Results of the survey will be published online Wednesday, December 20th following a presentation of my findings. At that time, those who are interested may also access a raw data dump that they themselves can analyze. Once again, thank you to those who have e-mailed me with comments and suggestions.
Revisiting the survey’s code, I believe the problems some users are experiencing have to do with their sessions expiring. I have made revisions to the code and will continue to monitor any complaints of these problems.
We’re now the most popular web-based developer project on Facebook!
Some users have contacted me about errors they have received while taking the survey. I’m currently troubleshooting and looking for answers as to why only certain people are receiving this error and most do not. Oh, the joys of software development!
If you experience a problem or have any questions, please e-mail or IM me. My aim screenname is “Finding America” and I would love to talk to you about it. At this time the problem seems to be minor, but I will continue to work on fixing the problem.
Right now the survey is ranked number two on the facebook development page!
While the responses to my Oregon Trail Survey continue to come, I am beginning to see trends in the data as well as the habits of users taking an online survey. It would be inappropriate for me to comment on the survey results while it is still in progress; however the process by which people are taking the survey is fair game.
Lots of users are starting but never completely finishing the survey. Approximately 77% of those who have taken the survey have completed the first set of questions never complete the entire thing. My own theory is that this has to do with the introduction of short answer questions. Although the survey is prefaced by a consent form that estimates the survey will take approximately 10 minutes to complete, I don’t think all users understand the depth of questions I ask. This seems to be true with people who completed the survey, but left most of the short answer questions blank.
A limitation on my research through this survey has been the ability for users to choose what questions they will or will not answer. My college’s institutional review board required this unless I had gone through a lengthy review process. As it was, I had to wait three weeks for the approval of this survey. What I am left wondering is if and how making questions mandatory would affect the results. Would less people be willing to take the survey? Would certain groups of people be less likely to take the survey as a result?
Early Monday morning I officially released OregonTrailSurvey.com, an online survey about the Oregon Trail computer game. Its purpose is to understand and gather data on user’s perceptions of the game. Rather than approaching this research by a traditional paper-based survey, I have opted to perform it entirely online. I have also challenged my peers and professors to rethink the way we use technology to do our own research.
Although the survey has been online for less than 48 hours I value it as proof of concept. Online surveys and web-based academic research can work. The survey authenticates users via the Facebook API and connects to a pre-existing social network, thus bypassing traditional limitations of online polling. Additionally, the ability for users to easily share information within the Facebook community with their friends has led to survey responses from not only all around the country, but around the world. At the time of posting this, my survey is the second most popular Facebook developer product which has led to its recognition on Facebook’s own developer site.
While I have infrequently blogged in the past, my hope is that this will become a place for dialogue; both of my ongoing research as well as greater methodological and disciplinary debates which are currently taking place. I welcome anyone who wishes to discuss these issues with me.
