Program Research

Published by Emil Abraham,



Research is a careful and detailed study into a specific problem, concern, or issue using the scientific method. This is best accomplished by turning the issue into a question, with the intent of the research to answer the question. It is a process of systematic inquiry that entails collection of data; documentation of critical information; and analysis and interpretation of that data/information, in accordance with suitable methodologies set by specific professional fields and academic disciplines.

Research usually mean good library. Currently with high tech computer searches for topics, research is easier and faster than ever, but good research is time consuming. One of the best ways to do quality research is to organize. Research can be undertaken in any of several well-proven ways. You can consult encyclopedias, visit a library, or search the Internet. You have probably used a library catalog for a research paper.
Research for scriptwriting is not much different. Everyone finds a particular style or method that works for him or her. Index cards are effective because they enable you to shuffle and reorder the material, and they help you to find the right sequence for ideas. Some scripting software, such as Movie Magic Screenwriter (see the website link), has an electronic index card system that allows you to do it all on computer.

Even entertainment concepts require research. An imaginary story is often set in a time period or has a background. To make a story more believable, you need authentic detail embedded in the scenes. If your story concerns airline pilots, you need to know how they talk and what their world is like. Part of the process of scriptwriting often involves background research and investigation of the subject matter before you define the objective or outline the content. Experience tells you when you need to get information. Sometimes it is at the beginning of the creative thinking process. Sometimes it is in the middle. Research could be necessary to define the target audience.
If a producer organizes the topic carefully from the beginning, the whole organization of further research, the format or outline of the documentary, the pre-production script, and the order of videotaping the production will be created at the same time. Quality research can also reveal potential locations for videotaping, available prerecorded videotape and film, the acquisition of still photographs, contact persons, and potential interviewees, besides the content nature of the topic itself.

Sources of information
Historical documents - Historical documents are original documents that contain important historical information about a person, place, or event and can thus serve as primary sources as important ingredients of the historical methodology. Anthropologists, historians and archeologists generally are more interested in documents that describe the day-to-day lives of ordinary people, indicating what they ate, their interaction with other members of their households and social groups, and their states of mind. It is this information that allows them to try to understand and describe the way society was functioning at any particular time in history.
  • Anthropology is the scientific study of humans, human behavior and societies in the past and present. Social anthropology studies patterns of behaviourand cultural anthropology studies cultural meaning, including norms and values.
  • Visual anthropology is a subfield of social anthropology that is concerned, in part, with the study and production of ethnographic photography, film and, since the mid-1990s, new media. Visual anthropology methods include photo elicitation, the use of images to stimulate culturally relevant reflections from informants. The end results are narratives (film, video, photo essays) which communicate typical events of a cultural scene.
Statistical documents - Research enables you to say with conviction how many Americans die annually from smoking-related diseases. If you are devising a PSA about battered women, you need statistical facts and possibly psychological background before you can think about what is relevant, let alone make an assertion about the topic. Before you can say it, you need to know it. So research is gath- eringinformation that enables you to be authoritative and specific about the subject.
Journals - A journal is a scholarly publication containing articles written by researchers, professors and other experts. Journals focus on a specific discipline or field of study. Unlike newspapers and magazines, journals are intended for an academic or technical audience, not general readers.
Target audience - The target audience should determine your program’s coverage and style. It is self-evident that the sort of program you would make for a group of content experts would differ from a program made for young children. Once you are in the actual preproduction stage, you can define the target audience further in terms of demo­graphics—such as gender, ethnicity, education, income level, household size, religious preference, or geographical location (urban or rural)—as well as of psychographics, such as consumer buying habits, values, a n d lifestyles. Advertisers and other video communicators make ex­tensive use of such demographic and psychographic descriptors, but you needn't be that specific in your initial program proposal.
Interview and observation - Interviewing and observation are two methods of collecting qualitative data as part of research. Both tools are used by academic researchers and in fields such as market research. There are two types of observation. In a participant observation, the researcher will make herself part of the community that she is observing. A direct observation can be more focused, as the researcher often calls in her subjects and observes them for a specified amount of time.
Interviews vary from structured, in which a set list of questions is asked of every interviewee, to unstructured, which is open-ended. These different techniques lead to many differences in conducting and analyzing the research data.
Quantitative data - Quantitative research is information in large amounts. This is done by collecting information from surveys of large groups. The techniques used are mail surveys, telephone surveys, internet surveys and face-to-face public surveys.
Narrowing it down
Once you have decided on the gen­eral program idea and the angle—the general context or focus of the show—you can ask other production people to help with fleshing out the details. Assume for a moment that the general idea is to do a program series on fine arts in the public schools with the angle of "Are the arts necessary to a well-rounded education?" In the organizing stage, you may have one person make a list of possible celebrity guests who advocate arts-based education and can talk about the advantages that it gives students in other areas of life.