Re: [RFC] Git User's Survey 2010 (resend)

> 
> On 4 July 2010 13:14, Jakub Narebski <jnareb@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sun, 4 July 2010, David Bainbridge wrote:
>>
>>> Have you considered the question: 'How long have you been using Git?'.
>>> This combined the expertise level might yield some useful information,
>>> and could provide some weighting for the 'Getting started' questions
>>> too. There are some problems with the question in that it could be,
>>> say, 2 years intermittent use, or 2 years continuous use, and these
>>> are different, of course.
>>
>> Well, such question was replaced by the question about one's own
>> proficiency in Git in 2009 survey (IIRC).
>>
>>>> === 06. Rate your own proficiency with Git: ===
>>>> (single choice)
>>>>
>>>>  * 1. novice
>>>>  * 2. casual, needs advice
>>>>  * 3. everyday use
>>>>  * 4. can offer advice
>>>>  * 5. know it very well
>>
>> The problem with question "How long have you been using Git?" (beside
>> what you have mentioned) is that it is hard to answer correctly / in
>> detail for longer times.
>>
>> Perhaps something like this:
>>
>> === xx. How long have you been using Git? ===
>> (single choice, with other)
>>
>>  * less than week
>>  * between a week and a month
>>  * a few months
>>  * a few years
>>  * duration (please give units)

>>
>> What do you think?
> 
> I think that the granularity is about right. I think we could imagine
> where we would expect people to be proficiency-wise with those
> periods. Not sure about the last option ... You have everything from
> days, to weeks to months to years in the main options. What did you
> have in mind?

>>> The demographic information is useful if you want to understand
>>> whether Git is (for example) considered less usable in countries where
>>> English is not the native language. But then if you want to know the
>>> native language of the user rather than where they live then perhaps
>>> this should be asked? (I was born in the UK, but now live in Sweden
>>> ... so I am perhaps more conscious of this!). Where you are born does
>>> not necessarily identify your native language either.
>>
>> The problem with this question in the past was twofold: first, people
>> sometimes mistok it for question about _programming languages.  Second
>> should this question be about primary language / languages, or about
>> language ones prefer the computer to communicate with?
> 
> Obviously you have been though this loop before! But perhaps if you
> are using drop-down lists then this makes it obvious what is required.
> I guess both the programming language, and the preferred interaction
> language could be relevant.
> 
> We may want to know whether Git is more 'acceptable' to the Java
> community or the C/C++ community for example, or whether certain
> suggestions for improvement are coming from a community around a
> particular language.

>>> Do you want to separate work usage and 'non-work' usage at all? The
>>> two experiences may be completely different. If I am working at home I
>>> can use what ever I want, and work how I want. This will probably not
>>> be the case in a corporate environment, so I would report one set of
>>> results for 'work' and another for 'non-work'. This could generate two
>>> survey returns for a single user. Is this intended?
>>
>> Hmmmm... food for though.  It can be mentioned somewhere close to
>> beginning that one can fill this survey more than once (from different
>> computers if using default version with cookies) for different roles
>> one plays.  Perhaps with checkbox "additional role" (aka. "I have already
>> filed this survey" ;-))...
> 
> Thats sounds reasonable ... I think it is probably useful to capture a
> user-role response. The priorities of users and their needs may be
> completely different in a work situation.