Elk County Forum survey for anthropology project --Please Read!

[indygal]

   Hello, everyone! As some of you may know, I'm majoring in cultural anthropology at WSU. This semester, I'm working on a special research project as part of an independent study course. I've chosen the Elk County Forum as my topic. I'm curious how people in rural areas are finding ways to stay in touch with each other, to share news and helpful information, to socialize and stay connected within the community. I think we all agree this forum provides those vital services for many of us.
   Teresa and Kjell have kindly allowed me to post a survey on this forum, and to seek your participation. I invite each of you to share your thoughts about the forum, the various types of news-gathering venues, and other means of communication in our area.
   Posted below are 25 questions. This is survey is completely voluntary. You are welcome to answer any or all of the questions, providing as much or as little detail as you feel comfortable doing. Only your forum nickname or handle will be used for this paper. Your identity will be kept confidential; although I will likely use passages from the site, in your own words, to provide a general description of each participant.
   Based on the survey responses, I may contact a number of you for further interviews, either by email, phone or in person. If you are interested and wish to share more information for this study, by all means include your email address and telephone number with your survey responses.
   Each one of you has one or more reasons why you visit the forum, and each person's perspective is important for my research. This is not a test; there are no right or wrong answers. Everyone may participate, from daily posters to occasional writers to lurkers just enjoying the many good stories.

   Here are the questions, listed in no particular order of importance:

1.   What is your age?
2.   What is your sex?
3.   What is your marital status?
4.   For Elk County residents, how many years have you lived here? For those with ties to the county but are living elsewhere, please describe those ties.
5.   Approximately how many years have you been using the Internet?
6.   Estimate the time you spend using email each day.
7.   How long have you been a member of the Elk County Forum?
8.   Estimate the time you spend visiting the forum – reading and/or posting – each day.
9.   What time(s) of day or night do you most often visit the forum? (For example, early morning, late night, before leaving the house in the morning, after the evening meal, etc).
10.    The following are a number of forum discussion topics. Please indicate which ones you read most often and why.
a.   Coffee Shop
b.   Genealogy
c.   Politics
d.   Religion
e.   Word Games
f.   The Good Old Days
g.   Recipes and Home Remedies
h.   Announcements and Special Events
i.   Greetings, Birthdays & Anniversaries
j.   Classified ads
k.   Obituaries

11.   Do you work outside the home? If so, how many hours a week? For those who are retired or self-employed, please share that information here.
12.   How many hours a week do you spend socially outside the home (for example, church attendance, club meetings, evening get-togethers, regular lunch dates, visiting family members, etc.)
13.   Do you have daily or weekly visitors come to your home? (This could be family, friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc.)
14.   Do you subscribe to any newspapers? If yes, which ones?
15.   What are your other sources for community news?
16.   How much time each day do you watch television?
17.    How much time each day do you talk on the telephone?
18.    How much time each day do you listen to the radio (at home, in the car, at work, etc.)
19.    Why did you decide to join the Elk County Forum? (Please be as detailed in your response as possible.)
20.    What benefits do you find in membership and/or participation in the forum?
21.    What drawbacks do you find in membership and/or participation?
22.   Do you have social contact with forum members offline as well? Please describe the relationship (family member, friend, former classmate, etc.) with other members and how you interact with them offline (for example, by telephone, in person, at work, etc).
23.   What is your favorite aspect of forum participation?
24.   What is your least favorite aspect?
25.   In what ways has your participation on the forum affected your life?

   For those who would like to participate in this study, here's how it will work:

   This is important: Please DO NOT answer the survey questions and post them on the forum.
Instead, email me at the address below and I will send you the questionnaire as a Word document.
Open the document, add your responses below each question, and add any additional comments you'd like to share at the end of the question list.
   Then do "Save As" and insert your nickname (forum identifier) at the beginning of the document file name.
For example, my nickname is indygal, so I would Save As "indygalforumquestionnaire.doc"  This way you will have a copy of the questions and your replies for documentation.
Then attach the new Word document in a return email to me. Please remember to include your forum nickname or other identifier either in the subject line, message, or at the top of the questionnaire.

   Your response serves as consent to participate in this study. Due to the public nature of the forum itself, I also may use passages that have been previously posted on the forum. I will provide upon request a pre-publication draft of the study to those who wish to verify the accuracy of their comments.
   Please send your completed survey by March 14.
   Thank you all in advance for your help!

Lynne Thompson (aka Indygal)
PO Box 1118
Howard, KS 67349

Please email me at:

marythompson5308@sbcglobal.net

[Teresa]

I'm asking everyone to please help her with her research paper by participating.
This is a lot of work for her and hopefully she will become smarter and brighter and a real scholar because of "all of Us".... 

Seriously.. she really needs our help on this one.
Thanks..

[indygal]

Thanks for moving this for me, Teresa. I'm not sure everyone had a chance to see it, although I've had four brave souls step forward so far. I imagine they would agree it's an easy (and maybe even fun) questionnaire. I'm really hoping at least 20-30 people will participate so I can get a good range of general usage patterns and insights. If you are interested in taking the survey but have questions or concerns, please email me. Again, it's completely voluntary, confidential and best of all, it's free! LOL Many thanks in advance for your help! Lynne

[Teresa]

Sometimes saving to a document etc.. is confusing for some.

Could they  copy and paste JUST  the "questions" in another e-mail and answer them that way and send them to you?
Or do you need them in a word document?
Just asking..

[flo]

it says if you will e-mail her at the address given she will send you the questions.

[giester2]

copy and paste into an email was easy enough for me.

[indygal]

If you'd like to take the survey, but are unsure how to deal with the Word document, by all means do a copy/paste into an email for me. It's really no trouble at all, and if it means I get more people willing to respond, then I'd be tickled beyond words! I've had a few folks do it that way and it works just fine. You can either do the cut/paste from the posting here on the forum, or email me and I'll send you the questions that way. I just didn't want anyone to think they had to post their replies on the forum itself.

I'd also like to hear from more male members so the study will reflect their point of view. Thanks to all who have already taken the survey, and to those who haven't yet, please consider doing so.

You can send email to me at

marythompson5308@sbcglobal.net

[indygal]

A friendly reminder: you can still participate in this survey and I encourage those who haven't made up their minds to choose to do so. Ive received several responses, for which I'm grateful, but the study will be much more informative if there is a well-rounded group of forum members represented. I especially invite more male forum members to participate.

Also, there are a handful of members who agreed to participate but haven't returned their questionnaires yet. If you have questions or concerns, please contact me. I'm happy to help in any way I can.

Thank you!
Lynne Thompson

marythompson5308@sbcglobal.net

[Teresa]

Rudy? Henry? Danny? Sarge? Dale? Frank? Carl? Dignified Redneck? Fire Chief? Bill Hawkins? larryJ?
I know that there are more of you men out there that gets on this forum regularly .... and if you haven't answered these questions for this wonderful lady..Please.. take the little bit of time and paste them in an e-mail and do it right quick.

**Psssstttt.......  You don't get graded, nor will you have to stand with your nose in the corner, if you don't... 
so you don't have to worry **

But it would be nice to help her out as much as we can.


OkOkOkOk.. I'll be quiet..

(((slinking back to my blanket in the corner)))

[Dale Smith]

alright.... I'll do it, since you asked so nicely.  ;-)