In reply to L0zMcG:
Unfortunately, my responses felt too manufactured to be of any use other than for skewing the data, so I did not submit. There are too many gaps in the questions that I feel stem from a student’s perspective on how climbing fits around life.
For example, if I had to rank the reasons I mainly climb indoors, in terms of number of sessions a year, it would be:
1. Weather - the obvious one
2. Real life obligations, ie. work - in the winter months I tend to boulder after work. If I have loads of deadlines and finish work late, a night bouldering session outside would bring me into the early hours of the morning.
3. Availability of partners - belayers for roped stuff, spotters if bouldering. Night bouldering on my own would be unwise.
4. Physical - am I fit enough for my outdoor projects at the moment? Do I have enough skin? Am I feeling 100%?
5. Personal preference - what am I psyched for right now?
6. Distance - I’m not far from the Peak but depending on the time of day I could end up adding two hours to my session downtime just getting to Stanage and back.
7. Haven’t got one for this slot.
Shoehorning my answers would skew the data in directions that do not reflect reality. That is inevitable to a certain extent but for future surveys you may develop it might be worth looking a bit wider than your circle. Of course, having been a student, I understand that the time you have available to come up with this stuff is generally less than ideal.
Either way, best of luck with your work, I’m sure you’ll get plenty enough data to work with!