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May 05, 2007
Blog Survey
I know these things are boring and you're getting repeatedly pestered to take them, but if you could spend five minutes filling out this reader survey for me, it'd be a huge help. Plus, on a purely selfish level, I'd love to know the demographics of those reading this blog. In any case, these posts are easy to skip over, or say to yourself "I'll do it later," but think of me, your humble blogger, poring over health care stats on a Saturday, and click this link.
May 5, 2007 | Permalink
Comments
So I went to take it, and it told me that because I had already filled it out for another blog, it would automatically record that same set of answers for this blog, too.
Cripes--don't they understand the point of sock-puppeting?
I mean, when I read different blogs, my demographics and consumer tastes *totally* change.
That's a lot of useful information they're passing up.
Posted by: cool beans | May 5, 2007 2:07:39 PM
Well, that was long.
Posted by: Korha | May 5, 2007 2:27:25 PM
I hope cool beans is correct - that the info is shared across all blogs checked on survey, since I did my survey duty from Eschaton a few days ago.
What's with the question of whether you believe in UFO's? (Doesn't everyone?)
And the booze and beer questions?
Posted by: JimPortlandOR | May 5, 2007 2:38:58 PM
Ezra, I'm sorry, but whoever designed that survey ought to be kicked in the rear end repeatedly and then sent out into the real world to do real market research.
That survey contained more than 150 questions, many of which had more than a dozen options. You just DON'T do that to people if you want good data.
Seriously, send those folks to this link and tell them to stop thinking like this is a grad school research project.
Posted by: fiat lux | May 5, 2007 3:35:42 PM
I thought it just wanted demographic info. I stopped trying to do it once it made it clear that I would have to make up a bunch of numbers for the "how much money do you spend online" questions.
And then there were over a hundred more questions after that? Wow.
Posted by: Cryptic Ned | May 5, 2007 4:35:57 PM
For those of us who like exploring several different kinds of hard liquor, the end of the survey took too long.
Posted by: Neil the Ethical Werewolf | May 5, 2007 4:39:24 PM
Yeah, the last part was killer.
Posted by: Korha | May 5, 2007 4:49:37 PM
Thanks for making me work on a Saturday. Mickey was right about you.
Posted by: Dave B. | May 5, 2007 7:24:52 PM
too long i quit halfway through
Posted by: yoyo | May 5, 2007 7:49:47 PM
Yup, too long and far, far too American-focused. Not everyone lives in the US of A!! And so not everyone watches american news shows and reads american newspapers... Surely part of the great thing about the intertubes is their transnational-ness?
Posted by: sauvage | May 5, 2007 8:11:19 PM
I hope you don't lose money somehow because I told them that I was poor. :(
Posted by: Consumatopia | May 5, 2007 10:02:03 PM
On the other hand I do love consuming media and products. This is a negative feedback loop--consuming products makes me poor, poverty prevents consumption.
Posted by: Consumatopia | May 5, 2007 10:09:00 PM
Hi:
This is a comment I provided to the folks who put together the survey. I was extremely disappointed in their questions:
Many years ago as a computer science major, I had statistics classes and other classes where we learned and talked about survey design. You can't just throw a bunch of questions together and expect to get valuable statistical information back.
In many cases your questions couldn't be properly answered, for example the many questions about what brand of stuff one prefers, where you required 100 points (per cent?) to be entered. A whiskey question without Wild Turkey isn't going to get 100 per cent of the whiskeys I drink, for one case.
I faked several of those to reach 100 points, even though my actual favorite wasn't available for selection, in order to continue the exercise. Eventually, though, I got fed up with that whole misleading and falsehood-ridden process, and ended my connection with the poll. Now, even tho I didn't complete the poll, I'm blocked from resuming my participation in order to see how bad the rest of the questions are. I wonder how many partial polls you get?
I am sure that I'm not the only participant who found this whole pattern of questions troubling, because most of the brand questions forced me into providing misleading information in order to complete the poll.
So here you are, with tons of information (I assume you intend to use it commercially) which is inherently laden with misleading and false inputs. How on earth do you expect to be able to provide real and valuable output numbers from an amateurish production like this?
You should be ashamed of yourselves for claiming to be providing a statistically valid product! Polling isn't for amateurs! Get a professional who understands statistics and the gathering of information intended to used to generate statistically valid information.
I intend to share my opinion with bloggers, users of blogs, and the media.
Let me know what you think.
JR
Posted by: JR | May 6, 2007 2:48:36 PM
The U.S.-Mexican border fence works, doesn't work
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Sex offenders should be, should not be castrated
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coisa)!!! isso iria me ajudar muito na construcao do meu site...
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I haven't been up to much , but I guess it doesn't bother me. Pfft. I just don't have much to say lately, but maybe tomorrow. Basically nothing seems worth doing.
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Live with your lover before getting married
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HIV positive people may, may not work in health organizations
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Sexism is, is not a problem in society
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