A loaded question is a logical fallacy. It has a false presupposition that is “loaded” with supposition. Generally a loaded question tricks the person who is being asked the question to get the answered desired. I’m by no means an expert in conducting Post Race Surveys but I know that you have to be careful in how you ask questions, as not to influence the results. Today, via email, I got the Post Race Survey for the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon, the survey can be viewed here.

I’m going to take issue with the questions asked above. This is incredible poor wording, unless the survey was trying to invoke a high yes response rate to impress their advertisers. I especially love the one that ask “Did you recall that McDonald’s was a sponsor?” Then if you look at question number one, it ask you flat out if you ran the “McDonald’s 8k.” If that wasn’t enough, the last and final question also mentions the “McDonald’s 8k.” A superior strategy is to create a fill in the blank question, asking what sponsors can you recall, and then have the person answering the survey write in their answers. The other idea is to have a few control questions, such as “Did you recall that Nike was a sponsor?” When in fact Nike was not a sponsor, you could then compare those answers to the answers that were received on the Saucony question, which in fact was a sponsor.

Another survey that I viewed, but did not complete was for the Runnin’ of the Green Lucky 7k, which can be viewed here. First, I am not going to complete any survey that ask for my personal information, also why do they need to know my ethnic origin, is the Runnin’ of the Green an Affirmative Action Race? Oh, and as a side note there is a difference between race and ethnic origin, they need to correct their wording.

The other issue that I am going to take issue with is when a survey is conducted a question should only be asked if the data is valuable and meaningful. A lot of times you will see a survey ask the question, “how far did you travel for this race?” Now, it sounds like a good question, but what are you going to do with the data? Unless it’s going to affect your future decisions, don’t waste the time of the person taking the survey. A classic example is seen on this particular survey, when they ask “When was the last time you purchased running shoes?” RaceResponse sends the data to the Director of the Runnin’ of the Green, and proclaims “Hello Mr. Race Director, the survey turned out great, I can tell you that 20% of the runners who ran your race purchased a new pair of running shoes within the last three months, can you believe that!”

The other question that I fancy is “Did you have a PR (Personal Record) at this event?” It’s a 7k for crying out loud! How many 7ks have you done in your lifetime? Once again, what would you do with this information? In general you know if your course is easy or difficult. I felt like this survey was asking questions for the sake of asking questions. Oh, when you use initialism it’s proper to state the name and then the initialism. Thus, it should read “Did you have a Personal Record (PR) at this event?” Ok, now I am just nit picking, I apologize.

Here is an example of a loaded poll question. Asking whether or not chip timing should be done at the start and finish of races. One of my favorite quotes is “A politician will ask you what you want, an economist will ask you what you want more.” This question was asked by a politician. Life is full of trade offs and this is a trade off, an additional mat or a little more money in your pocket. Two timing mats at a race cost more than one, thus the race has an additional expense that will be passed on to the runners. Thus, a better question is “Would you be willing to pay an additional entry fee for two timing mats at the race?” Even that question has flaws, because it does not give the person a specific dollar amount.

Just my rant for the day!