Questionnaire + Results

To work out how my college magazine cover should look and what should be in the contents I created a questionnaire and surveyed 10 people in my target audience (16-19 year olds at East Norfolk Sixth-Form). This was my questionnaire:

1) What sort of colour scheme should the college magazine have?

Black/red Black/white Red/Blue White/Green Other ___________

2) Would you be interested in music features?

Yes No

3) If so, what genres of music would you be interested in?

Metal Rap Pop Rock Classical R&B Folk Indie/Alternative

Other ___________

4) What other features would you be interested in?

Fashion Gossip Sport Activities around college Gaming Agony Aunt

Exam tips Other __________

5) What adverts would you think are suitable for the college magazine?

Fashion Cars Food Gaming Music Books Electronics

6) Would you appreciate a Puzzle Page in a magazine?

Yes No

7) How often should the college magazine come out?

Daily Weekly Monthly Bi-annually

8) Would free features encourage you to read the college magazine?

Yes No

9) With these features in mind, would you go out and pick up a free copy of the college magazine?

Yes No

10) If not, why not?

_______________________________________

The results were these:

For question one, there were a range of results concerning what colour scheme the magazine should have; however, the overall vote was that it should be based around black with either white or another colour that would stand out. The second question was about whether they want music features got 10/10 so I should definitely include music in the college magazine. Then, we asked what genres of music they’d be interested in seeing and the top three were: Rock, R&B and Indie/Alternative. Pop and Metal were also popular.

Other features apart from music that they would be interested in were: Gaming (4 votes), Fashion (3 votes), Gossip (3 votes), Sport (3 votes), An Agony Aunt (3 votes), Activities around college (2 votes) and Exam tips (2 votes). I think I’ll try to include all of these, even the ones with only two votes, because the lower rated ones are the ones that would separate the college magazine from a magazine you would find on a shelf at a supermarket and this is important because a college magazine is probably designed to educate as well as entertain.

Something that is vital for a magazine is how they’d pay for the cost of making it (especially if it was free like this one would be) and advertising plays a big role in this. Adverts that they thought would be suitable were: Music (10 votes), Gaming (6 votes), Fashion (5 votes), and Electronics (5 votes).

When asked how often the college magazine should come out, 6/10 voted monthly and 40% voted weekly, so I’ll either be looking at monthly or perhaps fortnightly. 90% of those who filled in the questionnaire said that free features would encourage them to buy the magazine. There were 6 votes against the idea of a puzzle page so I don’t think I’ll include that.

All of this considered, 70% of those surveyed said they would read the magazine - so if I include things that got a positive response, the cover should be aesthetically pleasing and the contents suitable for people in my target market.