Evaluation
This assignment was to produce an in depth study of an area of the media industry. We came up with a problematic question and several research techniques to which would enable us to look deep into the subject area and what relevance it has to us as well as the media. My decision on choosing a research topic had to be careful one; it was based around how I am personally affected by the issue and its relevance to young people as a whole. As a keen user of music streaming sites such as MySpace, Last.FM and YouTube it seemed obvious that my question should centre around something a knew a bit about already so my research could be more effective. I decided on the question ‘What effect does promotional websites have on the music industry?’ After deciding on this I focused completely on my secondary research, with the motive to move on to the all important primary research later on.
Delving through lists of websites I surprised by how specific I had to be to find anything relevant to the subject, even then I struggled to find any usable websites that could help me. After a long search through the Internet, I realized how narrow my question was and decided to broaden my topic. I eventually came up with the 2 questions ‘How are distribution companies really affected by illegal downloading? And will young people ever change their music downloading habits?’ It seemed appropriate that legal and illegal downloading was the central subject of my research. They are contentious issues, which both side of the argument have points that can easily be discussed. It is also a matter that I personally have struggled with, so it was easy to dig deep and discover both sides of the story in depth. Scouring the Internet I found a variety of websites all hot on the topic of legal and illegal downloading, I discovered that the most valuable information was off blogging websites based around music and technology as well as online news paper articles. It was interesting looking at the different biases which either support or condemn illegal downloading, it was important that I documented both sides without having my own personal opinion taint my outcome. As a result of this I think my sources are reliable, I was vigilant in my approach to referencing sites, making sure my results were balanced.
For me secondary research was as tedious as it was helpful, looking through many different websites it was easy to be distracted and lose focus on the task at hand. To deal with this problem I varied my searches between Internet sources and other techniques such as listening to Pod casts and reading books from the Library. As you can probably imagine I struggled with the prospect of opening a book to get information out of it, sounds feeble but I found it hard to move from the slap dash easy way gaining information which is the Internet, to turning pages of book which might or might not contain what I need. I did however find a Podcast of Itunes festival featuring Stephen Fry a useful source. Stephen Fry’s speech gave me controversial edge to my research which couldn’t be gained anywhere else, his sympathetic views on illegal downloading was surprising for a public figure. However you can doubt Stephen Fry’s motives behind this statement, was he truly expressing his passion for the subject, or just a publicity stunt putting the young people on his side – gaining popularity. I was careful to point this out in my report, trying not to over/ under estimate the importance of this source, considering his status within the media. At the start of the process of research my method was to split my searches between quantitative and qualitative, this made it easier to concentrate my searches on either number or information. This technique however was hard to stick to as I was constantly stumbling across new and useful information outside the criteria of what I was originally looking for. This forced me to be flexible about my research, I had to adapt constantly to what kind of results come up and the overall subject of my report.
When I wrote out my report I noticed a lack of depth with my sources list, although there was sufficient to write fairly mediocre report, I was aiming for something of a higher standard. This meant going back over some of more vague sources such as Myspace.com and changed them to source which tells about the site and its relevance to the topic. Reviewing my existing sources helped me gain further understanding of the study, each piece of information wasn’t something I’d brushed over, but a point I could deliver with some kind of learned eloquence. However, looking over my presentation I do wish I found statistics making it based more on facts rather than on opinions. I saw on other people’s power points they had used a variety of pie charts and tables, I think I could have made more tables myself. Not only would more tables help me present to my class better, but would be more aesthetically pleasing.
Honestly running behind on the primary research, I pinpointed the quickest way to gain a large amount of first hand information was to use Survey Monkey. Creating a survey of about 10 questions, I posted a notice on Facebook asking friends of all ages if they could fill out my survey. Analyzing the results (as I got them) I realized that the majority of the people that filled it out were between the ages 16- 24. Although most people downloading off the Internet are of that age, I wanted my survey to reflect people in general not just the (majority) 500 16- 24 year olds on my Facebook. To get round this I incorporated my more mature contact list on my Gmail account, consisting of mostly 30+ year olds I was able to get a better rounded approach to my survey. This seemed to work at first but out of the 23 people that took the survey, only 5 of them were over the age of 24. However the survey served its purpose, it was able to provide me with basic information surrounding people who do and do not download illegally. Survey Monkey allowed me to view information in a regimented fashion, sorting each statistic into bar charts and lists which I probably wouldn’t create collecting them through hand outs. Although the results I gained were useful, I regret not going into more detail within the questions, I wish I could have enquired more of people who don’t download music illegally. This would have given the report a deeper approach in comparing thoughts of why the opposite do or do not use illegal download sites. Although a useful tool, there some clear limitations to Survey monkey that I was warned to expect. These things include only being allowed to ask 10 questions without having to pay for the service; I also had to prioritize my questions so including demographic questions I couldn’t go into enough detail with the more important once.
Surrounded by class mates I organized a focus group with 7 other students who I knew downloaded music off the internet. I concocted a set of questions which would challenge each person on their views on illegal downloading; encouraging discussion on what effect illegal downloading has on the industry and the artists they love. I assigned another student to make notes of answers while I asked the questions; this freed me up to get more involved in discussions challenging them on their views. This decision however back fired, as the person I asked to take notes for me didn’t go into quite as much detail as I wanted. To fill out the notes I tried to remember what exactly was said, splitting each point into categories, but ultimately the lack of depth was a clear weakness of my primary research. I also realise that he may not have been a good idea ‘getting involved’ with the focus group, purely because it turned my research from primary into subjective. Meaning that I was forcing the answers I needn’t out out of the group instead of stepping back and excepting what they are saying. Comparing all 3 of my primary techniques, I noticed that the survey results didn’t match up to the focus group or either interviews I carried out. The survey showed that majority people do not download music off the Internet illegally and that almost equal amounts of people would bye a CD rather then download. Although this could reflect individual’s views, this wasn’t the reason why I carried out a survey. After carrying the rest of the research I realized the unreliability of the results despite its average age of 20, my focus group and interviews insist most young people illegally download illegal. The miss matching results, I think were due to the separate groups of people I had asked to complete different types of research. My Facebook friends and the older email contacts seemed to have greater moral values (in terms of downloading) then the Brit school students who were in the focus group and were interviewed. It wasn’t until I wrote my report that I realized the importance of demographics in my study, looking back at the statistics I found that could females download illegal music less then males? An intriguing sub plot that I unfortunately failed to explore.
Gathering all my sources and primary research I Compressed the information into a 5 minute presentation using PowerPoint. It was during a Q&A session afterwards that I realised an underlining flaw within my research as a whole. It was pointed out to me that my title and demographics point towards to report which cover illegal downloading of all medias such as films, games and music. The rest of my research however concentrates entirely on music downloading, this was a disappointing mistake which I shouldn’t have made. It seems I got mixed up when I changed the subject of the study, forgetting that my title didn’t quite represent the research I was carrying out. Overall I think I have learnt lots about what it takes to develop a successful research campaign. I aim to learn from the mistakes I’ve made, hoping to add to the already developed skills as a researcher.
