Cohousing-L Mailing List: Research on Cohousing [was Shadowlake Village Resident research project]

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

On Mar 22, 2006, at 9:04 AM, Ann Zabaldo wrote:

> BTW -- I applaud CohoUS for trying to help w/ the research students and
> others are doing on cohousing.  This list alone gets many requests for
> people to answers surveys...the results of which we never, or almost 
> never,
> see.  (Has anyone seen the results of any of the surveys we've been 
> asked to
> fill out over the years?  I can't remember any results being posted 
> here but
> I could have missed them.)  The research parameters are often poorly 
> thought
> out, poorly executed and goodness knows how the data are interpreted.  
> Also
> many of the studies appear to be redundant.  One wonders what these
> student's professors/teachers are teaching.   Consequently...I don't 
> answer
> surveys anymore.

I agree wholeheartedly. We've also discussed starting a whole other 
list just for surveys and statistical discussions -- I myself almost 
started one such list but it quickly became a question of teaching 
statistics and precise language to undergraduate (and sometimes high 
school) students. I wasn't qualified to teach statistics and teaching 
clear thinking was a "been there done that" experience. And as Ann says 
we never saw any of the results of these surveys and many were so badly 
designed you couldn't respond accurately anyway.

The one kind of message I have often wanted to ban from the list were 
surveys and research reports. Announcing that one is being done is one 
thing, but expecting to get any kind of reliable results from a cattle 
call for responders is quite another. Research studies are not done 
that way.

Sharon
---
Sharon Villines
Building Community: A Guide to Creating New Neighborhoods
http://www.buildingcommunity.info