GC 2.1- Applying Research Techniques

Using SurveyMonkey, I came up with a list of questions to ask 14-25 year olds to get more of an insight into their interests and the type of media they consume. I posted the link to the questionnaire on Facebook rather than just asking people in my class, by posting the link to a wide selection of friends on Facebook it meant that the results collected represent the age demographic wore broadly and accurately. The questions I asked were:

• Gender?
• Age?
• Do you read a newspaper regularly?
• Do you access news online?
• Which of these do you use? Tick all that apply: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, Tumblr, YouTube.
• What are you interested in? Tick all that apply: Music, Fashion, Food, Photography,Reading, Sport,
• What is your favourite way to consume information? Printed written word, Online written word, Short online video, Radio/Podcast, Spoken presentation, Television.

I got a range of results from both males and females between the ages of 14-20 although the majority of people that answered the questionnaire were aged 16 or 17. As a 16 year old I feel that the age bracket of 16-18 year olds would be a sensible group to target as I feel that there is too much of a gap in maturity and interests between 14-25 year olds.

Under a quarter of the sample read a newspaper regularly. From this result I have decided that the product I produce to increase young people interest in the Bath Chronicle shouldn't be in the printed newspaper as there aren't enough young people that access it regularly, it is unlikely that young people would start purchasing the newspaper with their own money just for one feature.

Although the majority of the sample don't read the newspaper, almost all of them access news online which confirms what I mentioned above that teenagers don't want to purchase a printed publication, they want to be able to access information from their mobile or computer at a convenient time for them, free of charge. Online news has the opportunity to be more controversial and specific to different peoples interests as producing online news is a faster process and almost all articles written are published.

I asked this question to find out which social networking sites are popular and whether the majority of young people use them. Facebook is the most popular however networking sites like Twitter, Instagram and YouTube follow very closely after. Teenagers use social networking sites as they can stay updated with what their friends and favourite celebrities are doing as well as sharing their own opinions, feelings and interests. As everyone I asked uses at least one social networking site, these would be good platforms to share the Bath Chronicles content as it would be sure to be seen by a young audience.

This question looks more at the general interests of teenagers and what entertains them. Music is clearly the top interest for young people as all of the people who answered my questionnaire consider music to be something they're interested in. I feel that introducing a musical aspect to the Bath Chronicle would attract young people as local musicians would be able to get involved and the consumers would be able to access it like they do with the music they currently spend time accessing whether that be live music or music online.

Photography and fashion also appear to be strong interests for teenagers. As more teenagers are using Instagram, anyone is able to become photographer with just a mobile phone. An Instagram profile is something that the Bath Chronicle don't currently have, the profile is free to set up and young locals could potentially get involved by using the hash tagging system.

Both of the most popular ways to consume media are based online. Short online videos are the most popular followed by the online written word. Short online videos are easy and generally free to access and they can present information in a fun way and all you have to do is sit, watch and listen. They are perfect for teenagers who don't want to spend their free time doing activities that feel like extra school/college work. However teenagers do spend a lot of time reading the information on social networking sites and text messages with friends so the results of my questionnaire show that most teenagers would likely be happy to read some supporting words with a video.

In previous questionnaires from other media related projects, I had only managed to collect information from other media students. For this questionnaire, I shared the link with a wider range of people on Facebook and friends and family who're in my demographic from outside of the classroom. All together I collected over 50 responses so I am happy with the results I gathered.