Survey - Pain from Cycling

[hamrack]

Hi everyone,

I have been asked to pass on this survey by a friend who is doing a research project into injuries caused by poor cycling equipment/equipment set up/bad bike fit. If you have a few spare minutes to respond to their (really quite brief) survey they would be grateful!

The survey is HERE.

Thanks in advance to everyone who helps them out!

[Psamathe]

Any details about exactly who (beyond your friend) is doing this survey, what will be done with the results, what they will be used for and by who, etc.

The survey itself seems totally anonymous with nothing beyond the questions. And that makes me wonder why; why are those being surveyed being given absolutely no information?

Most such data gathering exercises say who is collecting, why, confidentiality, who will have access to the results, etc., etc., etc.

Certainly I wont be completing the survey when we are being kept totally in the dark.

Ian

[hamrack]

Short response while I await full details for you...

I was sent this by a student at Imperial College (where I work) who is conducting the study for a piece of design engineering coursework. They sent it around the university bike-users mailing list and I suggested they could get more responses if they posted a request on some cycling forums (LFGSS, CTC, YACF), which I have done for them as favour. Anyone who has feedback (positive or negative) is welcome to PM me and I can put you in touch with them.

It's perfectly understandable to want to know where you are sending your information, no matter how anonymous and innocuous it may seem, so I've asked them to give me some kind of statement I can put in the original post that will answer these concerns. Hopefully this will suffice in the meantime.

[Psamathe]

Short response while I await full details for you...

I was sent this by a student at Imperial College (where I work) who is conducting the study for a piece of design engineering coursework. They sent it around the university bike-users mailing list and I suggested they could get more responses if they posted a request on some cycling forums (LFGSS, CTC, YACF), which I have done for them as favour. Anyone who has feedback (positive or negative) is welcome to PM me and I can put you in touch with them.

It's perfectly understandable to want to know where you are sending your information, no matter how anonymous and innocuous it may seem, so I've asked them to give me some kind of statement I can put in the original post that will answer these concerns. Hopefully this will suffice in the meantime.

Statement, details, purpose, etc. should be part of the survey itself. I'd have expected students/researcher to know this.

Ian

[gbnz]

. I'd have expected students/researcher to know this.

Isn't that part of the learning process? Aside from which the survey doesn't ask for any personal details as such, unless you volunteer your email address.

[horizon]

The survey didn't bother me too much. But I would like to see some research on how these surveys have been embedded into universities' consciousness. Every student it seems has to do some market research to test out his/her ideas. What happened to original thinking?

[Psamathe]

There are many reasons why a survey should give details about why, who, etc. the survey is for. For example (probably not relevant to this survey but e.g.) would you complete a survey about how healthy you are having been a smoker for a cigarette manufacturer (e.g. to help them fight legislation). The nature of many companies/organisations is that there would be a good chance any (public/open) survey they run would be to help them justify their particular interests. And when that gets too obvious they contract some 3rd party (e.g. a University seeking funding) so they can hide their involvement.

I know I'm a cynic but there are too many vested interests around.

Ian