Unit 14: Researching for ICT Projects

Lesson 1: Researching and Audience

Pro ling for ICT Project
Contents

Engage 1
Introduction 1
Objectives 2

Explore 2

Explain and Elaborate 4

Audience Pro ling 4
Bene ts of Audience Pro ling in ICT Projects 8

Extend 9
Activity 1 9
Activity 2 11

Evaluate 11

Wrap Up 14

Photo Credit 14

Bibliography 15
Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Engage

Introduction

Fig. 1. Survey for research profiling

Socializing has always been changing and evolving because of technology. It became
more and more challenging in terms of communicating and socializing with other
people personally. Others find it easier to collaborate and to interact using technology.
With your concept proposal for social change advocacy, it is necessary to create a
profiling survey to provide concrete suggestions and recommendations.

Audience profiling must be emphasized in research projects like the advocacy you have
prepared from the previous unit. A profiling survey will be the source of information
that will help you provide efficient advocacy for social change. Also, this will be the basis
of your research and recommendations.

Why do you think audience profiling is essential in research? What must be the possible
contents of the profiling form? How is it related to your ICT project?

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Objectives
In this lesson, you should be able to do the following:
● Familiarize with audience profiling.
● Identify components and principles in writing an audience profiling for ICT projects.
● Analyze the benefits of audience profiling in ICT projects.
● Construct a profiling form for the ICT project.

DepEd Competency
Analyze how target or intended users and audiences are expected to respond to the
proposed ICT Project for Social Change on the basis of content, value, and user experience.
(CS_ICT11/12-ICTPT-IIm-p17)

Explore

5 minutes

Are you familiar with slam book? A slam book is a compilation of information of different
individuals discussing their details and interests. This was popular among teenagers in the
'90s. In this activity, you will answer a slam book type of questionnaire given by your
teacher.

Guide
The given set of questions below is only a sample and may vary according to the
teacher’s preference.

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Name: _______________________________________________
Age: ____________

Name of your pet: ____________________

Do you have a smartphone? _________
Do you play on your smartphone? _______
What is your favorite online game? ____________________
Do you play with your neighborhood friends? _________
What do you play? _____________________________________
Where do you study? ___________________________________
How old were you when you studied elementary? __________

Guide Questions
1. What have you observed in the questions of the slambook? What is your reaction to the
questions?

2. What do you think is the purpose of asking these questions?

3. Why is acquiring some information important in profiling a set of audience?

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Explain and Elaborate

Audience Profiling
A profile is a summary of a person or an organization’s identity. On the other hand,
audience profiling is the process of identifying the target audience's identity in connection
to a research project or a business proposal. It is known for categorizing the characteristics
of the subject as a guide in formulating the plan.

Fig. 2. Targeting an audience through profiling

Components of Audience Profiling

Standards must be set to get the best results. Therefore, profiling must also follow the rules
in defining and filtering the necessary information for specific projects like the ICT project.
On that note, here are some principles that might help you in constructing your audience
profiling form.

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Demographic Profiling
Demography as defined is the study of the overall characteristics of a population rather
than an embodiment of the totality of characteristics. With demographic profiling, you can
see the statistical status of a specific attribute, whether it is the majority of the population or
the least of it. With this, you can now have ideas for your target population. Profiling is
crucial if the studies or project you want to propose has a significant impact on a specific
demographic.

Fig. 3. Sample demographic profile of different races

Identifying Prior Knowledge

With audience profiling, you must identify if the selected population has an idea about the
specific topic. It is necessary to know if these people have the same ideas in order to
proceed with the project successfully. Audience profiling will help you immerse yourself and
give logical conclusions and appropriate recommendations based on their needs. It also
helps in planning the content of the ICT project itself.

Probing Questions Focusing on the Target Topic

Asking questions allows you to identify the problem on the target topic. To come up with a
solution and recommendation for it, you must give a set of questions that will drive the
target audience to your resolution. With that, you can provide accurate conclusions with the
necessary recommendations to solve the problem.

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Measurable Choices
Choices in audience profiling form must be statistically measurable. It must have the totality
of the population for the majority of respondents and its minorities. When your survey is
quantifiable, you can give accurate suggestions and recommendations suited to your target
audience.

Fig. 6. Sample rating scale to quantify answers

Principles for Audience Profiling

Profiling contents depend on the purpose of your project. ICT projects should be related to
a specific area in ICT regardless of whether it is quantifiable or describable. On that note,
four principles in audience profiling are given emphasis below.

Segmentation
Segmentation sets the objectives of a specific topic to a selected audience. You are
grouping them according to how they answer the questions in your audience profiling form.
It is used to divide audiences according to their demographic profiles and prior and in-depth
knowledge about the specific topic.

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Fig. 7. Illustration of audience segmentation

Messaging
Audience profiling allows you to contextualize your content according to the needs of your
audience. The project plan's content needs to be filtered and refined according to the
needs, mode of communication, and level of understanding of the audience. It is crucial to
give the specifics of the topic that the audience understands rather than giving bubble and
vague information.

Fig. 8. A symbol of global information dissemination

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Engagement
With audience profiling, you now know how you will attract and engage your audience with
your topic. You can now speak the same language, and the audience can understand what
you are trying to say in your proposals. With that, you can catch their attention as well as
their participation in your propositions.

Measurement
Audience profiling enables you to quantify the population of the target audience that might
participate in your project. Demographics will determine the capacity and capability of your
proposition if it will benefit the audience. Aside from that, you can gauge the percentage of
the project if it will become successful or not.

How can audience pro ling help you in

formulating your idea for ICT projects?

Benefits of Audience Profiling in ICT Projects

ICT projects are not easy to propose since they need resources. Thus, audience profiling
might help the promoter offer ICT projects with fewer resources and funds used.
Furthermore, audience profiling will give the following benefits in ICT projects:

Gain Deeper Understanding

You are probably formulating a proposal that needs electronic devices since it is for ICT
projects, but this belief is somehow wrong. Using the audience profiling form, you can
develop a plan that might not necessarily need electronic chips or devices. Audience
profiling will help you understand and analyze the needs of your target audience when it
comes to information and communications technology.

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Discover the Public's Interest

Sometimes, what you have thought might not be the interest of many. With audience
profiling, you can discover lots of ideas that look interesting to the public. Through it, you
can think of different ways to solve public problems and win their interests. As a result, you
can give project proposals that are relevant for your target audience.

Forecast Future Needs

Audience profiling enables you to predict the future needs of your target audience. It
becomes your basis to formulate ideas for the future and innovate things that might help
them soon. Since all plans have room for improvement, there might be a necessity in
modifying existing ideas of previous proponents of the ICT project.

You are on the Right Track

When you are aware of your target audience's needs, you can produce accurate ideas and
proposals for them, leading you to the right track of your project. It will give you valuable
information that helps you formulate a perfect plan for them. Also, audience profiling will
keep you focused on your goal.

Extend

Activity 1
Create an outline of an audience profiling form that is suited for identifying the population
of poverty. Write it in the box on the next page.

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Audience Profiling Form

Guide
Refer to the components that are mentioned in the explain part.

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Activity 2
Explain below how audience profiling benefits the promoter in formulating an ICT project
proposal.

Guide
Explain your answer with your own opinion and your own words.

Evaluate

A. Answer the following completely in your own words.

1. What does audience profiling mean?

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

2. Why is it necessary to have audience profiling when proposing an ICT project? Justify
your answer.

3. What should you put first in your audience profiling form? Explain your answer.

4. Give and explain at least one benefit of audience profiling in ICT projects.

5. When is audience profiling necessary?

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

B. Answer the following comprehensively.

1. How can demographic profiling help you in proposing a profitable ICT project?

2. How can segmentation help you give suitable projects for your target audience?
Explain your answer.

3. How can audience profiling keep you on the right track?

4. How important do you think is audience profiling in terms of engaging your target
audience? Justify your answer.

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

5. How can you make sure that your audience profiling is unbiased when it comes to
using it for your ICT project? Explain your answer.

Wrap Up
___________________________________________________________________________________________
● Audience Profiling is the process of identifying the target audience’s identity in
connection with a research project or a business proposal.
● There are four components that audience profiling must have: demographic
profiling, identifying prior knowledge, probing questions focusing on the target
topic, and measurable choices.
● Principles of Audience profiling were also introduced in this lesson. They are
segmentation, messaging, engaging, and measurement.
● There are lots of benefits that audience profiling will give to us. Selected among them
are: gain deeper understanding, discover the public's interests, forecast future
needs, and you are on the right track.
___________________________________________________________________________________________

Photo Credit

This file, Demographic Profile of different races, is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via
Wikipedia.

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Unit 14.1: Researching and Audience Pro ling for ICT Project

Bibliography
Harvey, Steve. “Who, What, Why, And Where? Your Target Audience Definition.” Fabrik
Brands, May 10, 2018. Accessed on April 16, 2020.
https://fabrikbrands.com/target-audience-definition/

Klin, Steve. “A Step to Step Guide to Audience Profiling.” BlueVenn Marketing Platform, June
26, 2018. Accessed on April 16, 2020.
https://www.bluevenn.com/blog/a-step-to-step-guide-to-audience-profiling

Lopez, Giulianno. “How to Build an Audience Profile.” The AdRoll Blog, July 29, 2019.
Accessed on January 3, 2020.
https://www.adroll.com/blog/growth-marketing/how-to-build-an-audience-profile

Strocchi, Giovanni. “How Audience Profiling, Based on Real-Time Online Customer

Interactions, Reveals the Faces in the Crowd.” Marketing Land, January 23, 2017.
Accessed on April 16, 2020.
https://marketingland.com/audience-profiling-based-real-time-online-customer-interac
tions-reveals-faces-crowd-201248

Williamson, Will. “What Is Audience Profiling & Why Is Audience Profiling Important?” JDR
Group Digital Prosperity, March 11, 2020. Accessed on April 16, 2020.
https://blog.jdrgroup.co.uk/digital-prosperity-blog/audience-profiling-importantance.

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