Dissertation Survey - Horse welfare in competition

[Oobiem]

[I did browse forum rules but could not find anything about posting surveys etc.. if this is breaking rules or in the wrong place then I apologise).

Hi,

I'm a third year student at Writtle College and I'm currently doing my dissertation in the form of a survey. I'm looking for people who are involved at least once a month in an equestrian sport (as a rider, trainer, coach or judge). Any responses would be much appreciated (although be aware you cannot complete the survey if you are under 18).

The link to the survey is here: http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1427433/817b1123143f

Feel free to share.

 

[LEC]

What is the difference between a trainer and a coach?

You have a typo above saying you need to be under 18 above but survey says you need to be over 18?

 

[Oobiem]

Typo spotted - thanks for letting me know. You have to be over 18 to fill it in.
Trainer refers to someone who trains horses, coach is someone who teaches people.

 

[PaddyMonty]

Sorry, couldn't complete as a lot of the questions are far to general to give an agree/disagree type answer. Most would be 'depends'

 

[Oobiem]

^ that is the purpose of the additional comments space

 

[ihatework]

It won't let me submit due to the first 2 questions.
I also agree with the 'depends' comment so probably won't go back and re-do tbh

 

[magicgirl]

Our sport is showing which is not on there so not much good to me., sorry

 

[Oobiem]

Hi guys
I understand the agree/disagree questions are general, which is why space for comments is included. As a general thing, including a middle option such as "not sure" in these kind of questions tends to reduce the validity of the results.

ihatework: All but the last few questions are required (except for the comment boxes), so if you don't answer you will not be able to submit. If you did answer and it still didn't let you proceed, can you let me know? this might cause trouble for other respondents.

Magicgirl: there is an option to add your own discipline in the first 2 questions.

Finally: if you choose not to complete the survey, for whatever reason that is absolutely fine. As with any survey, it's up to you whether or not you do it.

I'm very grateful to everyone who has taken the time to even have a quick look at the survey, although it was piloted, your feedback has been appreciated. The whole "it depends" thing will always be a problem with questions like these, it's just something that needs to be taken into account when results are being analysed.

 

[ArcticFox]

I gave up answering your survey. you have far too many questions and not having a middle ground where comments can be put is annoying.

plus nearly every question is very general and would require comments. and as you have 37 questions this survey would take me an hour to complete.

I, like most others always take part in dissertation surveys, but most only have 10 questions and the option to give comments so they don't take forever to full in.

My advice would be to reduce your questions, make your dissertation more specific and come back with a streamlined but more interesting survey.

 

[andij253]

I am a parent of an under 18 who regularly competes and I would be happy to do your survey but there isn't a category for me.

I am parent, groom, psychologist, driver, sponsor, etc. but I am not a judge, trainer nor coach nor do I compete myself....

I think you would get some excellent feedback from my category as not only do we oversee and teach our children how to treat competition horses but we get to see a lot of things at training sessions and competitions.

 

[ihatework]

You also don't have a catagory for Owners.
And yes, I answered the first 2 questions but was unable to submit.
Many of your questions could form the basis for a dissertation all by themselves, a little comments box is of no use, I could write you an essay on each

 

[ArcticFox]

You also don't have a catagory for Owners.
And yes, I answered the first 2 questions but was unable to submit.
Many of your questions could form the basis for a dissertation all by themselves, a little comments box is of no use, I could write you an essay on each

agree ^

 

[Oobiem]

I gave up answering your survey. you have far too many questions and not having a middle ground where comments can be put is annoying.

I have also found it annoying when answering surveys to not have a middle ground option, but when preparing this survey and doing research I found that there is actually scientific basis for not doing so.

plus nearly every question is very general and would require comments. and as you have 37 questions this survey would take me an hour to complete.

For you and some others this may be the case, but for some people it is not. I have had several respondents so far and they have answered the questions and occasionally added a short text comment. I have piloted this survey and had the questions rigorously torn apart on several occasions by experienced people. Whilst the length may deter some possible respondents, it will not deter everyone, and there will even be those who prefer this sort of survey to one that you might rather do. Plus, even if I had literally created the worst survey in the world with 500 questions that didn't make any sense; changing would not be an option unfortunately (long story but I have a deadline 3 months earlier than everyone else).

You also don't have a catagory for Owners.

Again, done for a reason. Originally the survey was only for riders, but it was pointed out to me that riders and owners aren't necessarily the main influence on a competition horse. Someone may ride regularly in competition but not have much contact or be involved with decision making otherwise. Similarly, someone may own several competition horses but not actually have a lot to do with their care. Especially with a category for owners, there might be a need to include questions like "how many horses do you own, how much work do you do with the horses you own, etc..." Essentially, if someone owns a horse, but doesn't ride it or train it; then is it really an issue if they have no idea which way round a saddle goes?

There is of course the point that there are many inexperienced owners (who don't necessarily compete) who may unintentionally be harming their horses; and that would also be an important project to do; but for this dissertation I opted to focus on competition and associated issues.

Again, your comments are appreciated and you are of course not obligated to take part in the survey.

 

[Lou_Lou123]

I have tried to complete but it will not let me as I did not fill in all five disciplines and levels even though I only compete in one discipline at one level (plus the levels do not really apply to all the disciplines?)

 

[Oobiem]

There is a 'not involved option'; however that seems a little odd as I have had responses where people have not filled in all the disciplines and the answers have come through. Perhaps there is an issue with that question and certain web browsers or something.

 

[juliap]

Wouldn't let me submit & went back to first 2 questions which I completed all with a tick in either invoved as a rider or not involved

 

[Oobiem]

Oh dear, that is odd because like I said, it's working for others and responses are still coming in even now. I actually just had a look at your profile information against the most recent response to the survey and your age and location seem to fit... either it's a coincidence or it's possible your answers were submitted after all.

I will contact surveygizmo tomorrow and see if they can resolve the issue. Thanks for letting me know.

 

[suzi]

I had the problem with not submitting due to first two questions. I added a letter to the 'other' description and ticked not involved for it and then it let me submit.

I could have written reams on a lot of the questions but I just didn't have time...the only reason I carried on was because I had already spent quite a while doing it.

For dissertation level questions they seemed quite generalised, cover a wide subject area and are vague to the point of being impossible to answer....I'm afraid I had to give up writing comments as it was taking me too long.

What is the topic of your dissertation? I hope you get the answers you need.

 

[MiaBella]

I also found I had to put something in the 'other' boxes for question 1 and 2 for it to let me submit (even though I had ticked an option for every original category)
I would also agree that its too ambigious and the questions are quite loaded which won't lead to good results