A Concise Guide to Researching Audiences - Strategic Content ...

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3. Planning audience researchThis chapter looks at defining research objectives, selecting and combining appropriate methods,researching non-usage and recruiting subjectsResearch need not be perfect to be useful – the key to good audience analysis is setting out clearobjectives and planning appropriate research to achieve the objectives. Engaging non-users is importantbut presents special problems.Objectives can be broadly divided into two categories: assessment of reach and uptake, and assessment ofquality and impact.Starting points for planning research include:• Defining service development objectives.• Defining questions about the nature and behaviour of the audience and non-users.Different audience research techniques are suited to different objectives and methods can be combined.3.1 Introduction3.1.1 Planning audience research should start with the basic question: What do you want to know aboutyour audience? Considering why the knowledge is needed and how it will be put to use is also important.Understanding the audience is not an end in itself, but an integral part of developing and maintaining asuccessful and sustainable service. Understanding the drivers for, and uses of, audience analysis work willhelp to ensure that it is aligned with wider service vision and objectives, and may help to obtain buy-in fromsenior management.3.2 Objectives of audience analysis3.2.1 The key to good audience analysis is setting out clear objectives and planning appropriate researchactivities to meet these objectives. There is little point in spending time, money and staff effort collectingdata unless it is going to be useful.Case study extract… London Museums HubA good example of setting clear objectives to focus research activitiesThe London Museums Hub is a partnership of four of the ‘big player’ non-national museums in London: theMuseum of London (lead partner), the London Transport Museum, the Geffrye Museum and the HornimanMuseum. The Hub conducted a research project to investigate the potential for a joined‐up approach toonline audiences.PAGE 123. Planning audience research
The Guide to Researching AudiencesConcise editionThe project had a well-defined brief for the research, which stated that ‘the Hub lacks a coordinatedstrategic approach to qualitative online audience profiling and research… we aim to build a more completeunderstanding of the Hub’s online audiences, and use this knowledge to take a more strategic user-focusedapproach to online delivery’. This brief was underpinned by specific research questions about their onlineaudiences: Who are our audiences? Why do they use our websites? What are their expectations of thewebsites? To what extent are these expectations currently being met?The project used a multi-stranded approach to audience research (eg combining online questionnaires, faceto-faceinterviews, focus groups and web statistics) to gather information to answer these questions. Thefindings from this project were then used to take a more strategic user-focused approach to online delivery.For example, the research confirmed that the overwhelming majority of website usage was for planning avisit to a museum. However, the website was not a key factor in the decision to visit – the reputation of themuseum in a particular field, location etc were the main factors.Following this exploratory research, concrete steps have been agreed that will enable the Hub to movetowards a common approach to collecting data on how online services are received by the audience and thebroader impact that online services have on organisations as a whole. For more information on the LondonMuseums Hub, see the MLA London website (www.mlalondon.org.uk).3.2.2 Audience analysis can be divided into two broad, interdependent categories: assessment of reach anduptake, and assessment of quality and impact. In planning audience research it is helpful to decide howimportant each aspect of the analysis is.3.2.3 Research objectives must be set according to individual service priorities and context. Starting pointsfor identifying broad aims and framing objectives include service development objectives (eg how canwe extend the reach of our service?) and questions about the audience and non-users (eg who are ouraudience? how do they use our service?). See Figure 3‐1 and Figure 3‐2 for examples.Figure 3‐1: understanding non-usersNON-USERSWHO are they?Target audience – existing audience= non-usersWhich segments of the targetaudience are under-represented?MarketingHOW could wemake them moreaware?WHY are they notusing ourservice?AwarenessWHY can they notaccess it?Not awareAwareAware butcannot accessHAVE they everused our service?UsageAudience satisfactionWHAT did theythink of ourservice?ReasonTechnologicalAuthenticationrequiredWHY do they notuse our service?ReasonEx-usersNeverWHY do they nolonger use ourservice?DisabilitiesNot interestedHappy withalternativePoor publicimageWHY are thealternativespreferred?ReasonNot interestedHappy withalternativeToo slowReasonBetter qualityBetter coverageEasier toaccess3. Planning audience research PAGE 13
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