Questionnaires are a
great way to help understand your audience; what they like and what
they want within a magazine. Earlier in the year, when I was planning
my magazine, I used a questionnaire to get a sense of what my target
audience wanted out of my magazine and then I used the results to
help me make a magazine my target audience would like.
Questionnaires are easy
to produce and the questions can be tailored to my needs; making sure
to ask the questions that will answer what I need to know. It is
possible to distribute questionnaires in a high volume whether that
is through using an online questionnaire where anyone can access it
(e.g. surverymonkey) or personally handing out my questionnaire to
people.
Since the respondents
are anonymous, it allows me to get real opinions from them as they
won't be influenced by having their name connected with their
response. Though, it is possible that the answers may not be true
opinions, as it's fairly easy to lose interest half way through a
questionnaire. However, this is not something that can be helped.
As part of my
evaluation I plan to do one last, overall questionnaire, allowing me
to get a final view of my audience's opinion on my final product. The
questionnaire will include both open and closed questions.
Closed – The data
from closed questionnaires are measurable. There are a set number of
answers given to each question so a percentage can be calculated.
However, in closed questions there is often little opportunity for
responders to expand their response, or give state their true opinion
if it is not mentioned in the set answers.
Open – An open
questionnaire allows the audience to give their full, true opinion
and allows me to get real and 'unengineered' responses. However,
these responses are difficult to measure.
