Culture Shock Miami Audience Analysis

CULTURE SHOCK STUDENT SURVEYS

Final Report

Prepared for:

April, 2008

Prepared by:

150 S.E. 2nd Avenue, Suite 500 Miami, FL 33131 305.349.1251 metropolitan.fiu.edu

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Metropolitan Center conducted two rounds of surveys for the Miami-Dade County’s Department of Cultural Affairs in order to assist the Department in improving the visibility and interest in its Culture Shock program. The survey results are intended to guide the Cultural Affairs Department in designing strategies for reaching out to Miami’s youth and engaging them in cultural events.

The surveys reveal that both college and high schools students are computer savvy and utilize the Internet.

This finding is important as it presents an opportunity for the Cultural Affairs Department to utilize innovative marketing strategies for effective outreach. The overwhelming majority of high school (97%) and college students (93%) have a computer at home. Approximately 70% of students in both groups surf the Internet on a daily basis.

Students use the Internet for a variety of purposes, including social networking and communication, information access and research, entertainment, as well as online purchasing. All but a few of them (2%) have an email account. Social networking is very common among both high school and college students.

83% of college and 88% of high school students use social networking sites. Moreover, of the college and high school students who use social networking sites, approximately 85% also have a personal webpage on one of these sites. The majority, 68% of college and 54% high school students, also visit their favorite networking site daily. Interestingly, while both groups identify Facebook and MySpace as their preferred social networking sites, Facebook is the most popular among college students (57%) while for high school students it is MySpace (55%).

Both groups of students also utilize the Internet for entertainment purposes such as watching videos and music downloading. 55% of college and 60% of high school students use YouTube at least once a week.

In addition to watching and sharing videos online, the majority of students from both groups prefer to download music rather than purchase CDs. Only 15% of high school and 31% of college students would prefer to buy a CD. Student preferences in terms of information sources demonstrate that the Internet is gradually replacing traditional sources of information such as TV, radio and newspapers. 55% of college students and 56% of high school students prefer to receive information via Internet but they also indicate still using television and radio as sources of information. However, 30% of college students and 40% of high schools students rely exclusively on Internet for news and information. Students use a combination of search engines to obtain information, with most popular being Google, followed by Yahoo and Wikipedia. The overwhelming majority of both college (85%) and high school students (91%) report using Google as their search engine, usually in combination with other search engines.

Finally, a significant number of students use the Internet to purchase tickets to events. Although the majority of high school students do not have access to credits cards, 82% of those with access to credit cards use them to make online purchases. The majority of college students (74%) have access to credit cards and 75% of those with access use them to make online purchases. Both Black high schools and college students are less likely to have access to credit cards and use them for online purchases.

Finally, the questionnaire inquired about student attitudes towards cultural events, including preferences for different types of cultural events, barriers to attendance, and ticket prices. Both groups of students express interest in cultural events and describe them as entertaining, fun and educational. Only 3% of college and 7% of high school students view them as boring. Significant numbers of both high school (43%) and college students (52%) attended cultural events within the last week or month. A majority of both groups prefer to attend cultural events with friends, 70% of college and 64% of high school students.

Music and dance events are the most preferred types of events by both groups of students. Ticket price is most often mentioned as a barrier to attendance by 66% of high school and 54% of college students, followed by transportation and homework/school assignments.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................................................ 1 COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT SURVEYS ................................................................................................. 2 DEMOGRAPHICS AND ACADEMIC INFORMATION............................................................................................................ 2 COMMUNICATION, INTERNET AND SOCIAL NETWORKING............................................................................................. 5 INFORMATION SOURCES...................................................................................................................................................... 7 ENTERTAINMENT................................................................................................................................................................... 8 TICKET PURCHASING..........................................................................................................................................................10 CULTURAL EVENTS..............................................................................................................................................................11

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SURVEYS......................................................................................................................15 DEMOGRAPHICS AND ACADEMIC INFORMATION..........................................................................................................15 COMMUNICATION, INTERNET AND SOCIAL NETWORKING...........................................................................................18 INFORMATION SOURCES....................................................................................................................................................20 ENTERTAINMENT.................................................................................................................................................................21 TICKET PURCHASING..........................................................................................................................................................23 CULTURAL EVENTS..............................................................................................................................................................24

LIST OF TABLES TABLE 1: AREAS OF STUDY........................................................................................................................................................ 4

LIST OF FIGURES

COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT SURVEYS............................................................................ 2 FIGURE 1: DISTRIBUTION OF SURVEYS AT UNIVERSITIES.................................................................................................... 2 FIGURE 2: RACE/ETHNICITY OF RESPONDENTS ................................................................................................................... 3 FIGURE 3: POPULAR SEARCH ENGINES ................................................................................................................................. 5 FIGURE 4: YOUTUBE USE .......................................................................................................................................................... 5 FIGURE 5: SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES USE ......................................................................................................................... 6 FIGURE 6: PREFERRED NEWS AND INFORMATION SOURCES ............................................................................................ 7 FIGURE 7: RADIO STATIONS...................................................................................................................................................... 8 FIGURE 8: PREFERENCE FOR MOVIE GOING BY RACE/ETHNICITY..................................................................................... 9 FIGURE 9: FREQUENCY OF MOVIEGOING ............................................................................................................................... 9 FIGURE 10: ACCESS TO CREDIT CARDS ...............................................................................................................................10 FIGURE 11: ACCESS TO AND USE OF CREDIT CARDSBY RACE/ETHNICITY.....................................................................10 FIGURE 12: TICKET PURCHASING OPTIONS.........................................................................................................................11 FIGURE 13: CULTURAL EVENTS DESCRIPTIONS..................................................................................................................11 FIGURE 14: CULTURAL EVENTS ATTENDANCE ....................................................................................................................12 FIGURE 15: PREFERRED CULTURAL EVENTS ......................................................................................................................12 FIGURE 16: PREFERRED CULTURAL EVENTS BY ETHNICITY/RACE .................................................................................13 FIGURE 17: PRICE WILLING TO PAY.......................................................................................................................................14 FIGURE 18: BARRIERS TO ATTENDANCE..............................................................................................................................14

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SURVEYS ..............................................................................................15 FIGURE 19: DISTRIBUTION OF SURVEYS BY TYPE OF SCHOOL/PROGRAM....................................................................15 FIGURE 20: DISTRIBUTION OF SURVEYS BY GRADE LEVEL...............................................................................................15 FIGURE 21: DISTRIBUTION OF SURVEYS AT SCHOOLS ......................................................................................................17 FIGURE 22: RACE/ETHNICITY OF RESPONDENTS...............................................................................................................18 FIGURE 23: POPULAR SEARCH ENGINES.............................................................................................................................19 FIGURE 24: YOUTUBE USE......................................................................................................................................................19 FIGURE 25: SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES USE.....................................................................................................................20 FIGURE 26: PREFERRED NEWS AND INFORMATION SOURCES........................................................................................20 FIGURE 27: RADIO STATIONS.................................................................................................................................................21 FIGURE 28: PREFERENCE FOR MOVIE GOING BY RACE/ETHNICITY ................................................................................22 FIGURE 29: FREQUENCY OF MOVIEGOING...........................................................................................................................22 FIGURE 30: ACCESS TO CREDIT CARDS ...............................................................................................................................23 FIGURE 31: ACCESS TO AND USE OF CREDIT CARDSBY RACE/ETHNICITY.....................................................................23 FIGURE 32: TICKET PURCHASING OPTIONS.........................................................................................................................24 FIGURE 33: CULTURAL EVENTS DESCRIPTIONS..................................................................................................................24 FIGURE 34: CULTURAL EVENTS ATTENDANCE ....................................................................................................................25 FIGURE 35: PREFERRED CULTURAL EVENTS ......................................................................................................................25 FIGURE 36: PREFERRED CULTURAL EVENTS BY ETHNICITY/RACE .................................................................................26 FIGURE 37: PRICE WILLING TO PAY.......................................................................................................................................27 FIGURE 38: BARRIERS TO ATTENDANCE..............................................................................................................................27

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METHODOLOGY The Florida International University Metropolitan Center conducted two series of surveys with high school and college students. The survey instrument designed in collaboration with the Department of Cultural Affairs contains the same core questions for both groups of students. The survey questionnaire consists of four sections which pertain to: 1) Internet Use, 2) Communication and Transportation options, 3) Entertainment Choices and Information Preferences, and 4) Attitudes towards Cultural Events. For purposes of statistical analysis and differentiation between different groups of students, information was also collected on demographic characteristics, area of study and type of school.

The College Student Survey was conducted in November and December 2007 with students from public and private universities, as well as different campuses of Miami-Dade College.

411 responses were obtained from students pursuing a variety of degrees. Surveys were administered by teams of interviewers at the location of the educational institutions.

Students at 9 locations were polled, including the two campuses of Florida International University, University of Miami, Barry University, the three largest Miami Dade college campuses – North, Wolfson and Kendall,--- Florida Memorial University, and Johnson and Wales University. Educational institutions were selected based on student demographics including racial and ethnic background.

The high school student surveys were conducted over a three month period, January through March 2008. An online version of the survey was designed and the survey link was distributed to the contacts at high schools throughout Miami-Dade County. (http://www.cultureshockmiami.com/survey). All school administrators requested and received hard copies of the surveys. 45 high schools, 30 public and 15 private, were contacted, based on geographic location and demographic characteristics of the students in them in order to reflect the overall composition of Miami-Dade County students. Survey responses were obtained from 6 private and 11 public schools, including 1 Charter school and 2 magnet schools.

The following sections present the results of the two series of surveys. The analysis is based on frequency distributions of responses for each question for college and high school students. Crosstabulation analysis was also conducted and is presented for the questions where significant differences can be observed between ethnic/racial groups.

1

COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT SURVEYS DEMOGRAPHICS AND ACADEMIC INFORMATION  411 surveys were administered to students in the following universities and colleges:  Florida International University, University Park Campus  Florida International University, Biscayne Bay Campus  University of Miami  Barry University  Miami Dade College, North Campus  Miami Dade College, Wolfson Campus  Miami Dade College, Kendall Campus  Florida Memorial University  Johnson and Wales University COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY STUDENT SURVEYS FIGURE 1: DISTRIBUTION OF SURVEYS AT UNIVERSITIES 90 80

81

70 60 50 40 30

50 41

40

40

UM

Barry University

MDCNorth

41

42

41

FMU

Johnson and Wales University

MDCKendall

35

20 10 0 FIU FIU University Biscayne Park Bay

MDCWolfson

 255 respondents (62%) were female while 156 were male.  100 students (24%) indicated they were eighteen years of age while 311 students (76%) were between the ages of nineteen and twenty-two.

2

 In terms of racial and ethnic self- identification, the breakdown is as follows:  181 Hispanic (44%)  147 Black (36%)  62 White (15%)  19 Other, including Native American, Asian and multiracial.

FIGURE 2: RACE/ETHNICITY OF RESPONDENTS 5% 36% 44%

Black White

15%

Hispanic Other

 The sample of respondents includes students from different areas of Miami-Dade County, but also includes out of state students (Minnesota, Georgia, Alabama, Texas, New York). 

332 respondents (81%) reside within Miami-Dade County.



27 students (7%) are from Broward County.



14 respondents (3%) are from another state.



41 respondents are from other counties in Florida.

 The vast majority of respondents (89%) are full-time students.  Surveyed students have diverse majors.

3

TABLE 1: AREAS OF STUDY

AREA OF STUDY

FREQUENCY

PERCENT

Business, Finance & Management

69

16.8%

Mass Communications Nursing Undecided Psychology Education Music, Theatre & Fine Arts Biology Criminal Justice English Physical Therapy & Health Sciences Culinary Arts & Management Engineering Political Science & Int. Relations Other Undergraduate Studies Hospitality Management Biomedical & Neurological Sciences Graphic Design IT & Computer Science Math & Economics Law/Pre-Law Marketing Pre-Medical Pharmacy/Pre-Pharmacy Architecture & Interior Design Chemistry & Physics Earth Science & Geology Liberal Studies Pre-Dental History Social Work Total

48 25 24 23 21 20 19 12 12 12 12 10 10 10 9 8 8 7 7 7 7 6 5 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 411

11.7% 6.1% 5.8% 5.6% 5.1% 4.9% 4.6% 2.9% 2.9% 2.9% 2.9% 2.4% 2.4% 2.4% 2.2% 1.9% 1.9% 1.7% 1.7% 1.7% 1.7% 1.5% 1.2% 1.0% 1.0% 0.7% 0.7% 0.5% 0.5% 0.5% 100.0%

4

COMMUNICATION, INTERNET AND SOCIAL NETWORKING  Computer usage is widespread among university students as 384 students (93%) report having a computer at home while only 27 do not own a computer.  The results also indicate college students surf the Internet frequently as 304 students (74%) report surfing the Internet on a daily basis and 64 students (16%) browse the Internet at least 3-4 times a week. Only 18 students (4%) rarely use the Internet.  Yahoo and Google are the most popular search engines.

FIGURE 3: POPULAR SEARCH ENGINES 90% 80%

85%

70% 60% 50%

52%

40% 30% 31%

20% 10%

11%

10%

Ask.com

Msn.com

0% Google

Yahoo

Wikipedia

Note: Combined percentages exceed 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

 Although YouTube is popular among the majority of college students, a significant number (45%) of them rarely or never use it. Females are more likely to have never used YouTube (53%) than males (33%).

FIGURE 4: YOUTUBE USE 14% 14%

45%

Daily 3-4 times a w eek

27%

1-2 times a w eek Rarely/Never

5

 Email is potentially an important information tool for targeting students given that 401 students (98%) report having an email account.  Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are very popular among students. In fact, 341 respondents (83%) use social networking sites. Of those who use social networking sites 

85% have a personal page on a networking site.



68% visit their favorite networking site on a daily basis and 13% do so 3 or 4 times a week.



The most popular sites are Facebook (57%) and MySpace (45%).



Interestingly, some respondents indicated using several networking sites. For example, 34 respondents use both MySpace and Facebook.

FIGURE 5: SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES USE 10%

21%

13% 1-2 times a w eek 3-4 times a w eek Daily Rarely / Never

56%

 Text messaging (SMS) is a widespread form of communication for university students with 305 (74%) reporting daily use of text messaging and an additional 40 (10%) using it at least once a week.  The majority of college students either drive themselves (69%) or get a ride from friends (21%) in order to go the movies, visit friends, attend concerts, etc.

6

INFORMATION SOURCES  Local newspapers are still important sources of information. indicate they read the local newspaper at least once a week.

41% of students

 However, the preferred news and information source for most students is the Internet (228 responses) followed by television (190 responses).

FIGURE 6: PREFERRED NEWS AND INFORMATION SOURCES 60% 50%

55% 46%

40% 30% 20%

22% 18%

10%

11%

0% Internet

Television

Radio

New spapers

New s m agazines

Note: Combined percentages exceed 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

 Although the majority of college students combine several sources to obtain information, a significant percentage (30%) rely exclusively on Internet.  Satellite radio and Internet radio are the least popular radio choices among college students.

7

FIGURE 7: RADIO STATIONS Pow er 96

56%

Y100

36%

WEDR 99 Jam z

27%

103.5 The Beat

24%

Rock 93.1

23%

Mega 94.9

22%

Big 106 - Classic Rock

5%

Hot 105

5%

Internet Radio

5%

Satellite Radio 3% 2%

91.3 WLRN

18%

Other 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Note: Combined percentages exceed 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

ENTERTAINMENT  Although most of the college students surveyed, regardless of age, race and ethnicity, prefer downloading music (57%), a large number (31%) continue to buy physical CDs from stores.  Respondents prefer going to the movies (70%) to renting movies, and most of them go to the movies at least once a month (56%). 

A higher percentage of Black respondents expressed preference for going to the movies instead of renting (74%), compared to 57% of White and 69% of Hispanic respondents.

8

FIGURE 8: PREFERENCE FOR MOVIE GOING BY RACE/ETHNICITY 80% Black

White

Hispanic

76%

70%

69%

60% 58%

50% 40%

42%

30% 31%

20%

24%

10% 0% Go to movies

Rent movies

 The majority of students go to the movies at least once a month, regardless of their

ethnic or racial group.

FIGURE 9: FREQUENCY OF MOVIEGOING 40% 35% 30%

34%

33%

25%

23%

20% 15% 10%

9% 5% 0%

Once in a while

1-2 times a month

3-4 times a month

I hardly ever go to the movies

9

TICKET PURCHASING  The vast majority of respondents (74%) have access to credit cards. However, only 64% of Black respondents have access to credit cards, compared to 76% of White and 81% of Hispanic students.

FIGURE 10: ACCESS TO CREDIT CARDS No, 26%

Yes, 73%

 75% use credit cards to make online purchases. While 63% of White and 70% of Hispanic respondents use credit cards to make online purchases, only 38% of Black students indicated the same.

FIGURE 11: ACCESS TO AND USE OF CREDIT CARDSBY RACE/ETHNICITY 90%

Black

80%

White

Hispanic

70% 60% 50% 40% 30%

76%

81% 70%

64%

20%

63% 38%

10% 0% CREDIT CARD ACCESS

ONLINE PURCHASES WITH CREDIT CARD

 For ticket purchases most students use either Ticketmaster Online or the event site.

There are significant differences between the three major ethnic/racial groups. Only 37% of Black students indicate they use Ticketmaster Online to purchase tickets compared to 69% of White and 64% of Hispanic students. Instead, 38% of Black students purchase their entertainment tickets from the event site, while only 26% of Hispanic and White students do the same.

10

FIGURE 12: TICKET PURCHASING OPTIONS Ticketm aster Online

53%

At event site

32%

Ticketm aster Outlets

11%

Other

8%

Fandango

7%

E-Bay

4%

Craig's List 2%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

CULTURAL EVENTS  The vast majority of students express interest in cultural events. In fact, their top three descriptions of cultural events were Entertaining, Fun and Educational.

FIGURE 13: CULTURAL EVENTS DESCRIPTIONS 70% 60%

65%

50% 40%

36%

30%

33%

20%

21% 10%

3% 0%

Entertaining

Fun

Educational

Social

Boring

Note: Combined percentages exceed 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

11

 The majority of college students surveyed (52%) attended a cultural event within the last month or week.  Only 31 students (8%) have never been to a cultural event.

FIGURE 14: CULTURAL EVENTS ATTENDANCE Never been 8%

Last year 21%

Last week 25%

Last month 27%

6 months ago 19%

 Almost half of the respondents (46%) indicated that the last time they attended a cultural event was because they really wanted to go. 25% attended an event because it was recommended by friends.  Respondents express interest in a variety of cultural events of which most often mentioned were music, dance and theatre.

FIGURE 15: PREFERRED CULTURAL EVENTS Music

49%

Dance

36%

Theatre

26%

Musicals

23%

Art Galleries

16%

Museums

14%

Any of the above

14%

Opera

8% 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Note: Combined percentages exceed 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

12

 There are some important differences in terms of events preferred by members of the different ethnic/racial groups. Whereas all respondents prefer cultural events involving music, Black respondents express a much higher preference for dance performances than the other two groups.

FIGURE 16: PREFERRED CULTURAL EVENTS BY ETHNICITY/RACE 60% 53% 53%

50%

46%

Black

White

Hispanic

44%

40% 34%

30%

27% 18%

20%

26% 25%

26% 25%

19%

19%

21%

9%

10% 0% Music

Dance

Theatre

Musicals

Art Galleries

 The majority of students (70%) indicated they would prefer to go to a cultural event with friends.

A significant number, 177 or 43%, would go with their girlfriend/boyfriend. Only 11% would go with family members, either parents or siblings.  In terms of the price they would be willing to pay for a cultural event, student responses were distributed almost equally over different categories.

13

FIGURE 17: PRICE WILLING TO PAY

$5 16%

$45 20%

$15 23%

$35 18%

$25 23%

 However, the most common barrier to attending a cultural event was the price of the ticket (222 respondents). Lack of transportation (121 responses) and homework (157 respondents) were also often mentioned as barriers to attending cultural events.

FIGURE 18: BARRIERS TO ATTENDANCE 60%

54% 50%

38%

40%

29% 30%

20%

14% 11% 8%

10%

4%

2%

0% Ticket too expensive

Homew ork

No transportation

Afterschool activities

No one to take me

Curfew

No credit card

Other

14

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SURVEYS DEMOGRAPHICS AND ACADEMIC INFORMATION  536 surveys were administered to students in different types of schools. The vast majority were from general public schools (40%) followed by magnet public schools (26%) and religious private schools (23%).

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT SURVEYS FIGURE 19: DISTRIBUTION OF SURVEYS BY TYPE OF SCHOOL/PROGRAM Private-Nonreligious 6%

Charter School 5%

Public-Magnet Program 26%

Private-Religious 23% Public-General Program 40%

 Students from different grade levels were surveyed, with the majority of them being in twelfth grade (54%) followed by eleventh grade (19%).

FIGURE 20: DISTRIBUTION OF SURVEYS BY GRADE LEVEL 60% 54% 50% 40%

30% 19%

20% 14%

14%

9th

10th

10% 0%

11th

12th

15

 Following is the list of high schools where surveys were obtained from.  American Senior High School – 29  Barbara Goleman Senior High School – 39  Belen Jesuit – 15  Booker T. Washington Senior High--7  Carrolton – 13  Champagnat – 15  Christopher Columbus High School – 37  Coral Gables Senior High School - 34  Coral Park Senior High School – 25  Design and Architecture Senior High -16  Doral Academy – 28  Dr. Michael Krop High School – 89  Ferguson – 32  MAST Academy – 36  Miami Springs Senior High School – 30  Miami Sunset Senior High School – 7  Ransom Everglades – 32  Saint Brendan High School – 42  William H. Turner Technical Arts Senior High School – 10

16

FIGURE 21: DISTRIBUTION OF SURVEYS AT SCHOOLS 89

Dr. Michael Krop High School

42

Saint Brendan High School

39

Barbara Golem an SHS Christopher Colum bus High School

37

MAST Academ y

36 34

Coral Gables SHS Ransom Everglades

32

Ferguson

32

Miam i Springs SHS

30

Am erican SHS

29 28

Doral Academ y

25

Coral Park SHS Design and Architecutre Senior High

16

Belen Jesuit

15

Cham pagnat

15 13

Carrolton

10

William H. Turner Technical Arts SHS Booker T. Washington Senior High

7

Miam i Sunset Senior High School

7 0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

17

 245 respondents (46%) were female while 291 (54%) were male.  110 students (21%) indicated they were between 13 and 15 years of age, while 409 students (76%) were between the ages of sixteen and 18, and 17 (3%) were older than eighteen.  In terms of racial and ethnic self- identification, the breakdown is as follows:  380 Hispanic (72%)  62 Black (12%)  65 White (12%)  24 Other (4%), including Native American, Asian and multiracial.

FIGURE 22: RACE/ETHNICITY OF RESPONDENTS 4%

12% 12% Black White Hispanic Other

72%

COMMUNICATION, INTERNET AND SOCIAL NETWORKING  Computer usage is widespread among high school students as 520 students (97%) report having a computer at home while only 16 (3%) do not own a computer.  The results also indicate high school students surf the Internet frequently as 368 students (69%) report surfing the Internet on a daily basis and 105 students (20%) browse the Internet at least 3-4 times a week. Only 22 students (4%) rarely use the Internet.  Google and Yahoo are the most popular search engines with 91% and 42% respectively. Respondents selected these two search engines as top choices (respondents could select up to three) for their favorite search engines. In the category of other search engines students mention Altavista, Asnwers.com and AOL.

18

FIGURE 23: POPULAR SEARCH ENGINES 100% 90%

91%

80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 42%

40%

30% 20%

18%

10%

13%

0% Google

Yahoo

Wikipedia

Ask.com

Msn.com

Note: Percentages add up to values greater than 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

 Although YouTube is popular among the majority of high school students, a significant number (40%) of them rarely or never use it.

FIGURE 24: YOUTUBE USE 13% 15%

40%

Daily 3-4 times a w eek

32%

1-2 times a w eek Rarely/Never

 Email is potentially an important information tool for targeting students given that 526 students (98%) report having an email account.  Social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook are very popular among students. In fact, 473 respondents (88%) use social networking sites. Of those who use social networking sites: 

86% have a personal webpage on a social networking site.



54% visit their favorite networking site on a daily basis and 19% do so 3 or 4 times a week.



The most popular sites are Facebook (36%) and MySpace (55%).



Interestingly, some respondents indicated using several networking sites. For example, 25 respondents use both MySpace and Facebook.

19

FIGURE 25: SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES USE 7% 17% Daily 3-4 times a w eek 1-2 times a w eek Rarely / Never 54%

22%

 Text messaging (SMS) is a widespread form of communication for high school students with 396 (74%) reporting daily use of text messaging and an additional 42 (8%) using it at least once a week.  The majority of high school students either rely on friends (35%) or parents (20%) to drive them to get around to the movies, concerts or friends’ houses. However, a significant number drive themselves (40%).

INFORMATION SOURCES  Local newspapers are still important sources of information. indicate they read the local newspaper at least once a week.

45% of students

 However, the preferred news and information source for most students is the Internet (56%) followed by television (46%).

FIGURE 26: PREFERRED NEWS AND INFORMATION SOURCES 60% 50%

56% 46%

40% 30% 20% 10%

10%

10%

0% Internet

Television

Radio

Newspapers

6%

News magazines

Note: Combined percentages exceed 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

20

 Although the majority of high school students combine several sources of information, a significant percentage (40%) rely exclusively on the Internet.  The two most popular radio stations for high school students are Power 96 (68%) and Y100 (51%).

FIGURE 27: RADIO STATIONS Pow er 96

68%

Y100

51%

WEDR 99 Jam z

30%

Rock 93.1

29%

Mega 94.9

24%

103.5 The Beat

17%

Satellite Radio

7%

Big 106 - Classic Rock

7%

Internet Radio

4%

Hot 105

3%

91.3 WLRN

1%

Other

14% 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Note: Combined percentages exceed 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

ENTERTAINMENT  The overwhelming majority of high school students prefer downloading music (80%), while only 15% still prefer to buy physical CDs from stores.  Respondents prefer going to the movies (68%) to renting movies, and most of them go to the movies at least once a month (59%). 

A higher percentage of Black respondents expressed preference for going to the movies instead of renting (84%), compared to 63% of White and 67% of Hispanic respondents.

21

FIGURE 28: PREFERENCE FOR MOVIE GOING BY RACE/ETHNICITY 90% 80%

Black

White

Hispanic

84%

70% 60%

63%

67%

50% 40% 30%

37%

33%

20% 16%

10% 0% Go to movies

Rent movies

* Percentages do not add up to 100 since NA responses are not included in the diagram.

 The majority of students go to the movies at least once a month (62%), regardless of

their ethnic or racial group.

FIGURE 29: FREQUENCY OF MOVIEGOING 45% 40% 39%

35%

36%

30% 25% 20%

23%

15% 10% 5%

6%

0% 3-4 times a month 1-2 times a month

Once in a while

I hardly ever go to the movies

22

TICKET PURCHASING  The majority of high school students (50%) do not have access to credit cards.

However, only 35% of Black respondents have access to credit cards, compared to 59% of White and 50% of Hispanic students.

FIGURE 30: ACCESS TO CREDIT CARDS

Yes 50%

No 50%

 82% of students who have access to credit cards use them to make online purchases. While 89% of White and 80% of Hispanic respondents with access to credit cards use them to make online purchases, only 65% of Black students indicated the same. The table below shows credit card access and online purchases with credit cards as a percentage of all respondents.

FIGURE 31: ACCESS TO AND USE OF CREDIT CARDSBY RACE/ETHNICITY 70%

Black

White

Hispanic

60% 50% 40% 62%

30% 20%

56% 51% 42% 27%

10%

42%

0% CREDIT CARD ACCESS

ONLINE PURCHASES WITH CREDIT CARD

 For ticket purchases most students use either Ticketmaster Online (59%) or the event site (51%). Likely due to their lack of access to credit cards, less Black students purchase event tickets via Ticketmaster Online (47%) than White (58%) and Hispanic students (55%). Instead a larger percentage of Black students (10%) buy tickets at a Ticketmaster outlet compared to 2% of White and 6% of Hispanic students.

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FIGURE 32: TICKET PURCHASING OPTIONS Tick etm as ter Online

59%

Event Site

51%

Tick etm as ter Outlet

6%

Fandango

6%

Othe r

5%

E-Bay 3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

Note: Combined percentages exceed 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

CULTURAL EVENTS  The vast majority of students express interest in cultural events. In fact, their top three descriptions of cultural events were Entertaining (50%), Fun (28%) and Educational (32%).

FIGURE 33: CULTURAL EVENTS DESCRIPTIONS 50% 45%

50%

40% 35% 30%

32%

25%

28%

20% 15% 10%

16%

5%

7%

0% Entertaining

Fun

Educational

Social

Boring

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Note: Combined percentages exceed 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

 A significant number of high school students (43%) attended a cultural event within the last month or week.  Only 37 students (7%) have never been to a cultural event.

FIGURE 34: CULTURAL EVENTS ATTENDANCE

Last year 28%

I have never been to a cultural event 7%

Last week 17%

Last month 26%

6 months ago 22%

 The majority of respondents who attended a cultural event indicated that the last time they attended a cultural event was because they really wanted to go (43%) or because their friends recommended it (20%). 27% attended an event because they were forced to go or because a teacher assigned it.  Respondents express interest in a variety of cultural events of which most often mentioned were music, dance and theatre (49% and 41% respectively). Only 4% (18 students) are not interested in cultural events.

FIGURE 35: PREFERRED CULTURAL EVENTS Music

49%

Dance

41%

Theatre

29%

Musicals

20%

Art Galleries

19%

Any of the above

15%

Museums

12%

Opera

6%

Not interested in cultural events

4%

Other

3% 0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

Note: Combined percentages exceed 100% since respondents could make multiple selections.

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 There are some important differences in terms of events preferred by members of the different ethnic/racial groups. Whereas all respondents prefer cultural events involving music, Hispanic respondents express a higher preference for dance performances than the other two groups.

FIGURE 36: PREFERRED CULTURAL EVENTS BY ETHNICITY/RACE 60% 52%

50%

49%

Black

White

Hispanic

46% 41% 38%

40%

34% 30% 28%

30% 25%

20%

22% 23% 18% 19%

18% 13%

10% 0% Music

Dance

Theatre

Musicals

Art Galleries

 The majority of students (64%) indicated they would prefer to go to a cultural event with friends. A significant percentage (33%), would go with their girlfriend/boyfriend.

22% would go with family members, either parents or siblings.  In terms of the price they would be willing to pay for a cultural event, student responses were distributed over different categories. However, interestingly, only 10% of students would be willing to pay only $5.

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FIGURE 37: PRICE WILLING TO PAY $5, 10% $45, 25%

$15, 23%

$35, 14%

$25, 28%

 However, the most common barrier to attending a cultural event was the price of the ticket (342 respondents). Lack of transportation (244 responses) and homework (116 respondents) were also often mentioned as barriers to attending cultural events.

FIGURE 38: BARRIERS TO ATTENDANCE 70%

66%

60% 50%

47%

40% 30%

22% 20%

20%

19% 13%

10%

11% 5%

0% Ticket too expensive

No transportation

Homew ork

No one to take me

After school activities

Curfew

Other

Don't have a credit card to buy tickets

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