RE: Proposal for an Emacs User Survey

[Drew Adams]

> > As a start, lose all of the multiple choices.
> > Just have open questions, letting users say
> > what they do/use/prefer, etc.
> >
> > The multiple choices, even with an "other",
> > bias the results.
> 
> How does it bias results exactly?

Suggestions of what is possible.

My suggestion is to just leave the questions open,
and let people express themselves however they
think best, rather than being incited to choose
among suggested alternatives.

Just a suggestion.

> multiple choices have higher completion rate and give specific answers. 

Higher completion rate and specific answers can
mean little, compared to thoughtful responses.
Emacs has always preferred the latter.

And explicitly solicit reasons - everywhere.
Reasons can be important for guiding decisions here.

> The set of questions is organized such that we have:
> - multiple choices regarding factual and technical practices (which
> version of Emacs/OS/packages etc)

I've said what I think.  Asking about packages is
a bit different from asking about Emacs version
and OS.  The former, at least, should be an open
question, IMHO.

> - open ended question with broader topics and free text
> - meta questions about the survey itself
> 
> > Ask users to express themselves, then work
> > with whatever info they provide for the questions.
> 
> That's the point of the more open ended questions with free text along
> with the general feedback section.

Yes.  My suggestion is more of that and less of
citing multiple things that a user might consider
choosing.  Choosing OS's and Emacs versions is
less likely to be opinion-based than choosing
packages etc., and it's unlikely that someone will
come up with a new (unlisted) OS or Emacs version.
It's a different terrain, IMO - more choices, more
movement/evolution, more individual preference-based.