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SESSION D.7: HANDOUT

LISTENERS RESEARCH

The current fad for surveys has resulted in large numbers of bad surveys and this has fed the notion that for a survey to be credible, well-paid professionals must conduct it. Such criticism and costs have put many small community projects off the whole idea.

But it is possible for a well-crafted survey to provide credible results for little outlay.

As survey research is a very useful tool for community radio it should certainly be considered on a regular basis and efforts made to come to terms with a suitable methodology will repay the time taken.

Some of the issues you will need to consider are;

  • The type of questionnaire required
  • The method of surveying and
  • The method of analysing the results.

Listenership surveys in particular are a useful tool for a community radio station, although such surveys are generally seen and used as a means whereby commercial media can adjust their advertising rate cards. Similarly, Public Service Media may also use them to evaluate how well they are serving the mass audience.

Community media, with a different rationale may wish to establish such figures for entirely different reasons;

  • To assure organisations making programmes that they have an audience.
  • To encourage funder's to start or continue funding.
  • To boost morale among volunteers.
  • To influence and challenge policy makers.
  • For planning purposes and targeting resources more effectively.

Designing the questionnaire
Try to get some help locally perhaps from the local university. A marketing class may even be persuaded to take your survey on as a class project.
Nevertheless, they will probably ask you to draft the questions. If this is so, remember the maxim, for quantifiable data ask for information, for qualitative data, ask for opinions.

Carrying out the survey
Your own volunteers, with careful tuition, can conduct the survey.
In this exercise we talk about 'surveys' and this implicitly means 'sample survey' as opposed to a study of your entire community. Such an approach allows you to take a sample of the population and then to make estimated assertions about the nature of the total population. This approach is credible and is more efficient in terms of time and cost.

Publication of results
As a point of principle, research findings should be made available to those individuals and groups involved and the community it affects. You can use this process for extra publicity.
Make the final report as accessible and interesting as possible in terms of the language used. Also include diagrams, photos, tables, graphs and charts.
And finally, do use the results for internal station discussions around demographics. If there are groups or categories you are clearly not catering for, decide how to involve them.

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