The document summarizes research conducted with 9 17-year-olds to inform the production of a documentary about the UK's legal drinking age. Most of the teenagers surveyed reported already drinking alcohol, with some starting before age 14. While most expected teenagers wouldn't watch documentaries, the research found they do so weekly. Most of those surveyed said they would be interested in a documentary on opinions of the drinking age.

1. The primary target audience of our documentary is
teenagers and because of this, we gave questionnaires to
nine 17 year olds of all genders, ethnicity, religion etc to
analyse their opinions on the UK's legal age to consume
alcohol and how they approach alcohol themselves. We
also asked what they think a documentary investigating this
topic should include and whether they would be interested
in this.
Audience Research Evidence and Results

2. Despite all the people who
answered our questionnaire
being 17; a year under the
legal age of drinking
alcohol, 6 of the students
claimed that they already
drink alcohol.

3. It was also gathered that 5 had
tried alcohol between the ages
of 15-17 and two had tried it
before they were even 14.
However, the same amount (2)
had never drank alcohol.

4. Though we expected that
the majority of 17 year olds
would not watch
documentaries, the results
showed us that 7 out of the
9 watched one at least once
a week. Only one claimed to
never watch this type of film.

5. To aid us on deciding whether
our subject matter would
interest our primary target
audience, we then asked the
teenagers whether a
documentary on the subject of
opinions on the drinking age
would interest them and were
glad to learn that for 8 of the 9,
it would.

6. Our findings showed that the large majority (8 out of 9) of these
teenagers believed that the set drinking age prompted teenagers to want
to rebel and start drinking alcohol before they were 18 due to peer
pressure and the want to be mature.
7 of the students questioned also claimed that their parents allowed them
to drink before the age of 18 when they were at home. It is because of
this that we want to explore whether a lower drinking age would cause
more responsible drinking as kids could learn about the risks of alcohol
at a younger age in safe hands, instead of experimenting in secret where
they could be at risk.
To gain insight on who we should interview for our documentary, we
asked the students whose opinions they would most like to hear about it.
The most sought opinion was that of teenagers under 18, followed
closely by experts on the subject and then parents.
We will put this information to use by ensuring that our vox-pops include
both parents and teenagers and by including expert interviews on the
subject.
100% of the students wanted the documentary to come to a clear
conclusion rather than leaving loose ends so we will follow this advice by
weighing up evidence gained throughout the film and coming to a
conclusion.