Questionnaire & Analysis

Following the completion of my questionnaire, its distribution to various people and the collection of responses from them, I can now provide the data and analysis as follows. 21 respondents initially participated, but one respondent withdrew from the survey after Question 2; therefore, the results for Questions 3 to 10 have been answered by 20 respondents. This has not had any significant impact on my data collection and/or analysis.

Question 1: What age group do you fall under?

Most of the left side of the pie, approximately 9 of the 21 who responded (42.86%), are aged 30+; also most of the right side (equally 42.86%) are 16-18. Two respondents are aged 19-24 and one 25-29. The brief I provide for this is that there are a lot of young and older people who participated in the survey.

Question 2: What is your gender?

Surprisingly, two thirds of the 21 who responded (66.67%) are female, whereas one third (33.33%) are male. I also supplied the Transgender and ‘Prefer not to say’ options, but no participants selected these options when they took the survey. (This means there are no transgender participants or any who decided not to disclose their gender.)

After this question, one respondent of the 21 withdrew from the survey, leaving just 20.

Question 3: What subgenres of electronic music would you like to see? (Please choose four!)

For this question, I asked the participants to select exactly four out of sixteen subgenres from a checkbox list that they would like to see in the music magazine, or to specify one extra subgenre not listed. The majority of participants, approximately 14 of the 20 who responded (70%), would like to see Electronic Dance Music in the magazine (stated as ‘Dance (EDM)’ in the survey), making this subgenre the most popular choice. In joint second place are House and R&B/Soul, each with 9 respondents (45%), and in third place is Indie/Experimental with 8 respondents (40%). The rest of the options are not as popular, leaving the four specified subgenres as the ones to be featured in the magazine by default.

Question 4: What content would you like to see in the magazine? (Please choose three!)

For this question, I asked the participants to select exactly three out of seven categories of contents from a checkbox list that they would like to see in the music magazine, providing the same questioning concept as Question 3. 17 respondents (85%) said they would like to see information relating to ‘festivals, gigs and performances’, making this category the most popular and its content worth featuring. 10 respondents (50%) said they would like to see ‘interviews with well-known and upcoming artists’, making it the second best, and in joint third are ‘the latest electronic music news and releases’ and ‘free music on CDs’, each with 9 respondents (45%). The rest of the categories are not as popular, leaving the four specified categories of contents as the ones to be featured by default.

Question 5: Would free contents or vouchers in the magazine, if included, encourage you to buy the magazine?

This is a simple yes, no or unsure question. 16 respondents (80%) said yes, which clearly shows that free stuff in the magazine (particularly free CDs as mentioned in Question 4) will encourage them and likewise readers or potentials to buy the magazine. 4 respondents (20%) said they did not mind or were not sure; no respondents said no – what a surprise!

Question 6: Which three colours do you think would be best suited to an electronic music magazine?

Again, I used the concept from Questions 3 and 4 and asked for three colours out of the applicable fourteen and the optional ‘Other’ that would be best suited to the colour scheme of the music magazine. The three most popular colours selected by the respondents are Black (60%), Blue (45%) and Green (30%). For reference, and for one reason or another, nobody chose brown…

Question 7: Which three font styles do you think would be best suited? If you need a better understanding of the answers, feel free to search for them on a search engine such as Google.

For this question, I asked which three fonts or font styles out of an applicable eight (and the optional ‘Other’) would be best suited to the music magazine. To ensure that the respondents understood the question, I suggested that they search for fonts and font styles, particularly the options themselves, using Google or a similar search engine like Yahoo or Bing. The three most popular font styles selected by the respondents are Sans Serif (65%), Techno-like (55%) and that really cool looking 70s/80s font style from the old magazines called Avant-Garde (45%).

Question 8: How often would you like to see the magazine published?

For this question, I asked how often the music magazine should be published, providing four options to choose from. The most popular frequency is Monthly, with 12 respondents (60%); the less successful candidates are Weekly (25%), Fortnightly (10%) and Seasonally (5%).

Question 9: How much would you pay for the magazine?

This crucial question asks how much one would pay for the music magazine, with decisions being based on its contents and publication frequency; I asked how much the respondents would pay, providing three options (in the currency GBP). The best price range is £2.00 or more, with half of all (10 respondents/50%) choosing this range; the second best range is £1.00 or similar (40%) and the unsuccessful range is £0.50 or similar (10%).

Question 10: Would you buy, or consider buying, this music magazine that focuses on the electronic music genre?

“So much for that,” I could say. I asked the respondents if they would buy the magazine or not, and provided four options. 11 respondents (55%), being just over half of all, said no! It’s not all bad though; the respondents will have most likely made this choice because the electronic music genre is not really to their taste, and as I provided the opportunity for them to comment and explain their choice, I was not surprised to see the majority of these respondents say exactly that. 4 respondents (20%) said sometimes, 3 (15%) said not sure and just 2 (10%) actually said yes.

To summarise the results:

• Q01: 16-18 and 30+ are most common.
• Q02: Mostly female respondents! The rest are male, no transgenders or refused disclosures.
• Q03: Dance (EDM), House, R&B/Soul and Indie/Experimental.
• Q04: Festivals, gigs and performances, interviews, latest news and free CDs.
• Q05: Yes! Free stuff would make them buy!!
• Q06: Black, Blue and Green.
• Q07: Sans Serif, Techno-like and Avant-Garde.
• Q08: Monthly publications are best.
• Q09: £2.00 or more is a good price range.
• Q10: All this useful information, yet over half are not going to buy the magazine!