Re: SEUL: draft survey: v.0.001

[virtanen <hvirtane@cc.jyu.fi>]

On Mon, 22 Jun 1998, Karsten M. Self wrote:

> See also the SAS User Linux Interest Profile for categories.  This also
> starts to answer some of your followup questions:
> 
> Position:
>                     <option> President/CEO
>                     <option> CIO/CFO
>                     <option> Other Executive
>                     <option> IS Directory/Manager
>                     <option> Other Manager
>                     <option> Programmer/Analyst
>                     <option> Other Technical
>                     <option> Other
> 
> Industrial Sector:
> 
>                     <option> Academic
>                     <option> Financial
>                     <option> Insurance
>                     <option> Government
>                     <option> Healthcare
>                     <option> Industrial Manufacture
>                     <option> Independent SAS Consultant
>                     <option> Internet Services
>                     <option> Non-profit
>                     <option> Semiconductor
>                     <option> Pharmaceutical/Biotech
>                     <option> Professional Services
>                     <option> Retail/Merchandise
>                     <option> Software
>                     <option> Other
> 

In my opinion it would be quite important to find out a way to focus the
survey somehow to some kind of category of users. (If we are waiting to
get some quantitative results.)

(If the number of people who will be willing to answer will be small and
their needs are diverse (as it will probably be the case, if we'll find
the people just by using the net) could we possibly get much more new
ideas than by collecting them by using the various Linux discussion
lists?) 

But. If thinking about qualitative results, the number of people is not
very important. The opinion itself is important in that way that we can
connect it to the position or profession of the opinion holder. And it can
give us new connections with new kind of people.

Thinking that way it is important to find some new kind of would-be linux
users. And it is important to think about the way how to find the people
to answer the survey. Is there any other useable  means than the net? Or
what is an effective method to use the net to spread the survey outside
it? (I'm thinking about users, who never themselves install an operating
system and don't waste their time on searching the net for some new ideas
of computing.) 

Would it be practical to use some kind of snow-ball method to do the
survey? To find first some kind of people to answer the initial survey,
use their opinions to find more and different kind of people and develop
the survey itself? I mean not to fix the survey completely beforehand but
to find out a method how to develop the survey itself. We need a good
starting point and a method how to go on. In my opinion the first draft is
OK if we could add a method how to go on by developing the next stage of
the survey by using the results and asking the people carry on the
message.


hvirtane@cc.jyu.fi