Open Question Results : Age Gaps

For most of my questions from my questionnaire entitles 'Is Age Really Just a Number' they were open for opinionated responses. I have decided to include a few of the comments and opinions which I feel are strong or reflect the majorities attitudes:


Do you think your age limits you in certain areas of life? (please specify)
"Not personally, but I think people are discriminated on the terms of age. ie. Judging somebody just because they are younger."
"Yes. In particular clothes. i love some of the things i see in shops but feel i am too old to wear the styles."
"When i was younger yes, but now no"
"I think that age limits you in terms of what you can do legally, and this is because you haven't reached a certain level of maturity. Age also restricts you physically, by preventing you from doing things you could once do. Age also limits what is socially acceptable behaviour, what you could get away with in your 20's in terms of dress and drinking and relationships is likely to be frowned upon in your 40's."


Regarding relationships, what are your views on age gaps? (e.g. how big is to big of an age gap? do you judge? should they be judged? Does it actually matter? etc)
"I think it depends on how old the person is. i.e a 11yr old dating a thirty yr old seems wrong. but possibly a 30yr old dating a 50yr, not so shocking"
"When in school/college, no more than a couple of years. Once adults, more acceptable for a greater gap."
"I think it depends on the individuals and their relationship. I personally would judge if i saw a 20 year old dating a 40 year old because i just don't think it is acceptable. Anything up to 10 years i would consider to be suitable"
"If the two people in the relationship are happy and in love without hurting others then it is nobodys buinsess but their own"
"I do judge age difference as I find it strange because I personally feel a lot different to an older person. I could never be attracted to someone who is similar to my dads age..."


Is age an issue to you when making friends? (please explain)
"Not at all. I have some fantastic friends who are retiring and I consider them just as close to me as those my own age! However, often I find that people my own age are in a similar stage in their life to me and thus are easier to connect with. But not always!!"
"Not at all! People are interesting whatever their age."
"yes, in that you generally look for friends with similar interests and experiences."
"No. What's important is that we click. I've found this usually happens more with people around your own age, as you think the same. But age per se is not an issue."

How Old do You Feel?

I asked this question to see how people view their age based not on the number. I asked the participants how old they felt, gave three choices and gained a fairly even proportion of responses.

Image: Authors own

Is Age Really Just a Number?

I designed this question to gain peoples general attitudes towards age being just a number without attaching it to a specific situation. I posed the statement, 'Age is Just a Number', then I gave them options to choose from and below are the results. 56% agree or strongly agree, which is what I thought would reflect general attitudes towards the statement. I was surprised that 34% disagree to some extent.

Image: Authors own

Age Gaps : Who Took This Survey

These two diagrams are the results of who from my network filled out my second survey. The same principles apply when looking at these two diagrams and the diagrams from 'Age to Have Children : Who Took This Survey'. I had a higher percentage of females, a wide spread age range but with a cluster in the lower region.

Images: Authors own

Open Question Responses : Age to Have Children

• Here are some qualitative comments from my questionnaire:

What is the youngest you feel acceptable for people to have children?

"When they are in a position to support a child"

"Not sure about acceptble, but personally did not feel ready till late twenties"

"Any age as long as they can support them without help from other or benefits etc..."

What is the oldest you feel is acceptable for people to have a child?

"40ish - being a parent I know how important it is to have the time, the energy and the empathy with...."

If women have passed the menopause do you feel they should be eligible for IVF?

"If a woman has finished her periods then it is natures way of saying she cant have any more. Exeption would be if a woman went through it at a very early age."

"It's selfish and unfair on the child. They are only thinking about themselves, birth is a natural process."

"I feel its up to the individual - some people who have had the menopause are still physically able to run around after small children, but I feel that those candidates for IVF after the menopause do need to seriously consider whether they'd be able to be their child's main carer both physically and mentally."

• Here are a few comments I received on Yahoo Answers when asking:

How Old is too Old to Have a Child?

"When you reach 35, you become much too old"

"For woman is age 37+ For man 48+"

"I think it's no one's business but their own. If they want a kid, they can have one since they're the ones who are going to be taking care of it."

• Some of the responses I gained from first post on Mumsnet when asking

In your opinion how young is too young to have a baby?

"Under 20, but preferably wait till at least nearer 30"

"As long as they have a mature attitude and are financially stable age is just a number"

"When you get to my age (older than God) you get a little less opinionated about this sort of thing, i find."

In your opinion how old is too old to have a baby?

"I think after natural menopause is probably a bad idea."

"Depends on the person, but definitely after natural menopause (presuming not v early)"

• Some more responses from Mumsnet, this time from my second post:

In your opinion how young is acceptable to have a baby?

"It depends on the individual. In my case teens and early 20s would have been too young because I didn't feel ready."

"Arbitrarily I think probably once you are out of your teens so 20 I guess. I waited until I had finished university, but I think midtwenties is the ideal age."

Other Thoughts?

"I don't think there is a "right" age for a woman to have a baby. I think a lot comes down to the individual and her circumstances at the time."

One Final Questionnaire

I have created one final Questionnaire to help me conclude some answers towards my final presentation. This survey has been created to gain some answers on the subject of children growing up too fast and people growing younger as they get older.

Survey Monkey

I have just created a questionnaire on the age to have children using an online questionnaire formatter called Survey Monkey. I have then posted this survey on my Facebook wall, Twitter, Mumsnet and Is Age Really Just a Number group and page. Hopefully I will get lots of responses from this survey and find out some information on the subject of age around parenting. 

Developing a Questionnaire

I will be creating a few questionnaires to gain results which I can clearly collect, organise and analyse data received. I have decided to develop a few questionnaires to gain different typed of data:

• Quantitative data. This is data is classed in numerical forms such as percentages and statistics. To gain this information I will be asking the genders and ages of the participants of the survey. This way I can see how fair or unfair my questionnaires results are and discover why my results are so. I will be asking a few opinions by giving a statement and seeing to what extend people agree. This will enable me to compare more easily the different attitudes towards these subject areas in statistical ratio form. This can be portrayed in graph form.
• Qualitative data (data categorised with describing meaning, rather than statistics). To gain this type of answer I will be asking open questions to receive individuals opinions. This will enable people to have free range and may even give me insights into the topic I have not yet thought of. These opinions can then be mapped by choosing the most commonly said views and rewriting this as a majority verdict. 

When writing my questionnaire I need to make sure my questions are clear and precise. This is so that people taking the survey do not get disinterested and exit before completion. It also will ensure that my results are what I am looking for and people haven't given the wrong answer due to their confusion. When giving options for answers which need selecting I need to make sure that the options do not overlap and that their is always an option result that anyone can choose.

I will be creating my questionnaire using SurveyMonkey this is an online software tool in which you can create surveys, collect responses and analyse results.  

Image: Wufoo Blog · Holy Donkey Kong! SurveyMonkey Acquires Wufoo!. 2011. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.wufoo.com/2011/04/25/wufoo-surveymonkey-acquisition/. [Accessed 03 March 2012].

Facebook Group

I have made a Facebook group, this is just another way for me to share my research and gain peoples opinions to generate ideas surrounding a questionnaire. I will be posting images, articles, questions and quotes and seeing what response I acquire, the page is also available for others to post there own individual research, articles, images, questions and opinions on the subject.

Image: Print screen from: Facebook. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.facebook.com/groups/343006375732948/. [Accessed 09 February 2012].