Primary Research
Face to Face Interview
This can be an effective method of research when you want to find out as much about a person or something they were involved in as you can gain first hand information about personal experience. The main problem with this is that they may refuse to participate and if they do agree then they can often be expensive, plus it can be difficult to find the time to interview them, which itself can be time consuming. The typical place you would find interviews as methods of research are in any news items such as newspapers or the news on time based media such as radio or television, as well as in documentaries.
Telephone Interview
The problems with having an interview via telephone far exceed it's advantages. The first problem is obtaining a phone number and trying to find the time you need to do the interview. During the interview problems can range from the interviewer or the interviewee being cut off or them hanging up if they feel offended by any of the questions; many people also find it difficult to sufficiently record phone conversations. On the other hand, a telephonic interview is efficient for overseas interviewees or people who are too busy to make time for a proper interview. Telephone interviews are primarily used in radio and can sometimes be used in TV/film items in news and documentary.
Focus Group
A focus group is where you get a group of different people to share their opinions. This can generate different responses from everyone in the group and can help you improve your idea to appeal to each audience. The problem with hosting a focus group is that it can be expensive and time consuming, but this comes as a result of what could be essential research. If a focus group is not engaged then the participants may not become involved and can copy other peoples' opinions if they are unsure on their opinion. Focus groups are used for research on TV and radio shows; they can also be used as research for movies, where the group can be a lot larger than those of TV and radio.
Questionnaires and Online Surveys
With a questionnaire you can get a large variety of opinions and open questions can generate large amounts of information. The main problem with conducting a questionnaire is that depending on how much information you want, it can be more time consuming and that could make it expensive. Another problem is getting people to take the time to participate, this goes for both street and online questionnaires; the problem most people have is getting people to notice it - for online surveys it can mean offering a prize draw. For questionnaires it means having an approachable person ask people if they want to participate, as with online surveys it could mean offering a prize draw or giving away free gifts to anyone who completes the questionnaire - this can be costly.
Observation
An observation could range from being free to conduct to being massively expensive depending on the observation. The main issues with this are if you conduct it incorrectly and release incorrect information to the public. Other observations may be mild and can be used as part of talking points for presenters on radio shows or it could be the seed of a drama, documentary or news article which would contain further secondary and primary research.
Secondary Research
Library Research
This is a reliable source for information as publishers take responsibility for sharing it as factual information; however, what could have been proven as fact when the books were published may have since been disproven - for instance books which state that the Earth was formed like an apple and atlases containing east and west Germany. Books invariably contain out of date information and can be useless in certain researches. In many cases they can be useful, an autobiography would be useful research for a documentary on the life of a public figure - though the autobiographic will only be about their life up to one date in their lives; for example, Tom Baker's autobiography ends in the late 1990s when it was published so doesn't contain anything of the actor's later career, alternatively - Elizabeth Sladen's autobiography was published after her death and details her personal and professional life right to the very end.
Internet Research
Researching information from the internet can be risky. Many online sources cannot be trusted; Wikipedia is a widely used site for research and though much of it is factual and sourced, much of it can be out of date, incorrect (sometimes intentionally) or unsourced - the same with IMDB. Reliable sites for factual information are ones run by major corporations like BBC, who are resourceful for news articles but also dedicate a portion of their site to education. The internet is a good place to find contacts of people who could help with research and cold be possible interviews. A lot of enthusiasts contribute toward blogs or sites devoted to particular subjects which are usually (though not always) factual. Sites like YouTube and iPlayer contain documentaries and clips which could be used in research, such as the documentary 'A Portrait of Scotland' detailing Scotland's artistic history presented by artist and actor Peter Capaldi, or the factual mockumentaries by Ze Frank. Most mediums use the Internet as a method of research: for documentaries, articles, news items and books among others.
TV, Radio, Newspapers
The news is a highly relied upon source of research. An article in the Daily Mirror revealed that John Nathan Turner had been involved in a sex scandal and a year later a documentary was released in which Dr. Matthew Sweet went into some detail on the case. TV and Radio - particularly news and documentary items can be quite reliable and they have already done much of the research for you. Newspapers can be quite unreliable, they are known to embellish stories to make them more interesting. Newspapers are, however, featured in many news segments and news-based talk shows.
Government Statistics
Government statistics are used by the news - TV, Print-based and Radio. They are very reliable as they have been sourced from the government who conduct their own surveys, investigations and censuses which can be used in research for news and documentary work. Government statistics can be quite reliable as they cover a large span of people.
