Lord of the Rings International Audience Research Project: World Questionnaire Dataset, 2003-2004

This is a mixed methods study, comprising both qualitative and quantitative material. The aim of this project was to use the opportunity afforded by the release of the final part of the film trilogy of <i>Lord of the Rings</i> to gather materials allowing an exploration of<ul><li>the role of fantasy, especially film fantasy, in the lives of different kinds of audience</li><li>the understanding they have of the 'location' (real or imaginary) of the author J.R.R. Tolkien's world, and its relation to their lived world</li><li>the role played in their responses by perceptions of the story's original 'Englishness', its New Zealand landscapes, and its Hollywood financing and marketing</li><li>the part played by all kinds of prefigurative processes in shaping responses in advance</li></ul>Within these broad aims, the objectives were to gather, over a fifteen month period, three large bodies of materials: three months of marketing, publicity, merchandising, and media coverage of the film prior to its release; responses from across the world to a questionnaire, available online with added paper-completed ones; and a set of follow-up interviews with individuals chosen for their exemplification of emergent patterns. This body of materials and data was to be organised in a way which permits both quantitative and qualitative exploration. The only materials currently deposited at the UK Data Archive (UKDA) are the questionnaire responses, which are held in a Microsoft 'Access 2000' database.<br> <br> Further information about the study may be found at the <a href="http://www.lordoftheringsresearch.net/" title="Lord of the Rings Research Project">Lord of the Rings Research Project</a> web site.<br> <br> <br>