Questionnaire conclusion

media

1. Introduction… I carried out primary research in college in order to find out what my target audience want from a music magazine and also how they feel towards different conventions, such as cover mounts and also the price of the magazine, due to this being an important aspect within the magazine. For my questionnaire, I created questions which would help me improve with the style of magazine I am aiming towards to create but also how much the target audience would be happy spending for a music magazine. I gained the answers I wanted through a variety of quantitative and qualitative style questions, to vary my results. Task 7: Conclusion to the questionnaire

2. From this question I wanted to know the gender of the person therefore I would be able to know through-out the questionnaire, if feelings towards either the price or the type of music they listen to changes between the genders, and as the target audience of the music magazine I am producing is male, I felt it was necessary to ask the majority of males to fill in the questionnaire as I would find results from males more helpful towards the females purely because of the target audience I am trying to appeal my music magazine towards. However, to get a more accurate answer from the rest of the questionnaire, I felt I should have asked 100% males due to them being my target audience, so I should value their response more and as I don’t need to pay much attention to the female response compared to the males, I should have kept it as 100% male meaning all the responses are relevant. The first question which I asked through my questionnaire was a closed qualitative question as I asked the gender of the person who was about to fill in the questionnaire, but I didn’t need to know why meaning it was a closed question. The pie chart above shows the majority of people who answered my questionnaire were male with answering 73% of the questionnaires, compared to females who only answered 27%.

3. The second question I asked was a quantitative question as I asked the age range of people taking my questionnaire and I gave them options to tick of numerical data, which made this a quantitative question. I made sure the answer boxes were spread out in terms of the data due to the age range of my target audience for the magazine I am going to produce is 16-21, therefore I felt it was necessary to make sure the data for the target audience to answer through matches my target audience. 100% of people I asked to fill out my questionnaire were aged 16-21., which meant I carried out this part of the questionnaire correctly due to it matching the age range of my target audience. This therefore means I can trust the rest of the responses given from these questionnaires depending on the target audience due to 100% of the results being from the age range of my target audience, meaning the lifestyle may be similar or even how they feel about specific things from a magazine may be similar.

4. The third question in which I asked was a closed qualitative question due to me asking the ethnicity of the person who was filling out the questionnaire I had produced, and due to the fact I didn’t need to know why they were a certain ethnicity meant this question was closed. I feel I carried out this particular question correctly depending on my target audience of the music magazine I am going to create due to them being white males, as I feel they listen to rock music through stereotypes and the representation of white men, compared to Asian or African males for example. Therefore, the results that were given from this question suited the purpose of the questionnaire better due to 100% of the population asked were white, this therefore means the population of people I asked, who were white males, so 73% of the whole questionnaire would have a similar lifestyle in the music they may listen to and also typical conventions which they expect to see within a music magazine.

5. The fourth question I carried out for my primary research was an open qualitative question based on the genre of music they listen to, and I asked why as I wanted to know what they prefer out of music, which is important for me to know as I am creating a music magazine. This question gave me a varied set of answers, due to the population asked all had different styles of music they were in to and preferred, however the majority of people who I had asked preferred rock music compared to all the other different genres which meant I asked some of the correct people throughout my questionnaire, but if I wanted to make this more accurate and suitable for my magazine which originally I did want I should have asked people who preferred just rock music as this would have helped me throughout the rest of the questionnaire due to this specific population knowing exactly what they expect from a rock music magazine and the conventions which they prefer due to them being interested in the specific genre meaning I would have been able to use this more to my advantage as choosing the majority of people who prefer rock would have been able to help me specifically with what they prefer from these magazines. Therefore meaning I would have been able to create a magazine which suited their preferences completely.

6. For the fifth question in my questionnaire, it was a quantitative question on how many magazines the same age range of my target audience purchase music magazines within a month as this would help clearly indicate to me how many magazines I should be releasing roughly in a month and how regularly they should be produced. This question would also give me a rough idea to how popular music magazines are to the specific age gender and how popular they may become depending on the conventions which have been used in the magazine. I think I didn’t carry this question out correctly mainly due to the specific people I asked to fill out my questionnaire. The majority of people who I asked don’t tend to purchase magazines within a month as 6 out of the 11 people answered the 0 box meaning they aren’t in to music magazines particularly. To make my questionnaire more useful towards me and my data which I have gathered, I should have asked people who are in to music magazines and tend to buy them regularly due to this then helping me further with the design if my magazine as I would know what keen magazine fans expect to see in their music magazines with the different conventions.

7. For the sixth question in my questionnaire, it was another quantitative question on how much the target audience’s age range would be willing to pay for a music magazine, so I would be able to find out through my primary research how much is an acceptable amount to charge for the music magazine I am about to produce, as the specific target audience wouldn’t have a steady income due to being quite young in the job world and may not be able to afford regular expensive magazines meaning I will be able to figure out how regular and the ideal price for my music magazine. I feel I carried this question out correctly, as the same age range of my target audience for my music magazine are willing to spend 99p to £1.99 with 46% of the population asked saying that’s the most they are willing to pay, which I think is acceptable for a music magazine but also it’s cheaper for the target audience meaning they would be able to afford this due to it not being too expensive and it won’t leave them too out of pocket, so they might not mind paying £1.99 for my magazine, especially if they don’t have a job.

8. For the seventh question for my primary research, I carried out a qualitative question which was open due to me asking why they look for specific things within a music magazine, as this open question would help widen my knowledge as to why certain aspects are being used. I asked the question as I wanted to know mainly why people the same age as my target audience want to see specific conventions within a music magazine, whether it make it more valuable or more appealing to them as a target audience. I think this question has really helped me in order to decide what I need to include within my music magazine in order for it to appeal to my target audience, but also so it may convince them to purchase the magazine, if I include different conventions in which they look for in a music magazine. However, I feel like I haven’t completely carried this part of the questionnaire out correctly due to the fact that 6 out of 11 people I asked to fill out the questionnaire don’t purchase any music magazines in a month, yet they have stated what they look for within a music magazine, therefore I shouldn’t completely rely on these results to know exactly what the target audience would want from a music magazine.

9. The next question I carried out for my primary research was a qualitative open question as I needed to see the type of article the same age range as my target audience would prefer for the double page spread due to this being an important article, as this would be a main feature within the music magazine that would tempt the target audience in to buying the music magazine, therefore this question is important as it would help me understand what type of articles the target audience prefer out of free flowing and question and answer. From the results I have found out that question and answer articles appear to be more popular with the same age range age my target audience, due to this giving them more specific and relevant information about the cover artist or band. This would help the target audience feel more up to date and perhaps get to know more about the artists due to the specific questions that would have been asked, to try and get more detail out of the artist, whereas a free flowing article might not be so informative about the artist or band as they might not be as willing to reveal more information about themselves as they don’t have the specific questions to follow meaning the target audience might not be able to know much about the artist overall. I feel I carried this question out correctly as I get to know why they prefer a certain type of article due to having an open question for my questionnaire.

10. The ninth question I asked for my primary research questionnaire was a quantitative question based on how many concerts the population go to within a year; this would help me determine the lifestyle of the same age range as my target audience. This would then therefore help me further to understand the target audience I am aiming my music magazine towards, and help indicate to me whether I need to include a certain section about upcoming concerts for alternative rock bands. From the results of my questionnaire, I found out that the majority of the population asked go to concerts 1 -3 times a year with 8 out of 11 people who I asked answering this section, 1 person doesn’t normally go to concerts, as it might not be the thing they are in to showing only a small majority of people don’t go to concerts to socialise or listen to their favourite band. 1 person who I asked goes to concerts 4-6times a year then another person is a keen concert fan as they go more than 7 times in a year. These results therefore show me concerts are a popular environment for my target audience as the majority go to at least one to three concerts within a year, this then helps me to understand now what I can involve within my music magazine as the majority are fans of concerts meaning they would appreciate a concert information page in my music magazine as it would appeal to them due to fitting their lifestyle.

11. The next question I personally felt was really important as part of my primary research, as I wanted to know the same age group as my target audiences opinion on the possible masthead for my music magazine. I have already completed a focus group about possible names of my music magazine with peers in my class, but I felt it was important to gather the target audiences opinion on the possible masthead as they are the ones who are going to be purchasing the magazine as it would be aimed at this age group, therefore this open qualitative question will help me further on in the process when I come to design my magazine as this could be the masthead and I want to know if the same age group as my target audience like it as a masthead but also why they do or don’t like it so it would help me understand their views.

12. The results from this question imply that the majority of people I asked do think that Era is a suitable name for a rock magazine due to it being modern and relatable to the genre, which shows to be positive as 8 out of 11 feel it is a suitable name, however 3 out of the 11 people don’t think it is suitable due to it not being completely obvious what the genre of the magazine is from the name, however the type of font and colour used may end up changing their opinion but to find that out I would have to go out and ask those three people again what they think of the name with the colour and font added to it, if that helps it become more obvious. I would also have to check if the people who don’t think Era is a suitable name are rock fans or a different genre such as pop, because although I still value everyone’s opinion, I value rock fans opinions slightly more due to these being my target audience and I would prefer to make a magazine that suits them more and not a pop fan as they wouldn’t buy my music magazine. I may not have completed this question properly, as it would have been more useful if I asked rock fans due to them knowing whether it is a suitable name as they would be familiar with many different magazine titles, and they would also know whether it would work for a rock magazine depending if it suits the genre but also if it is a modern name or not. Therefore, if I do this question again I would have to ask rock fans their overall opinion of this.

13. The tenth question in my questionnaire which I carried out was a qualitative question based on what the population would expect to see featured in a music magazine. I asked this specific question as I would want to know what the same age group as my target audience feel are Important in a music magazine, but also what helps the magazine sell with this age group as these would typically be the conventions which they buy a music magazine for. I feel like I should have given a list then a box for the population to tick with the answers they think would be involved, as 6% didn’t answer as they probably didn’t know what to say but also 19% only said music which is an obvious answer. Therefore, the way I produced this question was incorrect, but it still managed to get me some answers which helped me a lot with figuring out what I need to feature in my music magazine. The majority of answers with both having 25% suggested they expect to see upcoming artists and images featured in a music magazine showing these are both popular elements as they would help me to appeal my magazine to the specific target audience. This question is important to ask the age group of my target audience as I need to know what they expect to see featured in a music magazine otherwise I could end up putting different conventions in which they might not like as it wouldn’t appeal to them but it could also be either too old for the age group or too young showing they won’t appreciate certain elements being included, therefore I need to make sure I get the balance between images, especially the type of images I include and also the information given otherwise if I include too many images the target audience could get bored but then again if I include too much information they could get confused, therefore showing I need to find the correct balance.

14. I believe this is an important qualitative question to ask the population of people who are the same age range as my target audience due to the fact, I need to know how regular I should release a magazine, whether it be weekly, every two weeks or monthly as the target audience might not appeal to a weekly magazine as it could be too much and they may seem to forget some weeks about the magazine, meaning I need to find the suitable release time for my target audience in order for them to want to purchase most of the different issues and also be happy with spending the money as in the long term it could end up becoming quite difficult and expensive.

15. From these results, I have found out that the majority of the same age range would prefer a weekly magazine to be released as 4 out of 11 believe it is frequent reading and would prefer to have a more frequent magazine, however 3 out of the 11 people would prefer every two weeks, or a monthly magazine as this would spread the cost and they wouldn’t mind paying slightly more for the magazine as it isn’t as frequent and it also gives them a chance to read the magazine without realising they’ve either missed one or rushing to read on just in case they end up missing an issue of the magazine . However, I didn’t carry out this question correctly due to the select few people I asked to fill out the questionnaire, this is because the majority of the people who I did ask to fill out the questionnaire don’t purchase any magazines typically within a month, showing they wouldn’t really have a view or know exactly what they would prefer in terms of when a magazine is produced and released and how often they are. Therefore I would only be realistically able to go along with the views of people who tend to buy magazines frequently as they would know what they prefer, whether it is: weekly, every two weeks or monthly.

16. From these results, I have found out that the same age group as my target audience are attracted to the main image and the cover articles mainly on the front cover with 5 people voting for the main image and 4 voting for the cover article. This shows me how important these are for my magazine and I need to make sure I include an article as the cover article that would appeal to the target audience and make them want to read this magazine. However, I should have made this question in to an open question by asking why they prefer this convention and why it attracts them to the magazine as it would help me more when it comes to designing the front cover, contents page and the double page spread. It is very important that I create a media product that appeals to the target audience, and so from asking this question it would help me understand what my particular target audience want from a music magazine, but I should have mainly asked people who purchase music magazines as they would know exactly what attracts them to buy a particular music magazine, whether it be the main image with an upcoming band or a popular band/ artist that has been around on the music industry for a while. This is an important qualitative question to ask the people who I had asked to fill out my questionnaire as I needed to know what attracts them personally to buying a magazine, so I would know what I need to include more on my front cover and throughout my music magazine in order to let it appeal to the target audience but also suit their preferences so they would want to purchase this type of music magazine over competitors on the market.

17. I asked this closed qualitative question, as I wanted to know whether the same age group as my target audience are earning a disposable income as this would then help me know whether a particular price for how regular the magazine may be is suitable to my targeted audience as I wouldn’t want to charge them for a weekly music magazine for example, which is too expensive and they don’t have a disposable income which would lead to a loss in sales as I haven’t met the target audiences preferences correctly to their needs. From these results I have found out that the majority of these particular age range do have a disposable income which would then help me to figure out how much they are willing to pay for a music magazine from a previous question in my primary research. However, as a small portion of the population who I asked to fill out this questionnaire don’t earn a disposable income it means I would have to think carefully at what I place my music magazine to be as I would want to make the price appeal to both sides to my target audience, who do and don’t have a disposable income, but I would need to work out my target audience profile as I would need to decide whether the ideal target audience are earning, which would lead to a slightly higher cost for the magazine as they do seem to be earning some sort of disposable income. This question would have worked slightly better and more accurate if I had only asked the exact type of people I believe are my target audience for this particular music magazine, mainly because I would get honest answers to whether they are earning a disposable income as this would help clarify for me how often to produce my music magazine and how much to set the price for as I know this would appeal to my target audience and not just a few people who I had seen around college to fill out the questionnaire, in the short amount of time that I had.

18. Finally, the last question I asked the age group to answer was an open qualitative question based on cover-mounts as I wanted to know whether they would think they are either too immature for this age group or suited quite well, but the majority of the people I asked seemed confident that they seem to add value for money on to the magazine, meaning I would be able to charge a little extra for the magazine and also have the chance to advertise either an ep of an upcoming artist to give the target audience a taster of a new band in this specific genre of music. None of the people who I asked to fill out the questionnaire answered no for this particular question showing they don’t particularly have anything against cover- mounts as they are free gifts at the end of the day, and as long as they suit the genre of the magazine and the age of the target audience, they would appeal to them and also be appreciated as the target audience would believe they are getting value for their own money, due to getting a free cd of some sort for the price of a magazine. From this particular question I got the results that I was aiming for as the same age group as my target audience believe that cover-mounts seem to be more appealing showing I will be able to use this convention and feature it on my magazine as the target audience would appreciate it, especially with the free cd of some sort as this would persuade them to buy the magazine compared to other different rivals on the market.

19. Overall Conclusion… Therefore, in conclusion of the questionnaire on a whole, I personally feel it was a good questionnaire to use based on the results I gained as I found out quite a lot based on the age group of my specific target audience. I found out what they prefer out of magazines and how regular they would prefer a magazine to be released, meaning this form of primary research was able to help me find out more about the age group of my target audience, which would help me further when it comes to designing my magazine as I have the preferences in mind and I know what I should try and include more of or not include certain elements as much compared to others. However , based on feasibility I don’t feel I did my questionnaire in the correct way as I should have asked people who I felt are the ideal people who would be my target audience for my magazine as this would have helped me more with certain elements, especially with what I should include and the features they prefer most within a music magazine as pop magazines and rock magazines have slightly different features involved due to having a completely different target audience in mind. As we didn’t have much time to find different people and also get people to fill in our questionnaires, it meant we just had to find anyone but they were also rushed to fill out the questionnaire as we had a break to be able to fill them in meaning they missed questions and just put “I don’t mind” or “I don’t know” as they simply didn’t have time to answer properly. This therefore, affected my results on a whole as I had a lot of blank spaces which meant I didn’t have truthful and accurate results, which links to the validity of my questionnaire. Inaccurate answers were down to me not having enough time in order to get people to fill out my questionnaires and we also didn’t do it in the correct way as I just ended up handing people blank questionnaires to answer without giving them much choice as I needed to get them all answered.

20. If we had to do these questionnaires again, I would try and get more time for us to be able to get people to fill them out and within the extra time I would be able to have I would try to find the right people who I feel would be the target audience for my magazine as then I would get accurate and truthful results based on the questions, therefore I would be able to know for certain whether certain things suit my target audience but are also representative of my target audience, as these questions are designed for me to gain a better view and idea about my target audience and how they would appeal to a music magazine, especially the one I am going to create. I would also ask them to fill out the questionnaires in their own time not on their break, when they want to be with friends and relax before they have to go back to lesson so the answers I get back wouldn’t be rushed, but they would be realistic and truthful from the target audience. Overall Conclusion…