So we do not need to be apologetic in seeking other audience research tools. These can usually be divided into two distinct categories, quantitative research to measure habits and qualitative research to test attitudes.
Quantitative research, as the title implies, involves counting things: How many people listen to this radio station? Are they in this or that part of the region? How many go to the cinema or enjoy cookery? For these answers a simple, carefully worded, questionnaire placed in front of as many of the right people as possible gets the most reliable results. Rajar is primarily a quantitative tool.
Qualitative research tells us about listeners’ attitudes, their tastes and their perceptions. It can indicate what they want to hear, which presenters they prefer, their interests in local news etc. The numbers are not very important, we are looking for clues which will us to plan our programmes. A discussion group of ten target listeners might generate enough material to keep the programme team busy for months. Qualitative studies are research in depth rather than breadth and it is more important for them to be carried out well than with a large number of respondents. And often – if you want to grow your audience – they are best conducted with non-listeners than with listeners!
We often hear of a station deciding to do some research without really knowing what they want to find out and why. Before looking at which research technique to use you should be clear on whether the data is intended to impress outside supporters and funders or to provide useful confidential internal intelligence. A great deal of useful information can be obtained from simple research initiatives which the station can organise in-house, often simply by talking to listeners, using telephone research or inviting response via the station’s web site. However, where the results are to be used to impress external bodies such as advertisers, sponsors, supporters, Ofcom or the press it is usually necessary to commission an independent outside body to undertake the fieldwork and data analysis.
In each case we must be clear who we are interested in hearing from. There is no point in interviewing a balanced sample of people of all ages if we are planning a service that aims to succeed with teenagers. Or using a street survey to establish the interests if the housebound! We may as well keep things simple and just talk to the target audience: Who are they? Where do they live or gather? What is the geographic area we need to cover?
Finally, given that respondents will usually only answer a few questions, we must decide exactly what very few things they should be asked about. Are we interested in their present habits, what they actually do with their lives, their radio listening, shopping, Internet useage? Or are we interested in their attitudes and beliefs, tastes in music, feelings about current radio programmes?
Continue on to Brian’s potential pitfalls
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