primary research - google form
As another way to gather primary research i created a google form to further gather personal information and experience from many different people with the idea of my project in mind. I have gathered 50 responses in total to each questions. Through this research i wanted to be able to reflect the most universal feelings through my work with people experience with music. As well as this i also want to experiment with using written responses from this form in my final outcome such as my photobook to further analyse my images.
I titled the form 'the effects of music' and this was the description 'I am creating a photography project on the effects of music. My intention with this project is to portray how music can have so much power over peoples emotions and people might not even realise it. Whether a song makes you unbelievably happy or devastated, and how just one song can have that much power. How a song could make one person so excited but the same song can make a nothing person teary eyed. Through this form i want to show how music can help people deal with emotions and present certain emotions.'
Here is a list of the questions i asked:
- is there a song that makes you happy that typically makes people upset?
- do you have a certain artists you listen to when you're upset? if so who?
- is there a song that typically makes people upset that makes you happy?
- have you ever cried to a song?
- do you have playlists based on emotions you feel?
- does music help you understand how you are feeling?
- what is your favourite song?
- do you have songs you relate to people, whether it be friends, family, exes etc?
- do you think the art of music is powerful?
- have you ever been to a concert? if so how was your experience?
- have you ever made friends through music? whether it be because you like the same music, exploring their music taste etc
- how else do you use music to help you feel comfortable? eg singing a song in your head to help yourself through a stressful situation.
A few of these questions were multiple choice and a few requires written responses. Through this form i had many people wanting to know more about my project, people became interested in my work and admired the things i was saying through the art of my photography.
Question 1
The reason for this question related to one of my initial ideas through my project and something i found interesting. This was the idea that people can have completely opposing reactions to the same song. Almost 3/4 of the people who responded said that this is something that they experience as an active response to the music they listen to. The response to this question confirms my idea that people will have opposing reactions to the same song. As i didn't want to pressure people into giving stories on this i decided to make this a multiple choice question, however as this survey created conversations between me and responders i will be politely asking if they would be able to share their stories if this is something they experience and they could stay anonymous if they wish.
Question 2
I decided to make this question a written response question as i was intrigued as to how many people would have the same artist they listen to to comfort them in times of distress. As you can see some responders did share an artist, this artist that is shown on the graph being oasis. I was expecting more people to share artists who comfort them however i was surprised by the result. This result did make me realise how personal music can be to so many people and how every listener is different, this also intrigued me to take inspiration from some of these songs in some shoots whether that be the story of the song or just the artist etc.
Question 3
Question 3 is very similar to question 1 and it had the same motivations behind it. However it did surprise me at the difference in results at this questions as only 66% of responders answered yes and it has the same number of responders. This is also a question i would answer yes to but i would answer no to question 1, this is something that motivates me to create this project so people can see just how subjective music is but how it could also make people feel the same or opposing emotions.
Question 4
Looking back at the responses on this question i wish i had made this a written response question as i would want to find out if the reasonings behind 90% of people saying yes was because the song bought on that emotion, something that happened that related to the song lyrics in their life etc. This was also double assurance that this is a universal feeling as i thought most people had cried to songs but i wasn't 100% sure.
Question 5
I chose to ask this question as more of a personal discovery. As i have said the reasonings behind my project relates to how important music has been throughout my life, specifically with my diagnosis of mental health issues such as anxiety, depression and a recent diagnosis of autism. Music has helped me through this as it has been an escape at times but at others it has been a way to help me understand how i am feeling and how to access those feelings instead of burying them deep down. As shown only 70% of responders have playlists based on their emotions and the other 30% don't this will definitely be something i try to represent through my work.
Question 6
Again the reason behind this question was similar to the previous question. It seems more people than expected from the response from the previous question have a similar response to music as me with 4/5 of responders saying 'yes'.
Question 7
This question was chosen as it again helps me see how similar people music tastes are. Again with this question i wish i had added 'why?' to this question to get a more in depth response from people and see if there was a deeper meaning to this than just 'i like it'.
Question 8
Through asking this question i wanted to show how music can bring people together. This may be a song played in a certain scenario with a friend, a song to remind you of good times with family and so much more. As seen 92% of people use music in a way to remember someone which again shows how powerful it can be.
Question 9
Following previous questions i decided to ask this question. I thought it would be interesting to see how many people had answered yes to previous questions demonstrating how music can be important and powerful and to see if they contradicted their statements through this question. 94% of people agreed that music is a powerful tool whereas the remaining 6% voted against this or unsure about this.
Question 10
I decided to ask this question as i know concerts are places i feel the most welcome and at my happiest. It is so nice to read these responses and see people saying things like 'pure euphoria', 'where i was meant to be, like what i live for' responses like this help motivate this project and make it the best it can be. I also understand not everyone enjoys concerts or haven't been which is also an emotion i want to display through my work such as my shoot 2 with the contradicting emotions people can take away from that shoot.
Question 11
Again this question was one i would have answered yes to as i have become closer to many of my best friends by discovering new music together. I wanted to see if this was something i could demonstrate through my work to see if the majority of responders had the same kind of experience.Through this response i will definitely attempt to demonstrate this through my work with shoots taken with friends enjoying music together. I tried to show this through my second shoot.
Question 12
This last question was another i asked to help give me inspiration for future shoots. I will use these responses to be inspiration for shoots such as someone songwriting, playing the guitar, a triptych of someone in an uncomfortable situation and they listen to music and feel comfortable.
How i will use this in my work
As said i will use this to inspire shoots i will be taking in future, and give me the inspiration to create the emotions people feel through my work. Another way will be experimenting with using percentages or written answers to inspire titles of my prints or particular shoots in my photobook. These are just examples of this with images used from google:
