Most agree that people have numerous motivations to participate in research. In a recent article, Florian Keusch thoroughly details the various reasons why people participate in web surveys. It is clear that there is no single reason — societal characteristics, individual characteristics, and survey characteristics all play a role. But like most strong literature reviews do, it left me with this…
Why do we NOT routinely capture data about respondents’ local current temperatures and cloud cover, recent or upcoming extreme weather, regional pollen counts, and other related data while we collect survey data?
Rarely a day passes without me saying (or hearing someone else say), “I wonder how this may impact data quality,” or, “I wonder why we keep doing it this way,” or my favorite, “I wonder if anyone else has wondered this too!“
I have seen the power of the scientific method. I have seen that ideas can grow and expand, and how they usually twist and turn. I know that science is not linear.
So it is time for me to spin off my little wonderments to the world…
If my office location being in Ann Arbor, Michigan doesn’t tip you off to my collegiate sports allegiance, then this will. In 1983, University of Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler addressed his team with a motivational talk…
When Apple’s ResearchKit was announced, almost immediately some squawked about the ethical problems that may be raised by its use. One argument suggested that because teens use iPhones, and because teens “aren’t supposed to take part in medical studies without parental consent” this would be bad. The argument proceeds…
Survey research is a part of the scientific process – and even a science on its own. So why do researchers abandon the science when they implement their studies? An astronomer would not go to the hobby store to buy a telescope to study the galaxy. A geneticist would never purchase non-sterile test tubes from an unknown source to capture saliva samples from research subjects. So why do social scientists routinely treat their own data collection tools this way?
It seems that every few days, an announcement brings forth a new use for Apple’s ResearchKit. My first reaction was one of excitement, mixed with horror. The excitement stemmed from…
I hope you have enjoyed reading the past 6 posts to our new blog – the Launch Pad. If you have not yet read them, I encourage you to go back to the beginning and read about our story. I have certainly enjoyed writing them!
I look forward to using this blog to write about and share our experiences. While I expect the focus will adapt as we ourselves evolve, the plan will be…
The Beginning: From Rubber Bands to Plastic Bags to Survey Sciences Riding from house to house on my scooter, aiming to "porch" every edition of the San Jose Mercury News that I could (especially for the big tippers in the small ranch on the corner), the 16-year-old...