Slashdot Survey Example
Much of the reading for Preece this week involved evaluating communities. Surveys are a fine example of a means of evaluating. Digital questionnaires are becoming more frequent within online communities partly because of the ease associated with their completion and return. Digital questionnaires can be of two types, email or Web-based. An example of a Web-based survey can be found on the main page of Slashdot this week. The link to the actual survey on the site redesign can be found here. I think this is a good example of surveying the involved community on what they like or dislike. The community of Slashdot has been included in the redesign process; this is a great way to keep involvement and a feeling of worth high.
Surveys are importants methods – but they definitely have some problems. How does slashdot (and other sites) account for people not filling out the survey more than once? What about the problems of self-selecting? Are there ways that encourage a more representative sample of the group so that the data isn’t biased?
I like surveys – don’t get me wrong – but what about the online environment makes the survey more risky and/or more useful as well?
Great example. What is, however, the thrust of this evaluation? Is this a usability or a formative study?