Focus Group Questionnaire

I decided to design a questionnaire for my focus group to gain more information about what types of magazines they read, how often and their interests. My focus group will range between the ages of 16-18 which is the particular ages that the magazine will be aimed at. Additionally, I will show the focus group my flat plan designs of the front cover and this will give me an idea of their opinions and thoughts. Consequently, their feedback will help me in making the front cover successful as it is these students that will potentially be reading the magazine.

Here is a copy of the Questionnaire that I gave out to students to help gain an idea of how many people read the current school magazine, and which features the students like and dislike:

 

Questionnaire for Focus Group

Gender: Male/Female?                 Age: ______

1. Do you attend School/College/Sixth Form/Work/None?

______________________________________________

2. Do you enjoy reading magazines?

a) Yes        b) No

3. If yes, which genre of magazines do you usually read?

a) Fashion    b) Sport    c) Cartoons    d) Music    e) Computers    f) Home    g) Films and TV     h) Other

4. How often do you read entertainment magazine?

a) Never   b) 1-2 times per week   c) 3-4 times per week   d) 5-6 times per week 

e) 7+ times per week

5. Do you read the Sixth Form magazine?

a) Yes    b) No

6. If so, how often do you read it? E.g. weekly/monthly.

_______________________________________________

7. What are your favourite aspects of the Sixth Form magazine at the moment?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What are your least favourite aspects of the Sixth Form magazine at the moment?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Is there anything else that you would like to appear in the Sixth Form magazine?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you for taking the time and completing this questionnaire!

Results of Questionnaire

After ensuring everybody that completed my questionnaire was between the ages of 16 and 18, I gained these results:

• The most popular genres of magazine was Fashion and Music, TV and Film was quite popular too. Nobody chose the Home genre which informs me that that type of magazine would be for the older generation.

• Most students that completed the questionnaire said that they read entertainment magazines 3-4 times per week. This proves that most of the people that were asked enjoy reading magazines if they are interested in the particular subject.
• Out of the 10 people asked, 6 people said that they read the school magazine at the moment. Hopefully if it includes more subjects that they have an interest in then the numbers will increase.
• Here are the results for the favourite aspects of the Sixth Form magazine:

 

This pie chart proves that the students would ideally prefer more pictures displayed in the magazine and also more advice and tips.

• Here are the results for the least favourite aspects of the Sixth Form magazine:

 

This pie chart displays most students feel that the Sixth Form magazine at the moment is related too much with education and should be more focused on the students themselves. I feel if the magazine was related more about the students then more people would have an interest and read it more, ultimately finding it less boring.

• Here are some ideas for what the students think should appear in the Sixth Form magazine:

- Shorter articles with people of interest

- More Diagrams instead of blocks of text

- More colour

- More pictures

- Articles written by students

- Advertising upcoming events (that are happening in school and around the area)

Focus Group for Sixth Form Magazine

I asked four different people aged between 16-18 years old various questions about themselves and what types of magazines they enjoy reading. These are the people that I am going to use for my focus group and they will give their thoughts and opinions on my flat plan design for the Sixth Form magazine.

Anna Bradford

Age: 16

Sixth Form/College: SHSG

Subjects Studying: Media, Sociology, Business & Economics and Maths

Favourite Subject: Media Studies

Interests: Music, Tennis and Watersports

Favourite aspect of a Magazine: Celebrity gossip and Fashion 

Least favourite aspect of a Magazine: Fake celebrity gossip

Favourite Magazine(s): LOOK and Grazia

Time spent reading magazines: 1 hour per week

Hayley Occleshaw

Age: 16

Sixth Form/College: Palmers College

Subjects Studying: History, Psychology, Sociology and English Language
Favourite Subject: History

Interests: Dancing and Socialising

Favourite aspect of a Magazine: Advice Columns

Least favourite aspect of a Magazine: Serious news

Favourite Magazine(s): Kerrang

Time spent reading magazines: 1 hour per week

Joe Parker
Age: 16
Sixth Form/College: New Hall Sixth Form

Subjects Studying: Art, English Literature, Psychology and Critical Thinking
Favourite Subject: Art
Interests: Playing Guitar, Art, Socialising
Favourite aspect of a Magazine: Interviews and Articles on people of interest
Least favourite aspect of a Magazine: Excessive adverts
Favourite Magazine(s): Total Guitar, NME, Kerrang, Q
Time spent reading magazines: 1 hour per week













Meg Kelly

Age: 16
Sixth Form/College: SHSG

Subjects Studying: Media Studies, Government and Politics, Product Design and Business Studies

Favourite Subject: Product Design

Interests: Music, Fashion, Films

Favourite aspect of a Magazine: Fashion and Music articles

Least favourite aspect of a Magazine: Too many adverts and not enough content

Favourite Magazine(s): Vogue, LOOK and NME

Time spent reading magazines: 1-2 hours per week

Flat Plan of My Sixth Form Magazine

What is the purpose of a Flat Plan?


The purpose of a Flat Plan is to design your ideas that you would ideally like to appear on the front cover of the Magazine. Flat Plans are really useful as you can see what the magazine will potentially look like and decide what aspects you prefer and also what aspects are your least favourite. Addtionally, creating flatplans enables you to present the front cover to the designated focus group and then they can give their thoughts and opinions about the design before it is created and too late to change it. Before a magazine is actually made, flat plans are essential so each section of the magazine can be put together and can actually be edited, this is a crucial part of the planning. Designing flat plans have helped me choose what the focus group and I preferably want to appear on the front cover and eliminate any other potential ideas so ultimately the magazine can be successful as possible.

Here are two possible flat plan designs of what the cover of the Sixth Form magazine will potentially look like:


Design 1:

Design 2:

In order to help me decide which front cover to choose, I shall show both covers to my focus group and consequently they will give their feedback about which design they will prefer.

Results:

I showed both designs to the four people in my focus group and they gave this feedback:

Anna Bradford: "I prefer design 2 as it appears to include more articles that would be of interest to students attending Sixth Form."

Hayley Occleshaw: "I like design 1 as the different pieces of text are more spread out and it doesn't look as squashed. However, the articles look more interesting on design 2."

Joe Parker: "I think the second design is better as it seems to grab the attention of the audience more than the first design."

Meg Kelly: "I think design 2 would be more successful as I like the style and feel all the other students would also prefer this style as oppose to the first one."