I hate surveys. Twice, now, in the past two weeks, I’ve taken telephone surveys. These aren’t the “what kind of potato chips do you eat” or “how many hours of t.v. do you watch” kind of surveys …. these are actually surveys taken on behalf of folks (I could say “friends”) at other higher education institutions. So, I always feel a bit obliged to take them.
Here’s the problem. I once had a teacher — Barry Striegel — who taught us Talented and Gifted geeks and freaks once a week in elementary school. He once told us that just because someone gives us choices for our answers doesn’t mean we have to actually choose any of the choices. So, you see where this is going: TAG kids scribbling on the margins on multiple choice quizzes. And this relates to my phone survey taking ability how?
A few examples:
So, the survey goes:
“On a scale of one to ten …”
My answer:
“Oh, I don’t know, about a three to four?”
The surveyor:
“M’am, I need an exact number.”
Or how about this:
So, the survey goes:
“How much do you think a product like this would cost?”
My answer:
“I’d have to guess $10,000 to $12,000.”
The surveyor:
“M’am, you need to give me an exact dollar amount.”
Apparently, I once failed Phone Surveys 101. If a survey is nothing more than my opinion, why are these people so unwilling to take it?
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