Does Figure Size Drive Collection Size?

One of the comments brought up in the previous analysis on collection size (see: Collection Size or Mine's Bigger) more than once was a question of relationship between collection size and figure size.  Do wargamers preferring the smaller sized figures tend to collect more figures than those gaming in the larger scales?  That question was not addressed in the earlier analysis because the answer cannot be derived precisely given the current questionnaire.  But since the question has been raised, let us see if can reach a conclusion or at least move in the direction of answering the question.  Laying out a few assumptions upfront and attacking the question using an indirect approach may be useful in providing some insight.

First, collection size cannot be directly mapped to composition of a collection's figure size.  While some respondents may focus on one figure size only, many (myself included) maintain collections with various figures sizes.  Survey respondents were asked to rank their figure size preference.  In this exercise, one collection size maps to one top figure size preference.

Second, does the top choice of figure size equate to the largest number of figures in the collection?  For some, that may be true.  For others, perhaps, not so much.  

Third, how many wargamers actually maintain the records on hand to assess which figure size dominates the collection?  For very large collections and those wargamers with diverse interests, this assessment may be at best an educated guess.

For this exercise, we assume that a respondent's first choice of figure size denotes the dominant figure size in the collection whether this represents the sole figure size present or shared.  The first two graphics (Figures 1, 1b, 2,2b) illustrate these results.

The second pair of graphics (Figures 3 and 4), look at the aggregation of respondents' top three choices of figure sizes.  Will differences surface between top choice and top three choices?

Collection Size by Top Choice of Figure Size (Scale)

Figure 1 illustrates that 25-28mm and Heroics dominate representation in the smaller collection sizes.  As collection size increases, the tendency to include Heroics decreases more rapidly while 25-28mm sees slight gains.  The smaller figure sizes see an increase in numbers as collection size grows.  In all collections except for the 0-100 group, 25-28mm figures are the preferred figure size.  Figure 1b shows these data as a percentage of total rather than by counts.

Figure 1

Figure 1b

Transposing the data in Figure 1 to show Figure Size by Collection Size (Figure 2), still nearly 25% of the respondents preferring 25-28mm have collections exceeding 2,500 figures.  As in Figure 1, we can see that 25-28mm and Heroics dominate the 101-500 figure collection size.  Wargamers favoring the smaller figure sizes tend to hold larger collections than their 25-28mm and Heroic compatriots.  For the 06mm, 10-12mm, and 15-18mm wargamers (or collector) their largest bin with respect to collection size is in the 2,500+ category.  Figure 2b shows these data as a percentage of total rather than by counts.

Figure 2

Figure 2b

Collection Size by Top Three Choices of Figure Size (Scale)

What if all survey respondents' top three preferred figure sizes are aggregated by collection size?  As in Figure 1, tendencies remain similar.  The noticeable exception is that in the aggregation of top three figure sizes, 15-18mm figures moves into a more prominent role as collection size increases. 

Figure 3

The prominence of 15-18mm figures within large collections is better illustrated in Figure 4.  Here, collections with 15-18mm figures within the top three preferences tend to be very large, indeed.  Notice that 06mm and 10-12mm figure sizes fit into this pattern too.

Figure 4

Given the limitations on the data, can any inferences be made?  I suggest that, generally, as figure size increases, collection size decreases.  As collection size increases, the presence of 28mm Heroics decays at a faster rate while 25-28mm figure show slight gains with collection size increases.  25-28mm figures remain a popular choice regardless of collection size.  Do these results hold for me, personally?  Having diverse interests across the spectrum of figure size and wargaming periods, my collection size seems to increase regardless of figure size.  For me, figure size does not matter.  Now, storage space, that is becoming a constraint.

Is your collection size dependent upon figure size?