Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK

Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: Tinkmilo on December 22, 2009, 20:34:05 PM

Title: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Tinkmilo on December 22, 2009, 20:34:05 PM
Hi everyone!

My name is Nikki and I’m doing a Masters degree at Lincoln University with the aim of becoming a cat behaviourist. I have 2 beautiful cats, a female Oriental chocolate tortie called Tink and a male Singapura called Milo.
 
As part of our MSc in Clinical Animal Behaviour we are carrying out a survey about people and their cats. I would be really grateful if you would consider giving us your views by completing this questionnaire, the link is below. The information that we receive will be treated as anonymous and confidential and thank you very much for your help!

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ZYDBQNQ

Merry Christmas!!
Nikki
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Pinkbear (Julie) on December 23, 2009, 01:09:00 AM
Done that for you.  ;)

It's a very basic Q&A and took about 3 minutes. Go on peeps, give Nikki a hand.... she might even stopt by and give us some help after she's passed the exams!  :evillaugh:
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: CC & The Pussycat Guys & Dolls on December 23, 2009, 01:45:01 AM
I thought some questions were a bit contractive, so didn't finish  :shy:

also couldn't put the correct answers to some, like my cats ages for the last 3.
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: blackcat on December 23, 2009, 05:02:46 AM
Easy Peasy, though my preferred option for management of cat access was not given - i.e. they get let out in the morning and come in at night, but I do not open and shut doors for them unless they are driving me nuts. There are a number of options for getting into the house should they so desire.
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Wibblechick on December 23, 2009, 19:58:07 PM
Good luck with the Masters  :)

Id have liked the option to qualify some of the answers, but hope they will be of use to you anyway  :briggin:
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Gill (sneakiefeline) on December 23, 2009, 20:50:28 PM
Have done but like others would have liked an option to give a different answer to those provided.

Have to say these questionnaires fail badly as a real study cos they are pushing to get ceratin answerrs rather than asking for the truth
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Stuart on December 23, 2009, 22:03:14 PM
I thought some questions were a bit contractive

the first page was straight forward  ;D
but the second  no inbetween for Agree or disagree

i.e. do cats annoy neighbours?? well some they do and some they dont !! answers to pick from YES - NO  :-:

I did try picking both  :evillaugh: it didn't work  :(
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Sam (Fussy_Furball) on December 23, 2009, 22:15:34 PM
Done ... good luck with the Masters.
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Den on December 23, 2009, 22:27:54 PM
Well i tried. It won't let me skip questions but I can't answer Q12 as I don't have a clue. I can't even guestimate - my preferred answer would be an awful lot - but to put it in hours/mins is not possible.

Sorry  :scared:
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Janeyk on December 24, 2009, 06:55:37 AM
Done  ;D good luck!
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: CC & The Pussycat Guys & Dolls on December 24, 2009, 10:52:59 AM
Have done but like others would have liked an option to give a different answer to those provided.

Have to say these questionnaires fail badly as a real study cos they are pushing to get ceratin answerrs rather than asking for the truth

Thats what I thought  :shy:

guestimate

I like that one Den  :briggin:
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Desley (booktigger) on December 24, 2009, 11:12:06 AM
Done, but some on the last page should have a 'Dont know', or similar - I have never had a truly indoor cat, so i dont know if they will still want to go out.
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Millys Mum on December 24, 2009, 18:55:07 PM
As gill says the questions push for answers that arent your actual opinion so i didnt complete it as its not going to reflect my actual feelings  :innocent:
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Tinkmilo on December 24, 2009, 19:15:47 PM
Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to complete the questionnaire!  :)

I understand that some of you have concerns about the structure of the questions; there are reasons for the questions being the way they are and I'm more than happy to come back and chat about the study once the results are in!

I realise it is sometimes difficult and uncomfortable to make a judgement if you're not sure, but we would be grateful if people could make their 'best guess' or overall assessment, and approximate time interacting etc.

We are particularly interested in certain factors which affect peoples' attitudes to indoor and outdoor cats, rather than every possible explanation or reason, so sorry if you weren't able to put something you felt was important but we tried to keep the questionnaire focused and not too long!

Quote
Have to say these questionnaires fail badly as a real study cos they are pushing to get ceratin answerrs rather than asking for the truth

I'm sorry you feel that way Gill, but I would just say that it isn't always clear as a respondent why questions are the way they are in a research questionnaire, rather than a general information-collecting survey.

If anyone has any further questions please feel free to let me know.

Thanks again so much, and a very Merry Christmas!  :)
Nikki

Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: clarenmax on December 24, 2009, 19:21:45 PM
Done  ;D
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Den on December 24, 2009, 19:41:30 PM
Time interacting is not something you can guess. If I did do a wild guess then it would totally skew the results, which wouldn't be helpful. My cat spends an enourmous amount of time with me ... So much so I am thinking about getting a restraining order out on him  :evillaugh: during that time I will talk to him, play with him, stroke him, groom him, pick him up and hug him and ignore him. But it happens throughout an entire day .. So you see I honestly don't have a clue what it would average out to in hours/mins. I only know it's way too much time.

Because I honestly don't know the answer, I can't finish the questionnaire  :(
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Mark on December 24, 2009, 20:11:37 PM
That is what stumped me. I started answering the questions but I couldn't possibly guess how much time I spend with each cat and if I thought about it too much, would have to admit that Alice gets more time than the others - but partly as she rarely leaves her bed next to me on the sofa  :evillaugh:
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Tinkmilo on December 24, 2009, 20:57:46 PM
Hi

I appreciate your attempts to be very specific! Of course it will vary day to day and between cats etc. However an approximation is absolutely fine and won't skew the results - that's my job to sort out  :)  When we piloted the questionnaire, the overall response from the vast majority of people was that this format was best as it allowed people to be as specific or 'general average' as they liked.

The last thing I want to do is create complications for people over the holiday period :) If the questions bother you, please feel free not to fill it in. For anyone who is happy to give their opinions where sometimes it may be a 'best guess' or 'overall' approach, I welcome your input and thank you very much!

A very merry Christmas to all
Nikki
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Kucinta on December 25, 2009, 16:40:23 PM
I have 2 beautiful cats, a female Oriental chocolate tortie called Tink and a male Singapura called Milo.
 

Have completed the questionaire, but my Singapura called Milo is a little miffed to hear he's not the only Singapura of that name!
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: Susanne (urbantigers) on December 29, 2009, 16:12:19 PM
Done.

I found it difficult to estimate how long I interract with them each day as it does vary a lot.  Some evenings if I'm busy and they are being good, I probably don't spend that much time actually interracting (but always some time) whereas other evenings seem to be dominated by contant play and fuss!

I also found the 2nd page of questions a bit tricky as my views are not clear cut and for several questions I couldn't actually agree or disagree as my view tended to be "sometimes" or "sort of but firmly agree or disagree"!  However, I just chose the one I felt was nearest to how I think.  Hope it helps.
Title: Re: Help appreciated with my survey about cats!
Post by: maryas on January 03, 2010, 00:30:27 AM
Done - the best I could

Mary