Questionnaire Results

This here is my questionnaire that I have carried out in relation to the target audience of my magazine. I have picked questions that will cover all areas of information and it will provide me with the research and information that I need. In my questionnaire, I have included qualitative and quantitative questions that will give me different responses and different variations of answers. Qualitative questions are closed questions and they will give me the hard facts that I need for my target audience research. However, qualitative data will give me lots of different answers because of it being an open question. To carry out my research, I first made the questionnaire using Microsoft Word. I then printed out 15 of them and went around college asking people to fill them in. I got 14 of the questionnaires filled in as I ran out of time to get the last one filled in. Here are the results.

Q1 - How old are you?

This first question gives me a basic idea of the age-range that will be reading my magazine. This is the most important because it will reflect on everything to do with the magazine. At first I was aiming to create a magazine appealing to young teens all the way through to people in their early 20s, this has stayed the same from the answers to the questionnaire that I carried out. The age range that I asked were between the ages of 16 - 18 and a vast majority thought the magazine would be best if it was aimed at this age range. I want the magazine to appeal to this age range most because I fall into that category. I am in that age range so I will be able to relate to the audience. It also helps because I know what people of that age range want in a magazine.

Q2 - Are you male or female?

For this question, the people that I asked leaned more towards female but this was due to the majority of the class being female. I will still aim my magazine more at males but the magazine will also appeal to females. To really know what males want in a magazine, I will have to ask more men to fill in the survey and see if any of the answers change substantially.

Q3 - How often do you work?

The answers for this question told me that 8 of the 14 are unemployed, 4 work part-time and only 2 work full-time. This response was expected because of the young audience. Because the majority are either unemployed or work part-time, this will reflect on the price as they will not have lots of disposable income to spend on magazines. I first aimed to price my magazine at between two and three pounds, this survey has only supported this plan.

Q4 - What genres of music do you listen to?

For this question, the two most popular genres were Rock and Metal, this is very good as it tells me that people listen to this genre and that there will be a lot of people my magazine will appeal to. It also tells me that there is a market for my magazine. My initial plan was to make a Rock magazine and the fact it was by far the most popular answer only supports this plan.

Q5 - Does music play a big role in your life?

For this question 13 of the 14 people surveyed said that music was a big part of their life. This feedback is very good because it tells me that music is important in most people's lives and that the magazine will appeal to most people. This is very promising as there isn't any point making a music magazine if music doesn't play a big role in people's lives.

Q6 - What is your favourite colour?

For this question there was a mix of answers. From the most popular answers being black and red to other colours like green, blue and purple, this feedback tells me that the magazine will need to include lots of different colours to both appeal to the readers and to catch their attention. I initially planned to include lots of bright colours but do it in a way that would still relate to the genre, this is still the plan as the answers suggest to use lots of different colours.

Q7 - When was the last time you bought a music magazine?

For this question, 5 people said last week, 5 people said last month, 1 person said last year and 3 people said never. Because the two most popular answers were last week and last month, this tells me that the majority buy music magazine, this is telling me that there is a market for my music magazine. It is also telling me that I have the option to release my magazine monthly or weekly as they are both as popular as each other. From this questionnaire I will release the magazine definitely weekly.

Q8 - What was it?

This is the follow up for question seven. I asked them what the last music magazine was that they bought. Most answers for this question were either Kerrang! or NME. Both of these magazines are similar to what my magazine will be and it is very good to hear that they are popular as it shows there is a gap in the market for my magazine.

Q9 - How much money are you willing to pay for a magazine?

I initially planned to price the magazine between two to three pound and it is going to stay at this price based on the results of my questionnaire. Most of the people I surveyed said that they would be willing to pay 2-3 pound on a magazine with the few exceptions that would pay 5+ pounds, these are most likely to be the people working full-time. I will price it at this because most of my young audience are unemployed and they will not be able to afford to pay 5 pound for a magazine every week.

Q10 - What is the first thing you notice on a magazine cover?

For this question, almost all of the answers were the main image being the first thing they notice on the cover. This is probably because it fills the entire cover. This information tells me that the main image needs to be bold and it needs to stand out. It needs to be intriguing and interesting if it is the first thing they see. Another answer used was the magazine name or cover story. This tells me that the magazine needs to feature an interesting story, maybe an exclusive that will temp the buyer into buying the magazine. If the cover story is interesting it gives the buyer a good impression of what the content will be like. It also tells me that I need to think about the name as it is very important. It needs to be simple, bold and catchy. The masthead also needs to be bold.

Q11 - Are you more likely to buy a magazine if the cover is interesting and unique?

The answers to this question were mainly yes, this is probably because, as found out before, the first thing the reader sees is the main image. If the image is interesting and unique, it's going to set it aside from the rest of the magazines and it is going to stand out, this is important and it means I need to put a lot of thought into the cover. I planned on making a cover that featured a graphic image, this would definitely be an interesting and unique cover.

 Q12 - What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

The most popular answer was playing video games, this tells me that I should include advertisements relating to this as it will appeal to my audience. Another popular answer was shopping, this is also good because it tells the magazine that they like to buy things, this and the information on their interests is good for the magazine to know.

Q13 - Do you think fashion is important?

For this question, 9 of 14 people agreed that fashion is important in their life, this helps with the advertising that I would include in my magazine. By knowing what the interests of the reader are, I can include advertisements that will actually relate to them and this is much better than using random advertisements. Knowing this information will also help to create a reader profile on my audience.

Q14 - Do you read an article in full or do you skim read?

For this question, the response was pretty mixed, leaning slightly to fully reading the article. This tells me that the readers like to read the article fully and they also like to skim read. Because of this, there is a freedom to the length of the article and the content. I want the article to be interesting to get the readers to read it full but I don't want to make it too long that they get bored.