Prelim: Research Rationale

The research I am going to conduct for the fashion magazine will be useful so that I can get a basic idea of the type of data collected and use that to make sure my magazine cover is aimed at the right target audience with the correct elements in mind. As I am in secondary school right now, the group I have access to are teenagers between the ages of 11 -18, including sixth form students. This means that I will be able to conduct research from the demographic which is 14-18 which I am targeting the  my fashion magazine cover at as they fit in this age range. This will be useful as they will be able to provide the best insight on what content and features they are interested in.

In order to get as much data as possible, I will use both quantitative and qualitative research so that I can get a wide range of results. For quantitative data, I will most likely conduct a questionnaire or survey from which I will be able to an idea on what the target audience are interested in based on the statistics of numbers shown. This will then help to get a quick idea on what the main interest in. For qualitative research I think I will organise focus groups so that I am able to get more in depth ideas about the research. By having discussions, including question and answers, it will allow me to also see facial expressions on people and see their reactions towards different ideas. This will allow me to get first hand impressions of what people think and include these ideas in my magazine front cover and contents page. Personally, I think I am going to carry out more qualitative research rather than quantitative as it will be more useful in terms of specific answers and will also show more personal opinions and thoughts rather than just one word answers.

For my survey/questionnaire, I will print out a variety of questions on a piece of paper and hand it out to as many people as possible within the age range so that they can tick (multiple choice) questions. I will also leave the option for it to be anonymous if they want their name written. As for the focus groups, I will try and get a wide range of people, with different age ranges, still 14-18 however and have discussions about this topic. This will allow me to get a large variety of views and alternating opinions which can then benefit in my own magazine cover. 

Once all my research has been collected, I will be able to get quite a good idea on what the target audience are interested in as well as what is popular at the moment and this will then mean that I have something to refer back to when making vital decisions, taking all my research into consideration.