Eliminated Questions and Answers

Some of the questions from my second survey, 'Is age really just a number' had to be eliminated from use in my results. The questions I eliminated were:


How far in years would you personally go when dating someone older or younger than you?
I had to eliminate this one as although I stated in years, some people expressed this with actual ages they would date. For some of the answers such as 20, I was unsure if this was the persons age, or the age gaps, therefor I could not form any results as the response was not clear or consistent.


What is the biggest age gap you have experienced in a relationship?
I meant this as a personal experience, but when talking about this to someone, they thought it had meant witnessed in life. Therefor I had to eliminate the question as responses would not have been reliable and what I was truly after.

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

Yahoo Answers

I am gaining some positive response through Yahoo Answers. This is also positive as it enables me to gain response from people I do not personally know and develop my weak-ties. This is the question I created and hope to get some response from:

Image: Print screen: How old is too old to have a child? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Apcjw9ocWfaZIhCPOXxM2fsgBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20120223154619AAImalc. [Accessed 23 February 2012].

Refining my Question

So, it's pretty obvious that the title question for my area of research is 'Is Age Really Just a Number'. From this starting point I have looked into many of the subquestions that this could stem off towards:

• Too old to be doing certain things?
• How old is too old to be living at home?
• Does your age limit your lifestyle?
• Are children growing up to quickly?
• Are you scared of getting old? 
• What age to have children?
• How big is too big of an age gap?

From these many subareas of discussion I have chosen three to focus on, so that I can concentrate my processes onto my main areas:

• Age to have children - e.g. How old is too old, How young is acceptable, Does it actually matter, should women be eligible for IVF after menopause?

• Growing Younger - e.g. Are children growing up to quickly, What age are children drinking, Are adults trying to cling to their youth, Does out society embrace growing old naturally.

• Age Gaps - e.g How big is too big of an age gap, Does it matter in a relationships or friendships, Does it make a difference the male or female is older?

Yahoo Responses

Here are a few of the best responses from the questions I asked on Yahoo Answers.

First two Images: Print screen: Do you think children are growing up to fast? Why? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgbzMdQ4idssVXtVue2siTogBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20120219133300AAbjJXM. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

Second two Images Print screen: Is Age Really Just a Number? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqoKlew85DOUCHm6v1kupAYhBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20120219134538AA9t7G2. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

Final two Images: Print screen: What are your opinions on the phrase 'growing old gracefully' in our society nowadays? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuGpqm4HgfKBdtf9.9x9xKIhBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20120219133512AA6LUoM. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

Yahoo Answers

I few days ago, I signed up to Yahoo answers to gain response from a wider range of people completely unknown to myself. I chose three questions as a starting point, these were based on my latest survey as this one has gained the least response. Completely unbeknown I was disappointed that I had gained no response from this also, but after figuring out the site, I came across many replies. The three questions I asked (click on each image to go to the page):

The two above only gained a few responses, all still valuable just not very many. The question below gained the most, and the most variety of opinions. I am really pleased that I have managed to gain more responses from people I have no links with at all.

First Image: Print screen from: Yahoo! Answers UK - Ask Questions & Get Answers On Any Topic. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

Second Image: Print screen from: Do you think children are growing up to fast? Why? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AgbzMdQ4idssVXtVue2siTogBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20120219133300AAbjJXM. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

Third Image: Print screen from: Is Age Really Just a Number? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqoKlew85DOUCHm6v1kupAYhBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20120219134538AA9t7G2. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

Fourth Image: Print screen from: What are your opinions on the phrase 'growing old gracefully' in our society nowadays? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers. 2012. [ONLINE] Available at:http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AuGpqm4HgfKBdtf9.9x9xKIhBgx.;_ylv=3?qid=20120219133512AA6LUoM. [Accessed 22 February 2012].

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].