This is a little off of the typical content for my blog but when I saw this I thought
I just have to share (and besides its Friday so you deserve a little break).
I got an e-mail asking me to take a survey. It was a web based survey from a company
I know so I decided to try it out. Almost all the questions were the typical questions
with answers on a scale of 1-7 with 1 being the dislike/no answer and 7 being the
like/yes answer. Then I got to a question with this for the possible answers.
I sat there for a minute analyzing the numbering scheme. I tried to find a pattern
like 1 in the middle with the numbers concentrically arranged around it. I also looked
at an odd/even distribution. It isn't like they just reversed the numbers and the
questions above and below it were in the correct 1-7 order. Finally I decided
that it was taking too much of my time and I should just skip the question. Unfortunately
all of the questions required an answer. Normally I would have just closed the browser
window and decided that they weren't worth the time but this time I decided that a
little random data might give them something to think about and just chose the 1 button.
I don't know if I was indicating I wanted them to do it for me, I was ambivalent about
the whole thing, or that I want to do it myself but it would be interesting to be
a fly on the wall in the meeting where they start asking about the results and why
this one question seems to be outside of the expected values. I am sure there will
be some finger pointing and questioning of the database or the web programmers. I
am truly sorry for any grief I might cause those people. In the end I think they will
have to throw the question out or get some high priced behavioral analyst to decide
if I noticed the changed number scheme and clicked on the number I wanted or if I
just blindly clicked the position I expected my number to be in. That would be some
feat of mind reading.
Read the complete post at http://www.grokdev.com/Blogs/scott/2008/05/16/HowWouldYouAnswerThisQuestion.aspx