SL Survey

Bucket?
This ain't the middle ages you know, haven't you ever heard of a funnel and hose through the wall?

Those whose first language is, or should be English, are expected to use it impeccably and with precision.

For grad school project, I'm conducting a research project on MMORPG gamers. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=KS65ihurdp2zTHpdsthzOw_3d_3d

even saw one in a Microsoft manual.

Doesn't the relatively recent technology of texting in its general form encourage us to 'fire & forget' though?

"Even"? ROFLMAO! MS has almost single-handedly led the campaign for the split infinitive to universally be accepted as good usage.

Pep (FYI, I am not English, nor do I earn my livelihood writing)

Uh, roger that, good buddy. 10-4, I copy you loud and clear. Every new communication tool has left its mark on the language, but they wash up like waves on the beach, leaving the curve of the shoreline recognizable when the storm has passed.

The sentence "It's the scorpions tail which is its most dangerous feature" would have left me blank but for Inspector Morses statement in one of the episodes "one doesn't use an apostrophe in the possessive".

One's highly amused at the turn this thread has taken.

Pep (I might disagree with various of the details but I concur wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed latterly)

Thankyou for your explanation Argent. I'm just a wee bit confused over the apostrophe you added to "scorpion's". I can see it clarifies it's not the plural. Was Inspector Morse'(?)s explanation in a context I perhaps missed?

Can we just go back to bashing survey guy? *has a headache*

Can we just go back to bashing survey guy? *has a headache*

I suspect that you missed the word "pronoun" from the end of the aphorism. Adding that one word and the example and aphorism are correct.

Or what about split infinitives? I can never work out how to properly do those.

hmmm. He joins on Feb 12, posts his 'survey' plea on Feb 13. And this is researching Second Life?

Chris, do yourself a favor, research what you are familiar with. You don't have a clue about SL. If you want to do a paper on it, then do it next semester, this semester spend getting to know it.

If you want to do grad level work then you need to be able to not simply say "people in SL do xxxx" anyone can see that by reading a few websites. You need to identify the different interests in SL, there are thousands of reasons people get and stay involved. Show the social dynamics at work behind the communications. Why do people want to interact with their avatars online instead of in RL? What comfort level is created by the avatar, and not just 'a' avatar, but the specific avatars people choose. Does a person representing herself as a furry have the same dynamics evolving in her Second Life as a person playing a gorean slave-girl? Is the suburban wife playing at being a LA gangsta receiving the same type of emotional catharsis as a guy pretending to be a woman? These are graduate level questions, not "Are you having as much fun as you thought you would?" That's something a freshman would ask.

Pat

If you want to do grad level work then you need to be able to not simply say "people in SL do xxxx" anyone can see that by reading a few websites. You need to identify the different interests in SL, there are thousands of reasons people get and stay involved. Show the social dynamics at work behind the communications. Why do people want to interact with their avatars online instead of in RL? What comfort level is created by the avatar, and not just 'a' avatar, but the specific avatars people choose. Does a person representing herself as a furry have the same dynamics evolving in her Second Life as a person playing a gorean slave-girl? Is the suburban wife playing at being a LA gangsta receiving the same type of emotional catharsis as a guy pretending to be a woman? These are graduate level questions, not "Are you having as much fun as you thought you would?" That's something a freshman would ask.

Pat

Pat, you make good points and all of those are interesting things worthy of study, but i think its short sided to make assumptions about surveys and studies, especially if you're in the study population because as a researcher, one of the goals is to not divulge too much information. obviously, researchers need to inform the target population as much as possible.

researchers need to "confuse" the participants about the true nature and scope of the study. we do this because, in general, it has been shown, that if participants knew what exactly the researcher was looking for, their answers and responses would change to suit the questions of the researchers. by keeping it vague, researchers get true responses, but whether my ideas and assumptions are correct or incorrect are a different matter.

thanks for everyone's interest so far. if you haven't dont so already, i hope you would take the survey. i cant divulge too much more info than what is included with the survey in fear of biasing and altering responses.

if anyone would like to know about the actual research questions and the previously published research my research is based on and modeled after, i would be happy to discuss them with you.