Research conducted by: Can Can Guo, Jess Robinson, Chun Yu (Fahan School,
Grade 9)
Aim- To investigate if there is a correlation between the target audience age
of a certain magazine and the average number of words per sentence in that
magazine.
Hypothesis- The older the target audience age, the more words on average
there will be in a sentence.
Sources- Magazines (listed in Figure 1 and Figure 2, Slide 4)
Method
1. POWER WITH WORDS was chosen as the
title for the research project.
2. The tables for the data collection process
were printed.
3. Magazines were brought to school.
4. The data was recorded and filled into the
data collection table.
5. All the necessary data was typed up in a list
for easier analysis.
6. The data was organized into graphs.
Data Organiser- Tables
No. of
words in 10
separate
sentences
18-65+
Average
No. of
words
per
sentence
No. of
words in 10
separate
sentences
Average
No. of
words
per
sentence
Data Organiser- Graphs
Figure 1 shows the
average number of
words per
sentence for each
of the magazines.
Figure 1
Figure 2 shows
the average target
audience age for
each of the
magazines.
Figure 2
Data organiser- Graphs
Average age
Average No. of
Words per
sentence
Figure 3
Figure 3 shows the correlation between the average
target audience age and average number of words
per sentence.
Discussion
With the data collected, it is shown that there is a correlation
between age of the target audience and average number of
words per sentence. The younger the reader, the less words
per sentence. Magazines targeted at adult readers are
constructed with longer sentences and more words per
sentence.
This is particularly evident in magazines targeted at young
audiences, with magazines for children aged 7-12 averaging
nine words per sentence, and those targeted at 8-15 year
olds had an average of 13 words per sentence. Meanwhile,
TIME—a news magazine targeted at a far older audience
range of 18-65+ —has an average of 34 words per sentence.
Conclusion and
acknowledgements
To conclude, the results obtained from this research agree
with the hypothesis—that is, there is a correlation between
the target audience age and the average number of words
per sentence of a certain magazine, and the older the target
audience age, the greater number of words on average per
sentence.
Lastly, we would like to acknowledge and thank everyone
who has helped us in the process of this research. This
includes our teacher, Mr. Gooley, Mr. Foot, as well as all
those who supplied us with
magazines.