Or at least on we fans, anyway!
A classmate of mine at Old Dominion University forwarded me a survey link to gather data about what drives Harry Potter fans to love the books, and to take part in communities like ours here at The Hog’s Head. The project is a pilot study for a course in research methods for PhD students — which might lead to a publication, if she so pursues it.
You can find the survey by clicking on this link!
She’s asking that we help her out by sparing a few minutes to take the survey. As if we only spare a few minutes talking about all things Harry!
Obviously your participation is voluntary, and all information is collected under the strictest rules of confidentiality. I know — we had to gain approval for our research proposals through the same review board!
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{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Just finished the survey. Gee, I hope I didn’t sound like a Harry Potter fanatic.
Thank you so much Dave! I really appreciate it.
Filled it out!
Ditto for me. Good survey.
It was mostly a good survey. The last question about ranking the things about the books didn’t make sense – I like a lot of those equally.
Pat
Agree with Eeyore on the last question. Also, the elements are intertwined, so it is hard to pick one. Same for the fanfic vs. book preference. How can you compare something you have read 10 times to something new? The “What HP event have you attended?” question needed an ’s’ at the end of ‘event’.
About that last question.
I found it very interesting to be asked to rank characters, magic, story/plot, writing style and themes on a scale of 1-5 from most favorite to least favorite. Although I’d just finished writing a panegyric to the depiction of magic in the books, I almost immediately voted for character as my favorite part of the books. There was almost no thinking, just the images of Snape and Dumbledore (the movie Snape and my own image of Dumbledore, not what passes for him in the movies), and a realization of how strongly character drives the HP story (and isn’t that one of the tests of great writing?).
The choice for second place was harder. I do love how JKR depicts magic, the best realization of “magic as technology” that I’ve come across. On the other hand, there is also a very strong and compelling story. Strong enough that it keeps our attention through 7 books, and where the ending is at least as vivid and attention catching as the start (and that is some feat of writing). So I voted for story/plot second, and magic third.
That left writing style and themes to fight for fourth place. And although I have argued elsewhere that JKR does have flashes of writing brilliance (e.g. Chapters 34 and 35 of DH, she is not overall a brilliant stylist; she is also sometimes sloppy and repetitive. And the theme of love’s triumph over fear of death is a pretty important one, and does require some recognition. So writing took last place.
Useful exercise for me.
I agree that the last question gave me some pause. Since there are elements I like equally well. But when push came to shove I definitely put characters first, story second, themes 3rd or 4th, writing style, 3rd or 4th, & magic 5th.
But really, magic shouldn’t be a separate category because it was an integral part of the story itself. It wasn’t somehow free floating & abstract but was woven into the story & around the characters.
It was one of the better Potter surveys I have done. That last question was pretty unusual. I think it is beacuse I didn’t like to rate something last.