[libreoffice-users] Re: Engaging users: initial results of the survey

Le 11/11/13 12:19, Charles-H. Schulz a écrit :


Hi Charles,

> Next time I'm  sure you can join us in the weeks during which we
> discussed the survey on the marketing and project's list :-)
> >

Gladly, but the main reason I'm not on, or only rarely follow, the
marketing list, is because of what I see as the zealotist atmosphere
that tends to reign there. I have nothing against being keen to support
and promote a product, but I draw the line at losing all objectivity.
Unfortunately, that is how I perceive the marketing list to function.


> > - penetration of the product;
>
> I honestly would not  think there's relevant data for this in the
> survey and from the respondents.

Hmm, yes, I realize that, but neither was that my intention in that
particular statement. What I meant is that this survey appears not to
have been promoted in such a way as to maximise the number of returns. I
can imagine a number of reasons for this, but I wonder if you remember,
back in the old days of Sun StarOffice, when Sun ran a user-oriented
survey that was linked to the installation (or post-installation /
start-up / one month's use) of the product ?

Although this might have seemed invasive to many at the time (I really
don't know), I actually feel that this is quite a good idea to borrow
from, much in the same way that the download page now links you to
donations to LibreOffice, perhaps it would be possible to organise
future surveys via a similar mechanism ?  In other words, make it so
that, say, after a period of one month from the initial installation of
LO, that the user be directed to a web page to participate in a survey
relating to the usage or desiderata of the product (from the user's
perspective, of course).



> > - reach of the survey;
>
> Good question with no easy answer. The survey was localized in 5
> languages aside English. The link was posted here and on the several
> other users mailing lists. The word was spread on the Facebook
> LibreOffice page and Google+ and to a lesser extent on Twitter. 

Yes, and it felt to me that people who were already on the mailing lists
would more likely be inclined to attempt to respond to the survey
anyway, since that means of communication was used foremost (it is how I
found out about the existence of the survey). Certainly, that seems to
have been the behavioural response on this list. Again, this would be
considered normal behaviour for people who are already on the project
mailing lists and occasionally like to have a say in, or just follow,
contributions from others. "Preaching to the converted", I believe the
French say.


> - the survey could have had a bigger and much deeper outreach if  it
>   had been pushed directly to the users, say at the installation phase
>   or even through a mechanism allowing users to respond to it via the
>   StartCenter. That was obviously not the case, so in the end we
>   reached out the users who are on the project's mailing list and
>   connected to us through our social networks. This leaves out plenty
>   of users irrespective of their language. 


Yes, I understand, hence my suggestion above to think back to how Sun
went about handling a similar situation.

> > - design of the survey;
>
> What would you like to know? The survey was designed in order to be
> progressive in its questioning as should be all the surveys. Beyond
> that, don't look too much into survey methodologies, I'm not sure they
> are that sophisticated, unless of course you would like to get a
> particular answer in advance, and that's precisely what  we wanted to
> avoid.


Nonetheless, as others here have indicated, it did seem that the
questions were biased towards a particular goal, i.e. showing that the
website or the project's communication methods were not quite there yet,
or that the project hadn't managed to foster the required "community
impetus" due to a failure in one or more areas.


> > - length and time for which the survey ran ?
>
> The survey  started on the 31st of October and expired yesterday.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my different points Charles, I
appreciate it.



Alex



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