Re: [libreoffice-users] Which components do you use most?

Tom,

Good morning.

I bothered to comment at all about this for a three reasons.

First, I have a long standing serious interest inductive logic - as you 
know, this is the logic upon which all scientific endeavor depends. Not 
a "fun" topic for me, but a vitally serious and important one.

Second, I see an enormous number of these "opt-in" surveys - commercial 
enterprises and websites are doing them all the time. People participate 
as if something meaningful is happening. But it isn't. One ends up with 
data that has no known or identifiable relationship to any population of 
interest. It's all a big ruse. It APPEARS as if someone is seriously 
ignorant about what they're doing. OR, these efforts are a disingenuous 
attempt merely to induce customer involvement in an activity that brings 
them into contact with "the brand".

Third, as a cultural anthropologist (my first serious intellectual 
commitment, before clinical psychology), I'm keenly aware that there is 
a base of cultural knowledge in all societies. In the 16th and 17th 
century, that knowledge included the fact that witches were real and 
that at times they constituted a genuine threat to society. In our own 
time, respect for expertise, science, and real knowledge is such that 
all major potential presidential candidates for one of our two political 
parties are busy either disavowing the reality of rapid climate change 
or that it has anything to do with human activity. Scientists be damned 
- full speed ahead. God wants profits, not sustainable economies!

That last one scares me half out of my mind. My species may not have 
what it takes to survive in the long run.

So, it appears that one of my principal roles in this world is to be an 
educator, whenever and where I can.

I don't think Virgil is doing this "for fun". I don't think the 
respondents think their responses are meaningless. Seriously now: who in 
their right mind is interested in the practices of those who bother to 
respond to this would-be survey? What possible importance can be 
attached, at all, to their responses? I don't get it. If there isn't 
some degree of belief that this matters (which is cannot, as I've 
previously explained), what's the point?

So, I am induced to think that they really DO belief that this has 
significance, and so I posted what I did.

That's what's behind my post, for what it's worth.

I could be completely cynical and just shake my head and move on. I 
choose not to.

About other matters, I'll respond, next, now that I'm up and half way 
through my first cup of coffee!

Tom

On 05/13/2014 05:48 AM, Tom Davies wrote:
> Hi :)
> It's just a "just for fun" survey of what people think they use.
>
> The modules can't be split up and removing any wouldn't reduce the 
> code=base by much at all so the usual sinister hidden-agendas behind 
> this sort of question are entirely absent.  It's just for fun.
>
> For a lot of us this sort of thing is very difficult because answering 
> would require us have really measured usage and give accurate answers 
> rather than guesses.  It's the type of question that neurotypicals and 
> mainstream-press articles seem to enjoy but that are ultimately fairly 
> pointless.  It's just for fun and it's interesting to see people's 
> estimates of what they do and to see how they handle giving answers to 
> this sort of thing.
> http://musingsofanaspie.com/2013/01/10/what-is-neurotypical/
>
> If we wanted a formal vote then there are various tools such as 
> "Survey Monkey", or we could set-up something in LinuxQuestions.Org" 
> or "Ask LO" or somewhere.
> Regards from
> Tom :)
>
>
> On 13 May 2014 06:06, Tom Cloyd <tomcloydmsma@gmail.com 
> <mailto:tomcloydmsma@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>     On 05/11/2014 03:53 PM, Virgil Arrington wrote:
>
>         I'm curious to find out what components of LO are used most by the
>         people on this list. I think it helps to know different folks'
>         area of
>         experience. It might also help us in learning new ways to
>         integrate
>         the different components. For myself, my approximate usage is:
>
>         Writer     (85% of my use of LO)
>         Calc        (10%)
>         Impress  (3%, Maybe four to five presentations a year)
>         Base       (once a year to print out labels for my Christmas
>         cards)
>         Draw      (What's that?)
>
>         Virgil
>
>
>
>     Virgil,
>
>     I have a considerable background in inferential statistics, and
>     have done formal survey research, in a variety of social and
>     cultural contexts. I want to warn you that this sort of
>     self-select, opt-in survey is NOT the way to go, if your question
>     is serious.
>
>     You ARE only going to get a subset (sample) of your population of
>     interest, and you'll have no way to relate that subset to the
>     population, thus no way to draw any valid conclusions from the
>     subset. It's pseudo-research, which creates the impression of
>     creating knowledge without actually doing so.
>
>     Just something for you, and others, to think about.
>
>     Hope it's helpful.
>
>     Tom
>
>     -- 
>
>
>
>
>     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>     Tom Cloyd, MS MA (LMHC, WA State)
>     Cedar City / St. George, UT, U.S.A: (435) 272-3332
>     <tel:%28435%29%20272-3332>
>     * << tc@tomcloyd.com <mailto:tc@tomcloyd.com> >> (email) <<
>     TomCloyd.com >> (website)
>     * Sleight of Mind blog: Sleightmind.com (mental health issues)
>     * Founder: Google+ Trauma and Dissociation Education and Advocacy
>     community
>     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>
>
>
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--




~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tom Cloyd, MS MA (LMHC, WA State)
Cedar City / St. George, UT, U.S.A: (435) 272-3332
* <<tc@tomcloyd.com  >> (email) << TomCloyd.com >> (website)
* Sleight of Mind blog: Sleightmind.com (mental health issues)
* Founder: Google+ Trauma and Dissociation Education and Advocacy community
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


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