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 Previous: Ohio Youngsters Enjoy First ARISS School Group Contact of 2004 |  Next: Web Program Available to Create Cabrillo Format Logs |
NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 6, 2004--As an interactive feature of the ARRL Web site, each week a multiple-choice question is posted as an "ARRLWeb Survey." Typically some 2000 to 3000 site visitors record their responses in these completely unscientific surveys. These individuals represent only themselves, not a larger population as in the case of a random sample survey. The ARRL uses only rudimentary and easily circumvented means to limit votes to one per participant. Normally that's not a problem; there isn't much incentive to "stuff the ballot box," since the tally is intended purely for the entertainment of participants.
The ARRLWeb Survey question posted on January 2 seemed a reasonable one for the New Year: "Which is your greatest hope for Amateur Radio in 2004?" The survey offered these choices, representing things that may or may not happen during the year:
That BPL (Broadband over Power Line) will be stopped before it spreads
That the FCC will drop Morse code testing
That the FCC will retain Morse code testing
That more antenna restrictions will be overturned
That more people will become hams
None of the above
After a few hours of responses following the normal pattern, participation degenerated into a contest between small numbers of people favoring either the second or the third response to see who could stuff the ballot box faster. As a consequence, more than 29,000 responses were recorded by the morning of January 6, and the overwhelming majority of these resulted from ballot stuffing. Allowing that to continue served no useful purpose, so the question was replaced.
Any results tallied while the "greatest hope" question was still active are completely meaningless. The ARRL staff regrets any inconvenience that may have resulted.
The question of what position the ARRL should take on Morse code testing is part of the broader issue of World Radiocommunication Conference 2003 (WRC-03) implementation that the ARRL Board of Directors will consider later this month. ARRL members are welcome to convey their thoughts and opinions to their League directors.
The ARRLWeb Survey is an entertaining interactive feature of the ARRL Web site, but these surveys should not be taken too seriously. Like the on-line polls found on many Web sites, the ARRLWeb Survey is unscientific and is not intended to be--and should not be--used as a basis for making decisions.
The results of these informal polls reflect only the opinions of those ARRLWeb visitors who happen to notice the survey and choose to participate, and they can easily be manipulated. The results of such surveys cannot be assumed to reflect the opinions of the Amateur Radio community as a whole.
| Previous: Ohio Youngsters Enjoy First ARISS School Group Contact of 2004 | Next: Web Program Available to Create Cabrillo Format Logs |
