Online survey for a research study on LibraryThing and its role in communities

Hi, my name is Adam Worrall, and I am a doctoral candidate at the Florida State University School of Library and Information Studies. I’d like to invite all members of and visitors to All Things Discworldian to complete an online survey for a research study of LibraryThing and its role in groups and communities. You can take the survey by clicking on the following link:

https://fsu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3Dd9vohty2FX26N

The purpose of this study is to look at the roles digital libraries, such as LibraryThing, play in the groups and communities their users are part of. I am interested in your use of LibraryThing as an individual and in your interactions with others in groups and communities. Your survey responses will help me to see the roles the site serves for you, other users, and broader communities of users, and should improve our understanding of how these sites and other digital libraries can relate to groups and communities. The study is being conducted independently of LibraryThing. (See http://www.librarything.com/topic/158082)

The survey should take you no more than 15-20 minutes to complete. Completing the survey has minimal risks to you as a participant, believed to be no more than the risks you experience in everyday life. By participating you may benefit indirectly, as a user of a digital library, from improved digital library design, usability, services, and an overall better understanding of the social elements of digital libraries. For completing this survey, you will be entered into a drawing for 10 $25 gift cards. You may choose between gift cards from three bookstores: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Books-A-Million.

You can take the survey by clicking on the link below. Please feel free to contact me via e-mail at apw06@my.fsu.edu should you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your participation!

https://fsu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3Dd9vohty2FX26N

Adam Worrall
Doctoral Candidate, Florida State University
School of Library and Information Studies
College of Communication and Information
apw06@my.fsu.edu

I'm sorry, but I found this far to confusing to even begin to answer and gave up. The word "community" is scattered liberally across the survey, but I'm a member of many different communities - so which am I supposed to answer for? And how do you know what I'm thinking?
I suspect you may have had better response if you'd understood LT before writing the survey and had been a little more explicit in what you mean at any one time.
If you get anything more than middle of the road answers (because sometimes I agree and sometimes I disagree) I'd be very surprised.

Me too. I found that I was not able to give an answer to any of the questions. They don't seem to relate to LT or the Lt community at all.

Hi, my name is Adam Worrall, and I am a doctoral candidate at the Florida State University School of Library and Information Studies. As a reminder, I’d like to invite all members of and visitors to All Things Discworldian to complete an online survey for a research study of LibraryThing and its role in groups and communities. You can take the survey by clicking on the following link:

https://fsu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3Dd9vohty2FX26N

The purpose of this study is to look at the roles digital libraries, such as LibraryThing, play in the groups and communities their users are part of. I am interested in your use of LibraryThing as an individual and in your interactions with others in groups and communities. Your survey responses will help me to see the roles the site serves for you, other users, and broader communities of users, and should improve our understanding of how these sites and other digital libraries can relate to groups and communities. The study is being conducted independently of LibraryThing. (See http://www.librarything.com/topic/158082)

The survey should take you no more than 15-20 minutes to complete. Completing the survey has minimal risks to you as a participant, believed to be no more than the risks you experience in everyday life. By participating you may benefit indirectly, as a user of a digital library, from improved digital library design, usability, services, and an overall better understanding of the social elements of digital libraries. For completing this survey, you will be entered into a drawing for 10 $25 gift cards. You may choose between gift cards from three bookstores: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Books-A-Million.

You can take the survey by clicking on the link below. Please feel free to contact me via e-mail at apw06@my.fsu.edu should you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your participation!

https://fsu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3Dd9vohty2FX26N

Adam Worrall
Doctoral Candidate, Florida State University
School of Library and Information Studies
College of Communication and Information
apw06@my.fsu.edu

Also wanted to express my thanks to those of you who have completed the survey already, it is much appreciated. :)

Hi, my name is Adam Worrall, and I am a doctoral candidate at the Florida State University School of Library and Information Studies. As a reminder, I’d like to invite all members of and visitors to All Things Discworldian to complete an online survey for a research study of LibraryThing and its role in groups and communities. (This is the last reminder that will be posted.) You can take the survey by clicking on the following link:

https://fsu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3Dd9vohty2FX26N

The purpose of this study is to look at the roles digital libraries, such as LibraryThing, play in the groups and communities their users are part of. I am interested in your use of LibraryThing as an individual and in your interactions with others in groups and communities. Your survey responses will help me to see the roles the site serves for you, other users, and broader communities of users, and should improve our understanding of how these sites and other digital libraries can relate to groups and communities. The study is being conducted independently of LibraryThing. (See http://www.librarything.com/topic/158082)

The survey should take you no more than 15-20 minutes to complete. Completing the survey has minimal risks to you as a participant, believed to be no more than the risks you experience in everyday life. By participating you may benefit indirectly, as a user of a digital library, from improved digital library design, usability, services, and an overall better understanding of the social elements of digital libraries. For completing this survey, you will be entered into a drawing for 10 $25 gift cards. You may choose between gift cards from three bookstores: Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Books-A-Million.

You can take the survey by clicking on the link below. Please feel free to contact me via e-mail at apw06@my.fsu.edu should you have any questions. Thank you in advance for your participation!

https://fsu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_3Dd9vohty2FX26N

Adam Worrall
Doctoral Candidate, Florida State University
School of Library and Information Studies
College of Communication and Information
apw06@my.fsu.edu

Enough already!

If you had, in any way, engaged with those of us expressing concern about the survey and the complete unanswerability of it, I might be more tolerant. But you haven't engaged, you've just sounded like a stuck record.
And quit with the messaging; I read it first time, I don't need to receive it over and over again.

I second Helenliz's comment. I guess that we could flag Adam's posts

Helen and all, I am sorry that you did not like my survey or feel like you were able to answer the questions I asked in it. If it helps, you may consider the meaning of "communities" however you personally feel is most appropriate for your own situation and context. If that means you need to choose one particular community and answer the questions for that case, that is acceptable. I apologize if it is too vaguely defined for you, but the survey's vagueness on this is at least partly intentional and planned, on my part and under the guidance of my committee.

In any case, as noted in the last message I posted this is the last reminder, so those of you who do not wish to hear any more about my survey or related research any more will not. Please accept my apologies.

I do, of course, thank those that have participated already in the survey! Your responses are appreciated and welcomed, and should be at least somewhat useful in the future steps of my research.

"…and should be at least somewhat useful…"

Damned with faint praise if you do, damned with faint praise if you don't.

Sorry, Adam. I don't know and I really don't care what you got out of this. You annoyed the heck out of a lot of people here though.

Perhaps you, or your school/faculty/department/whatever could learn something from that.

I would hope so.

I would recommend that you join LibraryThing for at least six months and be an active participant. Perhaps then you would not need to ask irrelevant questions but could draw on your own experiences here.

And bear in mind that this is an International site; I am from Australia and to me your questions were quite meaningless. Perhaps Americans could understand what you were trying to find out.

... and did you just target the Pratchett group? I didn't see your questionaire anywhere else.

#12 - No, this American had a hard time making heads or tails of it too. The whole "communities" thing threw me. There are different answers for different communities. I probably gave a lot of answers right down the middle because I couldn't place the intent.

>12 pinkozcat: it's in the sci fi group too

12> I believe it went into 5 different groups, but I don't recall which ones.