UK developers wanted for online academic research survey

[kentfield]

I am a developer, and as such I am acutely aware of many of the user
issues that coders face during the
developer process. I am also aware of the lack of facts available to
support claims about the working
environment, development environment and background of software
developers in the UK.

Thus, I am taking this opportunity to conduct the first survey that I
am aware of to document the working
environment, development environment and background of as many of the
300,000 software developers that
exist in the UK (according to the office of national statistics) as
possible.

This short survey is open to anyone currently in the UK who has
developed, or is currently developing, a
user interface of some kind. The user interface could be a computer
application, mobile device, website,
Flash app, DVD player, or internet-enabled fridge, indeed anything
that involves a computing device
interacting with an end user.

www.surveymonkey.com/s/HSZXCD6

I will be making public the results of the survey on my website
(www.kentfield.co.uk). Graphs of the
initial un-analysed 63 results received so far are already available.
The full results will follow in
the new year.

Thank you in advance,
Sally Kentfield

 

[Katie]

This short survey is open to anyone currently in the UK who has
developed, or is currently developing, a
user interface of some kind. The user interface could be a computer
application, mobile device, website,
Flash app, DVD player, or internet-enabled fridge,  indeed anything
that involves a computing device
interacting with an end user.

You should probably add some sort of explanation & privacy policy to
the survey page so that people who see it get some reassurance that
you're not going to resell their data, etc.

Katie

 

[Lew]

You should probably add some sort of explanation& privacy policy to
the survey page so that people who see it get some reassurance that
you're not going to resell their data, etc.

Of course they are. They're spammers!

Just check out the wording: "This short survey is open to anyone ... who ... "

- like it's some sort of honor to fill out their survey. Gee, thanks - thanks
for letting me participate in your survey, blokes. I'm so bloody grateful
that it was open to my sort. I shall make quite certain that I avail myself
of the privilege straight off. Do be so kind as not to exploit my
gullibility, if it isn't too much trouble. Please utter reassuring words
devoid of accountability so that I may feel as though it were completely safe
to entrust my information to you.

 

[Lew]

Seems remarkably ungenerous.  I'm as cynical and cautious as the next man, but
I don't see any basis for suggesting that Sally Kentfied is malicious or
fictitious.

That might not be true of surveymonkey, of course, but a Google search turns up
no obvious reason to think that they have an iffy record -- just an
overreliance on JavaScript.  They are a US commercial outfit, so blind,
unqualified, trust is inadvisable, but that applies to /all/ US commercial
outfits, including whichever ones you (the reader) do in fact trust (with
qualifications)...

Spamming is /prima facie/ evidence of malice. I never claimed that
she's fictitious.

 

[Katie]

I'd feel a lot more positive if her email ended in .ac.uk
instead of gmail.com

Well I assume she's real just slack, I doubt she would fake a persona
just for some data collection

Katie

 

[Lew]

Well I assume she's real just slack, I doubt she would fake a persona
just for some data collection

Katie

On the other hand, you, Katie, seem like a real stand-up person. You
participate intelligently; you don't proffer an agenda; you're on topic and
you seem friendly. You even had helpful feedback for the evil spammer. I'd
do business with you in a heartbeat if our paths crossed and it were feasible.