Having read it, I realise this post may seem or be overly critical. Oh well.
But what the results will actually show, if 65% of people pick libertarian, is that 65% of people Identify with libertarianism more than the other options. This is obviously possible wthout being a libertarian. One could even just hate libertarianism slightly less than the other options and identify most with it. As well as people who’s political views aren’t well deliniated by any option, there are a few people who are apolitical and would have to just pick at random. or one could be forced to hammer a square peg into a round hole. Multiple choice and no choice for “none of the above” for something like this means hammering square pegs into round holes or abstaining if you don’t strongly lean one way or another. if you think you’ll put a box for other in next survey why not put it in this survey? even an uncounted other option allows people who’d rather have their choice not count than be identified with one of the options given not to add a tally to one and gives you the number of people with that preference which is interresting in itself.
The rest of this post is ideas for minor modifications to wording.
Can’t you just change it to “sex” now?
“With what race or ethnic group do you most closely identify?” Some people might identify most closely with a race other than their own. I don’t think the intent is to allow for this but until I read the post this is a reply to, if I did identify with another race more strongly than my own i’d answer that way were i to fill out the survey. Maybe just ask what option best describes or approximates your race.
maths might be the field of a non-trivial percentage of less wrong readers.
I think martial arts would go along nicely with self help, pickup artistry and meditation as an option for the communities question. All are relatively common self-improvement things, as is less wrong. Also I think members of competive gameing (card games, board games, video games, anything i’ve missed) communities would be overrepresented on less wrong.
Expertise question. The bar set for “fairly knowledgable” here might be a little high. I think even someone with an undergraduate degree in maths or physics might be out of their depth in heavy discussion with an expert. Maybe change heavy to light or remove the qualifier.
Having read it, I realise this post may seem or be overly critical. Oh well.
But what the results will actually show, if 65% of people pick libertarian, is that 65% of people Identify with libertarianism more than the other options. This is obviously possible wthout being a libertarian. One could even just hate libertarianism slightly less than the other options and identify most with it. As well as people who’s political views aren’t well deliniated by any option, there are a few people who are apolitical and would have to just pick at random. or one could be forced to hammer a square peg into a round hole. Multiple choice and no choice for “none of the above” for something like this means hammering square pegs into round holes or abstaining if you don’t strongly lean one way or another. if you think you’ll put a box for other in next survey why not put it in this survey? even an uncounted other option allows people who’d rather have their choice not count than be identified with one of the options given not to add a tally to one and gives you the number of people with that preference which is interresting in itself.
The rest of this post is ideas for minor modifications to wording.
Can’t you just change it to “sex” now?
“With what race or ethnic group do you most closely identify?” Some people might identify most closely with a race other than their own. I don’t think the intent is to allow for this but until I read the post this is a reply to, if I did identify with another race more strongly than my own i’d answer that way were i to fill out the survey. Maybe just ask what option best describes or approximates your race.
maths might be the field of a non-trivial percentage of less wrong readers.
I think martial arts would go along nicely with self help, pickup artistry and meditation as an option for the communities question. All are relatively common self-improvement things, as is less wrong. Also I think members of competive gameing (card games, board games, video games, anything i’ve missed) communities would be overrepresented on less wrong.
Expertise question. The bar set for “fairly knowledgable” here might be a little high. I think even someone with an undergraduate degree in maths or physics might be out of their depth in heavy discussion with an expert. Maybe change heavy to light or remove the qualifier.