Please help us with game survey

[eye8]

Hello players!

Are you willing to help us out with some game research?
We're looking for people who like to play either SimCity, Civilization, or both to take an online survey. By doing so, you'll be helping us figure out just how these games might be useful for playful learning. (Bonus: you'll also get a chance to enter a raffle for an Amazon gift certificate!)

If you're willing to help us out, please take our survey here:
http://geranium.tc.columbia.edu/~web...ame-survey.htm

Thanks for your time!

P.S. I'm posting this message on both Civ III and Civ IV forums because we need players on both versions.

[MightyTiny]

You got a partial participation from me - I answered all of the initial questions, read the first dozen-or-so-page-long PDF, answered questions on that document, answered the preliminary questions following that, and to my fatigued brain's horror was expected to wade through ANOTHER book-chapter long article on another subject (this time one that didn't intrest me one bit), with another test surely to follow.

I quit at that point - clicked through the rest of the questionaire submitting blanks, since I didn't want the considerable trouble I had gone through till that point to be totally wasted.

The survey demands WAY too much in terms of time and effort, considering that the potential participants participate completely on volunteer bases. If someone here has the patience to go through the whole thing, well, you've got my somewhat perplexed respect.

Except... perhaps this test is not about what it seems to be about at all, but rather a test to determine how much effort a volunteer would be willing to put into answering an online survey before calling it quits?

[Solver]

From what people in the other threads have said, I have to agree with the above. If you want a good amount of participation in an online survey, then the survey should take 15 minutes tops. Any longer than that, and you'll get severely distorted (and few) results, as most probably only people with a large amount of interest in the subject at hand will bother to complete the survey.

But yes, if it's a test about how long surveys can effectively be, well, good job .

[wardhali]

ditto, but i looked at the first doc and went and the urban planing bits were just dry!

[Qwertqwert]

I also went and did some of it, I quit after that reading thing though.

[Palpster]

I was willing to participate, but after reading the above posts decided not to...like someone posted before me, surveys should be 15 minutes tops (if that, I'd probably go for 10).

You will get more accurate results that way since not only will you get more participation, there's also less chance of someone just randomly ticking boxes because they just want to get it over with.

[Lambiorix_be]

Originally posted by Palpster
I was willing to participate, but after reading the above posts decided not to...like someone posted before me, surveys should be 15 minutes tops (if that, I'd probably go for 10).

You will get more accurate results that way since not only will you get more participation, there's also less chance of someone just randomly ticking boxes because they just want to get it over with.

I fully agree (I did click on the hyperlink before reading all the posts and writing this reply and it still hasn't connected, I'm expecting a time out any moment now )

[LordShiva]

I complain when my Pinecone Research and Keynote surveys, which earn me $5-10, take more than 15-20 mins.

[eris]

I looked and the first thing I noticed was that the website clearly stated it expected to take 45-60 minutes of one's time. So anyone surprised at the length of the survey may not have been reading all the available info.

And what is it about not wanting to devote more than 15 minutes to something? Have we become an ADD society? No wonder the sales of Ritalin have gone up. Maybe more adults need the medication than children!

Anyway, out of sheer stubborness, I finished the survey. I have no idea what kind of aggregate info they intend to get out of this or what conclusions or suppositions they could extrapolate. It seemd fairly clumsy as a survey. Still, there were some thought provoking points (which wasn't their intened purpose, I am sure) and it was mildly interesting to read the papers. The second paper was really dry though. The first clue that you are in trouble is when the font size gets appreciably smaller. It often means it took the writer more words per thought than it should have.

And if I win, I can use the Amazon coupon to get a copy of Warlords! I figure if I am the only person silly and stubborn enough to fully go through the survey, I have to win! So don't go there folks! It's terrible. You actually have to read things and answer questions. It's just like a pop quiz in anthropology and you may not even know how to spell anthropology. (I had to look it up two different times just for that last sentence!) They already have one answer, what more could they need?

[MightyTiny]

I did read about the 45-60 minute expectation, and was prepared for that, but the trouble was that I hit 60 minutes half way through.

Perhaps that was due to me not devoting my whole attention to the task all the time, as I had the TV on on the side. (But then again who doesn't? )

But even with full, undivided attention, I can't see many people finishing several pages of prelimiary questions, two book chapters of reading, and then two tests on the content of those book chapters - all written answers required, no multiple choise - within a single hour. I think a more accurate estimate would be 1 to 2 hours.

If someone can do it under an hour, then I suspect that they must have only skimmed over the reading material; if they read the material in a manner that allows them to retain most of the information contained within, then it's bound to take longer.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

There's a difference between having a short attention span, and having better things to do with an hour of one's time than to take a survey (especially one where the compensation is a chance to enter a raffle. Jeez. If I'm not even guaranteed a place in the raffle, fuhgeddit.).

[rah]

Working for a global market research company....

If we put an on-line survey that's over 10 minutes, we usually offer a considerable monetary reward, usually in the $50+ range. We do have a panel and for those the compensation may be smaller but for every survey they get a quaranteed place in the raffle

And unless it's a product use study or a diary tracking study, anything over 15 minutes will produce a very very low response rate and unreliable results.

[Solver]

If we put an on-line survey that's over 10 minutes, we usually offer a considerable monetary reward, usually in the $50+ range.

Where can I fill in some of your longer surveys ?

[rah]

For 50 it's usually over 30 minutes or you have to have certain characteristics. (i.e. doctor, IT manager)

I would post the link to our panal but that would be tacky.

My buddy used to own a competing research company and whenever they had technology focus groups he'd ask me to join. They lasted about an hour with refreshments and the fee was normally around $100.

[Solver]

Well, if I could do four 30-minute 50-dollar surveys a day, I would be quite a happy camper .