[ga] let's try to see this constructively... and not over react ...

["Cade,Marilyn S - LGA" <mcade@att.com>]

I agree with Danny's response. In my view, always easy to be critical;
better to be constructive.  

I regret that Michael has expressed only concerns. Isn't the survey  not to
determine an outcome in itself, but to try to gather information?
Obviously, using narrative responses is not going to result in a
statistically valid study; and given the method of distribution, it isn't a
"sample", but that wasn't and isn't the point, I would say. 

I still encourage everyone who uses WHOIS to respond and to be constructive.

I believe that even sociologists sometimes do non-statistical "field
research"....



Marilyn
-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Froomkin [mailto:froomkin@law.miami.edu]
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2001 7:48 PM
To: Danny Younger
Cc: ga@dnso.org
Subject: Re: [ga] Re: "They're Coming To Take Me Away. Ha Ha."


I meant a professional with experience in survey design, not someone paid by
ICANN to do whatever it is ICANN pays them to do.  It goes without saying
that
no one at ICANN, or the NC, has this somewhat specialist skill (although I
would
not be surprised to find it in the GA somewhere).  No blame attaches for
this,
as there is no reason we should expect them to--it's a technical body
(right?),
not a social science research unit.  But nor should we place much credence
in
the results, whoever designed it.

I don't see the value of a lot of energy being used to produce something
that
cannot be relied on.   The lesson is: if you are going to do a survey, run
it by
someone who designs them for a living.   Someone in a sociology department
or a
psychology department of a university who does empirical work if you can't
get a
professional pollster.

In fact, given the bias of the design, the greater the 'outreach' for this
survey, the greater the damage.

[I'll almost certainly be offline from now until Tuesday due to travel.]

Danny Younger wrote:

> With regard to the WHOIS survey, Michael Froomkin writes:  "I wish whoever
> wrote this had consulted a professional."
>
> Actually, we are probably quite lucky that the Names Council's WHOIS
> committee (of which I am also a member) wrestled this project away from
the
> ICANN staff which some time ago had formed its own WHOIS Committee
> http://www.icann.org/committees/whois/.  Yes, it might have been more
> professional had the ICANN staff devoted their full-time professional
skills
> to it, but I for one am quite happy to see the uncompensated volunteer
> members of the Names Council showing some real initiative and a desire to
> address the problems that lay ahead.
>
> Whatever this survey may lack in "design", one has to admit there has been
a
> major effort made at outreach, along with a significant effort to
translate
> this survey into multiple languages (more soon to be forthcoming).  Please
> bear in mind that this is only step one in a much longer process that will
> fully involve the General Assembly.    Let's not go overboard with the
> criticism when it is clear that we are making forward progress.
>
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