NCW Task 1

 Academic and Research Librarian

Academic and research librarians work in universities and further education colleges, their role centres around providing academic staff, researchers and students with access to the information they need and supporting the skills needed for effective research. Other job titles that you may encounter with in the field may include subject librarian, liaison librarian, information advisor, learning resource manager or learning support librarian.

In terms of qualifications and experience, library assistant posts in this sector usually do not require formal qualification and many of the larger academic libraries and some special collections also advertise graduate trainee roles. Many employers also look for CILIP  chartership or a willingness to work towards chartership for higher-grade roles.

https://www.cilip.org.uk/page/AcademicResearchLibrarians

Market Research Data Analyst

A market research data analysts study statistics and information collected through surveys, you could start as a research assistant and move into statistical work after getting more experience and doing qualifications on the job. You would usually need a degree or postgraduate qualification that includes data analysis, like: maths and statistics, marketing and analytics, business and marketing, and data science. With experience this path could take you to progress into management, or become a self-employed market research consultant.

Some skills and knowledge that are needed include: analytical thinking skills, customer service skills, maths knowledge, among others.

https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/job-profiles/market-research-data-analyst

XR Research Scientist

This is the job of a research scientist to further the field however possible, and overcome these challenges through research. Your job will depend on what area of research you are working on. This may include working on the hardware side or alternatively you might work in a field like the healthcare industry. It is important for research scientists to be good at project management as you may have to work in small teams, forward-thinking as you must define your aims and ensure you have the resources to get there. Then data handling is another one, which depending on your field, the results of the research will vary widely.

To become a research scientist its important to stay in academics, especially higher education and post graduate level. When studying higher education you should look to focus on XR whenever possible. This will show you have good interdisciplinary knowledge between your field and XR.

https://aixr.org/insights/job-profiles/xr-research-scientist/

Research Officer

The research officer is accountable for extensive research to enable matching, updating or creation of works, cues and production in the PRS for music systems. This is a home based role and will connect work with colleagues in the research and quality assurance teams over skype. This role involves working together and collaboratively with others. 

To become a research officer there are different things needed such as previous experience of working in a target driven environment, a background in research, data analysis or a process driven role is essential and an interest in music is preferred. As well as good written and oral communication skills, among others.

https://www.ukmusic.org/job-profiles/research-officer/

The nature and purposes of research in the creative media industries

Primary research/self-generated research

Primary research is a type of research that you collect yourself. 'Primary research is a methodology used by researchers to collect data directly, rather than depending on data collected from previous done research'. Some of example of this include surveys, interviews, analysis and observations. However, the most common being self-administered surveys, interviews, field observation, and experiments.

Before beginning to gather the data, its important to decide how you are going to conduct the research, what observations are going to be made, the questions asked, and to be certain that your process will be unbiased.

Secondary research

Secondary research is research that involves using data that has already been found by someone else. 'Secondary data is the data that has already been collected through primary sources and made readily available for researchers to use for their own research'. Some common sources of secondary data are imformation collected through censuses or government departments like housing, social security, tax records. Internet searches or libraries, GPS, remote sensing.

Secondary research is more cost effective than using primary research, as it is making use of already existing data. So because of this that's one of the reasons that make it a popular choice among a lot of businesses and organizations. As some organizations are not able to pay a huge sum of money to conduct their own research and gather data.

A pro of primary research is that it allows the person researching to obtain original data that are specific to whatever it is they want. A con of this type of research is because of the processes that are involved, as primary research can be quite time-consuming, sometimes possibly taking months or even years. As well as being a more costly process.

A pro of secondary research is that it is largely based on already existing data taken from previous research, secondary research can also be conducted more quickly and a lesser cost. A big disadvantage of secondary research is that the researcher might have difficulty obtaining the specific information they may need. Also, existing data may not have the currency necessary to be useful.

Quantitative research 

Quantitative data is the process of colleting and analysing numerical data. 'Quantitative research, in contrast to qualitative research, deals with data that are numerical or that can be converted into numbers'. The basic methods that are used to investigate numerical data are called statistics.

An example of quantitative research is the survey conducted to understand the amount of time a doctor takes to tend to a patient when the patient walks into hospital. There are four main types of quantitative research: descriptive, correlational, casual-comparative/quasi-experimental, and experimental research.

Qualitative research

Qualitative research involves collecting and analysing non-numerical data. 'Qualitative research seeks to answer questions about why and how people behave in the way that they do'. An example of  a qualitative research method would be unstructured interviews which generate qualitative data through the use of open questions.

Qualitative research involves many different formats and methods, each with a specific use and aim. Theses methods include face-to-face or phone interviews, focus groups, observation, natural, and textual.

A pro of qualitative research is it allows one to explore topics in more depth and detail that quantitative research, it is also often less expensive. One major disadvantage of this type of research is that it cannot quantify how many of your audience answer one way or another. 

A pro of quantitative research involves fast speed that data can be collected. This data can also be analysed fairly quickly. A con of quantitative research is the limited ability to probe answers. As well as experiments being costly.

Data gathering agencies

BARB (broadcasters audience research board) is responsible for delivering the UKs television audience measurement currency. They commission research companies Ipsos MORI, Kantar media and RSMB to collect data that represent the viewing behaviour of UKs 28 million TV and broadband-only households. BARB is jointly owned by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, Sky and the Institute of practitioners in advertising.

An example of a data gathering agency is RAJAR (radio joint audience research) and is the official body in charge of measuring radio audiences in the UK. It is jointly owned by the BBC and the radio centre on behalf of the commercial sector.

Audience and market research

The main difference between the two is that audience research is conducted on specific audience segments to obtain information about them. Then on the other hand, market research is conducted to gather information about the market within which the product or service aimed at the audience operates in.

Some examples of market research are surveys, interviews, focus groups, and observation. Whereas for audience for example the amount of people that enjoy watching a specific genre of movies.

Production research

Production research is always needed when developing a new product. It is research to help give information on the characteristics of the product. It focuses on the production of a product, in other words, how's it made.

The methods of production research could be primary research, this means researching via books and setting up focus groups to gather people opinions.