DT GCSE market research (fire tray)

[Fredcompanybushcraft]

EDIT: I now have a SurveyMonkey survey. Please do not complete it if you have already posted a response in this thread. You can post your response in this thread if you don't want to do the survey on SurveyMonkey. The survey is here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/6BBVLCV


It's been a while since I looked at BushcraftUK, but I'm back! For my DT GCSE project, I'll be making a fire pit or tray (not sure what to call it). It's a bit vague at the moment - but I have a rough plan of what to do. I hope this is in the right subforum.

I need to ask my target market a questionnaire to find out what they want, and it occurred to me that my target market is probably you!
So I have my questionnaire, and I'd like as many replies as possible over the summer

(EDIT) I have a rough brief for the product:
My product will be a garden/patio fire tray for enjoying a fire without scorching or damaging the ground. It is for a garden, so does not necessarily need to be lightweight. It will look good and not obstruct your view of the fire. There may be points for a grid/stand for pots and pans, so it can be used for cooking.

So here it is:

Questionnaire
Please choose one from each question
1. Which age group are you in?
(a)10-19 (b)20-29 (c)30-39 (d)40-49 (e)50+
2. What gender are you?
(a)Male (b) Female
3. Roughly how often would you use a fire tray?
(a)Every day (b)Every week (c)Every month (d)Every few months (e) Every year
4. What would you rather I called the product (Just so I don't have to use a different name for it on every page of my project folder)
(a)Fire pit (b)Fire tray (c)Other (please state in your post)
5. What material should the base be made of (It will be insulated from the fire )
(a)Wood (b)Metal (c)Plastic
6. What shape should the tray part be?
(a)Circular (b)Rectangular (c) Square
7. How wide should the product be?
(a)Less than 30cm (12in) (b)About 30cm (12in) (c)About 50cm (20in) (d)About 75cm (30in)
8. How much do you think the product should cost? (realistically)
(a)Less than £10 (b)£10-19 (c)£20-29 (d)£30-39 (e)£40-49 (f)£50+
End of questionnaire

I understand that the last question depends on looks, build quality,etc. but it's more a question on what you'd pay for a fire tray.

Please answer with something like 1a,2b,3d,4a (not necessarly those answers but in that format)

 

[mountainm]

Sounds like an interesting project - I think in order to answer questions >=4 we need to know a little more about the product. Some sort of product statement. Or something to tell me which problem your product will provide a solution to.

eg.

Introducing my all new fire tray:
All new fire tray allows you to build a fire in any location without heat damaging the area beneath. Easily to clean, easy to carry the all new fire tray will change the way you camp forever....

etc.

Cheers

Mike

 

[Fredcompanybushcraft]

Mike,
My product will be a garden/patio fire tray for enjoying a fire without scorching or damaging the ground. It is for a garden, so does not necessarily need to be lightweight. It will look good and not obstruct your view of the fire. There may be points for a grid/stand for pots and pans, so it can be used for cooking.

I just realised I forgot to include a price question, so I'll edit one in. I think I'll also edit this into the OP.

 

[Mastino]

1. Which age group are you in?
(d)40-49
2. What gender are you?
(a)Male
3. Roughly how often would you use a fire tray?
(d)Every few months
4. What would you rather I called the product (Just so I don't have to use a different name for it on every page of my project folder)
(b)Fire tray
5. What material should the base be made of (It will be insulated from the fire )
(b)Metal
6. What shape should the tray part be?
(c) Square
7. How wide should the product be?
(c)About 50cm (20in)

 

[monkey spanner]

1. Which age group are you in?
(e)50+
2. What gender are you?
(a)Male
3. Roughly how often would you use a fire tray?
(c)Every month
4. What would you rather I called the product (Just so I don't have to use a different name for it on every page of my project folder)
(b)Fire tray
5. What material should the base be made of (It will be insulated from the fire )
(b)Metal
6. What shape should the tray part be?
(a)Circular
7. How wide should the product be?
(c)About 50cm (20in)
8. How much do you think the product should cost? (realistically)
(d)£30-39

Good luck with your project.

 

[Fredcompanybushcraft]

Time for a shameless bump, because I need results

 

[Pignut]

Questionnaire
Please choose one from each question
1. Which age group are you in?
(c)30-39
2. What gender are you?
(a)Male
3. Roughly how often would you use a fire tray?
(c)Every month
4. What would you rather I called the product (Just so I don't have to use a different name for it on every page of my project folder)
(a)Fire pit
5. What material should the base be made of (It will be insulated from the fire )
(b)Metal
6. What shape should the tray part be?
(a)Circular
7. How wide should the product be?
(c)About 50cm (20in)
8. How much do you think the product should cost? (realistically)
£20-29
End of questionnaire

Good luck with the project )

 

[Dougster]

Questionnaire
Please choose one from each question
1. Which age group are you in?
(a)10-19 (b)20-29 (c)30-39 (d)40-49 (e)50+
2. What gender are you?
(a)Male (b) Female
3. Roughly how often would you use a fire tray?
(a)Every day (b)Every week (c)Every month (d)Every few months (e) Every year
4. What would you rather I called the product (Just so I don't have to use a different name for it on every page of my project folder)
(a)Fire pit (b)Fire tray (c)Other (please state in your post)
5. What material should the base be made of (It will be insulated from the fire )
(a)Wood (b)Metal (c)Plastic
6. What shape should the tray part be?
(a)Circular (b)Rectangular (c) Square
7. How wide should the product be?
(a)Less than 30cm (12in) (b)About 30cm (12in) (c)About 50cm (20in) (d)About 75cm (30in)
8. How much do you think the product should cost? (realistically)
(a)Less than £10 (b)£10-19 (c)£20-29 (d)£30-39 (e)£40-49 (f)£50+
End of questionnaire

Nice to see a DT project that isn't a 'For my X box' type thing.

If I can help when your teacher isn't there, ask away.

 

[nunzionuk]

Questionnaire
Please choose one from each question
1. Which age group are you in?
(c)30-39
2. What gender are you?
(a)Male
3. Roughly how often would you use a fire tray?
(c)Every month
4. What would you rather I called the product (Just so I don't have to use a different name for it on every page of my project folder)
(b)Fire tray
5. What material should the base be made of (It will be insulated from the fire )
(b)Metal
6. What shape should the tray part be?
(b)Rectangular
7. How wide should the product be?
(b)About 30cm (12in)
8. How much do you think the product should cost? (realistically)
(c)£20-29
End of questionnaire

 

[Fredcompanybushcraft]

Thanks Pignut!
Thanks for the offer Dougster. I'll have to ask for some help right now (My google-fu isn't quite good enough to find answers). Unfortunately we're not allowed to weld or braze at GCSE, so I'll have to use comparatively ugly bolts to hold it together. Can mild steel be beaten like copper? If not I can't really think how I'd make it into a dish shape except rolling it. Actually, now that I think of it, that could look quite good.

Edit: Thanks nunzionuk for answering as I was typing I almost missed your post :O

 

[steven andrews]

1. (c)30-39
2. (a)Male
3. (d) Every few months
4. (a)Fire pit (or fire bowl)
5. (b)Metal
6. (a)Circular
7. (b)About 30cm (12in)
8. (d)£30-39

I have often used my Weber Smokey Joe Silver as a fire pit/bowl. It puts out an impressive amount of heat.






The design is very good; it has a great arrangement of vents and grate, a tray to catch falling ash - and you can cook on it! Perhaps you could use some of its features for inspiration.

Good luck!

 

[Kerne]

OK, here are my answers:

Questionnaire
Please choose one from each question
1. Which age group are you in? (e)50+
2. What gender are you? (a)Male
3. Roughly how often would you use a fire tray? (c)Every month
4. What would you rather I called the product (b)Fire tray
5. What material should the base be made of (b)Metal
6. What shape should the tray part be?(a)Circular
7. How wide should the product be?(b)About 30cm (12in)
8. How much do you think the product should cost? (b)£10-19

Now the boring teacherly bit:
I teach DT and I don't let my pupils do this sort of questionnaire anymore. Instead, I ask them to do 2 - 3 case studies based on interviews with prospective customers and write these up for their folders. This produces in-depth responses that are a lot more useful in the development of the product. It also allows you to re-interview them when you finish and use this in the Evaluation stage of the project. I work with a senior moderator for DT coursework and he tells me that the moderators hate seeing pages of Excel-produced graphs based on this sort of questionnaire - they look pretty but gain next to no marks. If one of my pupils were doing this I would expect them to discuss issues such as these in their case studies: size, weight, portability (e.g. would it fold/come apart for transport?), maintenance, cost, etc.

Based on their responses, you can then go on to look at suitable material properties and narrow it down to a few materials that display these properties - this will take a whole page of your folder. Most "materials" pages in GCSE DT folders GET NO MARKS! - as they are lists of the random properties of a range of materials most of which are never going to be used in the project. You MUST keep the project very specific.

Hope this helps. Good luck with the project.

 

[Fredcompanybushcraft]

Thanks for answering my questionnaire steven. I was thinking of making mine less bowl-shaped (partly because I can't think of a way to make it bowl shaped very evenly) but it'll probably be dished so your fire doesn't fall out!
I'll definitely have to think about a grate and vents - I can think of a good way to make the grate, but I'm not sure whether I'd do vents before or after shaping the metal.

Edit: Gaargh I keep being ninja'd

Thanks for the advice Kerne - my teacher suggested I talk to someone at B&Q or somewhere that sells fire pits and barbeques. Over my summer holidays I'll at least go and look at alternatives offered. I've done internet research, but the little thumbnail pics aren't enough to see the real details.

I was planning on having two or three graphs, and then having half a page or so of analysis of the graphs, and the data not included in the graphs.

I'll also try and get a few more in-depth responses. I know a few people who would (and do use) this sort of product, and so I'll track them down and interview them.

 

[Kerne]

Thanks Pignut!
Unfortunately we're not allowed to weld or braze at GCSE, so I'll have to use comparatively ugly bolts to hold it together.

Just read this bit - why not? Is it something your teacher has said? Every year we have pupils who weld - the Exam Board doesn't have a rule about this.

 

[Fredcompanybushcraft]

It was something my control freak teacher said (he's not even my teacher - he teaches the other DT class) and I've seen pupils welding at A-level. That said, our class is quite big, so maybe that's why.

Edit: SurveyMonkey survey added (see first post)

 

[Zingmo]

Hi
Just been surveyed by the monkey! Question 7 asks how wide the product should be: I answered 50 cm but then realised it is very dependent on how tall it is going to be. I use a fire-bin in the garden made from an old gas cylinder. It magically attracts neighbours bearing bottles & cans like moths to a flame. It is quite tall and compact so good for sitting round but not ideal for cooking. Neighbours have borrowed it as they say it doesn't make too much mess.

Z

 

[Fredcompanybushcraft]

Zingmo, I was thinking of making it quite low to the ground (I don't know why but I like that design)

 

[mousey]

Here's my answers if there still of use:-

1,c
2,a
3,c-e
4, no comment.
5,b
6,b
7,b-c
8, Depends on raw material cost, amount of 'processing' of materials, pakaging, & how much profit you want to make. etc