# Possible Statistical Analysis Surver for Speedcubers



## Carson (Sep 25, 2008)

I am considering seting up a survey for statistical analysis purposes for speedcubers. It would deal very little with cubing itself, but instead, would focus on other aspects of life to determine what types of people are drawn to speedcubing and possibly what outside factors may affect your skills in various speedcubing events. 

The survey will likely be between 50 and 100 questions. Whether I take on this project depends highly on how many people are willing to take the time to complete it.

Also, feel free to reply with any questions that you would like to see included on the survery.

A list of potential questions:

Age (This will be a range)
Gender
Interest in sports
Ability in sports
Interest in video games
Ability in video games
Rate your memory
Rate your vocabulary
How often do you use profanity
Do you drink
Do you smoke
Are you a recreational drug user
What is your IQ (or estimated IQ) (This options will be listed as options)
What grades did you typically get in school? (A,B,C,D,F)
Do you play a musical instrument
How many siblings do you have
Were you raised by both of your parents
How quickly do you lose interest in a difficult tast
Have you, or do you plan to, move a significant distance from where you grew, or are growing, up
How many words per minute can you type
What is your favorite type of music
What is your least favorite type of music
Rate your religious interest
Rate your parents religious interest
How many languages do you speak (including sign)
Do you require corrective lenses
Rate your interest in television
Rate your interest in movies
If you had to choose, would you prefer one best friend, or many casual friends
Do you like to dance
Do you prefer to shower in the morning, at night, or both
Do you prefer a toothbrush with soft, medium, or firm bristles
How many caffeinated beverages do you typically consume in a day
Do you eat healthy
Are you a vegetarian
Hair Color
Eye Color
Interest in computers
Rate your work ethic
Do you do better as a leader, follower, or somewhere in between
Do you work better under pressure, or at your own pace
Do you prefer to multitast, or complete one task at a time


As you can see, some of the questions are somewhat personal, but the test will be completely anonymous.

Please Discuss...


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## Tim Reynolds (Sep 25, 2008)

Sure, I'll do it. Try to make questions like "rate your work ethic" less open-ended, or you'll have a lot of trouble compiling results.


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## Waynilein (Sep 25, 2008)

A lot of people found out about cubing because they're interested in other things involving finger dexterity (i.e. pen spinning, ffr, card manipulation and countless other things), you could have a question involving that. Programming also has a few things in common with cubing, also maybe performance in maths.

Is there any particular reason you're making a survey for cubers?


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## cmhardw (Sep 25, 2008)

Tim Reynolds said:


> Sure, I'll do it. Try to make questions like "rate your work ethic" less open-ended, or you'll have a lot of trouble compiling results.



I would be interested in filling out the questions too. Just keep in mind that your sample population are cubers who are also computer users, and in addition to that users of this forum. This might skew the results a bit.

Chris


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## Waynilein (Sep 25, 2008)

cmhardw said:


> Just keep in mind that your sample population are cubers who are also computer users, and in addition to that users of this forum. This might skew the results a bit.
> 
> Chris



Of course, he could also get random cubers to take the survey, at a competition or a cuber meetup.


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## hawkmp4 (Sep 25, 2008)

Or just give the survey to people to distribute to all the cubers that they know.
I'd be interested in the results and so I'll be willing to answer any questions like that.


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## Brett (Sep 25, 2008)

I'd be interested to see the results.

As for work ethic, as a little sidenote you should ask a side question about procrastination, because my work ethic is good once I start something (start at last minute )


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## Dene (Sep 25, 2008)

Sounds like a great idea, I'll fill it in!

I have a problem with this question:


Carson said:


> [*]If you had to choose, would you prefer one best friend, or many casual friends



I don't want any friends at all.
I find this a very common thing to happen in many psychological tests (usually on personality). It's always the same: "many, or few?" It's never "none?"


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## ShadenSmith (Sep 25, 2008)

Dene said:


> Sounds like a great idea, I'll fill it in!
> 
> I have a problem with this question:
> 
> ...




No friends at all?


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## nitrocan (Sep 25, 2008)

Dene said:


> I don't want any friends at all.


TOO SHORT
Why?


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## rjohnson_8ball (Sep 25, 2008)

nitrocan said:


> Dene said:
> 
> 
> > I don't want any friends at all.
> ...



Dene was just indicating that some questionnaires allow for a subset of answers when they should offer the complete set of possible answers. It's like asking someone, "How many cubes do you have? One? Two? More?" or "Think of a number. Is it less than zero? More than zero?"


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## Lofty (Sep 25, 2008)

Dene was being serious...


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## Dene (Sep 25, 2008)

Well, sure I was being serious, but Mr. rjohnson_8ball did give a nice explanation.

You should be careful that you avoid questions where the options are not exhastive of all possibilities (or at least give an "other" choice for when either of the options really doesn't someone).

BTW: Mr. Loftus you know me so well


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## Kristoffer (Sep 25, 2008)

Sounds interesting...i'm curious about the result^^


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## cookingfat (Sep 26, 2008)

yes, I would be willing to do the questionnaire.


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## Bryan (Sep 26, 2008)

I'd leave out the IQ question. Many people are going to reply and give themselves a high IQ, no matter what.

Honestly, do people even get IQ tests anymore? I mean actual IQ tests, not advanced placements tests or anything.


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## hawkmp4 (Sep 26, 2008)

Maybe a better indication would be ACT/SAT scores, if available?
I don't take much stock in any kind of test for intelligence so I'd rather see nothing about tests on the survey.


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## TimMc (Sep 26, 2008)

I'd participate.

But remove any ambiguous questions (they'd be useless). 

Tim.


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## Dene (Sep 26, 2008)

hawkmp4 said:


> Maybe a better indication would be ACT/SAT scores, if available?
> I don't take much stock in any kind of test for intelligence so I'd rather see nothing about tests on the survey.



Oh sure, and for those not from the USA? There are other countries in the world, you know.


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## cmhardw (Sep 26, 2008)

Dene said:


> Oh sure, and for those not from the USA? There are other countries in the world, you know.



Canada?

;-)

Chris


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## Fobo911 (Sep 26, 2008)

I wonder who would say no...


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## Sa967St (Sep 26, 2008)

this seems interesting, I'd be willing to take the survey


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## waffle=ijm (Sep 26, 2008)

why not? (post to short)


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## Dene (Sep 26, 2008)

cmhardw said:


> Dene said:
> 
> 
> > Oh sure, and for those not from the USA? There are other countries in the world, you know.
> ...



I don't get it, do they have the same tests in Canada?


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## cmhardw (Sep 26, 2008)

Dene said:


> I don't get it, do they have the same tests in Canada?



No, I was just joking about the general American mindset. That wasn't really a comment targeted at anybody in general, just making fun of myself and my fellow Americans ;-)

Chris


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## F.P. (Sep 26, 2008)

Bryan said:


> I'd leave out the IQ question. Many people are going to reply and give themselves a high IQ, no matter what.
> 
> Honestly, do people even get IQ tests anymore? I mean actual IQ tests, not advanced placements tests or anything.



Actually yes...IQ testing is more popluar now than before; it's used for children at school and people who have problems at work.
And there are a lot of people out there who just want to know their IQ, join the Mensa (which offers a very cheap intelligence test).

Didn't you recognise this whole "brain"-boom? 
Memo-sports, mental calculation, "brain-jogging", speed reading, logic puzzles, IQ tests, general brain-fitness etc. 



I guess it would be easier for you if this would be a test with multiple answers, where people taking the test have to choose one or two per question. Otherwise some people might write little essays about what they like doing in their freetime.


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## Lofty (Sep 26, 2008)

Dene said:


> Well, sure I was being serious, but Mr. rjohnson_8ball did give a nice explanation.
> 
> You should be careful that you avoid questions where the options are not exhastive of all possibilities (or at least give an "other" choice for when either of the options really doesn't someone).
> 
> BTW: Mr. Loftus you know me so well



Come on how long have I known you Dene?
If you didn't live so far away and weren't so opposed to friends I'm sure we would be great friends.


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## Carson (Sep 26, 2008)

Tim Reynolds said:


> Sure, I'll do it. Try to make questions like "rate your work ethic" less open-ended, or you'll have a lot of trouble compiling results.


The questions will be much more detailed than what I listed on the first page. That was just something I threw together so everyone could get a good idea of what kind of data I will be trying to collect. Also, any questions that ask the subject to "rate" something about themselves will be given a "1-10" scale to choose from, so as not to have a bunch of "it's ok, but not that good lol" answers.



Waynilein said:


> A lot of people found out about cubing because they're interested in other things involving finger dexterity (i.e. pen spinning, ffr, card manipulation and countless other things), you could have a question involving that. Programming also has a few things in common with cubing, also maybe performance in maths.
> 
> Is there any particular reason you're making a survey for cubers?


I suppose there are a lot of side interests that I had not considered. This question will probably involve a two blocks of checkboxes in which users can choose all of there interests. One block will be "pre-cubing" and the other will be "since they began cubing." I will also add something about "what" got "you" into cubing.

As for the WHY question: I have noticed that a lot of cubers have similiar interests and also appear to have a similiar mindset. This is really a way for me to satisfy my own curiousity, but I imagine that many other cubers would be equally interested.



Waynilein said:


> cmhardw said:
> 
> 
> > Just keep in mind that your sample population are cubers who are also computer users, and in addition to that users of this forum. This might skew the results a bit.
> ...


Noted. I had not considered handing this out at competitions, but I believe that is an excellant idea.



hawkmp4 said:


> Or just give the survey to people to distribute to all the cubers that they know.
> I'd be interested in the results and so I'll be willing to answer any questions like that.


Great Idea... I will provide a written form in .pdf most likely that anyone may print out and have there "non-computer using cubing friends" fill out and then enter into the database for them.



Brett said:


> As for work ethic, as a little sidenote you should ask a side question about procrastination, because my work ethic is good once I start something (start at last minute )


Noted. Procrastination will be included in some form or fashion.



Dene said:


> I have a problem with this question:
> 
> 
> Carson said:
> ...


I will be sure to include all possible options, or at least an other choice, for all questions. Additionally, if you spend some time at this site, you may change your mind about wanting friends.



Bryan said:


> I'd leave out the IQ question. Many people are going to reply and give themselves a high IQ, no matter what.
> 
> Honestly, do people even get IQ tests anymore? I mean actual IQ tests, not advanced placements tests or anything.





hawkmp4 said:


> Maybe a better indication would be ACT/SAT scores, if available?
> I don't take much stock in any kind of test for intelligence so I'd rather see nothing about tests on the survey.


This is something to consider. I would like to find some way to get a ballpark estimate of the intelligence of cubers in general. I suppose finding an adequate measure of this may be difficult.



It looks like there is a ton of interest in this, so I will get started right away. I may be pm'ing a few of you with drafts of the survey to see what you think of it. I am by no means an expert in this matter and will not shy away from anyone's offer to help.


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## nitrocan (Sep 26, 2008)

About the IQ thing, I'd say every SPEEDcuber is above average since the cube would attract everyone, but the clever one's are the one's who are truly capable of taking it one step further. Average people just tend to give it up because they think it's boring.


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## Escher (Sep 26, 2008)

lol i would love to think that is true but to look at some of the posts by newbies here...


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## CAT13 (Sep 26, 2008)

Are there any acceptable IQ tests on the internet that I can take? Because I know that there are a ton of BS tests that are... well, BS.


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## Dene (Sep 26, 2008)

Carson said:


> I will be sure to include all possible options, or at least an other choice, for all questions. Additionally, if you spend some time at this site, you may change your mind about wanting friends.



I can assure you hugs do not appeal to me - unless it's my cats.

Lofty: It's only really been since about January... not that long.


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## Carson (Sep 27, 2008)

Dene said:


> Carson said:
> 
> 
> > I will be sure to include all possible options, or at least an other choice, for all questions. Additionally, if you spend some time at this site, you may change your mind about wanting friends.
> ...



Perhaps a few questions regarding favorite animals and pets then...


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## Lofty (Sep 27, 2008)

Dene said:


> Carson said:
> 
> 
> > I will be sure to include all possible options, or at least an other choice, for all questions. Additionally, if you spend some time at this site, you may change your mind about wanting friends.
> ...



Only january? I thought it was much longer. since by january I had been cubing for like 9 months... oh well.
Animals could be good to add.


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## Dene (Sep 27, 2008)

Good idea! Animals ftw.

And yes Lofty, only January. (that was when the stickam thing happened, I only joined the forums mid-december)


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## JohnnyA (Dec 19, 2008)

I would answer this. If you do create it, a pm would be nice because I rarely check the off-topic.


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## d4m4s74 (Dec 19, 2008)

I'd fill it in
what are the "personal" questions, because I don't see anything I would mind being public

also, with languages, do non-official languages (Klingon) and programming languages count?
(not that I speak klingon)


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## shelley (Dec 19, 2008)

JohnnyA said:


> I would answer this. If you do create it, a pm would be nice because I rarely check the off-topic.



You could have just sent Carson a PM instead of thread-necro-ing. Assuming he hasn't already either finished the survey or given up on it, seeing as this thread happened about three months ago.


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## nitrocan (Dec 19, 2008)

Here is a suggestion for the thread reviving: If the thread the user is about to post a reply to is older than a month, there should be a message box saying "Are you sure you want to post to an old thread" or something like that.


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