Survey

The Stages Mississippi Readership Survey, which includes 27 questions, has been set up to show only one question at a time and display a progress bar. I chose this format because we are asking so many questions, and I didn’t want to overwhelm the user by showing them all the questions at once.

Measuring Success

I wrote all the questions for the survey, both demographic- and readership-focused. Some were in response to specific information that the publisher wanted to gather, and others I wrote to gather more information on our readers’ preferences and motivations.

For example, question 26 was in response to specific information that the publisher wanted to learn: When you first pick up your copy of Stages Mississippi, do you flip from front to back or back to front? This question is in response to a typical ask that the publisher receives from advertisers: “Is it really just as good to have an inside back cover ad as it is to have an inside front cover ad?” I believe the information gathered from this question will not be as reliable as we would wish because we are asking readers to remember a small act that they only perform once every two months. I have communicated this to the publisher, and I will continue to bring this up as we begin measuring the survey responses.