Help with a university paper

MountainMonster

Hey all, doing a paper on commuting by bike for one of my university classes, and could use some "statistics" from the site here to help me seem smarter than I am.

Basically, what are your reasons for wanting to commute?

MountainMonster

Anyone willing to help. Only need votes!

jonny_trousers

The options are far too specific to give anything you could possibly analyse. Although, I must admit, I do like to save on my 'insurnace'.

ndru

Because it's a form of transport.

Jay dubbleU

Poorly thought out questions and lazy approach - frankly if I were your tutor I wouldn't be impressed

Agent57

Other:

it's cheaper, faster, healtier and more fun than driving a car. So a combination of your options.

wheeled_warrior

Done! Results overwhelmingly towards one option at the moment! Just a thought: not sure how representative registered BR users are of cycle commuters in general (I like to think :twisted: ). Good luck with the project.

deptfordmarmoset

I could tick every box - I might even be able to prioritise them along the lines of indicating which statements I agree (or disagree) with the most, etc. As it is, I disagree strongly with eliminating reasons why I cycle from the list (you're throwing away information when you should be gathering as much as possible and then analysing it) - I don't cycle for one main reason. Have a fiddle around with survey monkey, and come back with a format that will be more useful to you (and more impressive to your tutors...).

CiB

Most cyclists also drive, so your assumption of an exclusive mode of transport is a bit awry, and as deptfordmarmoset so eloquently put it, you're forcing the exclusion of most of your own - ahem - stereotyped list of reasons why people cycle; e.g. the routes I take through the back lanes of Bucks & Oxon are eye-wateringly pretty places to be around 7:00 am come Summer, Autumn, Winter & Spring. And the Fall too I expect if you don't live here . There's the Me Time [(c) Keiran B], the ability to go absolutely full tilt, like the clappers, balls out etc for the whole journey and have no concerns about PC Plod pulling me over for a quiet word Stirling. Etc. And all the reasons are cumulative, not exclusive.

Me? I'm with the majority on this. I just prefer to be on the bike, but the fitness bit does't come into it really.

thel33ter

I commute to school, but get driven by parents the rest of the time, so technically it doesn't make any difference, but I hate the bus, so I voted for no.4.

pianoleo

I went for option four, but really option five is just as valid for me. I like the fitness element, the fact that I have an excuse to eat like a pig, time saved on PT, money saved on PT (and then spent on bike stuff).

If you want to know, then either break your question into several discrete questions, or at the least, put together a list of (~10) possible answers with an instruction to tick three most important ones.

MountainMonster

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Poorly thought out questions and lazy approach - frankly if I were your tutor I wouldn't be impressed

Fair enough if you feel that way, but this is just a general poll to go along side about 50 different peer-reviewed articles i'm using for my paper.

MountainMonster

wheeled_warrior wrote:

Done! Results overwhelmingly towards one option at the moment! Just a thought: not sure how representative registered BR users are of cycle commuters in general (I like to think :twisted: ). Good luck with the project.

It is a small portion of the commuter family, but can still be a bit representative. I'm not using it as hard facts, but as more of a general introduction into some of the reasoning behind it.

Headhuunter

I would like to help but I would need to tick all except the top and the bottom one so have opted for nothing. Would you like me to try to pick one? Not sure I can boil it down to 1 option though...

lost_in_thought

MountainMonster wrote:

Jay dubbleU wrote:

Poorly thought out questions and lazy approach - frankly if I were your tutor I wouldn't be impressed

Fair enough if you feel that way, but this is just a general poll to go along side about 50 different peer-reviewed articles i'm using for my paper.

Surveymonkey. Free, easy, much better than what you've done.

Sewinman

double post

Sewinman

I can't pick one - it is a mixture of reasons. Also - I do like to save money, but I am saving money on public transport not petrol etc. I would never drive in London, so if i picked your first option it would be telling you that I am 'one less car', when in fact - I am not.

I think you should think it throuh a bit more and come back with a weighted score and allow more than one choice.

Mr Plum

I could have voted for all of the above...

Underscore

Headhuunter wrote:

I would like to help but I would need to tick all except the top and the bottom one so have opted for nothing. Would you like me to try to pick one? Not sure I can boil it down to 1 option though...

+1

chunkytfg

Other, I like cycling but equally with driving. It takes 15 mins to cycle into work, 10 to drive or 15 by PT so no time saved any way really. It's so short a journey when you do 25k a year in a car cost isnt an issue.

DonDaddyD

If you had to pick one of the following, what would be your main reason for commuting by bicycle?

Savings on insurnace and petrol. No need for a car, you either live in city centre, or are close enough that a commute is better than spending time driving. Environmental reasons.

You love being on your bike, and prefer the fitness from cycling rather than public transport or by autos.

Commuting by bicycle helps drastically reduce time spent waiting for buses, sitting in traffic, or broken down lines for the underground.

Other. Please state this in a post.

DDD wrote:

And voted

Some people on this website can be right A-holes when giving advice. :roll: Though I fully accept mine may not be the best, listen to CiB he is normally right about everything.

[/list]

Wallace1492

in no particular order:

Fitness - love cycling and it gets me over and hour's activity per day.
More "my" time. When I am on the bike, I am not working, and so my free time increases, the commute is not a commute - it is a leisure cycle.
Save on mixing with the great unwashed on public transport, both cash and time.
It gives a good feeling of achievement, and satisfaction.

I do have a car, no not bothered about saving on insurance and petrol.

will3

What is the main encouragement to commute, if and where applicable?

They pay me if I go to work.
Less so if I stay at home.

jonny_trousers

I'm worried that it's cutting edge research like this that will suffer if student tuition fees do rise.

MountainMonster

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I'm worried that it's cutting edge research like this that will suffer if student tuition fees do rise.

Yeah, because I claimed this was cutting edge!

Thanks to anyone who responded in a helpful manner, everyone else thanks for nothing.

All it is is a simple survey to see views of people. Nothing that important or necessary for my paper, but thought it would be an interesting side note.

If it's so hard to answer respectfully about a simple question, how do you manage to navigate to the forum, you numptie.

lost_in_thought

Yes, be rude, that'll help.

:roll:

jonny_trousers

MountainMonster wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I'm worried that it's cutting edge research like this that will suffer if student tuition fees do rise.

Yeah, because I claimed this was cutting edge!

Thanks to anyone who responded in a helpful manner, everyone else thanks for nothing.

All it is is a simple survey to see views of people. Nothing that important or necessary for my paper, but thought it would be an interesting side note.

If it's so hard to answer respectfully about a simple question, how do you manage to navigate to the forum, you numptie.

deptfordmarmoset

MountainMonster wrote:

Jonny_Trousers wrote:

I'm worried that it's cutting edge research like this that will suffer if student tuition fees do rise.

Yeah, because I claimed this was cutting edge!

Thanks to anyone who responded in a helpful manner, everyone else thanks for nothing.

All it is is a simple survey to see views of people. Nothing that important or necessary for my paper, but thought it would be an interesting side note.

If it's so hard to answer respectfully about a simple question, how do you manage to navigate to the forum, you numptie.

MountainMonster, from time to students do ask for survey responses. Usually they are polite and constructive and so are the respondents. You have just made a body of cyclists less likely to take other more interested students' work less seriously.

In effect, where advice was given, your response has been that you don't really care, that it's not important. If it's not important get yourself a job in a call centre and leave us (and our amassed expertise) in peace. You're patronising us, and spoiling the ground for other more serious students. Go away!

SpaceBadger

Crikey! :shock:

From what I can see MountainMonster is just looking for a some basic ideas to use as a throwaway line in an intro before he gets into the serious stuff in his paper? Some of the attitudes on here are really rude! Where advice has been (politely and constructively) given he has just pointed out that he could do it better if this was the centrepiece of his work but it's not.

Have voted, good luck with your work MM.

DonDaddyD

SpaceBadger wrote:

Crikey! :shock:

From what I can see MountainMonster is just looking for a some basic ideas to use as a throwaway line in an intro before he gets into the serious stuff in his paper? Some of the attitudes on here are really rude! Where advice has been (politely and constructively) given he has just pointed out that he could do it better if this was the centrepiece of his work but it's not.

Have voted, good luck with your work MM.

+1!

jonny_trousers

DonDaddyD wrote:

SpaceBadger wrote:

Crikey! :shock:

From what I can see MountainMonster is just looking for a some basic ideas to use as a throwaway line in an intro before he gets into the serious stuff in his paper? Some of the attitudes on here are really rude! Where advice has been (politely and constructively) given he has just pointed out that he could do it better if this was the centrepiece of his work but it's not.

Have voted, good luck with your work MM.

+1!

+2