It is very interesting that you wrote a doctoral thesis on this
subject. The contents of your blog describes your work but doesn't
yet expose the most fascinating aspects of the letterboxing
phenomenon. I'd like to see more.

Is 355 online participants a representative sample? The stats quoted
do not necessarily reflect the letterboxing community at large, many
of whom are unregistered, infrequent letterboxers. I'd like to know
how you accounted for the data skew associated with the following
three influences:

1) The study participants were garnered from online solicitation of
forum members, who have ready access and facility with computers,
which may account for the higher educational level of the
participants. Many letterboxers may not have regular access to
computers or participate in online chat discussions;

2) The willingness of study participants to readily contribute may be
a sign of their own enthusiasm (fanaticism), which may account for
the statistic related to fairly high participation in gatherings.
Many casual letterboxers do not attend gatherings and simply would
not care to spend much time contributing to your study;

3) Midwesterners may have been more willing to contribute to the work
of another midwesterner, accounting for the high ratio of Illinois
participants.

--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "twobentriders"
wrote:
>
> Back in November you were invited to participate in a web-based
survey
> about letterboxing as part of a doctoral dissertation. Well, I have
> now completed the data analysis and written the report of my
findings.
> To take a look at what I learned about the 355 participants in my
> study, check out my blog at www.letterblogger.blogspot.com. I am
> adding new information to the blog every day for the next two
weeeks.
> Thanks again to those who participated and supported me. Your
> comments on the blog are encouraged. Be well and do good things.
>

I am anxious to know more too. I think 2bentriders is scheduled to
rigorously defend her thesis shortly. While Rick in Boca's questions are
valid, it might be more appropriate to send them off-list until her final
work is done. I wouldn't want to see an explosion of negative opinions at
this point. I do recall her request for survey participants was open to
all. Those having an opinion should have responded. Kinda like politics,
if you don't vote, you can't complain about the results. Please don't
flame me for my opinions. I am fascinated how closely I fit the profile
of a stereotypical letterboxer. Since her area of study is communication,
our social behavior and how we communicate through letterboxes would be
just as interesting to study who we are demographically.

Go, Marissa!

speedsquare

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

Geez Rick,
You may have some valid points but couldn't you be a little more
kind and tactful?
Tactfully,
Nisha

In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Rick in Boca"
wrote:
>
> It is very interesting that you wrote a doctoral thesis on this
> subject. The contents of your blog describes your work but doesn't
> yet expose the most fascinating aspects of the letterboxing
> phenomenon. I'd like to see more.
>
> Is 355 online participants a representative sample? The stats
quoted
> do not necessarily reflect the letterboxing community at large,
many
> of whom are unregistered, infrequent letterboxers. I'd like to
know
> how you accounted for the data skew associated with the following
> three influences:
>
> 1) The study participants were garnered from online solicitation
of
> forum members, who have ready access and facility with computers,
> which may account for the higher educational level of the
> participants. Many letterboxers may not have regular access to
> computers or participate in online chat discussions;
>
> 2) The willingness of study participants to readily contribute may
be
> a sign of their own enthusiasm (fanaticism), which may account for
> the statistic related to fairly high participation in gatherings.
> Many casual letterboxers do not attend gatherings and simply would
> not care to spend much time contributing to your study;
>
> 3) Midwesterners may have been more willing to contribute to the
work
> of another midwesterner, accounting for the high ratio of Illinois
> participants.
>
> --- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "twobentriders"
> wrote:
> >
> > Back in November you were invited to participate in a web-based
> survey
> > about letterboxing as part of a doctoral dissertation. Well, I
have
> > now completed the data analysis and written the report of my
> findings.
> > To take a look at what I learned about the 355 participants in
my
> > study, check out my blog at www.letterblogger.blogspot.com. I am
> > adding new information to the blog every day for the next two
> weeeks.
> > Thanks again to those who participated and supported me. Your
> > comments on the blog are encouraged. Be well and do good things.
> >
>

I'm sorry, but this opinion is flat out wrong. Research is not like
politics. A researcher should strive to ensure that the results are
indicative of reality. A poll with self-selected respondants may
provide information, but that information isn't necessarily accurate.
Remember that reliance on self-selected polling was a large factor in
the decision of the networks calling Florida for Al Gore in 2000.





--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, ruhlette wrote:
> all. Those having an opinion should have responded. Kinda like
politics,
> if you don't vote, you can't complain about the results. Please
don't
> flame me for my opinions.

Alas, I should have been more careful in my word selection. What I was
trying to say the first time is that we (the letterboxing community, in
some form of reality) should not jump to criticize the work before it is
complete. That is the job of the panel. For all we know at this point
... the demographics of the letterboxing community may not be the major
focus of this dissertation ... and that was all I intended to convey.
Clearly, self-selected respondents, with no reliable method for assuring
accuracy of response, is poor research methodology.

And perhaps my comparison was not the best choice, but I do have the
opinion that you must speak up politically if you want have a voice for
change. I do not understand why someone might feel it is okay to complain
about "the way things are," but will not take the time to vote when it
counts. And on this subject, I will stop. I don't want to get into that
can of worms.

my final 2 cents, 'cuz it just ain't worth it,
speedsquare


__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com

I don't think he's being unkind at all. He raises some very valid points
and merely asked a few straightforward questions. And it's not like she's
not going to face these types of questions from the powers-that-be. :-)

~~ Mosey ~~

-----Original Message-----
From: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com]On Behalf Of
marthastewartletterboxer
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 2:21 PM
To: letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [LbNA] Re: Thanks to all who participated in the letterbox
research - the results are in!


Geez Rick,
You may have some valid points but couldn't you be a little more
kind and tactful?
Tactfully,
Nisha

In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Rick in Boca"
wrote:
>
> It is very interesting that you wrote a doctoral thesis on this
> subject. The contents of your blog describes your work but doesn't
> yet expose the most fascinating aspects of the letterboxing
> phenomenon. I'd like to see more.
>
> Is 355 online participants a representative sample? The stats
quoted
> do not necessarily reflect the letterboxing community at large,
many
> of whom are unregistered, infrequent letterboxers. I'd like to
know
> how you accounted for the data skew associated with the following
> three influences:
>
> 1) The study participants were garnered from online solicitation
of
> forum members, who have ready access and facility with computers,
> which may account for the higher educational level of the
> participants. Many letterboxers may not have regular access to
> computers or participate in online chat discussions;
>
> 2) The willingness of study participants to readily contribute may
be
> a sign of their own enthusiasm (fanaticism), which may account for
> the statistic related to fairly high participation in gatherings.
> Many casual letterboxers do not attend gatherings and simply would
> not care to spend much time contributing to your study;
>
> 3) Midwesterners may have been more willing to contribute to the
work
> of another midwesterner, accounting for the high ratio of Illinois
> participants.
>
> --- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "twobentriders"
> wrote:
> >
> > Back in November you were invited to participate in a web-based
> survey
> > about letterboxing as part of a doctoral dissertation. Well, I
have
> > now completed the data analysis and written the report of my
> findings.
> > To take a look at what I learned about the 355 participants in
my
> > study, check out my blog at www.letterblogger.blogspot.com. I am
> > adding new information to the blog every day for the next two
> weeeks.
> > Thanks again to those who participated and supported me. Your
> > comments on the blog are encouraged. Be well and do good things.
> >
>








Yahoo! Groups Links

Just sounded like an intelligent question to me.
-----------------------------------------------------
Online experiments: ethically fair or foul?

Researchers are facing new ethical challenges as they conduct
experiments on the world Wide Web

http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr00/fairorfoul.html



--- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "marthastewartletterboxer"
wrote:
>
> Geez Rick,
> You may have some valid points but couldn't you be a little more
> kind and tactful?
> Tactfully,
> Nisha
>
> In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "Rick in Boca"
> wrote:
> >
> > It is very interesting that you wrote a doctoral thesis on this
> > subject. The contents of your blog describes your work but
doesn't
> > yet expose the most fascinating aspects of the letterboxing
> > phenomenon. I'd like to see more.
> >
> > Is 355 online participants a representative sample? The stats
> quoted
> > do not necessarily reflect the letterboxing community at large,
> many
> > of whom are unregistered, infrequent letterboxers. I'd like to
> know
> > how you accounted for the data skew associated with the following
> > three influences:
> >
> > 1) The study participants were garnered from online solicitation
> of
> > forum members, who have ready access and facility with computers,
> > which may account for the higher educational level of the
> > participants. Many letterboxers may not have regular access to
> > computers or participate in online chat discussions;
> >
> > 2) The willingness of study participants to readily contribute
may
> be
> > a sign of their own enthusiasm (fanaticism), which may account
for
> > the statistic related to fairly high participation in gatherings.
> > Many casual letterboxers do not attend gatherings and simply
would
> > not care to spend much time contributing to your study;
> >
> > 3) Midwesterners may have been more willing to contribute to the
> work
> > of another midwesterner, accounting for the high ratio of
Illinois
> > participants.
> >
> > --- In letterbox-usa@yahoogroups.com, "twobentriders"
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > Back in November you were invited to participate in a web-based
> > survey
> > > about letterboxing as part of a doctoral dissertation. Well, I
> have
> > > now completed the data analysis and written the report of my
> > findings.
> > > To take a look at what I learned about the 355 participants in
> my
> > > study, check out my blog at www.letterblogger.blogspot.com. I
am
> > > adding new information to the blog every day for the next two
> > weeeks.
> > > Thanks again to those who participated and supported me. Your
> > > comments on the blog are encouraged. Be well and do good
things.
> > >
> >
>

I read the blog and found the info fascinating! I am very happy that
someone has recognized letterboxing as an interesting cultural
phenomenon and has decided to study it. There are lots of aspects of
letterboxing that are worthy of study, including communication,
community-building, folk art, etc, etc. I was not at all bothered by
the sampling limitations -- all research is just a snapshot of whatever
was being examined at the time and must always be read critically and
with the limitations in mind. Since I haven't seen any other studies
about letterboxing, it looks like our friend at Ball State has provided
us a great service as well as a platform for further study. Any
takers? :-)
Cheers,
Fly