Last Fall I teamed up with Student Pugwash USA to create a Facebook survey evaluating the positions of 18-25 year olds on science policy and politics, and the results are in! The full report is available for download and while its content falls outside the scope of this blog, I think it’s another great example in addition to my Oregon Trail Survey of how we can target niche groups and wider demographics on the social web. The survey was designed to inform the creation of a 2008 Science and Technology Policy Guide about the candidates.
Despite my optimism of the survey, its self-selecting nature makes it in no way a representative sample of all youth 18-25. One of the most striking numbers was that 96% of respondents said they were planning on voting in the 2008 election. I would consider most of the respondents hardcore political junkies or environmentalists, which is still OK. Overall I’d suggest this approach for collecting oral histories, or other information from the most active members of an online community.
Over a year ago, when the Facebook platform wasn’t a platform at all – just an API in its infancy san the features that now define the social experience on Facebook (mainly feeds, which were added later) I created the first Facebook survey for my ongoing research of the Oregon Trail computer game. I targeted the thousands of members in literally hundreds of Oregon Trail enthusiast groups as the pool from which I conducted my collection of oral histories. The survey was a great success. Since then, different scholars and groups have approached me, asking for more information about conducting their own surveys on Facebook. The most-recent survey I’ve created is for Student Pugwash USA.
Student Pugwash USA is a nonprofit devoted to educating youth about science policy. The survey is meant to gauge young voter’s knowledge and views on science policy in preparation of the upcoming 2008 elections. Many of my blog readers aren’t between 18 and 25 years old, but if you are, you’re eligible to take the survey (that was a restriction by Student Pugwash). It’ll only take a few minutes, and will help the survey be a success. It’s all multiple choice / yes/no questions.. no short answers, so there is no pressure.
I’d encourage all who can to check out the survey – perhaps you can get some ideas of how to conduct your own Facebook Survey.
Go here to take the survey: http://apps.facebook.com/spusasurvey/
