The importance of sampling: Building complementary insights about reception experiences of the Hobbit film trilogy with different survey sampling techniques
The worldwide survey of the experiences of The Hobbit trilogy (spring 2015) has enabled the participating researchers from 46 countries to explore the reception of these international blockbusters from a variety of perspectives to do with global audiences, national readings, language cultures, gender, age, etc. The research carried out in Denmark additionally enabled the researchers to analyze in detail the consequences of adopting two different kinds of sampling strategies: In Denmark, in addition to the online self selected convenience sample, we also had a market research company recruit a controlled quota sample, which is near representative of Danish cinema goers. These two samples filled out identical questionnaires. This setup enabled us to explore the methodological consequences of building a questionnaire based reception analysis on, respectively, a sample which is representative of 'ordinary' Danish cinema goers, and a sample arising from the recruiting efforts of the research team through email lists, websites, and networks in social media, mainly Facebook. The network based convenience sample can be seen as a 'fannish' population consisting of more committed and enthusiastic viewers than those recruited in the systematic quota sample. Volume 13, Issue 2 November 2016 Page 329 In this article we first analyze the two samples based on their demographic profiles. Next, based both on the closed and the qualitative questions in the questionnaire, we make a comparative analysis of the two samples' responses to do with people's motivations for seeing the Hobbit films, the genre labels they attach to the films, their perception of fantasy fiction, whether they have read The Hobbit novel, etc. These variables are analyzed in relation to age and gender. Among the key findings are that the two sample groups are often unanimous about which experiences are most salient, but the two groups differ, sometimes significantly, with respect to the relative strength of these experiences. Moreover, fandom appears to have a consistent levelling effect on the film related views and activities between age groups, while among ordinary cinema goers there are systematic differences differentiating the experiences of groups defined by age demographics. An analysis of the content and length of respondents' qualitative explanations of the grades they award to the films suggests that their different argumentative stances may originate in fannish audiences feeling a more urgent need to provide elaborate reasons for their disappointment. In addition to shedding light on the diverse experiences of a global blockbuster film trilogy, the article enlightens the research community about the methodological consequences of applying different sampling strategies in cultural research.