Research is a very important part of the pre-production process in all aspects of media. It allows creators to understand their audiences to maximize their success both financially and creatively. Without research into what has and hasn't worked, it is far easier for productions to fail due to its lack of attractiveness and inability to entertain its target audience.

 

Quantitative data is information with numbers, with specific measurements like age, size, length, percentages and fractions. It is data about quantity.

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Pro: Allows for generalization.

Con: No specifics and details are given.

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Qualitative data is information that can not be measured like the color of your dog, the softness of its fur, or whether or not you like it. It is data about quality.

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Pro: Great for exploratory purposes.

Con: More prone to accusations of bias and subjectivity.

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These two types of research can be applied to all things media like films, television shows, television channels, advertisements, magazines etc. If we look at it in terms of film, a good example of a data source for film popularity is the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Rotten tomatoes is a site that supplies the Internet with ratings and written reviews by acclaimed critics. The scores out of 10 given by each critic is quantitative because it is simply a number or measurement given. The actual review and explanation behind the score is the qualitative set of data.