Curse

Gems · Mar 30, 2010, 09:06 PM // 21:06

Hello,

Please could a few people fill out my questionnaire for my final year project at university, it will only take 5 mins maximum, it’s just about web design mainly and also I’m wondering which design people like best (I admit they are not the best designs ever but I’m no professional) The website is supposed to be for an auction website for Guild Wars items much like Guild Wars Guru but forum based like the high end auctions (It will never go live it's just a prototype so no harsh comments please)

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Y3W7JWJ

Thank you for your time!

End · Mar 30, 2010, 09:54 PM // 21:54

Done...only took a few seconds...although some of the options are a bit one way or the other where I'd prefer a mix of two of the options...

Doesn't ask for any information that's personal...sooo...your all good...the only thing I could think of would be tracking ip's and profiles that visit your facebook...however I don't use facebook and therefore don't know if it's possible

even then it's not so bad no worse then any other site....

Cuilan · Mar 30, 2010, 10:24 PM // 22:24

If you don't want harsh (legit and many times true) comments, then posting this on a forum isn't what you want to do.

iTzF3aR · Mar 30, 2010, 10:47 PM // 22:47

Done! 12chars

Jenn · Mar 30, 2010, 10:54 PM // 22:54

If your goal is to develop your research skills, here are some tips:

- Your preamble in the questionnaire is pretty weak. It reads like it was written by someone in middle-school. I say this because it lacks flow, some of it is redundant or confusing, and you have 7 questions - not 6.

- The questions you ask seem unlikely to generate useful feedback. I understand you are not a graphic artist, but your first question doesn't incorporate a wide variety of styles.

- Instead of the binary yes/no response in your second question, ask a question that can give you more useful information and can be categorized into a binary response, or other sort of category, later (if needed).

Examples:
- How often do you use forums on a weekly basis?
- How frequently do you use forums? Never - Sometimes - Often - A Lot

Asking someone how often they use forums will give you much more useful data to work with and doesn't take up any more space than yes/no.

- Question 4: might be nice to have some examples of what you mean.

- Question 5: Side scroll? Vertical scroll?

- Question 6: Might be better to provide a list of features and ask the respondent to check off which they prefer

Example:
Image heavy ___
Few images ___
Lots of text/info ___
Minimal text/info ___
Dark colours ___
Light colours ___
[etc.....]

I offer one last question critique: ask at least one open-ended question that's relevant to the data you're trying to collect. You will often learn much, much more in these responses than you will in a whole page's worth of close-ended questions. For example, you might ask, "What keeps you from returning to an auction website?" or "Why are you for/against using auction websites?" etc.

Think well in advance what kind of responses you want your survey to generate. What are you specifically aiming to analyze? What relationships do you hope to find? You want to be aware of this because it will shape your questions, and enable you to delve deeper into the data and produce meaningful conclusions.

Lastly, in more professional situations where your sampling is critical, your preamble should include more information like risks and benefits. It is good that you gave a very brief introduction about yourself and the intent of the survey. However, websites like Survey Monkey could result in several concerns if you were facing an ethical review board, privacy being the main issue. Not only are you using a surveying method that stores information out of your control, you are also linking people to an additional website. It may not seem like a big deal, but I can promise you that if something ever went wrong, full disclosure on risks and benefits would act to your advantage.

If you're aware of all of the above, disregard this post as me procrastinating (because I am

).