Survey Details
Methodology
The survey mailing list of 2,204 was selected by Red 7 Media and included all Folio: subscribers qualified as Art/Production Management and Folio: prospects with job titles related to art or production management.
Data was collected via mail survey from July 2 to August 18, 2010. The survey was closed for tabulation with 549 responses (a 25% response rate). To ensure representation of the audience of interest, results have been filtered to include only the 479 respondents who indicated they work full time and their job functions are best described as:
- production director or top production executive
(i.e., may be called VP of production; negotiates printing contracts and other vendor relationships; establishes production schedules; oversees one or more production managers; is responsible for technical matters, internal production coordination and quality control) - production manager
(i.e., directly responsible for daily production operations on one or more titles, including publication page make-up, quality control and maintenance of production schedules; is liaison with printing plant and service bureaus; may also oversee traffic of advertising and editorial materials) - art director
(i.e., oversees the execution of all editorial art and design work for a magazine; oversees art department; also responsible for assigning photography and illustration)
The margin of error for percentages based on all 479 respondents is ±4.0 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. The margin of error for percentages based on smaller sample sizes will be larger.
The Compensation Calculator
The analysis of Folio:'s Art/Production Salary Survey data used multiple regression analysis to model the determinants of salary by identifying those variables which, when taken together with appropriate weights, provide the best prediction of any individual’s actual salary.
The final salary prediction model is somewhat restricted in its applicability—it represents only full-time professionals who indicated their job functions are best described as production director, top production executive, production manager, or art director under 65 years old with salaries in the range of $30,000 to $130,000.
Statistically speaking, this model is moderately powerful: it explains 50% of the variation in salary (adjusted R-square = .498), and is significant by the F-test at p<.000.
While a model explaining about 50% of the dependent variable’s variation may be described as "moderately powerful," it still leaves over half of the variation unexplained. It is virtually certain that other variables not captured through this survey also have an effect on salary levels: individual job performance, for example. To the extent that this model does not include variables actually important in determining salary, its conclusions must be interpreted cautiously.