UKC

I'd very much appreciate if you could take a minute to answer my survey (one last time I promise).

I'd also just like to say big thanks to everyone who helped with my last survey questionnaire, the feedback was staggering!! Can't thank you enough, it's been a massive help towards getting my dissertation study more accurate in regards to actual rock climbers.

<a href="http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=gxpqo5llorcwk3h317059" >Take part in our online survey</a>

kind regards,

Christian.

In reply to Connolly8684:

I finished the survey but I have to ask from some of these questions what is your opinion of rock climbing?

In reply to Connolly8684:

I did your questionnaire. I got worried reading it that it was for a dissertation (or something similar). The questions are very poor, especially with regards to the choices on the multiple choice answers. I think you should pull it down and do more research about your subject.

It seems very much that you are against climbing as a risk taking past time but would you mind clarifying you view on this? If not that, what is the title of your dissertation?

In reply to Connolly8684:

Hi. Tried to be helpful and complete your survey but simply couldn't - many of the questions require far more complex answers than the choices allow, while others are phrased in such a way as to be effectively unanswerable - by me, anyway.

Black-or-white, fixed sets of attitudes toward risk-taking (and motivations to climb) on which the relevance of your survey seems to depend, simply don't exist in many climbers, in my opinion. These issues are usually far more fluid, complex, and hard to pin down - which is why surveys of this type are so hard to complete in any meaningful way.

In reply to mlmatt:

Thanks for the comments! Yes, it's for my dissertation titled, "Rock Climbing: A study into risk perception between participating and non-participating individuals."

I climb myself, that and an interest in risk perception led me to do this study. This is my third questionnaire, after posting test surveys to gain some insight from climbers I then put together this final questionairre, using feedback from my others.

In regards to the choices given in the questioannire when asked about other sports, all activities/sports listed are recognised in published literature that I've read as 'extreme sports', rock climbing is also recognised as an 'extreme sport'. However I personally don't beleive it is.
This led to me asking the question of "Do you think rock climbing is an extreme sport?" - The answers from this will hopefully determine whether the general public follow my opinion or if the answer differs from actual climbers and the non climbing public.

My own view is that, whilst there is obvious risks involved in climbing, these risks can be managed and controlled, apart from bad weather and natural occurences obviously.
Increased experience and exposure to rock climbing decreases the risk perception that climbers have. In terms of non climbers there perception of risk associated with climbing seems to come from the media and other outlets. Yet the media only tend to cover stories on climbing when something goes wrong.

Getting a real idea of the difference of risk perception associated with rock climbing won't solve anything or answer many questions, but I think its an interesting topic, hence my research study.

Hope this helped!

Regards,

Christian.

In reply to Connolly8684:

no bouldering optiona! in terms of risk i would have thought the inclusion of bouldering might be interesting, it seems to most to be safer but insurance premiums tend to be higher. this is i believe because you are much more likely to get injured but you are a lot less likely to have a really seriousl/fatal injury.

In reply to Connolly8684:

Hi Christian, I've not done your survey given the reservations of others but I thought I would add my opinion on perceived risks in climbing.

I was having a discussion with a few other instructors on a Facebook group re the use of helmets during group indoor sessions. Some centres insist on it for their insurance and some leave it up to the instructors discretion. It was telling that one instructor noted he makes his group wear helmets due to the fact that the parents of the kids might be watching and didn't want to be perceived as being unsafe.
My opinion is that the use of the helmet in this instance gives the wrong impression to those parents of the risks and hazards associated with indoor climbing. I'm not going to say it was wrong to do so but I wouldn't pander to perceptions like this.
I hope this is of interest to you and if you want any more information please email me. all the best on the research.

Anthony

In reply to Connolly8684:

Very few objections to the answers for the questions, the only real one was for 21, my reasoning being there is always the risk of a fall.

In reply to Connolly8684:

Done, but not a well thought out set of questions and answer options.

In reply to Connolly8684:
You have probably read these books already but if not, perhaps worth a read:

McNamee, M (2007) Philosophy, Risk and Adventure, Routledge

Rinehart, R and Syndor, S (2003) To The Extreme: Alternative Sports Inside and Out, State University of New York Press

Ormrod, J and Wheaton, B (2009) On the Edge: Leisure Consumption and the Representation of Adventure Sports, Leisure Studies Association, University of Brighton

EDIT: Sorry, I wasn't able to complete your survey. I felt that many of the questions did not apply to me or that I wasn't able to accurately answer them.

In reply to Connolly8684:

I'll echo others. I am happy to complete the survey, after all it's not as though the results will change anything in my world and I hope you get your dissertation and qualification.

I don't like that a couple of the questions seemed to be only answerable as if Rock Climbing is a dangerous sport that only selfish people wold pursue in the face of the cost to society - or not.

There have been very good questionnaires on here, okay not really but some with a better metre of risk awareness and risk takingness using standardised questionnaires for risk taking character traits. Good luck with your Dissertation. Seemed shallow to me.

In reply to Connolly8684:

I filled it in but it appeared to be almost exactly the same as the last one you put up and as with that one the answer to almost all the yes-no questions is actually 'sometimes', 'maybe' or 'it depends'.

Hope you get something you can work with anyway.
jk

In reply to Connolly8684: Done, but not that impressed.

I can't see that any of the questions really relate to the key issue of risk perception.

The simple fact is that rock climbing is not dangerous, not unless you are going to class 'normal life' as dangerous. A young UK rock climber has as much chance statistically of dying through any of murder, suicide or being in a road traffic accident as they do from rock climbing.

Winter climbing is a different story; the risk is greater than most everyday activities and it is probably marginally more risky than other activities with regular fatalities like horse riding or motorcycling. Alpine mountaineering is much more risky again and can rightly be classed as 'dangerous' by any measure. High altitude mountaineering is then more dangerous still.

In reply to Connolly8684:











Christian,

Given that is is presumably a degree study you really need to sort out your grammar, sentence construction and spelling.

And I would also suggest that you bin the idea that you are doing a survey to support your pre-conceived ideas.

Ciao.

In reply to Connolly8684:

Done, but echo some of the reservations. Good luck.

In reply to Connolly8684:

I've completed the study also because some data has to be better than no data (certainly for the OP) but I have some questions / concerns:

This (like all the other similar questionnaires on here) comes across as biassed in the way questions are worded - "Are rock climbers tempting fate?" particularly strikes me as a bizarre question, what are you hoping to learn from asking this?
More importantly (as with all the questionnaires on here), won't your recruitment process (i.e. posting on a climbers forum) be biassed to the point of invalidating your results? Where are you getting your controls (non-climbers) from? Another similar online forum for a different (non-extreme) sport? Generic university mailing lists? When answering the questionnaire there is nothing to say where you were recruited from (unless you have a separate link for each recruitment group) so how can you keep track of where people are from?

I think the reason so many people do these questionnaires is because nobody has properly explored the topic.

P.S. Nowhere in the questionnaire nor the participant information sheet do you identify your university - surely if they are endorsing the study they should be identified? (I do realise it can be deciphered from your email address).

In reply to splat2million:

Tempting fate I read as 'is nature animate/privileged or not'. So I said no. I got my pleasure at 16 from overcoming 'nature', but now at 43 I get it from overcoming myself. Fnarr.

In reply to andyathome:

Thanks for your lovely message.

I must add however that most research studies are initially carried out on the basis of someone’s 'pre-conceived idea(s)', however I agree for a simplistic dissertation topic it shouldn't be.

So I offer an explanation into my reasoning for choosing this topic. My own pre-conceived idea has originated from hours and hours of research particularly from the likes of Brymer, Fave, Bassi and Massimini as I’m sure you’re well aware are recognised and respected scientists, philosophers and even rock climbers given that you “can be slightly insensitive of ignorant pillocks and those who appear to have absolutely no understanding of the history of climbing”.
It’s the respected findings of the individuals named above that persuaded me to choose the topic of risk perception associated with rock climbing.

As for the poor spelling and construction of my previous message, I do wholeheartedly apologise. My only excuse being that I simply don’t care for superb grammar in casual forums found on the world wide web (www). Yet I trust your time spent combing through mine and I can only presume others people’s message’s late on a weekday evening keeps you more than content.
May I also point out that you yourself made a slight error by typing ‘is’ twice, just a little heads up and you should never start a sentence with ‘And’.

Kind regards,

Christian.




To everyone else who replied to my post, thanks. Despite the feedback not being what I was hoping for it’s helpful nonetheless. This is my third questionnaire posted on UKC, together the data received from them will be collated together and hopefully give myself clearer answers to the perception of risk in rock climbers opposed to the non-climbing public.

In reply to splat2million:

Thanks very much.

The question "Are rock climbers tempting fate?" and those set out in the same way are done so intentionally. After reading articles from past research studies on extreme sports and risk perception and how they measuered and collected data I just followed suit as its deemed the most appropraite way of getting fast, reliable data.
Even though I admit it does sound one sided and forced.

By posting the questionnaire on here, yes it is pretty biased considering your all climbers, but I think climbers in any setting would be biased to the questions anyway.

The non-climbers are from the likes of facebook, friends and as you mentioned the generic univeristy mailing lists.
As they have little to no experience or exposure to rock climbing i'm hoping their answers will differ from those of the climbers.
Hopefully i'll find a difference in risk perception between climbers and non-climbers supporting my hypothesis after analysing the answers received in the questionnaires.

Keeping track - The website used 'kwik surveys' is able to log where each respondant of the questionnaire has replied from and from what source, currently I have some repsonses as far flung as borneo, australia, russia. The site also logs where they clicked on the link, so ukc, facebook, my emailing list and creates a pie chart detailing this information.

In terms of naming my university, i'll be honest thats a mistake I didn't pick up myself.

Hope this helps, let me know if not.
Thanks for the feedback.

Christian.

In reply to Connolly8684:


Well no, you don't 'wholeheartedly apologise'. You 'simply don't care'.

Mick

In reply to Connolly8684:



I looked at your survey, saw you had mis-spelled the second word and stopped. Why should I spend my time deciphering gibberish because you can't be bothered to proof read? Why should I believe you will do anything sensible with the results if you put so little effort in to writing the survey? Maybe you should care?

In reply to Connolly8684:

Question 19: surely everyone's answer to this is 'sometimes' or 'it depends'. Your choices were only yes or no, so I said yes, but you may as well throw it away because my answer was neither really.

In reply to Connolly8684:

I started the survey but couldn't answer the questions with a yes or no. "Rock climbing" is such a broad word to use and asking if its dangerous can not be answered with a yes or a no.

Personally im involved in canoeing or kayaking the same question again dosnt work.

If im paddling on a flat lake with my many years experience then I cant class it as dangerous. If im at my limit on a Grade 4/5 river in north Wales then I would call it dangerous but we mitigate against the risk with the skill set we have. For example it does become more dangerous if I take a complete beginner onto a flat lake.

I gave up with the yes no questions and pressed the little X in the top right hand corner.

In reply to Connolly8684:

I gave up at 'How often do you seek an adrenaline rush'. WTF has that got to do with perception of risk?

In reply to Connolly8684:


The problem is not that climbers are biased (this isn't bias in this case, it's the difference you are trying to examine with the questionnaire), rather that your climbers will be different to your non-climbers in ways apart from climbing. The population that use UKC will differ in many ways from your control population that will affect the way subjects perceive risk and you are not assessing many of these factors (e.g. educational level, marital status, having children, nationality). You will not be able to compare these factors between the groups.

Keeping track of where the responses are from is more useful if linked to the individual responses or at least grouped as climbers vs non-climbers because it also helps analyse the differences between your groups (e.g. if you get most climbers from UKC and most controls from a uni undergrad mailing list that tells you the groups are different).

Also the way you phrase your goal shows your own bias ("Hopefully I'll find a difference")! This is fine, most researchers hope for a positive result, but I think the way the study is designed encourages a difference in results.

Of course I'm sure you know all the stuff about recruitment bias as you'll want to include it in your discussion section of the dissertation - point out your study's own limitations so people don't think you are overlooking them!

In reply to Christian


It's not going to, though. For the reasons that splat2million gives. Your questions are leading and your control group likely to be affected by confounding variables.

You are allowed to have a preference for a positive outcome; you wouldn't be doing the study if you didn't think there was something there to find. However, your questionnaire should be phrased entirely neutrally or it will invalidate your findings.

If the Scottish independence referendum question was- 'independence would be great, do you agree?', people would understandably have some concerns over the objectiveness of the result.... Your study appears to have too many questions that are setting out to get a particular result

I don't think you really have a testable hypothesis there- it's too broad. It needs to be considerably more focused eg 'male climbers aged 18-25 will underplay the risk associated with Scottish winter climbing compared to controls of a similar age'- even that isnt entirely satisfactory but its a whole lot more testable than what you've got at present.

The petulance in the response to andy isn't useful either- you need to take this feedback as gold, far better to face some uncomfortable comments here than in your viva exam from the external examiner.... And the spelling and grammar does matter, this is an extension of your undergrad degree work, not banter in 'the pub'

Really this should have been picked up by your supervisor before you went public with it, this seems to be a common theme with most of the surveys on here,

Best wishes and I hope you et something useable, I didn't complete it though as too many of the questions would have generated meaningless responses from me

Cheers

Gregor