Write a departmental outline plan for your researchers detailing the different methods of researching using a case study to exemplify your guidelines. This outline plan must comprehensively explain the nature and purpose of research in your chosen media industry with elucidated examples, consistently using subject terminology correctly.
Different Methods of Researching
Definition:
Research is the systematic, rigorous investigation of a situation or problem in order to generate new knowledge or validate existing knowledge.
Research is the systematic, rigorous investigation of a situation or problem in order to generate new knowledge or validate existing knowledge.
Types of Data
There are two main kinds of data - primary and secondary:
Other types of research data include:
- Primary data is collected directly by the research (eg: through interviews, experiments surveys, etc.)
- Secondary data is that which has already been collected by someone else (eg: government surveys, television series, film, books, internet, etc.)
Other types of research data include:
- Observational data is obtained through the observation of a behaviour or activity, eg: human observation, open-ended surveys, etc.
- Experimental data is collected through active interventions by the researcher to produce and measure change or to create a difference when a variable is altered.
- Simulation data is generated by imitating the operation of a real-world process or system over time using computer test models. The test model used is often as, if not more, important as the data generated from the simulation.
- Derived/Compiled data can be obtained by using existing data elements to create new data through some sort of logical, mathematical or other types of transformation, eg: arithmetic formula or aggregation.
- Discrete data is quantitative data that has certain values, typically whole numbers that can be counted.
- Continuous data is also quantitative data that can, in theory, have any value within a certain range, eg: height, weight, etc.
Types of Research
There are a few types of research that are used most often:
- Basic research
- applied research
- Exploratory Research
- Problem-oriented research
- Problem-solving research
- Qualitative research
- Quantitative research
- Basic research aims to develop knowledge, theories and predictions. Basic research enhances knowledge and its main purpose is knowledge expansion, it does not facilitate in creating or inventing anything.
- Applied research refers to scientific study and research that seeks to solve practical problems, rather than to acquire knowledge for knowledge’s sake.
- Exploratory research helps determine the best research design, data collection method and selection of subjects. This type of research may not provide a final, decisive conclusion to the problem, but it can provide significant insight into a given situation, typically relying on secondary research, eg: informal discussions, case studies, etc.
- Problem-oriented research is conducted to understand the exact nature of a problem to find out a relevant solution.
- Problem-solving research uses applied research to find solutions to existing problems.
- Qualitative research is an inquiry process that helps create an in-depth understanding of problems or issues in their natural settings. This is a non-statistical research method. Qualitative research can be conducted through:
- One-to-one interviews
- Focus groups
- Ethnographic research
- Text analysis
- Case study
- Quantitative research is concerned with numbers, sequences, measurements and using a structured way of collecting data and analyzing it to draw conclusions. This method uses a computational and statistical process to collect data. Quantitative research is typically used for the generation of models, theories and hypothesis; the development of instruments and methods for measurements; experimental control and manipulation of variables, collection of empirical data; modelling and analysis of data; and the evaluation of results.
The Purpose of Research
- Find out the needs of your clients.
- Know their preferences and understand what is important to them.
- Find an appropriate way to make your customers aware of your products and services
- Find ways to improve your products or services to suit the needs of your customers.
- After you have identified what you need to know, you should ask what research methods will offer you that information most effectively.
- Plan your research according to the type and complexity of the information you need, the skills of your market research team, and how soon you need the information. Your budget will also play a large role in how you are able to collect data.
- You must ensure that the data you collect from your research is:
- Valid: founded, logical, rigorous and impartial.
- Accurate: without errors and with all required details.
- Reliable: that can be reproduced by other people who investigate in the same way.
- Timely: current and collected within an appropriate time frame or deadline.
- Complete: contains all data needed to support your business decisions.
Case Study: 'The Greatest' by Sia
“The Greatest” by Sia is a concept music video dedicated to the victims of the brutal June Orlando mass shooting that took place in Florida, America in June, 2016. The tragic attack took 49 casualties, most of whom were a part of LGBTQ+ community, and the artist’s intention for this music video is evident as there are 49 dancers in the video – each one to commemorate a life lost in the attacks.
However, before jumping into the music video we see #WeAreYourChildren written on a plain black background. This hashtag will enable the young target audience to find more information, about the music video, song, artist and the political issues she raises in this video, on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. This is known as cross-media-convergence, where two platforms of media converge and effectively work with each other in order to create a greater promotion for the artist and their work. It can also be used to raise awareness about the artist’s political, social or environmental beliefs; Sia uses this to raise awareness about the Orlando shootings. By putting this at the start of the video, Sia’s young target audience may be able to recognize the hashtag and get more information, according to the Blumler and Katz theory, through social media, while forming relationships with others on these social networking sites and escaping into another world as they watch this video. This helps not only promote this music video and Sia, but also her star image; portraying her, to her target audience aged 15-25, as socially and politically aware, henceforth urging her young audience to do the same. A close up of Maddie Ziegler, infamous for her appearances in several other music videos by Sia, shows her marking herself with two rainbows down her cheeks that look like tears. A similar closeup of Ziegler is shown at the end of the music video to signify the grief and pain over the blood that has been shed, as evident in the dark red background. Since the rainbow is an iconic symbol representing the LGBTQ+ community, the audience is able to understand the artist’s intention of addressing those who are part of that community, especially those who have suffered hate crimes against their sexuality or gender in America. Therefore, Sia is addressing the under-represented population in America that does not conform to society’s conventional heteronormative standards. Her “tears” may symbolize the pain of the victims themselves at having lost the opportunity to be “the greatest”. The lyrics “the greatest. I’m alive” communicates the great loss of human life, and the human potential and opportunities that have been taken away from the victims by the attack. Spencer Kornhaber, a writer for multi-platform publisher The Atlantic, summarizes this perfectly: “[Sia] is pepping the listener up, but she’s also defining the value of life, marking the human potential that’s been lost.”
The music video starts with a loud ringing that lingers gradually getting louder and softer like an imbalanced buzz. This may connote the tinnitus that often follows an explosion or an extremely loud noise, such as a gun being shot, which relates back to the Orlando shooting. This metallic ringing reappears towards the end of the music video, and slowly fades in as the music fades out, growing louder to signify the silence that often follows an explosion, along with the growing realization that people have been killed. This is shown through a close up of Ziegler who is shown crying real tears over the rainbow ones she had drawn on. This connotes the grieving LGBTQ community, and may also represent the mourning families of the victims. Moreover, the choice of the directors to use young dancers under the age of 18 creates a bigger impact on the audience, as children as often represent hope and innocence, and their lifeless bodies lying inside the dilapidated house, connotes the death of their aspirations, purity and their lives.
Ziegler is wearing a Sia’s iconic wig: an accessory has become synonymous with the artist and her work. However, instead of the usual platinum wig, the dancer is wearing a black one. Since black is the colour of mourning is several western cultures, the wig may symbolize the mourning of the 49 people who lost their lives. Furthermore, seeing as the wig is an icon for the artist, it helps Sia build her star image based off of her music and the image she presents of herself to her audience, helping them to identify, according to the Blumler and Katz theory, with her lyrics and music and her branding, instead of her physical appearance. In the music industry, artists are often judged not by their work, but through their appearances, therefore, by going against this norm, Sia’s anonymity has become her USP. The pace of the choreography matches the rhythm of the song and the editing, which helps the music video flow easily. As the beat becomes more fast paced or softer, so do the movements of the dancers, and as it grows stronger and louder so do they. This music video uses non-diegetic sound throughout, which enables the target audience to escape into the music video, following the Blumler and Katz theory.
While this is a concept music video, it follows an abstract narrative of liberation: the long shot of Ziegler kicking open the door of a cage (at 1:19) is clearly representative of the action. The dilapidated long shots that contain dirty, long and narrow corridors and grilled windows, further emphasize the prison-like atmosphere generating an atmosphere of entrapment. The director uses perspective to draw the eye to the center of the image using the lines of the set to guide the slow zoom. The low key lighting filtered through the window also shows the absence of shadows, which may connote that these children are no longer alive as they are consumed by darkness and therefore, death. These few long shots are the only ones wherein the camera stays still, creating a portrait-like perspective. And the sooty and torn costumes of the dancers’ contrasts with their bodies, which seem to be strong, athletic and energetic. This may connote that the shooting killed people who had great physical, mental and emotional potential, however despite being physically equipped to survive in society, they were confined by its norms regarding sexuality and gender roles. Moreover the first few long shots of bodies piled over each other in a cage, in the narrow corridor, huddled together facing outwards, later facing in, connote the trapped atmosphere.
The directors Sia and Daniel Askill uses several long tracking shots that follow Ziegler as she dances, this helps engage the target audience in the music video and creates a more immersive experience for them. Several of these long tracking shots also peer around corners at 90-degree angles, creating the impression of uncertainty of what’s around the corner. This produces feelings of anticipation and dread within the target audience. The directors also make use of enigma codes by only showing the lifeless bodies in several long shots, mid shots, close ups and pans. This high angle horizontal pan (at 0:56) shows the piled up small bodies of children that are seen through the bars of the cage, connoting their entrapment, along with enigma codes that make the audience question weather they are alive, and why and how they got there, while placing them in a position of power. This is followed by a jump cut that shows a close mid shot of Ziegler, succeeded by yet another jump cut to a mid angle mid shot. The director then uses a jump cut to a tracking shot that transitions from a mid angle long shot to a mid shot of the children all running in a line towards the light. This may connote that they are seeking freedom, clarity and purity, away from this prison.
Ziegler, undoubtedly adheres to her role as a leader of the pack, as she urges the other to “come on” and “get up”. Even though we never hear her say so, her desperate and pained expressions and lips are easy to understand. Later we see her lead the others into another corridor, and lift up their spirits. Moreover, her high position is further emphasized as everyone is united by the dark grey paint on their face, all except for Ziegler. This makeup may represent war paint, connoting that the Orlando terrorist attack was an act of war and a hate crime against people in society. Since Ziegler is a representation of Sia herself, who does not like appearing her music videos, Ziegler’s actions imply that Sia is the true leader of this movement. The low-key lighting combined with the coolly graded shots connotes an atmosphere of hostility and primitive danger, which may relate back to the Orlando shooting which was a tragic attack on people’s lives.At 3:29 we see a tracking shot that shows the entire group of 49 people huddled together, each one doing their own personal choreography, which may connote their individualism. The track shot jump cuts to a low angle long shot that puts the dancers in a position of power, this is followed by several long shots, mid shots and close ups that against emphasize the theme of individualism.
The song starts to fade out as the camera zooms back to show a small crowd of children jumping up and down making faces and sticking out their tongues – the may represent their pure energy and potential as people. However, as the music fades out, the metallic ringing returns and the long shot shows everyone falling down, as if being shot down; and behind them we see a wall with bullet holes in it – representing the Orlando shooting. The mise en scene that includes the disco balls rolling on the sides of the set may be meant to symbolize the lights of the nightclub where the shooting took place, while the red and blue lighting may connote police lights and a crime scene. The camera then moves into a mid shot of Ziegler lying atop a pile of bodies, looking directly into the camera, as if questioning the audience about the pain and suffering that she has gone through. This is followed by 3 long shots similar to those that the audience was shown at the beginning of the video. Here the audience is looking at these shots with a different perspective than before, now that they are aware of the events that led up to those bodies ending up where they did.This imagery relates back to the initial message at the start of the music video: the victims of the shooting were someone’s children, siblings, parent or relative. Sia is trying to communicate to her audience that not only did the victims lose their lives, but their families and friends also lost someone they loved, and also suffered in pain.
However, before jumping into the music video we see #WeAreYourChildren written on a plain black background. This hashtag will enable the young target audience to find more information, about the music video, song, artist and the political issues she raises in this video, on social media such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc. This is known as cross-media-convergence, where two platforms of media converge and effectively work with each other in order to create a greater promotion for the artist and their work. It can also be used to raise awareness about the artist’s political, social or environmental beliefs; Sia uses this to raise awareness about the Orlando shootings. By putting this at the start of the video, Sia’s young target audience may be able to recognize the hashtag and get more information, according to the Blumler and Katz theory, through social media, while forming relationships with others on these social networking sites and escaping into another world as they watch this video. This helps not only promote this music video and Sia, but also her star image; portraying her, to her target audience aged 15-25, as socially and politically aware, henceforth urging her young audience to do the same. A close up of Maddie Ziegler, infamous for her appearances in several other music videos by Sia, shows her marking herself with two rainbows down her cheeks that look like tears. A similar closeup of Ziegler is shown at the end of the music video to signify the grief and pain over the blood that has been shed, as evident in the dark red background. Since the rainbow is an iconic symbol representing the LGBTQ+ community, the audience is able to understand the artist’s intention of addressing those who are part of that community, especially those who have suffered hate crimes against their sexuality or gender in America. Therefore, Sia is addressing the under-represented population in America that does not conform to society’s conventional heteronormative standards. Her “tears” may symbolize the pain of the victims themselves at having lost the opportunity to be “the greatest”. The lyrics “the greatest. I’m alive” communicates the great loss of human life, and the human potential and opportunities that have been taken away from the victims by the attack. Spencer Kornhaber, a writer for multi-platform publisher The Atlantic, summarizes this perfectly: “[Sia] is pepping the listener up, but she’s also defining the value of life, marking the human potential that’s been lost.”
The music video starts with a loud ringing that lingers gradually getting louder and softer like an imbalanced buzz. This may connote the tinnitus that often follows an explosion or an extremely loud noise, such as a gun being shot, which relates back to the Orlando shooting. This metallic ringing reappears towards the end of the music video, and slowly fades in as the music fades out, growing louder to signify the silence that often follows an explosion, along with the growing realization that people have been killed. This is shown through a close up of Ziegler who is shown crying real tears over the rainbow ones she had drawn on. This connotes the grieving LGBTQ community, and may also represent the mourning families of the victims. Moreover, the choice of the directors to use young dancers under the age of 18 creates a bigger impact on the audience, as children as often represent hope and innocence, and their lifeless bodies lying inside the dilapidated house, connotes the death of their aspirations, purity and their lives.
Ziegler is wearing a Sia’s iconic wig: an accessory has become synonymous with the artist and her work. However, instead of the usual platinum wig, the dancer is wearing a black one. Since black is the colour of mourning is several western cultures, the wig may symbolize the mourning of the 49 people who lost their lives. Furthermore, seeing as the wig is an icon for the artist, it helps Sia build her star image based off of her music and the image she presents of herself to her audience, helping them to identify, according to the Blumler and Katz theory, with her lyrics and music and her branding, instead of her physical appearance. In the music industry, artists are often judged not by their work, but through their appearances, therefore, by going against this norm, Sia’s anonymity has become her USP. The pace of the choreography matches the rhythm of the song and the editing, which helps the music video flow easily. As the beat becomes more fast paced or softer, so do the movements of the dancers, and as it grows stronger and louder so do they. This music video uses non-diegetic sound throughout, which enables the target audience to escape into the music video, following the Blumler and Katz theory.
While this is a concept music video, it follows an abstract narrative of liberation: the long shot of Ziegler kicking open the door of a cage (at 1:19) is clearly representative of the action. The dilapidated long shots that contain dirty, long and narrow corridors and grilled windows, further emphasize the prison-like atmosphere generating an atmosphere of entrapment. The director uses perspective to draw the eye to the center of the image using the lines of the set to guide the slow zoom. The low key lighting filtered through the window also shows the absence of shadows, which may connote that these children are no longer alive as they are consumed by darkness and therefore, death. These few long shots are the only ones wherein the camera stays still, creating a portrait-like perspective. And the sooty and torn costumes of the dancers’ contrasts with their bodies, which seem to be strong, athletic and energetic. This may connote that the shooting killed people who had great physical, mental and emotional potential, however despite being physically equipped to survive in society, they were confined by its norms regarding sexuality and gender roles. Moreover the first few long shots of bodies piled over each other in a cage, in the narrow corridor, huddled together facing outwards, later facing in, connote the trapped atmosphere.
The directors Sia and Daniel Askill uses several long tracking shots that follow Ziegler as she dances, this helps engage the target audience in the music video and creates a more immersive experience for them. Several of these long tracking shots also peer around corners at 90-degree angles, creating the impression of uncertainty of what’s around the corner. This produces feelings of anticipation and dread within the target audience. The directors also make use of enigma codes by only showing the lifeless bodies in several long shots, mid shots, close ups and pans. This high angle horizontal pan (at 0:56) shows the piled up small bodies of children that are seen through the bars of the cage, connoting their entrapment, along with enigma codes that make the audience question weather they are alive, and why and how they got there, while placing them in a position of power. This is followed by a jump cut that shows a close mid shot of Ziegler, succeeded by yet another jump cut to a mid angle mid shot. The director then uses a jump cut to a tracking shot that transitions from a mid angle long shot to a mid shot of the children all running in a line towards the light. This may connote that they are seeking freedom, clarity and purity, away from this prison.
Ziegler, undoubtedly adheres to her role as a leader of the pack, as she urges the other to “come on” and “get up”. Even though we never hear her say so, her desperate and pained expressions and lips are easy to understand. Later we see her lead the others into another corridor, and lift up their spirits. Moreover, her high position is further emphasized as everyone is united by the dark grey paint on their face, all except for Ziegler. This makeup may represent war paint, connoting that the Orlando terrorist attack was an act of war and a hate crime against people in society. Since Ziegler is a representation of Sia herself, who does not like appearing her music videos, Ziegler’s actions imply that Sia is the true leader of this movement. The low-key lighting combined with the coolly graded shots connotes an atmosphere of hostility and primitive danger, which may relate back to the Orlando shooting which was a tragic attack on people’s lives.At 3:29 we see a tracking shot that shows the entire group of 49 people huddled together, each one doing their own personal choreography, which may connote their individualism. The track shot jump cuts to a low angle long shot that puts the dancers in a position of power, this is followed by several long shots, mid shots and close ups that against emphasize the theme of individualism.
The song starts to fade out as the camera zooms back to show a small crowd of children jumping up and down making faces and sticking out their tongues – the may represent their pure energy and potential as people. However, as the music fades out, the metallic ringing returns and the long shot shows everyone falling down, as if being shot down; and behind them we see a wall with bullet holes in it – representing the Orlando shooting. The mise en scene that includes the disco balls rolling on the sides of the set may be meant to symbolize the lights of the nightclub where the shooting took place, while the red and blue lighting may connote police lights and a crime scene. The camera then moves into a mid shot of Ziegler lying atop a pile of bodies, looking directly into the camera, as if questioning the audience about the pain and suffering that she has gone through. This is followed by 3 long shots similar to those that the audience was shown at the beginning of the video. Here the audience is looking at these shots with a different perspective than before, now that they are aware of the events that led up to those bodies ending up where they did.This imagery relates back to the initial message at the start of the music video: the victims of the shooting were someone’s children, siblings, parent or relative. Sia is trying to communicate to her audience that not only did the victims lose their lives, but their families and friends also lost someone they loved, and also suffered in pain.