When I put the survey out, I hoped to get more responses than last time. Two years ago, I got somewhere in the neighborhood of 150 responses. I’ve been amazed to watch the number of responses grow and grow each day for the past two weeks. Right now, 750 people have filled out the survey; people from all areas of the field and all areas of the globe. It’s incredible! What I’ve found fascinating, is that from 350 responses until now, the results really haven’t changed much in terms of the percentages for each option. It makes me feel confident that a lot of these results can be generalized for the entire population (frankly, how many more libraryland bloggers can there be?!?!?). There are definitely some interesting results I’m seeing and I’m looking forward to doing more analysis than I could last time. Two years ago, Survey Monkey didn’t have any ways for people to filter the responses, but now there are all sorts of ways to looks at the data based on how people answered a specific question.. It’ll definitely take a bit of time for me to work the results, but hopefully we’ll all learn some things we didn’t know before. I’m going to write an article for Library Journal where I plan to go over some of the results, but there will definitely be a lot more detail on this blog.
Given how the responses are slowing down, I plan to leave the survey open for one more week, until 8/20.
I’ve been having really bad problems with headaches lately, so I’m not sure if this will affect how soon I can get the results out. They’ve gotten more severe and frequent than they’ve ever been and I’m trying to get to the bottom of it, but anyone who has dealt with the medical profession and headaches knows that it’s hard to find anyone who really wants to help you get to the bottom of things. While the pain is bad, the most frustrating part is just not being able to get through the gazillion things I need to complete. I just don’t have time to slow down and this is literally bringing me to a crawl.
I’ve gotten a lot of comments about what I should have done differently in terms of questions and options. Once people start answering the survey, I really can’t make changes. Once the survey is all finished, I plan to ask for feedback about how I could do it better next time and what new questions you’d like to see on there (or old ones you’d like not to see). For next year, I’ll make sure the survey better reflects what you all want it to be.
:((( Headaches just suck. I’ve been there, although mine are mostly my sinuses and moving from Binghamton has helped immensely. Good luck.
There are at least 1,200 biblioblogs that I’m aware of, Meredith. I only know this because I entered their feed URLs into LibWorm
🙂
I hope u’ll get well soon.
Wow, so with a more than 50% sample, I think we’re in great shape!
Well…I said there are “at least” 1,200- so I wouldn’t assume that the sample is 50% of the unknown total number. Still, I think the size of your sample is quite good. 🙂
With such a good sample, your results should be very interesting. On that other front, may you wake up tomorrow pain free. Best wishes.
Get a copy of a book called “Eat to Live” by Joel Fuhrman. His chapter on migraines changed my life – much for the better! The book isn’t a great read (it could have been greatly improved by a good editor) but the information is really useful. His point is that food triggers are often a root cause of headaches, and eating a nutrient-dense diet can help you overcome them.
Best wishes.
Great sample size for the survey. I am looking forward to the results.
I have had migraines since I was quite young (my first was at age 11) and I totally sympathize with how debilitating they can be. I have had only a handful of migraines in the last few years thanks to learning biofeedback and other relaxation exercises — it is a great stress reliever. My husband laughs at me and says I am such a Type A that I needed someone to teach me how to relax, but it is true.
Hope you find a way to relieve your headaches soon.