Not the IAM cycling survey!

[EnquiringMind]

Hi chaps,

Since anyone can set up a SurveyMonkey survey just like the IAM, I have done so with a variety of carefully selected questions that I'd like to challenge them with. You’ll notice these are completely impartial and free of bias O:-), and I can assure you any conclusion will be likewise.

As I only need a relative handful of submissions to reach the same statistical validity as the IAM, if anyone has 30 seconds to spare over lunch to click through a few easy questions, it would be greatly appreciated.

Go on, be a good sport and click here!

[Mick F]

Done it.
Thank you for producing a well thought out survey!

[snibgo]

Excellent. Done.

[swansonj]

That link is barred on my current laptop - is there a direct link to the SurveyMonkey location?

[Guy951]

Dunnit. When are we going to hear the results?

[John-D]

Nice one!

[[XAP]Bob]

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=B ... 4eGw%3d%3d

[NUKe]

Nice one

[swansonj]

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=BzixmY0H1%2b5jbwLAJH4eGw%3d%3d

Thanks

[daveg]

Done it.

An excellent idea

Please publish the results - would be great if CTC adopted this and gave it some publicity too.

[hubgearfreak]

i thought that the questions were a bit leading. a fitting tribute

i've sent it to my friend in sustrans, hopefully, he can distribute it further

[PaulCumbria]

Done!

[AlanD]

Done!

[gaz]

I have now completed it twice which I didn't bother to do with the IAM one in case it distorted the results.

[Mick F]

That was me!

I emailed IAM with a complaint about their on-line poll. Hopefully, they'll publish it, but they may not as it's a complaint about them themselves.


LETTER FOR PUBLICATION

Sir,
I recently completed your on-line cycling poll regarding "Sharing the Road".

I am a keen cyclist and long-time member of the IAM but I was dismayed about the poll and the published results. Notwithstanding the press releases and the bad publicity that was aimed in the direction of cyclists, I must strongly complain about the poll and how it was conducted. It occurred to me that I could fill the form in as many times as I wanted. Further, I could fill it in with a variety of answers. To test this out, I filled it in no less than six times - and one of those as a female!

I'm a member of the CTC and a regular poster on the CTC Forum, and took part in a long thread on the subject:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=63325

Caroline - one of the IAM staff I presume, came onto the thread and said that she had adjusted the settings so that the form could only be filled in once. This is a rather naive statement, as there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. This now leaves me with some worries: What was to stop a dozen cycling unfriendly "petrol-heads" filling in the form as "cyclists", and answering the questions as red light jumpers, pavement cyclists, law breakers and Highway Code ignorers? How many times could they have filled in the questionnaire distorting the poll results? Even if this particular scenario never happened, it illustrates the problems with publicly accessed on-line polls.

Basically, an anonymous on-line questionnaire that can be filled in by absolutely anybody as many times as they want, is a complete waste of time and effort in the hope of producing a set of so-called facts. Facts and opinions produced this way are pointless - and an embarrassment to the IAM.

Come on IAM, you can do better than this!

Mick Fairhurst
Gunnislake
Cornwall.