primary and secondary research

primary research - also called field research, involves a collection of data that doesn't already exist. Examples are things like; surveys, focus groups, letters, email, social media.

secondary research - use someone else's findings to help your research. Examples include; newspapers, internet, books, lectures, TV programmes, apps, radio, textual analysis.

There are positives and negatives of all of these. I have chosen a few research methods I am going to use for my coursework. I think the research method I am going to be using most is the internet, this is accessible at home and in school, it is easy, quick and gives you a wide choice of things to look at. The internet comes in really handy when wanting to find existing clips to analyse and get ideas from. I also think one of the main research methods I will be using is television, it is easily accessed and as my film genre is going to be horror, I can look at the horror channels for idea and inspiration. However there is the possible situation of the TV having a power cut, which is highly unlikely. Another research method I think would come in handy is a questionnaire/survey. I think I could use this with people in my school and find out things like what would they want to see in a short horror clip? I think this would be useful to find out the film review page, get some honest opinions to write about. They are quick and easy to make and cost nothing. The last method I think I could use is the industry websites, these provide reliable information however this information could be from a biased point of view.

There are still a few research methods that I wont use but I could consider for the future. For example, phone calls, they are quick, easy and straight to the point. Emails are a more direct and personal way of researching and finding information out however they are time consuming waiting for someone to reply. Magazines and newspapers are a quick and easy way of getting hold of however they could possibly be unreliable. I wont use letters as a research method because I think they are old fashioned and there is the possibility they could get lost, also I don't think they would help my coursework. Textual analysis I think is an interesting method to use but it means you may interpret things wrong. I am going to practise this with short films, it just wont be my man method of research.