New Poll!

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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