What the kids really think! II

Children’s questionnaire, the results – part 2

Last December Bring Back Bunty asked a number of primary school children aged 7–11 about comics and magazines. We wanted to know which comics and magazines they read, why they buy them and what types of stories they enjoy. In addition, to get a general feel for the kinds of stories that capture their imagination, we asked the children about the books they read, the websites they visit, and the TV programmes and films they watch. As far as we are aware the children were not prompted on their answers, but the questionnaire was completed in December making some of the answers distinctly seasonal. We have endeavoured to stay true to the children’s words, ergo some of the information may not be factually correct. In total we received 169 completed questionnaires, 89 were from boys and 80 from were girls. We will present the answers to our questions for all children, and on occasion by age and/or by gender to explore how the answers differ.

In this section we will examine: the kinds of stories the children enjoy, the books they read, TV programmes and films they watch, their internet usage, and the websites they like to visit.

 

We asked the children about the sort of stories they like to read in comics and magazines; they were given fifteen genres to choose from and were asked to tick as many as they liked (the total number of answers was 591). In this study the most popular genres for all the children, were action/adventure, comedy, mystery, history, sports and spy (in order, most popular first); with romance, non-fiction and sci-fi being the least popular. When we looked at the boys answers the order of preference changed to comedy, sports, war/battle, action/adventure, history and horror; while mystery, action/adventure, drama, comedy, and spy (in order of most popular first) were a hit with the girls. When we examine the percentage of girls and boys answers its clear to see which gender preferred the different sorts of story. “Other” answers include: cute, wise advice, mischief, animals, authors, celebrity, gaming, cartoon, cars, gardening, real lives and traumas, gossip, Spongebob Squarepants.

 

We asked the children what type of stories they liked to read to question what might interest them in a comic. Whether they preferred complete, one-off stories or long-running, serialised stories; again the children were asked to tick as many answers as they wished (the total number of answers was 220). In their response it was clear to see the younger age groups preferred complete, one off stories and comics full of longer stories, but as they aged the children liked the different types of stories equally.

 

The children were asked to list all the TV programmes and films that they enjoyed, they could list as many as they wanted. The Simpsons, Harry Potter, Horrid Henry, Scooby Doo and Spongebob Squarepants were all very popular with both girls and boys. When we look at the answers for girls and boys separately its clear to see the different gender-focused titles coming in, for example the boys enjoying Football and Star Wars and girls preferring iCarly and Tracy Beaker.

There were so many answers, we have kept the list of titles listed once out of the tables below.

 

We asked the children if they enjoyed reading books, the vast majority of them did. The numbers for both girls and boys were very similar.

 

In addition the children were asked to list some of their favourite titles and authors, they could list as many as they wanted. Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter, Roald Dahl and Mr Gum were favourites with both boys and girls. In addition, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Horrid Henry were particularly favoured among the boys, with the girls choosing Charlie Bone and Jacqueline Wilson. The girls listed more books overall perhaps suggesting they read more frequently or more variety, we didn’t ask how often the children read.

There were so many answers, we have kept the list of titles listed once out of the tables below.

 

The children were asked about their internet use, and the vast majority of them said they did use the internet. We found that slightly less of the younger children used the internet with the numbers increasing as they got older.

 

We wanted to know how often they were online; the majority of the children said they used the internet frequently. The answers for ‘every day’ suggests the children use the internet both at school and at home. “Other” answers include: anytime; 6 times a week; 5 days a week; 5 times a week; 4 times a week; 4–5 days a week; whenever I can, mostly for homework; when I can; when I have time; 3 times a month.

 

We were interested in the types of websites the children liked to use, with so many of websites linked to comics, magazines, TV programmes and authors we were very interested in their answers. Club Penguin, CBBC, Moshi Monsters, Bin Weevils and YouTube were favourites with both genders and all except YouTube are specifically designed for their age groups – and I know from my own family how popular these websites have become. When we look at the answers for girls and boys separately we can see some gender-focused websites listed below, but the most popular sites are the ones designed for all children with the emphasis on interaction.

 

Finally, we asked the children for their own ideas for new comics and any other comments they might have. Would they like to read a comic based on a favourite TV programme, film, book, author or website they’d already listed, or something else entirely? There were many varied answers and some of them listed comics that already existed – perhaps they didn’t know about those titles?

Here is a small sample of some of the answers:
“The Grinch, Cat in the Hat, Narnia.”
“Harry Potter, How to train your Dragon.”
“Phineas and Ferb, Spongbob Squarepants.”
“iCarly, Big Time Rush, Home Alone.”
“Mr Stink, Charlie Bone.”
“I like football comics the most especially about Liverpool vie Arsenal and Liverpool trashing the other team.”
“Kickin it, the Monster Hunters guide, I’m in the Band, Roblox.”
“Because then I don’t have to watch TV and it wont hurt my eyes.”
“I would like to read a comic about Good Luck Charlie.”
“I would like to read a comic based on The Diary of a Wimpy Kid and all the other books that are my favourite on just ones that I like.”
“J K Rowling, Percy Jackson, Animal Jam.”
“No way, I don’t like comics and magazines.”
“The Simpsons, Danni’s House”
“Merlin, Victorious, iCarly.”
“Magazines are excellent.”
“I think comics are the best kind of book that a child would read of the age of 5 or 4–10.”
“I don’t like it when the comics are all old because they fall apart and you don’t want to read them.”
“They are fun to read and are a bit interesting, knowledgeable and exciting.”
“I would like to read a book with pictures that were comic style, because if you liked comics and reading books it would be nice to have a mixture.”
“I really like comics and I would like there to be more!”
“I wish you can have loads of comics.”
“I also like reading what has no super heroes on it.”
“They’re too boy-like so you need to make girl ones as well.”

 

And that is it. Our survey has given us a window into the children’s thought on the comics, magazines and stories they enjoyed reading; and gave us an idea of the huge variety of media children are consuming either by watching, reading or interacting with online. It has been really interesting to hear what they had to say and I think we can conclude there is space out there for more comics for children, so lets not just Bring Back Bunty, but also Roy of the Rovers, Whizzer and Chips, Tammy, Jackie, Buster etc etc…

Thanks for reading!

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What the kids really think!

Children’s questionnaire, the results – part 1

Last December Bring Back Bunty asked a number of primary school children aged 7–11 about comics and magazines. We wanted to know which comics and magazines they read, why they buy them and what types of stories they enjoy. In addition, to get a general feel for the kinds of stories that capture their imagination, we asked the children about the books they read, the websites they visit, and the TV programmes and films they watch. As far as we are aware the children were not prompted on their answers, but the questionnaire was completed in December making some of the answers distinctly seasonal. We have endeavoured to stay true to the children’s words, ergo some of the information may not be factually correct. In total we received 169 completed questionnaires, 89 were from boys and 80 from were girls. We will present the answers to our questions for all children, and on occasion by age and/or by gender to explore how the answers differ.

 

We asked the children if they read comics and magazines; overall two thirds of them said they did. In this study, reading comics and magazines appears to be more popular among the girls, with the exception of year 4.

 

The children were asked to list all the comics and magazines they read, they could list as many as they wanted. The Beano is evidently the undisputed favoured comic with all children, both girls and boys. And where football magazines, Moshi Monsters, Sparkle World and The Simpsons are very popular with all respondents, it becomes clear who reads the gender-focused titles when we look at the answers for girls and boys separately.

 

The children read a diverse array of titles incorporating various genres including: titles in their own right, titles derived from TV characters/programmes and films, titles based on toys and games, and titles dealing with sports and leisure interests. In addition, some of the comics and magazines clearly encompass more than one genre such as Match of the Day and Cars; while other titles may include items from other genres such as TV’s Harry Hill featuring in The Dandy which is primarily a stand-alone comic. Below, we have arranged all the titles read by the children according to genre.

 

We asked the children what they liked most about reading comics and magazines, there were so many varied answers (109 children answered this question) we decided the best way to present them is in a word cloud (created on www.wordle.net). Like, funny, stories and pictures are the words that appeared most frequently in the answers.

Here is a small sample of some of their comments:
“They have cartoon stories.”
“Because they are funny and cool.”
“They’re not like books.”
“They are my favourite thing.”
“The pictures and the speech balloons.”
“They are funny.”
“They have pictures. Every Tuesday a new one comes out. They have posters.”
“I like them because they inspire me to read more; it also lets my imagination run wild.”
“Funny, interesting, good drawings and pictures.”
“I can find out things I didn’t already know.”
“They are funny and I get inspiration to write a book.”
“They have stories and games in them, they advertise things and have pictures.”
“They have competitions in them, they are colourful, they include tips and fun things to do, they have interesting facts”
“They’re funny and exciting.”

See our Word Cloud on the Wordle website

 

Who purchases the children’s comics and magazines? Do they buy them themsleves or does someone else? It’s clear from the answers provided that Mums are the main buyers of comics and magazines, with Dads coming second and many children buying their own. If we combine numbers for Mum and Dad (113 for all respondents, 49 for boys and 64 for girls) it’s clear that the majority of comics and magazines are bought by parents; we do not know if purchases are made with their children present. “Other” answers include: Sister, Brother, Uncle, Auntie, school teacher, read in the Library, childminder, neighbour, friends.

 

We asked the children how they initially found out about the comics and magazines they read. Did they see them in the Newsagents? Were they recommended by friends? Or perhaps did they see an advertisement? From the answers given the majority of the children came across their comics and magazines in the shops and many were on recommendations from friends, relatives and carers. “Other” answers include: on the computer, Library, Airport, my Dad had them when he was younger, Brother, school teacher, childminder, free with the newspaper, TV programmes, charity shop, got sent in the post, my Dad/Mum/Grandad bought one for me.

 

Over two thirds of all our respondents would like to see more comics and magazines available; the apportion of answers from boys and girls was almost identical. Publishers please note, here is a resounding ‘Yes please!’ in answer to our question.

 

We asked the children if they read comics online and, if so, which ones. The majority of the children did not read comics online, but many of them added suggestions for what they would like to see available. The list of titles below is a combination of those already read online and titles the children would like to see available.

 

 

To be continued…

In part 2 we will examine: the kinds of stories the children enjoy, the books they read, TV programmes and films they watch, their internet usage, and the websites they like to visit.

Thanks for reading!