Bushwalking topics that are not location specific.
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Fri 17 May, 2013 2:36 pm
Hey everyone, I've made a quick hiking survey for my school project. If you have spare time, I would appreciate your help. Here's the link
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/vie ... c6MA#gid=0 Thanks for your time. Also first time here, nice forum!
Fri 17 May, 2013 2:58 pm
Protocol says you should say "Hello" first; then ask for the help
Fri 17 May, 2013 3:07 pm
I just read the survey, it seems to simple to provide any useful information for your project; also if you had read any of our threads on the subject you would realise that a FAK without training is worse than useless.
Only Americans go "Hiking" we Aussies "Bushwalk"
Your water query lacks the obvious answer WB+filtering & sanitizing gear.
Q2 needs many more options ( I've been bushwalking since I was 15; that's 5 decades)
Q3 only gives 2 options there are many more [ C = sometimes D = Mostly E= Heavy boots in snow ] etc
Fri 17 May, 2013 3:19 pm
If you want to identify why accidents occur, you should ask many more questions, like how long do you walk at a time, do you scramble over big rocks, do you walk when raining, snowing etc..., do you go alone, have you ever found yourself lost, in hypothermia, without enough food or water etc...
Fri 17 May, 2013 3:23 pm
Well, I have completed the survey. I wouldn't mind knowing a bit more about the context - what is the school, year and subject? What was the reason for this particular line of questioning?
MD (1) I hike ...and bushwalk ...and tramp ...and sometimes skip.
MD (2) Go easy on him - he's just a kid trying to get a school assignment done. God knows I wish mine would be as proactive!.
Fri 17 May, 2013 3:30 pm
OK I'll take thew survey to help out
Fri 17 May, 2013 4:00 pm
Completed!
Probably does help to have some context to the survey to work out what you want to know, but it really isn't a problem to fill it out regardless, takes about 30 seconds!
Hope the project works out ok.
Fri 17 May, 2013 4:14 pm
Very brief survey

.....but done Jezza
Fri 17 May, 2013 5:09 pm
I am sure that the experienced folk around here (most of us?) can see flaws in his questioning.
Because of those flaws I assumed it's for a simple school project & no lives will rely on the answers.
So I took it at face value.
Fri 17 May, 2013 5:19 pm
Hey, thanks for the criticism and the help.
It's for a year 12 research project with the focus on the main causes of hiking injuries and casualties.
I haven't made many surveys so I can understand why some of you are frustrated about only being able to half-answer and whatnot, I don't think I can practically change it now though.
One of the reasons these questions might seem funneled and missing certain things is because I'm near the end of my research so I've narrowed many things down and am only trying to gather statistics that are very relevant.
Of course with your criticism I now realize that I could have done it differently, thanks.
Fri 17 May, 2013 5:25 pm
No problems
Fri 17 May, 2013 6:13 pm
Done! Outdoor Ed, I presume?
Fri 17 May, 2013 7:53 pm
Done, happy to help.
Fri 17 May, 2013 11:41 pm
Done!! Good luck with it Jezza.
Sat 18 May, 2013 8:15 am
jezzafromaus wrote:Hey, thanks for the criticism and the help.
It's for a year 12 research project with the focus on the main causes of hiking injuries and casualties.
I haven't made many surveys so I can understand why some of you are frustrated about only being able to half-answer and whatnot, I don't think I can practically change it now though.
One of the reasons these questions might seem funneled and missing certain things is because I'm near the end of my research so I've narrowed many things down and am only trying to gather statistics that are very relevant.
Of course with your criticism I now realize that I could have done it differently, thanks.
You can of course include all of the above in your discussion, so it is all useful. Also, if you are doing a study, you don't usually chuck in a mini-study at the end to provide more data. Lack of relevant data will be due to a flaw in your original questionnaire, which provides another area of discussion.
Good luck with the write up - that's always the worst part.
Sat 18 May, 2013 8:45 am
Moondog55 wrote:Protocol says you should say "Hello" first; then ask for the help
What protocol?
Hope it all goes well Jezza.
Sat 18 May, 2013 8:49 am
walkinTas wrote:Moondog55 wrote:Protocol says you should say "Hello" first; then ask for the help
What protocol?
Hope it all goes well Jezza.
The opening words " hey everyone" is todays way of saying hello anyway isnt it?
Sat 18 May, 2013 10:23 am
ILUVSWTAS wrote:walkinTas wrote:Moondog55 wrote:Protocol says you should say "Hello" first; then ask for the help
What protocol?
Hope it all goes well Jezza.
The opening words " hey everyone" is todays way of saying hello anyway isnt it?
Not when I was a lad, I guess I am showing my age and background. The Irish very seldom talk business until after at least 3 cups of tea and a half hour of general conversation
Sat 18 May, 2013 9:13 pm
Done! Isn't technology great where kids can make up online surveys like that. Great way to reach a broad audience.
Sun 19 May, 2013 8:29 am
He should get more than enough in the way of replies, still not going to give out my email though!
Sun 19 May, 2013 8:43 am
Jason68 wrote: still not going to give out my email though!
I didn't want to either, so I gave my user name + bushwalk.com so hopefully he can contact me here if he wants to.
Sun 19 May, 2013 12:38 pm
Good on ya for creating a survey and asking strangers to do it for you.
It's rare for school students to ever collect real survey data.
As acknowledged your questions could be better, but I feel that is a very minor part. You will have gained alot of insight into better ways to write questions from creating this.
Congratulations.
Sun 19 May, 2013 9:37 pm
jezzafromaus wrote:
One of the reasons these questions might seem funneled and missing certain things is because I'm near the end of my research so I've narrowed many things down and am only trying to gather statistics that are very relevant.
Hey Jezza
Do you know about the idea of "bias" in statistics?
By deciding beforehand what is relevant or not you exclude answers that may contradict or add extra dimensions to your research and so tend to invalidate your research through statistical or research 'bias'.
You'll learn about this if you keep going on to uni. It's a very important topic in survey, experiment and research design. And of huge help in interpreting the results of other people's (often dodgy) research.
good luck
Steve
Mon 20 May, 2013 8:53 am
Anything worth saying is worth saying twice
Mon 20 May, 2013 9:02 am
jezzafromaus wrote:Hey everyone, I've made a quick hiking survey for my school project. If you have spare time, I would appreciate your help.
Hi Jezza, once you've finished, please post the results here. It would be interesting to see what you find.
Wed 29 May, 2013 9:50 am
Done. Agree details a bit light on, but hey... Give him a break.
Wed 29 May, 2013 7:16 pm
Hallu wrote:If you want to identify why accidents occur, you should ask many more questions, like how long do you walk at a time, do you scramble over big rocks, do you walk when raining, snowing etc..., do you go alone, have you ever found yourself lost, in hypothermia, without enough food or water etc...
Meh, who needs a survey? I can tell you why accidents happen without all the fancy research: bad luck, inexperience or overconfidence.
Wed 29 May, 2013 7:38 pm
north-north-west wrote:Hallu wrote:If you want to identify why accidents occur, you should ask many more questions, like how long do you walk at a time, do you scramble over big rocks, do you walk when raining, snowing etc..., do you go alone, have you ever found yourself lost, in hypothermia, without enough food or water etc...
Meh, who needs a survey? I can tell you why accidents happen without all the fancy research: bad luck, inexperience or overconfidence.
Too true!
And if you are trying to quantify these issues in a survey you don't start out asking random questions.
Statistically you start out with the 'null hypothesis' which means you start out with an idea you want to test first and then try to disprove it's opposite. Such as 'inexperience causes
less fatalities than experience and badluck'. Knowing what you are testing for you could then go about formulating your methodology, survey sample group, the questions you need to ask and the best way to analyse the results. (Actually you should know the answer to the last question before you attempt the survey).
But hey! Its a high school introduction to survey design by someone who's obviously keen on bushwalking!
Good Luck Jezza
It would be interesting (and polite

) if you could come back and tell us how your assignment went.
Cheers
Steve
Sun 02 Jun, 2013 10:35 am
Completed!
Well done, seems far more interesting than assignments I had to write at school
But, as mentioned above, please call it 'bushwalking' in your report
Please?
Tue 04 Jun, 2013 8:21 pm
Hmmm, is the survey still on? An end date would be useful... Regardless, I answered it as well.
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