A questionnaire was chosen over other forms of data collection as the starting point because it gives a large quantity of responses. It will be more beneficial to start with a quantitative form of data collection which will produce a broad range of results and after analyses qualitative research can be implemented to produce further informed and in-depth answers. Every aspect of the questionnaire has been designed with the aim being as quick and easy to complete as possible this is conducive to getting a substantial amount of responses. The more responses I receive then the more valid the results are as it will form stronger correlations.
The questionnaire format is closed ended questions meaning that the respondent has a finite amount of possible responses. When appropriate lists, categories, and scales will allow the respondent to choose the most applicable answer to them whilst keeping the results easy to analyse. The close ended structure of the questionnaire will also allow them to respond quicker than if they had to think of an answer themselves, this in turn speeds up the time it takes to complete the questionnaire and makes the respondent feel more comfortable participating. The quicker the questionnaire is to complete the more responses I shall get on the street, as the amount of responses is dependent on how long it takes me to ask the questions and receive answers.
The questionnaire will be distributed in two ways; online and in person. Firstly I will take advantage of social media as a platform of distribution and using a program such as Survey Monkey I will ask online friends to complete the questionnaire. The prevalence of social media will work in my favour as a lot of people will see the survey, however the disadvantage of this method is that it is impossible to predict how many responses I will receive. If I only get a few responses then it will be too weak to draw any conclusions from. A limitation of using social media is that it will produce results from a similar range of people; the people I am friends with online are of a similar age category to me which is great when the target market is 20 - 25 but not so useful when I want to design a product for a 50 year old woman. To combat this emails including the questionnaire will be sent out to an older audience, social media tends to be used by a younger crowd so it is important to contact people via the devices they use. I am aware that social media and emails will not be enough alone to gather a diverse range of results so my secondary method of distribution will be to go out onto the streets and ask people the questions myself, this way I can make sure a range of different target markets have been addressed. Targeting a wide variety of people will produce more variations in the results as different segments will have different responses to the questions. This variation will hopefully reveal trends and correlations in the results.
Ideally I would want between 50-80 responses as this would be a strong enough to notice trends and correlations, I want the results to be as valid as possible and for the design element to be strongly supported by my primary research. Combining social media and emails will optimistically yield around 30 responses, the other 50 will be gathered by asking people on the street to complete the questionnaire. One considerable problem that could occur when gathering data on the streets is simply that very few people will be will to stop. Although this is not something I can control, it is a problem I can minimise by designing the questionnaire in an efficient way so that it takes the least possible amount of time to complete.
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Surveymonkey won't let you view trends or patterns without signing up and paying. So instead I have decided to type up all the results into Excel so that they are easily viewable, it will also allow me to view trends and patterns easily during and after all the data has been inputed.
Occupation
Service - This covers anyone who provides a service so bankers, gardeners, hairdressers, sales assistants... to name a few. I thought this was a better way to word it than 'unskilled'
Qualified
Management
Student
Retired
Unemployed
Car
Estate - Family cars, big, practical.
Saloon - Upper/middle class, willing to have less space for luxury.
Sports/Flashy - Want to show off, all about image, symbol of wealth and power.
Hatchback - Students, people who don't need big cars or care what car they have, less space but less expensive.
SUV/4x4 - Big cars, shows power, intimidating, lots of space. Also used for their functionality - people in the country who aren't always on roads.
Super cars - Lots of disposable income, sacrifice space and functionality for speed and image.
Vans - Work, own business, commercial, practical
Hobby
I decided instead of having a list of categories I would do several options as this seems more appropriate.
1. Stationary or Active
2. Creative/Intellectual/Sporty/Relaxing
3. Group or Alone
Answering each of these options will be the simplest way to categorise hobbies and allow for comparison.
I am really happy that I currently have 74 responses, however after putting them into Excel and viewing them in a grid (see below) I have become aware of how much I have underestimated how many responses I need to be able to see trends. Whilst I now need to gather a lot more responses than anticipated, I am relieved that by using the grid you can begin to see trends in the results. For example using the demographic data I can view Female students age 18-24, looking at the results I can see that they think keeping people happy is more important than being right, this suggests they care about others. This is also supported by the last question results where the majority argue that they do care what others think of them. However they are all happy in their own company. Another revealing result is that the majority of them have active hobbies opposed to stationary ones, this would suggest that the soap package design needs to emphasise anti-perspirant qualities, keeping you clean and fresh all day. It also suggests that the design should reflect them and also be alive, bold, and engaging.
After inputing the data I noticed there are a few parts of the questionnaire that I should have worded differently or changed. Firstly question four, what car do you drive? should have been written as what is your main mode of transport, if a car, then what model? This would have given me more to work on, for example if people walk or get the bike that would suggest they have greener lifestyle than those who drive SUV’s. I also regret not asking what model car because it meant when analysing the results I had to make assumptions to what car category it would fit into. Secondly, question six what comes to mind when you hear the word soap? should have been written as ‘What associations do you have with bars of soap?’ this would have given a better insight into why people don’t use soap, some of the answers addressed this such as ‘too dry’, however other answers were ‘eastenders’. If I asked about a bar of soap in particular it would have been a lot clearer what I was on about and would have also given me more usable results.
I have decided to change the questions before distributing them further because it won't affect the current results, it will only provide a clear picture. I haven't included question 6 in the data results because it is qualitative, it is not something I will be able to quantify and categorise.
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