Posted by: B on: May 9, 2008
Questionnaire Analysis
For my primary research I designed a questionnaire to help me further investigate new media technologies and their impact on people. I made ten copies of the questionnaire and distributed it to five females and five males from different age ranges.
In the following I will discuss my findings and the differences and similarities between my results.
From my questionnaire I found that everyone who filled in one of my questionnaires owned a mobile phone. Females answered that the NMT they used the most was their mobile phone whereas the males that answered the questionnaire had a mixture of answers; with two people saying Computer/Laptop, one circling iPod/MP3 and another who circled both the Computer/Laptop, Mobile Phone and TV due to stating that he used them equally. Everyone that answered the mobile phone, both male and female, answered that they used new media technologies on a daily basis; this shows how people are becoming increasingly independent on technology.
I chose to focus on mobile phones in the third section of my questionnaire as from prior research they are deemed to be the most used and most popular new media technology available.
People, both male and female with were 25 years old and over seemed to use their phone for work as well as for personal use. However the younger people who answered the questionnaire, aged ten to eighteen used their mobile hone for solely social aspects such as keeping in touch with friends and parents through texting and calling.
Four females and two males deemed that size and portability in a mobile phone is quite important, the majority of these people were under 30, however one female over 40 also said that size and portability was quite important. Two people, one male and female (aged 28 and 32) considered that size and portability was not really important and one male aged 16 deemed that size and portability doesn’t matter whereas another of the same age believed it very important.
Mobile phones have been developing at an extremely fast rate and manufacturers are consistently adding new features to mobile phones. Five of the ten questionnaires, four male and one female owned mobile phones which included at least a Camera, Video Camera, Bluetooth, MP3, WAP and a Calendar then they also stated a variation of features that had not been specified in the questionnaire. This could possibly show that males are more likely to want and have a more modernised mobile phone than their female counterparts. The most common thing that people did not have on their mobile phone was an MP3 with half of the people who answered questionnaires not having this feature on their phone, 30% did not have any form of WAP technology on their mobile phone – this was the second most common thing that people did not have available to them on their mobile phone.
The advantages and disadvantages to NMTs showed various answers. The majority of people agreed that new media technologies provided an entertainment value and that, generally, were easier to use, were useful and made life easier. Many people seemed to answer that the main disadvantage to new media technologies is that they are unreliable or not work with five out of ten people giving this answer; one person agreed and said that ‘when they break, you lose your information’. Two people, one male and one female, both said that NMTs can be expensive and another two drew on battery life of new media technologies.
In conclusion, the questionnaires have shown me that new media technologies are increasingly growing in importance in people’s lives and as mobile phones continue to add new features, people become more accustomed to this.
