Skip to main content

2. The Problem Statement

The purpose of this study will be to investigate the influence that the different levels of the South African National Lockdown had on the Online Entertainment Audience. 

 

The topic is of interest as it explores the patterns of change within the audience and the psychological impact of the South African National Lockdown.  The world has changed immensely over 6 months and the consumption patterns have also been greatly impacted by the world going into an isolation phase.


The field of Online Entertainment falls within a Media category, as it is a channel for Mass Communication.  I intend to specifically focus on Online Entertainment such as online streaming and online social entertainment networks.  The key of this research project that makes it relevant within the media field is the study of the audience in these particular fascinating times and their opinions on the change in their online behaviour.  It assists with a better understanding of the market and the market change.  It also gives insight into the mindsets of the audience to be able to follow market trends as the world progressed.

 

My interest in the topic and this specific research enquiry, is due to the multitudinous impact that this specific phenomenon has had worldwide. And closer to home how the impact has influenced South Africa, in particular.

Another area of interest to me is audience and audience theories, more specifically related to the psychology behind the choices of the media audience. Thus, I am looking at using the Uses and Gratification theoretical approach to understand the audience and their reactions more completely.

For my research problem I have formulated the following:

The role of the South African National Lockdown and how it influenced the audience with regards to online entertainment platforms: a cross-sectional evaluation.



Questions and assumptions that I intend to investigate are:

  • How the audience was influenced.
  • What patterns were developed within the market.
  • How the psychological demands of the audience change
  • To investigate how the relationship between the audience and their needs for online entertainment changed by means of the uses and gratification theory.

Labels:

Comments

  1. delaine coolsSeptember 29, 2020 at 8:41 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. delaine coolsSeptember 29, 2020 at 8:50 AM

    i like where this is going Lerissa. The scope of your research looks broad but extremely interesting and well informed. I,'m looking forward to following this further, especially considering how Covid-19 and the National Lockdown has impacted our lives as South Africans, and altered the way we do everyday things, including meeting our entertainment needs on a daily basis.

    ReplyDelete
  3. delaine coolsOctober 18, 2020 at 6:38 AM

    Another interesting facet to the Lockdown and the impact of isolation on the South African audience would be to gauge what sort of online entertainment needs most people are looking for under the circumstances. It is notable that many people who live alone found themselves almost in a crisis due to the unprecedented nature of the Lockdown in these modern times.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

7. Planning for Data Analysis

 To analyse the data for this research project, I will firstly go through the self-administered questionnaire data that I have received and note any major pitfalls or redundancies. Furthermore, I would need to look at any errors of the population sample that might have come through, such as South Africa Residents that might not have been stuck in South Africa during any of the different levels of the lockdown.  Any participants that might be out of the viable age range etc. I will then read through the data again to scan for any trends or patterns within the date and prioritise any groupings.   Then, I will process and organise the data into a readable Excel spreadsheet to have a more focused look at what questions were answered with what and how many participants answered with the same ideas in mind.  Thus, comparing the sources and further identifying patterns and reasons behind the patterns. Lastly, I will present the data and findings for my research report....
1 comment
Read more

5. The Research Design

For the research design, I have decided to proceed with a cross-sectional quantitative research design. This method is best suited for the study as we explore the patterns of the audience and the psychological influence throughout the levels of the lockdown. This method has been chosen above a mixed-method or a qualitative approach as due to the data that needs to be collected.   The more data the more accurate the patterns and the better the future prediction of audience research.   The main goal of this study would be to investigate how the patterns of the audience changed and developed over the period and to understand what the influence of the South African National Lockdown Levels would be on the audience in the field of online entertainment. I will consider how a quantitative research design will assist in understanding the online media users and how they were influenced by the South African National Lockdown Levels. The goal of the research would be to predict...
1 comment
Read more

1. Title of Research Project

For this research project, I have decided to explore the role of the South African National Lockdown and the influence it had on the online entertainment media audience.  Thus the title I will provide for this research project is :  THE INFLUENCE OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN NATIONAL LOCKDOWN ON THE AUDIENCE WITH REGARDS TO ONLINE ENTERTAINMENT TRENDS.  
1 comment
Read more