Planning for a BPL Poll

[Delmar O’Donnell]

EDIT: Poll is now live .

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MNKKFDK

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Original post:

A client of mine has generously shared her Survey Monkey account with me, so I would like to make a 20-question, multiple-choice poll to ask of BPL (closed ended questions only, for ease of analysis). I have gear questions such as:

What capacity is your most-used backpack?
Do you prefer stoves of: alcohol, canister, wood, esbit, white gas, other?
What is your average summertime base weight for a 5-day?
How many people hike with one pole vs. two poles vs. none?
For rain coverage do you carry “breathable” jacket, pit-zip jacket, pants, poncho, windshirt, other?
Do you mostly tarp, tent (singe wall), tent (double wall), bivy, cowboy, other?
What size group do you prefer to hike with?
How do you clean your water? Filter, chemical, boil, other?
What luxuries do you bring? Chair, pillow, binoculars, GPS, barometer, smartphone, drinking alcohol, etc?
What region of the country are you in? Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, US NW, US SW, US Midwest, US NE, US SE, other?

…and several other questions I’m pondering. BUT I’m only going to ask 10 of the 20 questions available (unless nobody but me has questions). The other 10 questions, I’m open for submissions. If you have a burning question for the group, please post it below. (And if you have suggestions for refining the questions above, post those too.) I'll select 10 submitted questions to put into the poll–be sure to include response categories, too. If your question doesn’t get in, fret not; if this is successful, I may run a second survey. I’ll post results here after the survey closes in a week.

[Bob Gross]

What is your intent for collecting this information?

–B.G.–

[Delmar O’Donnell]

Personal edification and no other purpose, other than to share results here on BPL. There is no sponsor, other than me.

It's a windfall because I have free unlimited SM access for awhile.

Oh, BTW, the responses will be anonymous. Although I don't think any of my proposed questions are sensitive. This will definitely be a "convenience sample" with data from only those who care to participate. Not random sample, not science. Fun, though. Perhaps even educational.

[Kate Moody]

You said you would have close ended questions, but include other on many of the options. Maybe allow for a text explanation if someone chooses other? If you are asking questions about quantities (for instance) close ended questions may not be so useful. Also, the fuel source option of "other" would benefit from a text entry, as you may find someone is using something novel. Just a thought from a newb.

Edit: new thought, allow each entrant to write comments at the end of the question section to include any novel/explanatory information. I can imagine that such a feature would allow for better discovery of "new" ways that people are doing things. Not as easy to collate, but could be added as notes on the site.

[Ken Thompson]

Might want to check this question…
What region of the country are you in? Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, US NW, US SW, US Midwest, US NE, US SE, other?

I'm interested in knowing how far time wise they are from a favorite trailhead. I've got a trailhead that's 48 miles from my driveway, but takes an hour and a half to get there. So time is more meaningful to me than distance in this case.

[Ito Jakuchu]

Next to location, I would ask what the other conditions are. Dry or wet climate? Hot and dry/hot and humid/cold and wet? etc. Mostly around what elevation range? This will affect gear choices/clothing systems.

edit – also, Europe, or Asia etc. are too big to provide meaningful information. I would break that down like the US is broken down.

[M G]

Very interested in what people carry:
Compass
Map, what scale?
Smart phone? What app?
GPS
What kind of GPS, full featured? Basic?
UTM grid reader template?

[Andrew F]

How many nights per year do you spend in the back country?

[Michael Gunderloy]

Water cleaning question should be pick many, not pick one. I expect you already thought of that.

Add "hammock" to the tent question.

Add "no cook" to the stove question.

Other (probably not burning) questions:
– Longest hike?
– Frequency of hiking?
– Sleeping bag or quilt(s)?
– Light, Ultra Light, Super Ultra Light, Stupid Ultra Light, or simply Lighter Than Thou?

[Delmar O’Donnell]

Thanks for the replies, folks. I'll get on this tonight.

[Ito Jakuchu]

– Longest hike?
– Frequency of hiking?
– Sleeping bag or quilt(s)?

Perhaps not burning but good additions

[Delmar O’Donnell]

MG if you are online, can you give me a couple options for map size/scale?

[Delmar O’Donnell]

Room for 3 more questions, then it's a wrap.

[M G]

Maybe by brand is better:
1. USGS Quad, tend to be 1:24k
2. Tom Harisson, scale varies alot
3. Nat Geo Topo, scale varies
4. Other.

[BlackHatGuy]

TP/no TP

If TP/ bury/burn or pack it out

[BlackHatGuy]

Food safety: Bear canister/hang/sleep with it

[Delmar O’Donnell]

That's a wrap! Thanks all. I'll have the survey up shortly.

EDIT:

Poll is now live.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/MNKKFDK

[Delmar O’Donnell]

Hey, update.

Question 14: Stupid Survey Monkey won't accept fractions or decimals as answers, so I had to change question 14 (distance from your favorite trailhead) from 'hours' to 'minutes.' I'll go in and manually convert the first 8 responses which were in hours.

Sorry 'bout that.

Bad Monkey! No Banana!

Thanks to whomever called that to my attention.

[Will Newton]

Thanks for doing this, Delmar. I'll be intrigued to see the data.

…and somehow, thinking of my local trailhead as 180 minutes away makes it seem closer.

[Ito Jakuchu]

I originally put 0 to the trailhead because I live a 30 minutes walk, or a 5 (10? no idea) minute drive away.

[Delmar O’Donnell]

Thanks Ito. I saw your zero hours (the only one) and now I know how to convert it.

19 responses so far.

More people carrying a pillow, than a compass, at this point.

90% of responses from North America.

North America dominated (70%) by the west coast.

So far.

[Roger Caffin]

Map scales in Europe and Australia are 'metric': 1:25k and 1:50k are normal for walkers.

Cheers

[Donna C]

Silly question, I know, but Virginia is sometimes considered Midatlantic…so what catagory would it be with what you have given? NE?

[Delmar O’Donnell]

So far, N=51.

Esbit is currently beating alcohol!

More people sleep with their food, than use a bear canister!

Europe is not a continent!

[William Chilton]

Delmar, the food safety question is perhaps U.S.-centric. Here, we are usually hiking in non-bear territory, where the food is safer against critters if it's in the tent with us.

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