New Poll!

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Posted by James.

Student on team #74, The H.O.T.H.E.A.D.S., from Holland High School and Haworth.

Posted on 5/25/99 4:14 PM MST


In Reply to: New Poll posted by PollMaster on 5/25/99 4:05 PM MST:



I liked the alliance idea. It made for some great matches, but it
obviously has problems. I don't think that it works that great in the
seeding rounds. It doesn't do some robots justice. But in the finals,
I think alliances are a big plus. I had a blast in the finals.

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Posted by Michael Martus.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Coach on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central H.S. and Delphi Automotives Systems.

Posted on 5/25/99 5:48 PM MST


In Reply to: New Poll posted by PollMaster on 5/25/99 4:05 PM MST:



Yes the alliances has some negative aspects. However there are many positives also.
It is great getting to know teams better by working together.

Overall is added a special twist to the competition that may not work well with all games.

We shall see what changes FIRST will make next year.

Hey everyone, get out and vote, let your voices be heard.

Have a good question you want in the poll. Send the question to the pollmaster.

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Posted by Joe Johnson.

Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 5/25/99 5:52 PM MST


In Reply to: New Poll posted by PollMaster on 5/25/99 4:05 PM MST:



Hey Folks,

There are many many pros and cons to this one.

Major con: Not having your own destiny in your own hands

Major pro: The interaction between the teams.

Overall, taking all in the balance, I'd say that it is a net positive.

Joe J.

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Posted by michael bastoni.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Coach on team #23, PNTA, from Plymouth North High School and Boston Edison Co.

Posted on 5/25/99 6:14 PM MST


In Reply to: New Poll posted by PollMaster on 5/25/99 4:05 PM MST:



Hey guys,

The new poll is a great tool..it certainly helps to put things in
perspective so long as you feel assured that your sampling 'universe'
is sufficient to draw accurate conclusions....and I for one trust
Dr. J's math as well as that of Mr. Martus and Mr. Aubry...

But..

Simple no/yes (digital) responses can be VERY misleading and I council
you to please consider the very hard and difficult alternative....
That is to consider scaled responses..and
then collating the answers into weighted responses...and
use a weighted response tool with an even number of responses say 1 through
4, or 1 through 6...avoid odd response scales as most people pick the middle response
and leaves you with little indication of of preference or choice.

Ironically the intital question is one to reconsider.

The alliances. Did you like them?

Yeah I liked them...but I never want to play them with a non functioning
robot as my partner....No I did not like them unless I was teamed up with
team 314, or 126, or 47 or 176 or a host of other top competitors
....hmmmmm which is it...did I like them or didn't
I ? And really, what does my liking them have to do with making an important
decision about anything...liking them is not really the issue...should we continue
using them as a basis for FIRST competitions is much more to the point..
After all I might not like them (alliances) but they might be a very good
vehicle for FIRST competitions....

I am not trying to be anything but positive and supportive with this comment.
I APPLAUDE the Chiefs, one and all for endeavoring to undertake the
development of a badly needed team response system..and I certainly support
the intitiative ( I voted already)...I only ask that you obtain the assistance
of your school testing office or GM's marketing division..(Doesn't GM have
a good working relationship with J.D. Powers Associates ?) and develop an
scientific diagnostic tool...I think this would be something teams might want to
contribute financial resources towards developing...

Good show team 47...and go for it...but talk to some experts (and I do not pretend
to be one) and develop a pointed focused tool that we can (and will) support you
on...This is good stuff you are doing, powerful stuff, because the very results you
obtain will of themselves influence opinions...It is the cultural equivilant of
the uncertainty principal under the influence of Brownian Motion....

And it's good social science...and here is an example of a question format I am suggesting.

1.) After discussing the issue our team team feels the FIRST robot competition
should develop a new game every _________ months.

1.)12 months 2.) 24 months 3.)36 months 4.)48 months

I know, I know...but the point is that maybe we should consider voting in team blocks..
I realize that is not practical...but it helps produce more usable results upon which to
make decisions and develop policy. The point being that maybe the well
meaning folks (take me for example) might vote my heart but what I vote
does not necessarily reflect consensus on my team...We would not want to
make significant changes to a program using data like that...So...
could you possibly collect and collate data based on team responses?
Everyone would have to sign on and 'register' with a numbered extension...that number being your
team number?...hmmmm are there privacy issues here...not really.

Another thing....the very questions you choose to ask can develop unintended
bias and skew results...so I suggest you accept question requests...In the same
way a DJ accepts song title requests (Right Ron? ) and for the same reasons..
everyone becomes an interested participant in the party or the polling.

You have my question.

Great job Delphi...keep it up.

Mr.b

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Posted by Brandon Martus.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Other on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 5/25/99 6:29 PM MST


In Reply to: New Poll posted by michael bastoni on 5/25/99 6:14 PM MST:



this poll system is fully customizable (to an extent)
the administrators can have as many answers as they choose.
So its not just a yes/no deal.

Thought i'd make that clear.

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Posted by Joe Johnson.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 5/25/99 10:03 PM MST


In Reply to: New Poll posted by michael bastoni on 5/25/99 6:14 PM MST:



Mike,

Many good points.

This is not the end of our polling. We have pushed to make general tools that we can put to our service as needed.

Brandon --The CGI Guy-- Martus has been very gracious in providing our team with the code to implement some very powerful tools and we owe him a great deal of thanks and praise.

But, you are right, we are not experts at this polling yet. This is our first attempt. As such it is much more of a shake down cruise than an actual get the results and run with them survey.

We are always going to be limited on the sample that we have taking the poll. Perhaps some day all teams will participate, we are not there yet.

As to team voting vs. individual voting, we have discussed some methods of weighting the data so that each voting team gets the same overall influence regardless of the actual number of members of their team that vote. We don't exactly have everything worked out yet on that one, so if you have suggestions, send them to us.

As to your particular poll request, I think that it would be GREAT idea to have such a poll. One suggestion is that we add 6 months and infinity as options.

I promise that this will be an upcoming poll.

We will pull together a method for suggesting a poll question. I think that part of the process should be to have a quiet period between the posting of the question and the actual voting so that there is a time for folks to debate the issue AND to discuss bias or ambiguities in the poll question.

Stay tuned...

Joe J.

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Posted by michael bastoni.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Coach on team #23, PNTA, from Plymouth North High School and Boston Edison Co.

Posted on 5/26/99 5:06 AM MST


In Reply to: good points... posted by Joe Johnson on 5/25/99 10:03 PM MST:




Joe, Brandon and the team,

You have once again, suffused an already dynamic web sight with
additional added value...The promise and power of polling as a
positive instrument for continued refinement of the FIRST program is
incalcuable...and you are obviously bringing the quality and
professionalism you guys are famous for, to the endeavor...I admit
that I was so overcome with joyous enthusiasm, that I fired off a quick
response in the expectation of helping to jump start the effort...

And this is from the heart...I realize that you folks don't shoot
from the hip...and that the polling you propose represents significant forethought
and consideration...It's become your hallmark..

And thank you for the spirit in which you received my humble suggestions,
for it is that willingness to continually absorb and react positively
to a variety of input, that marks you guys (and girls) as leaders in the
effort to ensure quality in this program....what you are doing is DIFFICULT and
but so worthwhile..and I feel I speak for the greater FIRST community in wishing
you folks the very best in this new project...You will enjoy all our support
I am sure...I am certainly hooked.

Mr.B

Bravo...and thank you...

and bless you JJ, the 6 months and infinity are the right touch