UKH

Hey fellow climbers (and everyone else too)!

This survey is part of my dissertation on the economics and management of businesses in the climbing industry.

The purpose of this research is to find out more about how the climbers and other people that form this industry think and make decisions.
There is no previous academic research on this topic, which is why your input is extremely valuable.

Even if you are not a climber, I would appreciate it if you could fill it in.

http://bouldering.typeform.com/to/e3CrrY

Upon completion I will post the results in this forum, so that everyone can benefit from them.
I'll also post a link to my dissertation here sometime in April, should you care about my analysis of the results as well.
If you have any concerns, positive or negative feedback, please do let me know in this thread.

Thank you!

Posted with permission of UKClimbing

In reply to henryh:

How peculiar! I´ m part of the climbing industry (an equipment manufacturer) and nothing seemed in any way relevant to any part of the industry I´ m familiar with nor did it have any questions related to how I or any of my collegues think.
Knowing I´ m 64, male, earn an undisclosed amount of money, wear a couple of freebie tee shirts and have been to a climbing wall doesn´ t seem much of a basis for anything really.

In reply to jimtitt:

Also part of the industry (wall part owner & manager amongst other things) and am interested to see how the 'industry' is defined.

While it'll be highly useful to know how many of my customers climb in high end fashion clothing, some of the info would be of interest, although when it comes to wall customers age and gender are irrelevant demographics compared to location, choices available, indoor/outdoor alternatives etc. That's before you get anywhere near equipment, buying habits, preferences.

It's a field worth studying if not in a wee bit more detail perhaps...

In reply to henryh:

Who are you? Is this academic research, or a market survey? Who do you represent?
(after-all you are asking for identifying information from us)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but surely you need to ask questions related to economic and managerial decision making and thought processes. How are you hoping to glean this information from the questions in the survey?

In reply to Jon Read:

We,, it does say at the top "Dissertation Survey"

In reply to Oceanrower:

That doesn't really count for much; the poster is anonymous (and has only ever made one posting).

Simple principles of informed consent mean I would like to know who, organisationally, I may be giving my details to prior to doing so. If there is an academic institution behind this survey (and lets hope there is), I would expect disclosure of their identity.

How else can I make a complaint, or ask for my details to be deleted should I decide to withdraw from the study?

This is a hobbyhorse of mine, but I make no apologies. It's important for everyone that we can make informed decisions when participating in research.

In reply to henryh:

Well I filled it in as best I could (minus my personal identifiers) but I'm at a loss to see what possible use my responses could be to anyone. You may as well have asked how my shoe size affects the colour of the car I drive.

JW

In reply to henryh:

The last time I filled in one of these type 'surveys' my spare* e-mail address was inundated with a variety of spam. I suspect that this is just a phishing scam to get valuable current e-mail addresses.
I have a couple of 'spare' e-mail addresses I use for stuff like this. Saves getting a load of rubbish in my main mail, but I can still check, just on the off chance there really is a prize!

Apologies for the delay in replying, hopefully the following will address all concerns:

1. If you have any concerns whatsoever regarding your privacy, then please DO NOT enter any of your private data. There is no requirement to fill it in. The only reason why I am asking for it in the first place is that I may need to ask follow up questions (this is also specified on the question itself, as per UKC Forum guidelines). While I can assure you that this is for non-commercial research only and that I have no interest in spamming/phishing, I understand if you'd rather not fill it in.

2. Those concerned about who to contact / who is responsible / how their personal data can be obtained, altered or removed. I added my personal email at the end of the survey. Anyone who fills in the survey will see it and can contact me. I realise that this may not be ideal, however, just like everyone, I don't want to be spammed (see answer 1 of this post) and thus decided that if you have any questions but don't want to fill in the form, you can post them in this forum (or other places that I posted the survey). If you managed to obtain my email (via filling in the survey), simply typing it into Google will show you everything you may want to know about me (including the institution I represent).

3. To those who made statements such as "[...] age and gender are [comparatively] irrelevant demographics [...] ", I have a simple question: how do you know? You may have an opinion on a lot of issues (I do) but personal opinions unfortunately don't count much if you cannot back them up with a source or some sort of data. Getting this data is one of the aims of this survey. Now you may question the significance of my data, argue the answers are biased, say the questions are "wrong", or claim that my analysis is flawed. But without providing data in the first place, everything I write will be based on my own opinion and that would clearly be even worse.
In short: let me ask the questions and analyse the responses, and then you can still tell me I'm an idiot (but if you do, please back it up with facts).

4. Finally, those who are wondering how this is relevant or who criticise the lack of detail: I completely agree with you. I wish I could go more into detail, and I wish my work would be all-encompassing. It's a huge subject and I absolutely aim to look into ALL its aspects at some point. However this is only the beginning and I am fully aware that I am merely scratching the surface. I want to take it slow and do it right, instead of rushing it. That may not be very satisfying as an answer (it's definitely quite frustrating for me) but there's not much I can do about it unfortunately. Please also understand that explaining how exactly I will extrapolate meaningful conclusions from the data is a fairly complex topic that will likely span several pages in my final dissertation text. To avoid confusion, as well as potential bias, I have not made it available. Once I publish my dissertation, look for the Methodologies chapter for an in-depth description. I look forward to receiving your input on my analysis as soon as it is completed.

THANK YOU for taking the time to voice your concerns (and potentially also filling in the survey). It means a lot to me that people are concerned and engaged. I hope I addressed all questions appropriately - if not, please do let me know and I'll do my best to reply a little faster this time.
- Henry