I just completed the survey from National. I am a survey writer. I thought that it was not a really good survey. I really think that it had a bias based what seemed ot me to be a preconcieved notion that we all drive and own a car. I do neither. Why didn't the survey ask if any other mode of transportation was used to get to meets? I've actually taken more trains to get to meets than any other form of transportation.
Two parts really bothered me Part C, question 30-30 and Part D, questions 1-3.
The duplicate emails were a result of a glitch in the distribution process that only happened to members selected to take the SWIMMER survey. Those who received two emails have not actually been asked to fill out two surveys. Regardless of which email you use, you will be directed only to the magazine survey. Most people who communicated with us said they only filled out the survey once and we thank them for that. The 10,000 selected to do the consumption survey only received one email that directs them to the correct survey.
Had the e-mail indicated that I might be receiving more than one survey, I could have looked to see if it was "A" or "B" that I was filling out since it's listed on the bottom. I simply assumed it was a duplicate, which was a logical assumption under the circumstances. I chose one at random and responded. I don't know which I filled out, and won't be responding to both because I can't be sure of which I have already responded to and don't want to fill out the same survey twice.
I do not believe that the discussion of the survey in this forum casts negative aspersions on those who have volunteered significant amounts of their time to develop this survey. Some issues have been raised here which need to be addressed, and that is all that has happened here.
On another aspect of the survey, have members without e-mail addresses been included, and if so, how?
I am involved in the project and can answer some of the questions and concerns being raised here. The sample size is 10,000. This is much more than needed to get an accurate understanding of our membership, even those that walk to meets. The sample was stratified in a number of ways that would account for age, gender, geographic location, etc. This was done to ensure that the many populations we have in masters swimming are represented in the sample.
As for the questions about the questions in the survey, there are certain issues we are trying to learn more about. The questions are written in a way that we will get valid results about those issues. In the development of the survey instrument, a number of USMS volunteers gave suggestions on the questions. The instrument was then pilot tested on a group of masters swimmers. We believe this to be a valid survey.
Once we have compiled the results, we will provide them for you to look at here on the website. The results from the survey will help guide a number of decisions going forward, so it is important to participate if you get the email.
Thanks for your help.
i double checked the survey i received. there were no questions regarding income or how i traveled to swim meets. i saw, also, that there were two mailings and assumed it was a glitch so didn't respond to the second one. it's since aged out of my mail. apparently they are different.
