RE: "The irish people don't WANT this service!"

Arboration

Today, I made a short survey to 50 hourses in my local area.

I asked them:

If they had a PC, would they use the internet?

Out of 50, 45 of them said NO
Out of 45, 39 said it cost to much money.
6 said they didn't really know how to use it.

I then asked them:

If they were provided with a flate rate access plan, such as 20 euro a month for all day every day access with a modem?
[I explained what a modem was.]

50 of them said YES.
39 out of the 45 who said no said it would be a blessing, 6 said they'd be willing to learn.



Now, I'm debating sending this information to Eircon, but I doubt they'll actually care.

I WILL however send it to the T.D. once I have everyone's signatures. [I intend to get them tomorrow.]

Paddy20

Reply to Arboration.

Great work, magnificent, You can join my team any time you want.

Best posting I have ever read on this FORUM??..

God bless & Good Luck.

N.B. You are a natural WINNER .

Yours, Gratefully, paddy20.:)

billy the squid

I was just wondering how much would it cost say for someone like ireland offline to get a reputable survbey croud like MRBI to do a poll of say 1000 people on the issue

then when the results are in you rcould release some big news statement or something

acous

Arboration, brilliant. It just speaks for itself really.

seamus

Perhaps the research group (yes me included ) could get to work on this. Why pay some company to do it, when we have a largish research group who could do it? I'd be willing to donate an afternoon to walking around Lucan, asking just 5 or six well-phrased questions. Of course we'd have to get signatures as well from the participants, to prove we're not making up these results.

sceptre

Good point, seamus, I've a feeling that wuite a few of us would get in on helping with that one.

The only downside of a survey not done by a reputable "survey company" is that Eircom could argue that the survey didn't follow the usual survey rules and that they could basically ignore it.

Paddy20

Suggestion from paddy20.

Surveys are often "published" FREE??. of any charge by National Newspapers??.. Provided they beleive the cause is a worthy one & in the "Public interest".

The Editors get a page filling story:- which if offered to them as an "Exclusive" survey in co-operation with a "Voluntary Org" such as "Ireland OFFline" is the most effective way to approach the matter.


It would save everone having to walk the streets??.. Plus it is fast public and reliable?? and the participating Newspaper has a "Feather in its cap" against its - "Competition" .


The same method can also be used for a "National Public Petition" requesting he Government to act NOW on internet access call charges??.

I hope someone agrees with me.

Yours,paddy20:cool:

Dustaz

id love to see the results of a proper survey. I cant see a national rag doing one though, is there enough interest in the issue when compared with normal survey issues?

While i dont think a proper survey would be quite as one sided as arborations*, It would be very interesting nonetheless. It might even stuff up eircoms argument about demand, then again, it might bear it out



* no offense Fair play to ye for doing it though.

alastair

All very worthy, but surely Horses aren't really eircom's target market?

:-)

rymus

Congrats on the bit of market research but I still find one thing funny...

45 people out of 50 said they wouldnt use the internet if they had a PC yet all 50 said they would use the internet if they had a flat rate connection!?!

39 out of the 45 who said no said it would be a blessing

Even tho they dont have computers and even if they did wouldnt want to go on the internet

6 said they'd be willing to learn.

Well.. get them to their local library so!


If these are the type of people Eircom are getting their statistics from I can fully understand why the situation is as bad as it is. I wouldnt want to spend millions rolling out an xDSL service when 90% of the country dont want or wouldnt use it.

Arboration

I'd love to get a thing going through all of wicklow..

Perhaps I should contact the T.D.?

Jpaulik

A proper survey would work very well. I'd say the papers will gladly print the results. The PR team of Elana and Adam did very well during the blackout with a massive amount of media coverage. Fair play to ya.

Ruu_Old

Echoeing Jpaulik's words, Fair play to ya

dahamsta

Ok, I'm not saying IrelandOffline will, or is even considering going ahead with this, but assuming we were, how would we go about it? No fairy stories now, I'm looking for genuinely viable plans. A simple outline will suffice for now.

adam

Dustaz

OK, i did a quick bit of digging and it seems there a quite a few companies that do this type of thing. The guy i was talking to seemed to think it needs to come from one of the big 3 research companies to be taken seriously (Behaviour and attitdudes , Lansdowne, MRBI).

He guesstimated a 'meaningful' survey to cost in the region of 1500-2000. (IE to get a good cross section of people)

I can follow this up a bit more next week when im back in work.

Manic

Originally posted by dahamsta
Ok, I'm not saying IrelandOffline will, or is even considering going ahead with this, but assuming we were, how would we go about it? No fairy stories now, I'm looking for genuinely viable plans. A simple outline will suffice for now.

adam

How about this. Elect members from IOFFL in every City / Town to carry out a very simple survey in their area just like Arboration did. Give them a simple questioner of 6 or 10 carefully selected questions for people to answer. And then when all the information is gathered, and we have results. Then approach one or all 3 of the companies Dustaz has mentioned (Behaviour and attitudes, Lansdowne, MRBI) and ask them if they would like to carry out a survey of their own based on our findings? If not I am sure if people in IOFFL were asked to fund such a survey everyone would be willing to support it.



Manic

Paddy20

Originally posted by dahamsta
Ok, I'm not saying IrelandOffline will, or is even considering going ahead with this, but assuming we were, how would we go about it? No fairy stories now, I'm looking for genuinely viable plans. A simple outline will suffice for now.

adam

dahamsta, please see my reply to "Cpl,Hicks on thread - National Public Petition??...

All comments welcome, good or bad, pro or anti. At least something appears to be happening re interesting comments/efforts from individual members etc, etc, very interesting and "encouraging" as I do not believe that the Irish public are "heartless" or do "NOT CARE" They simply need to be made aware??.. of the true picture, so that they can - form - a n informed opinion which they can then express publicly??.. "If they are given the opportunity in the Press"!!.

Yours, paddy20.:cool:

davros

I agree that only a professional market survey group can conduct a meaningful, unbiased poll. It's a very scientific undertaking.

I'd contribute to the cost of such a poll, if needed. Even better though to get someone else to pay for it. How about the ODTR?

(from an ODTR press release)
The ODTR also commissioned Irish Marketing Surveys to examine the attitudes of large companies to the provision of broadband services in Ireland.

Right up their street then. Could they have done it already?

That said, what are you thinking of asking people? How do you ask people about something they don't know about and don't know they need/want?

There is another type of poll that suits this kind of difficulty. You get 100 random people together in a room, present both sides of an argument, then ask the question. Sometimes this is the only way to get an informed response.

Matfinn

I think it would be a good idea to have message books setup in the social areas of colleges all around the country, like one outside the bars, and we could ask people to sign it. College students are always needing top use the internet at home, so I think this would be a nice target for a survey.

Another idea is to approach the admins of ireland.com and have a poll there. Have the results published in the Irish times maybe?

Matt

sceptre

A few good points there

1. If the ODTR haven't done something like this, they should (have). I for one am sick of people companies telling me (through various channels) that I want something, don't want something else, need or don't need other products. Without proper market research, might as well be banging a few cats against a wall or examining goat entrails to see what the current and future markets are like.

2. ireland.com poll - great idea. Again, however suffers from the same type of problem as us knocking on doors or going around streets - lack of population distribution and few take polls seriously where only people who want to be included are included. Quite useful as an indicator poll though.

3. Colleges. Absolutely. Underused. Some students have a lot of time (and I can say that for the obvious reason) and are interested. Anything that can get these people on board in any manner can't be a bad thing.

yellum

Dahamsta
I have a book about surveys and things like that and how to go about it properly. If I ever get round to finishing it or even making reading more than 1% of it I'll document the key things to do. Or else I can give you the book. :P

A professional company would be a really good idea, but there are other polls. The TG4 polls of late have been very well respected haven't they ? An Ireland.com poll is a good idea too however I think an actual poll and not a virtual poll would look way better.

I don't think signature books outside college bars and places like that are a good idea. No offense but many college students try and make funny witty remarks in those kinda things and outside a bar, heh we all know what it could be like.

IrelandOffline could do its own poll but it would need to be planned out properly first. In fact we may have a major advantage for the poll in that we can get a number of areas covered and a large amount of people polled in a very short amount of time.

The most important thing would be the questions themselves, they have to be thought out and phrased well. Then the catchment areas, and the demographics of the signees.

Paddy20

Originally posted by yellum
Dahamsta
I have a book about surveys and things like that and how to go about it properly. If I ever get round to finishing it or even making reading more than 1% of it I'll document the key things to do. Or else I can give you the book. :P

A professional company would be a really good idea, but there are other polls. The TG4 polls of late have been very well respected haven't they ? An Ireland.com poll is a good idea too however I think an actual poll and not a virtual poll would look way better.

I don't think signature books outside college bars and places like that are a good idea. No offense but many college students try and make funny witty remarks in those kinda things and outside a bar, heh we all know what it could be like.

IrelandOffline could do its own poll but it would need to be planned out properly first. In fact we may have a major advantage for the poll in that we can get a number of areas covered and a large amount of people polled in a very short amount of time.

The most important thing would be the questions themselves, they have to be thought out and phrased well. Then the catchment areas, and the demographics of the signees.

Yellum, I agreeyou are on the right ,but do not forget that people would need to sign a yes/no question and with a "National newspaper" The wording paper layout and everyting is there "Staring" them in the face ??.. just waiting for them to fill in their details and sign ?. Then returnby "POST" either to the "Newspaper direct" or an independent body, such as a Solisicitorsoffice/practice.

Yours, paddy20. & Morning All?...:rolleyes:

dahamsta

I don't think anyone, least of all IrelandOffline, would benefit appreciably from a yes/no poll. The question will undoubtably be skewed in one direction, which will be played heavily by our opponents when defending themselves. The only way I can see a survey succeeding is if it is a /survey/, with a series of questions that would need to be explained to those being surveyed.

adam

Paddy20

Originally posted by dahamsta
I don't think anyone, least of all IrelandOffline, would benefit appreciably from a yes/no poll. The question will undoubtably be skewed in one direction, which will be played heavily by our opponents when defending themselves. The only way I can see a survey succeeding is if it is a /survey/, with a series of questions that would need to be explained to those being surveyed.

adam

dahamsta,

I agree with you & I think if the Ireland OFFline Committee were to discuss the layout etc with a "Legal boffin" or the "Editor" of one of the National newspapers. The "Questions" issue would be quickly resolved.

Even the Newspaper advertisement departments would have a guideline template which could be modified according to the Ireland OFFline Committee"s desire.

By the way - If a "Fighting/Campaign fund was set up ??. I for one would contribute to it through my banking online service? All people wishing to contribute to the fund - everything costs money after all??.. Would need is the Ireland OFFline bank account details i.e. (1) Name of Bank, (2) Name of Campaign fund account, (3) Account number, and finally the Bank "branch" electronic "sort code" number.

I am convinced that you would have a healthy credit by way of contributions in a week from posting the "details"??.

Yours, paddy20

sceptre

Originally posted by dahamsta
The only way I can see a survey succeeding is if it is a /survey/, with a series of questions that would need to be explained to those being surveyed.

adam

Absolutely. And framed in such a way that would eliminate the "humphrey appleby from yes minister says surveys are rubbish" type of thing. Example:

1. Do you think there's a growing problem with crime in the country?
2. Do you think the use of weapons should be curtailed to combat this crime?
3. Do you think that young people commit a lot of crime?
4. Woule you support a return of compulsory natinoal service?

or

1. Do you think that young people suffer from a lack of direction?
2. Do you think that them having new skills and abilities would help them and in turn alleviate unemployment?
3. WOuld you support a return of compulsory national service?

pete

Originally posted by sceptre


Absolutely. And framed in such a way that would eliminate the "humphrey appleby from yes minister says surveys are rubbish" type of thing. Example:

1. Do you think there's a growing problem with crime in the country?
2. Do you think the use of weapons should be curtailed to combat this crime?
3. Do you think that young people commit a lot of crime?
4. Woule you support a return of compulsory natinoal service?

or

1. Do you think that young people suffer from a lack of direction?
2. Do you think that them having new skills and abilities would help them and in turn alleviate unemployment?
3. WOuld you support a return of compulsory national service?

Funny because it's true. Every time someone in work talks about surveys, I always think of that episode.

Genius.

davros

A professional company would be a really good idea, but there are other polls. The TG4 polls of late have been very well respected haven't they ?

TG4 uses MRBI to conduct its polls. Likewise the Irish Times.

Just to select a population sample that is representative of the nation at large requires a huge amount of data on jobs, spending habits, income distribution, age, education level and so on.

A professional survey company knows this kind of stuff for every street in the country. No other organisation (Ireland OFFline, say)can hope to reproduce that kind of expertise.

yellum

Ah, didn't know they also used MRBI, are they the only people out there that do it ?

davros

Originally posted by yellum
Ah, didn't know they also used MRBI, are they the only people out there that do it ?

The IPA Administration Yearbook lists a couple of dozen though some of those specialise in particular market sectors (tourism, for example).

Dustaz

Originally posted by yellum
Ah, didn't know they also used MRBI, are they the only people out there that do it ?

I posted the main three survey companies.

As has been pointed out, noone in Ireland Offline would realistically be able to carry out a survey of the type talked about. Thats why these companies exist, to do this sort of thing.