UKH

Hello all,

I am currently coming towards the end of my Masters degree and am completing some research in the attitudes towards safety of rock climbers, there is a very short survey which i would really appreciate if you could take the time to fill out the questions, it should only take 5 minutes and would really help me out.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/3V9R7DS

Thanks everyone

Joe

In reply to jff672:

On the "overall how safe do you feel when climbing" question there isn't any mention of which end of the scale is safe or unsafe.

So I put 50, even though I think there's a lot of variation in my answer depending on the style of climbing I'm doing.

Emilio

In reply to jff672:

Just to clarify. Questions 5 to 8, are these specifically about a particular type of climbing e.g. trad rock because Q.2 asks about different types of climbing.
The answers to Q,s. 5-8 will vary depending on what type of climbing I'm doing.
My perception of risk priority for bouldering will be different from multipitch trad and very different indeed from ice climbing.

In reply to pec:

this was really difficult to word, i originally had multiple questions for different types of climbing but had to reduce my survey to 10 questions, i understand that climbing indoors you may feel a lot safer than being exposed on a long difficult multi-pitch route, an average for these is incredibly difficult to determine I understand but If you could answer with an average, alternatively you can reply on this forum with views you have and they will be noted in my conclusion and built upon for any future research

thanks and apologies for the broadness of questions

In reply to Emilio Bachini:

Thanks Emilio, 100 would have been the safest, with 0 being the completely unsafe, I will amend this question for future participants.

I also understand it is a difficult question as this will vary on the type of climbing and location/ difficulty etc, I am also conducting some focus groups with long term climbers and guides/coaches where these issues will be addressed.

thanks for the feedback!

In reply to jff672:

I gave up because in Q5 you left out the largest risk factor which is the climber themselves and in Q6 you left out climbing skill which is the most important single factor in climbing.

In reply to jimtitt:

Hi Jimtitt,

thanks for the response, I think that a lack of skills or experience covers the climber themselves in Q5 and in Q6 i dont believe that an option could be just climbing skill as climbing involves all of the other options which attribute to overall climbing skill, this is a measure of what is most important when building those overall climbing skills, I understand your point but i feel that you cannot class climbing skill as a single factor as it combines many factors.

Thanks for the feedback!

In reply to jff672:

I answered but the questions are ambiguous and there is no opportunity to say what you really think or why you can't answer the question.

e.g. biggest risks climbing in my opinion (none on there) - 1) falling from height into the ground 2) falling from height onto something else 3) falling rock hitting you/belayer who drops you. Maybe followed by descent and abseiling accidents which you do have, weather if it's remote, strains and sprains? I don't get why access/conservation is on the list (you could have a different question about wider impacts of climbing?). Some of your 'risks' are the opposite and reduce risks - artificial or trad protection? What do you mean, if it breaks or you place it badly or if it's a run-out route?

The order would depend on the type of climbing and particular route, you should at least tie it down to trad, sport, bouldering.

I think you need to go more in depth questions to get anything meaningful out of this. Did you pilot it? Why not start with some iterative focus groups to work out some interesting questions that haven't been asked before or a new lens through which to view risk in climbing and then do the quantitative bit and some factor analysis?

In reply to jff672: Hi there,
It's a regular occurrence that whenever anyone posts a survey on here, it always gets slated by someone or in some cases everyone. Most of the comments will be intended to be constructive but many of us will gave seen dozens of similar surveys and have a fairly low tolerance for ambiguity, inconsistency or questions that are awkward to answer.
This one isn't perfect but you can take comfort in the fact it's better than many. Unlike the one I saw on a FB group last week I actually finished your one.

In reply to jff672:

It was too generalised so I gave up. If you start climbing you'll see what I mean

In reply to jff672:

Completed.

As someone said they always get slated.

I wish everyone would just answer the questions as they see them and stop carrying out a full on review of each.

It's likely the questions have been thought through and discussed with a lecturer... the OP needs data so fill it in and stop being pedantic!

In reply to greylag:


Complaints regarding detail are important. Without knowing exactly what you're being asked how can you give an accurate set of responses? And if you can't accurately answer those questions, how does the OP correctly use the data gathered?

For these reasons, I think some scrutiny of the survey is warranted. And it's also why I rarely put too much significant on survey results I read in the media!

Having said that, I completed this one as best I could, but I wouldn't say it's a terribly accurate reflection of my attitude to risk.

In reply to jff672:

Completed.

In reply to jff672:

Abandoned, sorry.