Research and Planning - Primary and Secondary

A2


Example's of primary research

• Analysing other music videos in terms of likes, dislikes, genre, style.
• Researching what genre I wanted to do by outlining pro's and con's.
• Conducted market research (questionnaires) on my target audience.
• Looking at lyrics.
• Analysing magazines.
• Analysing CD covers and digipacks.
• Analysing advertisements.

Example's of secondary research

• Choosing a song and looking at the meaning of lyrics.
• Analysing logo's and labels and using features of those in mine.
• Applying theorists to my work.
• Looking at photoshoots and copying elements and techniques.
• Looking at typical risk assessments and copying them to apply to my work.

Pro's and Con's of carrying out the research:

• Primary research could be unreliable if undertook in the incorrect way or applied in the incorrect way; which could be a disadvantage to your work as the research you are applying to it may be unrealistic or unreliable.

• Primary research is good in terms of looking at work but applying your own creativity to it rather than directly copying it. It's also good in terms of gathering information to help create your work, as an example, your target audience.

• Secondary research is also 'copying'; therefore the work it not original and creativity isn't applied.

• Secondary research is existing work which is successful; therefore it's good to bring into your own work because it can help make it professional. 

AS

Example's of primary research

• Looking at other magazines for inspiration, front covers and photos on the covers.
• Looking at colour pallets.
• Looking at front covers, content pages and double page spreads.
• Creating a mood board.
• Justifying a target audience.
• Looking at fonts.
• Looking at CD covers.
• Looking at publishing logos.

Example's of secondary research

• Reading existing articles in double page spreads.
• Golden Spiral.
• Looking at stereotypical views of social groups, applying theorists. 

The depth of research between both years differs greatly and this is due to the higher intensity of work there is in A2. In A2 I found it easier to justify and locate (saving time) what research I needed to undertake and this is due to having greater knowledge of researching which was gained from AS. I have become more knowledgeable of what research is relevant, where to get it from and how to apply it to my work.

In some elements of A2, I didn't find it necessary to go into so much depth in some research because I was already aware of what was relevant and what there was to find/gain from the research which I had covered in AS. Obviously this saved time and made it a lot easier in completing work due to already knowing key details.

I am now aware of the wide variety of sources I can look at, how to analyse and apply research and planning, what it relevant and what isn't relevant. I am also aware of how far I need to look at sources aka, not overly look into things as this can cause me to go off task.