Research Rationale

As I have most access to teenagers and young adults and they are the majority of K-pop listeners, my target group is to be people from the age range of 16-18 years old. By including a few young adults, I can expand my research and be able to see a variety of interests and opinions from a slightly wider age range for more accurate research. I will benefit from this age group also because they would have more experience with music magazines and would be more sure of their answers for my questions such as which music magazines are most popular right now and why they think that is as well as about what makes a magazine appealing. As I am focusing on a very different genre of music, since it comes from another country, I aim to ask both K-pop fans and non K-pop fans for their opinions on K-pop magazines, comparing them to British and American ones and seeing their preferences and why.

For my market research, I will create a survey that will include questions about music magazines they generally see, but also about what my target audience around me already know/do not know about K-pop. This would be interesting to see as it could tell me what K-pop fans & non K-pop fans know. I will then convert this information into graphs to conclude and clearly see any patterns in the answers I receive from my survey and to understand why people have responded the way that they have to help with the succession of my magazine. However because there are not many K-pop fans around me, this information may be difficult to decipher for my benefit.

I then aim to show them examples of western and K-pop magazines, asking them questions like what they first notice about the magazines and its effect and whether they like the magazine or not & why, comparing the two different styles of magazines from the east and west. I will also ask whether they prefer the style of western or K-pop magazines and why, to be able to keep the two styles distinct in preparation of mine.

For my research with my focus group, I want to include both K-pop fans and somebody who knows nothing about the genre.I would also like my focus group to react to a few K-pop music videos to give them a sense of what K-pop really is as this is a genre that most people do not know about. To get a variety of opinions. By including both fans and non-fans of this genre, I will be able to get their very first opinions on K-pop and the style of music it is, as well as what they liked and disliked about the music videos they will watch.

Once I have collected my research I will be able to know what differs from a western magazine and a K-pop one, helping me to make my magazine look more believable as a Korean-styled one. Not only that, but I will also find out more about what elements make a magazine eye-catching and successful.