Purpose of Social Media in the American Orchestra Field - Part 4 - Survey Limitations

Of the 797 orchestras that were surveyed, there were 219 responders, therefore creating a response rate of 27.5%.  While that rate is extremely high for an attempt to poll every orchestra in America, a higher response rate would have provided more specific quantitative knowledge.  The questions asked within the survey aided in formulating a picture of American orchestras in budget size, staffing, and geographical setting.  The preceding analysis examined the overall results of those findings but did not detail the results of similar orchestras.  The concluding section contains comparisons of activities among orchestras within the same budget categories.  The purpose of this paper is the examination of the overall social media activities of orchestras in America.   Further examination of the differences of various sub groupings would yield even greater knowledge and would be worthy of further research.  While the full knowledge of the sub groupings is beyond the scope of this study, in appreciation for participating in this study all responders were provided with the quantitative data for their whole field and also a quantitative report on the orchestras who have the same budget size as their own.  The specific answers for each budget category are published in Appendixes E through M of this study.

Additionally, as the internet evolves additional social media sites / Web 2.0 applications will be developed.  As noted within the analysis portion of this paper, the survey was distributed in November 2011 and since then Pinterest and Instagrams have been developed and are additional popular applications that could have further intriguing results.

Also, as mentioned in this introduction there is limited quantitative data on the subject of social media / Web 2.0 applications and no study on this specific subject prior to these findings.  Therefore, the quantitative results are presented without interpretation.  The analysis chapter does not in any way reflect qualitative knowledge or the opinion of the writer so that the facts are accurately represented.