Types of research
Quantitative
Quantitative data is data that has a numerical answer. A question that is answered with a number like 'What would you rate the game out of 10?' would be considered a quantitative question or any answer that can't be put into a chart. An example of this would be in the form of ratings like if a game has been rated 8/10 then this is Quantitative data. The upside to this would be that it is easier to record the data and it would be easier to put into categories whereas, on the other hand, you can't compare two games fully with just a rating. If a game has been reviewed and rated by IGN or another source and the majority of reviews are good then a lot of the time this can dictate whether the game has a sequel or even goes on to have multiple follow up games.
An example of this is Titanfall, after its release in 2014, Metacritic gave it a rating of 86 out of 100, this then gave EA a reason to bring out Titanfall 2 which was then given a better rating of 87. (these ratings were for the XBOX ONE version of the game. EA as a company could then heavily invest into Titanfall 2 by adding DLC or creating a follow up game because it was a critical success.
http://uk.ign.com/games/reviews
http://www.metacritic.com/search/all/titanfall%20/results
Qualitative
Qualitative data includes open-ended questions, questions that desire a reasoning behind the answer is qualitative data. Qualitative research is exploratory research is used to try and get a better insight to how fans view a game deeper than what a rating would be. A question like 'What did you lie about the game?' would be a qualitative question. An example of this would be a person leaving a review on a game using whats good and whats bad about the game. The good side to this is that you can get a full rating of the game and the bad side would be the data is harder to record on a chart. Qualitative data is used by every gamer and critic when deciding on whats good and bad about the game, this (again) has a major factor in whether a game has any more games that follow it.
Above is a couple reviews for the newest game of DOOM released in 2016 and they are two fan reviews on how the game is. The review on the left is heavily praising the game and is helpful to other fans on whether to buy the game. Again the review on the right says how good the game is and once again is a heavy influence on whether other people buy the game.
http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/doom
Primary
Primary research is data that you have conducted oneself, if you have created a questionnaire and asked people to fill it out then this would be classed as primary research. A company such as Activision or EA may conduct research to see what type of game genre most people play or what the majority of either male or females play which genre, this research can be useful as they can now see how to advertise their game (whether the adverts are aimed primarily at males, females or a unisex demographic). The problem with primary research is that it can be quite difficult to conduct yourself but on the other side at least you know where the information has come from and its reliable.
Above I have included a questionnaire that i conducted myself based on the game Rainbow Six Siege. I showed some people footage from the game and asked them to answer the questions accordingly. From the questionnaire i gathered that people would be interested in playing the game and they thought the graphics were overall good. Questionnaires like this could be used to see if people are interested in FPS games or this games in particular and since a few of the people that took part in the questions hadn't played this game its good to see if they are interested.
Secondary
Secondary research is opposite to primary research, this is research that has been conducted by someone else for themselves or for other people. This research is usually conducted by a professional body or another company for a specific reason. If you find a website that has figured out which country plays a certain type of game such as "The UK video games sector remains the largest in Europe employing around 9,000 people in games development in 2010", this is secondary research. Other professional bodies such as UKIE and IDGA give out information when it comes to the video game industry but the problem with this secondary research is that some of the information may not be as reliable as you think depending on where your source is from where as the benefits are you will not have to go out and spend your own time on doing the research yourself.
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