17.” Very good reliable source, well established news paper



 1.10.10

Continued with secondary research, gathering

quotes and different sources 

·         http://www.tomsguide.com/us/mp3-downloads-music-piracy-ifpi,news-3315.html

·         http://www.intute.ac.uk/communications#

·         http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7945998.stm

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/

illegal-downloaders-spend-the-most-on-music-says-poll-1812776.html 

 

·         An article about illegal music downloads

·         Had a look at the intute site, couldn’t find anything relevant to my research

·         An article on live music vs record sales. – Independent article “illegal downloader’s spend most on music”

        (good source, again reliable online news paper, very current (2009)  

 6.10.10
 Continued with secondary research, gathering
quotes and different sources

·         http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_has_the_internet_changed_the_music_industry

·         http://www.atechnologysociety.co.uk/has-ipod-changed-music.html

·         http://www.metro.co.uk/news/817878-illegal-downloading-cost-1-4bn

·         Digital Cultures, Understanding new media

Publisher – Open University Press

First Published 2009

Edited by Glen Creeber and Royston

An article on how music has moved onine.

How the iPod has affected music downloading. 

A metro article on the cost of illegal downloading.- not the best source, 

fairly unreliable

 8.10.10

 Continued with secondary research, gathering 

quotes and different sources

·         http://drownedinsound.com/news/4136081

·         http://stuff.tv/news/Stephen-Fry-wows-Apple-iTunes-festival-with-controversial-copyright-talk/12749/

·         Stephen Fry’s Podcast for itunes festival – illegal downloading and the future of the music industry (2009).

·         http://www.liebertpub.com/prdetails.aspx?pr_id=561

·         http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7240234.stm

·         http://help.com/post/33562-why-do-people-download-music-illega

·         http://ezinearticles.com/?How-the-Internet-Has-Changed-the-Music-Industry&id=3753840

·         95% of music downloads in 2008 were illegal

·         An article reviewing Stephen Fry’s itunes festival talk on illegal downloading.

·         Found on itunes store

·         Not so useful – however comments on why people download illegally

·         BBC article on “banning” illegal downloading

·         Forum – not very useful, a few comments are good, un reliable, no evidence to back up opinions.

Reliable websites

Making sure a website is reliable is of up most importance. you need to make sure that the information your are reading and sourcing is legitimate. There are some easy ways to check if your website is reliable or not.

• WHO - who has writen the article or page? - ususaly there will be an 'about us' page where you can find out who runs and contributes to the website.
• WHAT - what website is it. is it a forum / blog / official site / fan site etc... Some websites such as forums can be quite unreliable as it is the general public uploading questions and answers, however you can always cross reference your information to check its lagitimacy
• WHY - Why has the aritcle been writen, to inform, to make a statement, some articles can be writen in a bias way, rather than a subjective way.
•  WHEN - when was the website created, how old are the articles? You should always check what date an article was writen as the information could no longer be relevant.

Breaking down the different steps of research

• You need to know what your researching, have a little search for information on the chosen topic so you have an idea of what its about and how you should go about researching it. A good place to start is wikipedia.
• Run a quick google search and make a note of the most popular sites which come up, you may want to reference back to them later.
• Have a look at Doubleclick.com, you can put in certain URL's into the search and find out the popularity of that site, this is really usful in finsding out how many people use the site, and other sites they may use.Is really useful for finding out the demographics of your audience.

Other Forms of Research...

Experiments - Experiments are a good method of research as they usually give you a definite answer, they also give you detailed data to collect, the more people or subjects take part in the experiment the more detailed your results, however drawbacks of doing experiments are that it could be quite difficult to record (for example watching peoples behaviour), they can also be quite difficult to control.


Participant Observation - The researcher participates in the activity in order to better understand it. Benefits of participant observation are that you get a much more in depth understanding, being able to communicate with participants and react is very important, however again it could be very hard to record, if there were more than two participants it would also become difficult to get everyone involved, you may also have a bias opinion which would reflect on your participants distorting your research.Another problem with participant research is that if the researcher is actively involved, they may not be able to observe in an objective way.

Historical research -  Looking at the past history of something, studying the development of it and comparing and contrasting it to contemporary examples can be very useful in understanding why it is how it is today. however it can be quite a dated method of research, leaps in technology can also make this form of research obsolete as there is nothing to compare it to in the past, however for things such as behaviour and or social research it can be very useful

Rhetorical Analysis - Analysing the media language and how it can persuade the audience.Shows you wast the makers of a certain products think of th audience, how they advertise to a specific demographic.

Comparative Analysis - Comparing and contrasting different products in order to get a more rounded view, e.g comparing different women's magazines in order to see how to get the biggest audiences. Or Mobile phones, comparing ordinary touch screens to an iPhone to see where the can improve their product. However this can be quite a bias form of research.

Competitor analysis - Gives a fuller view of the market, what your up against, what you need to be better than and different from.

Questionnaires...

Creating a good questionnaire is difficult, you have to try and make your questions as specific as possible, getting the most information out of your participant as possible. They can be a great help for researchers as they are very quick and require little interpersonal communication. However they can be a flawed method of research if not written correctly. For example; The questions should be written in laymen's terms, allowing no room for confusion. The questions should be very specific, with limited answers allowing for quantifiable responses. You also need to think about who is filling out your questionnaire, it is no use giving out questionnaires to middle aged men if your questionnaire is about lipstick, you will not get a valid response. Also, people are taking time out of their day to fill it out, making your questions short and concise is also very important.


One to one interviews
Doing one to one interviews are very time consuming, however they are a very good method of primary research. When asking an interviewee a question you can respond of their answers, allowing the interview to flow, however this is of course dependant on your interviewee, some people can become very uncomfortable in an interview situation and that will result in very limited responsces, it is your job as an interviewer to keep the conersation flowing and get full answers to your questions. In comparison to questionnaires, one on one interviews are very time consuming, however they allow you to get much more personal and and have much more detailed answers, whilst questionnaires are much more limited in terms of responses.

Ratings / Audience Figures

Why are ratings / audience figures so impotant?
Companies spend a lot of time and monie researching audience figures and ratings for different media products, they are of vital importance to the industry as a whole. Finding out a audience figures is vital when trying to figure out where to place a certain television show in a schedule. If a station can prove it is pulling in massive audiences it can sell its air time to advertisers for a much higher price If a programmes ratings drop, it shows that the popularity of the show is dropping, this means the company will have to re think weather it is worth investing monie to continue producing the show and either cancell the show.

If you are a leading actor in a hit drama or programme, you can ask for more pay over the course of the series as the station is getting larger audiences which means more advertisers will want to place their products inbetween their programmes, which means more monie all together!

Focus Group
I took part in a short focus group with a few people from my class. We found that in larger groups there are one or two people who dominate the group, contributing the most and being much more involved, and one or two people who keep quite quiet. This method of research, is very good because it allows you to directly addres your clients and find out exactly what they are thinking, being able to choose certain demographics in a group is also vital. However i found that with larger groups, some participants started to change their opinion once others in the group had spoken, this can be a slight disadvantage as you are not always getting that persons original opinion.

Why and how do media industries use research?

Market research - finding out who their target audience is, who their competition is, how they are going to market the product or brand. In order to get funding for, say, a magazine, you need sponsors, through advertisements. Doing research is very expensive, however it is more cost effective to get your marketing spot on first time, which is why companies will spend a lot on research.

Audience Profiling and Demographics - Gender, age, occupation, level of income, ABC 1 (Social class) etc... Finding out your readers demographics is a vital. They help give information about the lives of your readers. For example In Style found that 79% of their readers thought it was important to look good and be well dressed, In Stlye readers are also twice as likely to spend a lot of money on cloths than other women, this information helps the magazine place specific adertisements into the book.

Psychographics - Personality, interests, how you think, what your values are, beliefs.

Social Media Research - Social media research is begining to put the consumer in charge of how products are viewed, sold, branded etc... Productrs are now starting to be launched as a result of social research. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have vastly contributed to questionnair responces. Brands such as Coco-Cola have started facebook pages where fans can write coments and make suggestions, this is also a much more cost effective way for companies to get instant feedback from their consumers.The drawbacks of social media research are that it is very inpersonal,

Hargrave 2010 Media research methods

Research Methods

There are two types of research - Primary and secondary
Primary comes straight from the source, e.g. finding thigs out for yourself, e.g. doing one to one interviews or questonnaires, whilst secondary is research from the internet or from reading a newspaper article, information from a second source.

Focus groups are an excelent example of primary research, companys select a group of individuals and ask them questions on their product, what they like what they dont like, and will change their product or advertising for that product accordingly. One on one interviews are slightly different to focus groups as the interviewee's opinion can not be altered by other people in the room, the interviewer can also focus directly on the interviewee.
Observation is another example of primary research, its first hand and very direct, observing peopls behavior, watching how they react to certain productas, the name given for this kind of research is empirical research. Chatrooms are anothother example, people can log on and exchange views on different products / films / bands etc, its a good way to find out what users of a product think.

Examples of secondary research are, books, librarys, the internet articles, News papers - the media Guardian or the Telegraph Technology section are briliant resourses for new media articles, the media show on BBC Radio 4 is another good resourse.

Using both primary and secondary research methods is important as it gives you a more rounded view and allows your research to much more accurate.

We carried out a research acctivity where we were to look at different womens magazines and analise weather they represented ethnic minorities fairly. Our group looked at In Style, we counted up the number of Ethnic minorities pictured compared to the number of white people pictured, we found that through the whole magazine only 12 ethnic minorities were pictured, compared to 286 white. The majority of the pitures featuring ethnic minorities were very small, only one being a full page, the rest were only thumbnails. We used quantitative dadta in our research which was quite vauge, we could of improved it buy finding out the magazines target audience, which would reflect which people appear in the magazine. We also noticed that almost 100% of the adverets featured white women. In order to get more accurate findings on do womens magazines represent minorities fairly we would have to take many other aspects into acount, such as the percentage of ethnic minorities in the country, the specific target audience of the magazine the general representation of ethnic minorities in the media, and so on.