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Jewel’s web lifestyle survey

Published on Wednesday, February 22nd, 2006

My friend Jewel (not the artist, and not the Artist Formerly Known As Jewel) is conducting a small lifestyle survey about internet habits, and she needs more people to take it. It only takes about two minutes of your time to do it, so if you have the time, please help her out!

Posted in General, Technology | 13 comments

13 comments

Tommy Olsson
February 22nd, 2006 at 12:20

It only takes about two minutes of your time to do it

The site didn’t even open within two minutes for me.
Robert Nyman - author
February 22nd, 2006 at 12:57

Tommy,

No, apparently it went down for a while, but now it’s up and working again!
Tommy Olsson
February 22nd, 2006 at 14:14

Yes, it loaded now. Requiring an email address may deter quite a few people from participating, though. And why does she ask for a first name and a last name before stating that the results are completely anonymous?

Using ‘Holland’ as an example of a country may not be too popular, either. The name of the country is ‘the Netherlands’; ‘Holland’ is just a province. It’s like saying ‘SÃ¶rmland’ (or at least ‘Svealand’) instead of ‘Sweden’. I’ve heard that some Dutch people (those not living in Holland, presumably) can be a bit touchy about that.

I still don’t know what my favourite food has to do with my Internet habits, but … maybe she’ll cook me dinner for completing the survey?

Anyway, I wish her luck with her study.
Robert Nyman - author
February 22nd, 2006 at 14:18

Tommy,

Thanks for completing the survey!

When it comes to your questions/feedback, I really can’t say…
You better ask her!
Jewel
February 22nd, 2006 at 16:37

Hi
Thanks for the feedback, and thank you to Robert for telling people about my little survey.
The survey is about general lifestyles, so your internet habits and your favourite foods, sports etc, just give a picture of you, but are not necessarily related.
I hear exactly what you say regarding the email address, and first and last names. This appears to be a feature of the software which I wasnt initially aware of. Apparently, tokens are generated to ensure that responses are logged into the database, and remain anonymous to the admin, (me) and other users, so I am unable to match your email address with your response, but I agree that this isnt clear, and very probably I should have stressed this more on the site.
I take your point re countries’ names, and am sorry if this seems insensitive.
It was just an honest mistake on my part, and I will learn from this in future. This is my first attempt at a survey online, so please dont be too hard on me.
Jewel
February 22nd, 2006 at 17:07

Update: I have removed the reference to Holland from the relevant question, and apologise to anyone from the Netherlands, for this woeful ignorance of geography on my part. Sorry!
Tommy Olsson
February 22nd, 2006 at 18:38

Jewel, I hope I didn’t come across as being hard on you. It was tongue-in-cheek, I promise.

To others who want to help Jewel with her survey I’d like to say that I don’t think there is any risk in submitting your email address. It’s used for generating an email with a link to the actual survey, probably as a means for keeping spammers and malicious scripts at bay. Then, when you’ve completed the survey, you’ll get a nice, polite thank-you mail.

Oh, and the questions aren’t nosey. Nothing that you’d hesitate to answer even if the survey weren’t anonymous.
Jules
February 22nd, 2006 at 22:22

I completed it too.
Jewel
February 23rd, 2006 at 0:20

Thanks Tommy. much appreciated!
I always welcome constructive feedback.

(and Jules too).
Robert Nyman - author
February 23rd, 2006 at 10:07

Thanks for helping Jewel out!
Maarten Leewis
February 23rd, 2006 at 23:18

I did the survey… And i am from the Netherlands, and i usually leave “the” off. And those who are picky about using the term Holland are as we call them here, “ant-f*ckers”. It’s a useless discussion based on some historical fact that have virtually no value today. I was raised in one of the three historical provinces that together form what used to be Holland. The name Holland just has survived through the centuries and therefor just as valid for the whole country as the Netherlands.

So Jewel, no apologies needed (on my behalf)

p.s. Robert, i have no problems with Safari at home, it must have been a computer specific problem.
Jewel
February 23rd, 2006 at 23:59

Thanks for the clarification, Maarten. You learn something new every day on the web, dont you?
Robert Nyman - author
February 24th, 2006 at 10:04

Maarten,

Good to hear!

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