Giacomo Pisa conducted a survey to gather information about viewers' soap opera watching habits and preferences. The majority of respondents watched soap operas once a week and were aged 11-17, since most respondents were Giacomo's classmates. However, the typical age range for soap opera viewers is 35-44, so the survey did not capture data from this important group. Respondents believed soap operas appeal to a wide age range of 18-75. Love was seen as the most common soap opera topic, while pubs were viewed as the most typical setting. All agreed soap opera storylines are now predictable, so Giacomo's new soap opera will need an unpredictable storyline to attract viewers. Most respondents said

1. Primary Research Results
Name: Giacomo Pisa
Candidate Number: 3111
Center Name: St. Andrew’s Catholic School
Center Number: 64135
Soap Opera Logo HERE

2. Question 1 I managed to receive 20 responses
which was more than I was
expecting and meant I had a lot of
data to analyse. From the first
question it is evident that the
majority of people who answered
my survey monkey watched a soap
opera once a week, with then a
small number of people choosing
the other options, however 70% of
people watch soaps once a week.
This tells me that my soap opera has
to be good because if people only
want soaps once a week then my
soap has to be of a high quality to
make users watch mine over more
famous soaps such as East Enders
and Coronation Street. However,
the data may not be 100% accurate
because I did not include an option
for people who never watch soap
operas so they may have clicked
once a week as this is the nearest
option.

3. Question 2 The second question of my survey
involved the person answering to fill
in their age. As seen in the bar chart
on the left it is clear that the vast
majority of people who took the
survey were aged 11 to 17. This is
mainly because most people who
answered the survey were in my
class. This means that I do not get an
ideal range of ages on the remaining
questions because 11 to 17 isn't the
typical age range who watch soap
operas. The more typical age range
for watching soap operas would be
the 35 to 44 age range but
unfortunately I did not collect any
data from this age group. This means
that my research may not be
completely accurate which means I
may have to send out my survey
monkey again specifically to people
in the 35 to 44 age range so I can
collect some accurate data to use for
my soap opera.

4. Question 3 It is clear from my feedback that the
responses gave a wide range of ages
who they think would be most likely
to watch a soap opera. The most
popular answer being the 25 to 34
year old category as the most likely
to watch a soap opera with 25% of
the responses choosing this option.
However only 1 category failed to
have someone choose that age
group which was 55 to 64 year olds.
This proves that most people believe
that soap opera’s are suitable to
watch for a wide age range all the
way from 18 to over 75, meaning
that there is potential for a large
amount of viewers as no other
genre is likely to attract such a wide
age range.

5. Question 4
The fourth question to my
survey asking whether people
would be likely to watch a
soap opera based on a trailer
again received a wide spread
of answers with a similar
amount of respondents
choosing each option.
However the most popular
response was “No” with 40%
meaning that some other
form of advertisement is
needed to draw in those
people such as a poster or
other forms of advertisement.
For the 30% who responded
yes and the 30% who
responded maybe it is vital
that the trailer is of a high
standard because if it is not
then they are unlikely to
watch the series because they
have indicated the trailer
affects their decision to watch
a series.

6. Question 5
This was more of a general
question not specified to my
soap opera but still useful to
find out what the most popular
series is and to who the most
competition will come from.
The most popular responses
were predictably East Enders
and then in the “other”
category which was also the
most popular, the most
frequent answer was Casualty.
Surprisingly, Coronation Street
did not receive any votes even
though it is one of the most
widely known soap operas.
Waterloo road was the second
most popular option and
would’ve been popular due to
the fact that its target audience
is the teenager age range and
the majority of respondents to
my survey were teenagers.

7. Question 6
The topic most people
associate with a soap opera is
love, which is the main theme
in many of the most popular
soaps with other topics/themes
having smaller storylines and
smaller plots. The least popular
response was the topic of
alcohol with violence and crime
also having low response rates.
This will be taken into
consideration when filming our
soap opera trailer as it is
necessary to “give the people
what they want” (Henry
Jenkins – 2006) in order for as
many people as possible to
watch the series when it comes
out.

8. Question 7
The most popular response to
what setting would typically
associated with a soap opera
was a pub by a large margin,
picking up 60% of responses.
This is mainly because some of
the most famous soap operas
such as East Enders are well
known for having much of the
episode being set in a pub,
and therefore people want to
see the same sort of thing in
our soap opera. The next most
popular answer was other
public places such as roads
which is where the majority of
our trailer will be set as we
wanted something slightly
different to a pub as it has
been used before but also
another popular choice and
public places was the next
most popular choice.

9. Question 8
The response to this question
was an overwhelming yes that
most soap opera storylines are
predictable nowadays as 100%
of respondents chose this
option. As a result I need to
ensure that the storyline to our
soap opera is not predictable
because if it is not then it is
likely that many soap opera
fans will tune into our series as
it is unpredictable and
dramatic, something that the
other series being shown at the
same time cannot offer.

10. Question 9 The penultimate question in my
survey gave the respondents a
chance to offer their own
opinion on what they would like
to see from our soap opera that
makes it exciting and stands out
from the unpredictable
storylines that are in most soap
opera series nowadays. The
results were varied with
suggestions such as not making
it over dramatic and far fetched,
the storyline has to be
believable and realistic,
something that some series are
forgetting. Also the suggestion
to take risks with characters and
make them do thins that most
people would not expect them
to do after building a
relationship (Katz) with them.

11. Question 10 The last question in my survey
was whether people would
watch a brand new soap opera
or in other words our one. Most
respondents were on the fence
and undecided with 42% saying
maybe followed by 31% saying
yes. Therefore the least popular
answer was no meaning that
most people would probably
watch a new soap opera. This is
good for us because it means
that our soap opera series is
likely to have people watching it
because the people replying to
my survey indicated that they
would try out a new soap opera
series and not only stick to
watching classics.