Primary Research, Questionnaire Results/Analysis

After looking at online magazines we could use for inspiration (see earlier post), we needed to test out any initial ideas on our target audience (college students.)  We created a questionnaire that asks some of the important things regarding content, design and the actual name of the magazine. It was important to get good range of results across a spectrum of students so we didn't simply stay in the media department but got responses from people studying a variety of subjects (english, music, engineering, animal care, maths and more). We also reached a broad demographic in terms of age and sex. It wasn't exactly 50% boys asked and 50% girls but we were definitely wary of not to solely ask just one gender. Out of the 50 people we got a good mix of first, second and third years, also, ten recipients of the questionnaire were staff (admin, receptionists etc.) because we thought even though this is a student magazine that staff will pick it up and read it. Here is a visual representation of our findings.

The first question on our questionnaire revealed that out of 'college enrichments' (updates on glee club and sporting activities etc) 'college news' and 'performing arts news', almost half of all people were keen on seeing a segment on college news. We will be sure to have a page or two on things that students need to know because it is clear they are interested in that, but will also try not to only include these topics. Just under 20 people also wanted to see 'performing arts news', this could of been that we asked a number of students who partake in music, theatre etc. but it would still be nice to have a page linked to the performing arts as it is something which makes the college proud. 

Out of the more 'casual' topics, music and gossip were clearly the most popular. From these findings we will definitely include the two most favoured along with a page or two about popular movies because this topic also received a number of votes. It is important to include a number of these 'soft articles' so that our student demographic want to pick the magazine up, there will of course be the serious topics, as mentioned above, but on the questionnaire results a lot of people talked about local reviews on music or a profile of a band who started at South Downs.  

The majority of students that were asked voted that yes, they would like to see students achievements included in the magazine. Some voted no, but as this is a student magazine  the high achievements of students should be recognised and pupils should be applauded for their efforts.

The main colours that were popular were red, green, blue and white, and will definitely be included in the basic colours of our design work. Black also had quite a strong number of votes, and usually is always included in graphic design pieces. The 'Other' colours section were in such a minority, with one or sometimes two people voting for a certain colour at a time, we have decided that it is highly likely that we will not use them in our design work.

When looking at this final graph the main answer by a considerable amount, as can be seen, is 'SDC On Campus'. As it had such a high vote it is the definite title for our magazine.

After completing and distributing our first questionnaire we then found that some vital questions were not included on it. We then decided to create a new questionnaire consisting of the two questions we needed the target audience’s opinion on. We took the questionnaire in the form of a tally, as it was quicker and easier to just ask the recipient.

Here are the visual representations of these tallies: 

This graph shows that the majority of the target group feels that they would rather read the college magazine in an online PDF format instead of a paper copy. Many said because it would be easier to access at home as well as in college, they wouldn’t be able to loose it like they would a paper copy and they also would not have to take up room in their bags by carrying it around. But, some did say that it might be a good idea to produce some paper copies to put in places like reception, the library, The Coffee House etc, or other places where people are seated or waiting where they have time to read a magazine.

The above results show that most people would rather read the magazine in an A4 size instead of A5. Some said because the stories will be all on one page and the images will be clearer and larger.