Season 77September 2023 - April 2024 |
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Reasons to Attend a Concert
This section of the questionnaire proved to be more problematic for some. A wide variety of interpretations were received so a standard approach was necessary to record the results. We particularly wanted to see which of the 4 key factors listed were the most important to you when deciding whether to attend a specific concert. The factors were to be ranked in priority sequence from 1 to 4 with 1 representing the most important.
Some of these sections were left blank (although a number of people indicated that they always attend unless ill or away). Others had ticks in some, or all of the boxes - it was decided that a tick represented '1'. Other forms had their own ranking scheme so the boxes might be all the same number, three or two options with the same number or variations thereof. It was with some relief that once numbers were used only the numbers 1 to 4 were utilised.
To record the results all the numbers were entered onto a spreadsheet and simply added together to get a final total for each category. However, this does create an 'upside-down graph' i.e. the most important factor is the shortest bar and least important consideration is the longest bar. Additional text has been added to the chart to emphasise this fact.
The Chart
Of the factors provided, the artists' reputation is of lowest importance when decided on attending a specific concert.
Of highest importance is the programme of music to be performed during the concert. It is interesting to note that the instruments to be played come in at a close second.
Alternate Approach
To ensure the results shown in the graph were not distorted by some of the more spurious entries described earlier some further analysis of the entries was performed. This involved counting the number of 1's and 4's and showing them as percentages.
This shows that the 4's entered (for lowest importance) were 43% for Artists' Reputation and just 7% for the Programme. Whereas the 1's entered show 51% for the Programme and just 13% for Artists Reputation.
Conclusion
I am sure many of us during the afternoon of a concert have looked out of the window at the darkness, the looming clouds, wondering if a sore throat is developing and thought "do I want to attend the concert tonight?". So these results are a fascinating insight into the thought processes involved in the final decision. It is great to see that whether the artists are well known or not does not form a significant part of that process. Instead, it is, "what is being played?" that is important. Also, that both senses of the expression are involved i.e. what instruments and what pieces of music!
There is, of course, an interesting aside to this result. You must be getting this information from somewhere. For many, I imagine this is gleaned from the season brochure. But I do hope that the very latest information is gathered, for this decision making process, from this very website.