No problem.  You make some good observations.  When I was developing a
thesis for this paper, I was attempting to narrow down my topic so I would
not have should a broad range of questions due to the length requirements of
the paper.  I'm limited to a semester worth of work so while some students
proposed vague research questions, my research question I am attempting to
answer is:

"In what ways has Linux provided all of the publicized technological
(increased scalability, flexibility, and reliability) and economical
(reduced TCO and increased ROI) advantages over commercial operating
systems?"

So I am attempting to gather what Linux users perceive as realized benefits
from implementing Linux, which sort of leads to having questions that steer
respondents to answer affirmatively.  Unfortunately, mostly Linux people
have responded so I will have to note that in my paper.  But my methodology,
scope, limitations, quantitative analysis, and a copy of the survey will
surely be included in this paper.  How would you improve my questionnaire?
Which had I had more time, I would have "fine-tuned" my survey after
submitting it to a smaller group first but my research time is a limiting
factor in this case.

Thanks again for your comments and I apologize for having to approach you in
this manner.

-Eser
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jason Clinton" <clintonj@umkc.edu>
To: "Eser Saydam" <esaydam1@comcast.net>
Cc: <kclug@kclug.org>
Sent: Thursday, November 14, 2002 5:14 PM
Subject: Re: Linux Questionnaire

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> Eser Saydam wrote:
> | to draw conclusions from his research.  But to clear up any
misconceptions,
> | I use Microsoft OSs and applications for work because I have no choice
in
> | this matter, as many of us do.  I have been using Linux and various
flavors
> | of UNIX for over 4 years, so I hope you feel I have sufficient
experience
> | using non-MS platforms to draw some useful conclusions from your
answers.
>
>
> I appoligize for the prejudice. As you can imagine, we take all bulk email
with
> a grain of salt.
>
> Since I have your attention however, I would like to point out that your
> questionaire will not reveal anything substantial due to the flawed
framing. You
> only give respondents the ability to respond in a possitive or affirmative
> manner and therefore your qualitative ananysis results will be
affermatively
> squewed. See this lecture outline for some good guidelines on doing
qualitative
> analysis:
>
> http://www-pub.naz.edu:9000/~dapage/Fall02www/surv.html
>
> Any good thesis using survey results to justify it's possition will
require a
> "Methodoly" section explaining how the survey was conducted and an
Appendix
> containing an actual copy of the survey. Be sure you do not squew your
results
> by only targeting Linux people, as well. Hope this helps!
>
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