Quantitative Questions -
Quantitative questions focus on the statistics, for example “rate this item 1-10” or “tell us the number of times you’ve used this product”. They are used by companies to find out which of their products is more liked or what part of their product is not used as much as expected. It means that consumers get the products made the way they want and the company gets more sales. It is also used in game testing, it shows game developers what parts of the game players enjoyed and what parts were too difficult or boring. Survey sites like Survey Money or Qualtrics exist where you can easily set up a Quantitative quiz that people can fill in.
Qualitative Questions -
Qualitative Questions focus on the person’s opinions and critiques. Questions like “What do you like best about the product” and “If you could change one thing about the product what would it be?” are considered Qualitative Questions because they have nothing to do with statistics. There are websites for products that list information and data about them, these websites have a comment section where anyone can give their opinion and if they recommend it or not. This gives companies a more detailed description of what their consumers want but this it requires people to spend their time writing reviews and the company spends their time reading through them.
DATA COLLECTION COMPANIES
BARB -
BARB (Broadcasters’ Audience Research Board) is a UK based audience research business that focuses on tracking television usage. By installing a special box to a subscribed household they can track the things the household watches and by who, they then sell this information to broadcasting companies like the BBC who then use it to focus their broadcasts towards what people like to watch. The tracking box comes with its own special remote, when a certain member of the house sits down to watch, they press the button on the remote to signify that they are watching, each member has their own button, even unexpected guests.
When a household signs up with BARB, they have the aforementioned "box" hooked up to their television, this device tracks which person is watching, the shows/movies they watch, at what hour the do so, the device they use (television, tablet, computer etc.) and the type of service they are watching through (internet, mobile data, satellite etc). Each day's data is recorded and via calculations and grafting, BARB studies the changes in behaviour and activities over time, providing results to improve the overall broadcasting experience for both the consumer and the provider.
RAJAR -
RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research Limited) established in 1992 is similar to BARB, it tracks what radio stations people listen to and passes on that data to the BBC and RadioCentre who co-own the company. It keeps track of how long a station is listened to, the platform its listened on and location it's listened in, after the BBC and RadioCentre receive this information they adjust important news and advertisements to be played when most people are listening.
OFCOM -
OFCOM are government-approved regulators of TV, radio and all broadcasted forms of media, they ensure that scams and shady practices while also promoting competition between broadcasting companies, they ensure citizen interests are met while also protecting them by enforcing regulatory rules and laws. They were originally unveiled during the 2001 Queen's speech to parliament, it was presented as a "super-regulator", there to oversee the rapidly growing media broadcasting business.
ABC -
The ABC (Audit Bureau of Circulations) are divided into many sectors, one of these sectors is the BBC marketing and advertising sector, they mainly specialise in doing small-scale studies and using the research from BARB to decide how to market their broadcasts. Due to how much of the researching they outsource this division doesn't do much of its own, they mainly handle the data they receive from others.
EEDAR -
EEDAR (Electronic Entertainment Design and Research) is a research firm started in 2006, it focuses on studying and collecting data on video game players and the gaming industry and selling it to companies like SEGA and BLIZZARD and many others. Its one of the largest video game data companies, even receiving a Guinness World Record. As of february 2010 it has "15,414,725 objectively quantifiable data points". The data it collects ranges from sale numbers, advertising all the way to briefs.
VALVE -
Valve has done its own private research to ensure its games are the most immersive and well built of the industry, they've researched the things a player keeps track of with eye movement detection, they track the heartbeat of a player to detect when to spawn enemies, ensuring the is never a safe spot. A Lot of the research they do in incorporated into their games, not only do they track it, they also make sure to note how intrusive each approach to tracking is, this helps them figure out how players react at home playing games to a strikingly accurate degree.
AUDIENCE PROFILING
FOCUS GROUPS -
A focus group is a group of people that all share a specific trait (this could be things like, being a specific gender, playing video games, enjoying a specific genre of video games and other such) their input is commonly used to adjust entertainment media to be more accessible to that specific audience. Focus testing is nefariously abused in the AAA video game industry, with faked results and bad decisions turning interesting games into bland generic mush. An interview with an assassin's creed game designer describes how focus testing dumbed down the game by removing features deemed "too hard" due to focus testing, these edits ripped holes in the game's balancing and created easily exploitable glitches.
QUESTIONNAIRES -
Questionnaires are a simple concept, they are a type of survey used to better understand the wants and needs of a person/group, the questions on them vary depending on topic but are worded and written in a way that gives insight into the mind of its target audience. Questionnaires are used by many companies due to their simplicity and user-friendly design, some companies offer free nicknacks for answering a survey as an incentive to get more people's opinions.
FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEWS -
Face-to-Face interviews are exactly what the sound like, two people sit down and have a discussion where one person is interviewing them, commonly with prewritten questions and noting down any useful information. While these types of interviews offer a much larger amount of information, the fact that it requires people to talk and answer in real time can be both intrusive and the anti-anonymity of the matter may make people lie or tell half a truth.
EVALUATION OF AUDIENCE PROFILING USEFULNESS
Socio-Economic Status
A person's socioeconomic status is their knowledge, experiences, economic status and social standing all wrapped up into one rating, it is basically a way to rank those with little experience and money compared to someone more well known and knowledgeable. This data type is integral as someone's life experience may make them view the world in a different light, someone of high socioeconomic standing might appreciate brands over quality, while a person of a lower standing may value their money more, doing more research and considering branded goods as a waste of money.
Psychographics
This breaks down people into groups based on their values, political stance and personality among other things, while this does not relate as much to the entertainment media it is easy to see how journalism and news networks profit from this information.
Geodemographics
By breaking down people into groups of where they live, you can see patterns in the type of media consumed, one city may have a larger that average interest in video games due to historical or current events, its a no-brainer that a larger than standard amount of money should be pumped into billboard (and other types of) advertisements there than anywhere else.
Age
The age of a person can tell you a lot not only the type of media they are exposed to but their interests and abilities, for example- you wouldn't advertise medication and cars on a children's website because of obvious reasons. By studying the age range of your customers you can better advertise your products.
Gender
While the differences between male and female lifestyles have started to blur as of late, with more and more gender-exclusive activities becoming unisex, it's still important info to know the percentages of people who are male vs female. Considering the shifts in politically acceptable behaviour, its always a good idea to be on top of your game when tracking the people using your products, if you notice more and more men buying something targeted towards women you should encourage that by altering your marketing and target audience into something more neutral to increase profits.
Sexual Orientation
While not as frequently visited, sexual orientation has its uses, there are many movies, tv shows and video games that have people of varying sexualities, these types of media may earn a second look from someone more "liberal". There is also the matter of more 'adult' forms of entertainment that may need to research their audiences preferences for a better experience.
Regional Identity
This is the place someone originates from and the way that place has shaped the person's decisions personality. These tend to fall under stereotyping, the best example of this would be America's obsession with patriotism and food, most easily observed in the advertisement named Carl’s Jr. “Most American Thing Ever”. An advertisement of a model in an American flag bikini, surrounded by american-themed objects next to the statue of liberty. (Last link in source list.)
Mainstream
Trends come and go, it's important to keep track of what's "hip and happening" so you and your product arent seen as transparent and desperate for attention. Keeping an eye on potential new trends is integral for businesses, one lucky investment and all of a sudden all the spotlights are on you. When something is "Mainstream" it is considered popular enough that even people with little interest would buy it just to fit in, it can be a large gamble, you either win big (Portable Gaming) or end up broke (Ouya).
Alternative
This can best be described as a Niche group growing into Mainstream and the changes that come along with such a transition. Video games were once considered children's entertainment only, as more older folk were drawn into gaming and as kids grew into adults and continued playing games the market slowly incorporated more mainstream appeal as can be seen with the motion era of consoles, the Wii, Xbox Kinect and Playstation Move all going for a more "Family-Friendly" experience.
Niche
Not everyone is drawn into the mainstream 'hype', some people just prefer the activities not normally considered socially acceptable, these types of Niches are the opposites of the mainstream gamble, they are more methodical investments than the "Go big or go home" approaches of mainstream-targeting companies.
Sources:
https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre/articles/what-are-typical-quantitative-research-questions
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https://vimeo.com/129692446
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