Posted on Nov 2, 2014
SP5 Michael Rathbun
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Entirely too many of the surveys here seem to be constructed along the lines of

"The [whatever political or religious movement] is:

o Threat
o Menace
o Abomination
o All of the above."

Perhaps it would be good to have some better guidelines...
Edited >1 y ago
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CW5 Desk Officer
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Edited >1 y ago
Gee, SP5 Michael Rathbun, I haven't seen those sorts of surveys. The ones I've seen seem reasonable. I agree that what you describe is not a very well constructed survey.

Could you point us to one that's formatted like that?
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SP5 Michael Rathbun
SP5 Michael Rathbun
>1 y
Not necessarily to the extreme posited above, but recently there was a survey asking

"Which of these groups is right?"

o Group I absolutely
o Group I sorta
o Group II absolutely
o Group II sorta
o Both are equally right

I would have preferred, at the very least, additional options such as

o None of the above
o Both are tragically wrong

but that was not to be.

In truth, I have been bombarded by a large number of surveys lately in which the answer I would give often does not appear in the list of options.

Handy for constraining responses to things that may give results that serve your particular objective (if you have one) but otherwise not particularly useful other than to serve as talking points on the Internet or some major television "News" outlet.
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CW5 Desk Officer
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I see your point. If it's a yes/no question, then yes and no are reasonable responses. I think an "other" option is always a good idea, because it allows a "way out" for people who do not agree with the options provided, and - here on RallyPoint, at least - you can comment to explain your answer.
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SP5 Michael Rathbun
SP5 Michael Rathbun
>1 y
To some extent. The recent thread about the E-9 who wore stuff he shouldn't have... the sentence was

o too harsh
o too lenient
o just enough

How about "Why the SHPX would a Command Sergeant Major find it necessary to wear unauthorized awards and decorations? That's dinkum bizarre. Can we have a bit of a phych checkup before we send somebody off to the stockade?"

But that's just one of the weaknesses of multiple-choice surveys.
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