# Calling all cycling ladies!



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

I am interested in putting together some findings and data about women's cycling habits. Please take five minutes to complete this short questionnaire online. 

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bj0O_2buAL24Rm6oV1RWcFug_3d_3d


----------



## wafflycat (24 Aug 2009)

Why? For what purpose? And who are you?


----------



## Arch (24 Aug 2009)

Sorry, any poll that wants name, address, and email adress for the first question ain't going nowhere....


----------



## wafflycat (24 Aug 2009)

Spambot?


----------



## gavintc (24 Aug 2009)

Is the 2nd question, bank account, national insurance and mother's maiden name?


----------



## Gromit (24 Aug 2009)

Not for me I don't think, we don't like spam.


----------



## Arch (24 Aug 2009)

Gromit said:


> Not for me I don't think, we don't like spam.



Not even frittered?


----------



## Arch (24 Aug 2009)

gavintc said:


> Is the 2nd question, bank account, national insurance and mother's maiden name?



Dunno, never filled in the first question.

I suspect someone has never designed or possibly, filled in, a survey before...


----------



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

Thanks for the support. The questionnaire is not spam and nor does it ask for PIN number, social security or mothers maiden name.

It is the best free survey I could assemble unfortunately, unless you are prepared to cough up £20 a month the range of online surveys are limited at best. You are free to enter a nickname, first-name only or assumed name and your address as London/Birmingham/Manchester/wherever.

The aim of the survey is to collate some meaningful and practical data about women's cycling habits.

Thank you once again for your support. I will happily share the findings with anyone interested.


----------



## Arch (24 Aug 2009)

ok, well it might be best to make that clear in the survey. Not many people are going to put in name and address.

Free surveys are quite good enough, but it helps to make stuff clear. I'll have a look now under a psuedomym.


----------



## wafflycat (24 Aug 2009)

Cathy said:


> Thanks for the support. The questionnaire is not spam and nor does it ask for PIN number, social security or mothers maiden name.
> 
> It is the best free survey I could assemble unfortunately, unless you are prepared to cough up £20 a month the range of online surveys are limited at best. You are free to enter a nickname, first-name only or assumed name and your address as London/Birmingham/Manchester/wherever.
> 
> ...



Why? Who are you? What do you intend to do with the data? Why would anyone be interested in filling it in if you are prepared to share the information with anyone? Privacy of data is an issue.


----------



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

I'll see if I can edit it to make that clearer. I whacked it up just as I was about to leave work as I wasn't sure if the forum would even take links like this one - I didn't realise you eager bunch were so quick off the mark...

Three responses already - exciting!


----------



## Arch (24 Aug 2009)

Done it.

I've managed to own two types of bike not on your list though!


----------



## Arch (24 Aug 2009)

wafflycat said:


> Why? Who are you? What do you intend to do with the data? Why would anyone be interested in filling it in if you are prepared to share the information with anyone? Privacy of data is an issue.



Having done the survey, there's no privacy aspect really. But it would be nice to know if Cathy is coming from a marketing, or academic angle.


----------



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

wafflycat said:


> Why? Who are you? What do you intend to do with the data? Why would anyone be interested in filling it in if you are prepared to share the information with anyone? Privacy of data is an issue.



I am a writer who is researching the viability of some resources for women who cycle. The information should be interesting to all which is why I am prepared to share it with people - there is not much point in collating information about cycling habits and keeping it to myself. I cannot see any sinister undertones or privacy issues in knowing how often 'Sarah from London' or indeed 'Wafflycat' cycles and whether she owns a WSD or a man's bike. However, if you feel your privacy will be compromised by the survey, by all means do not complete it.


----------



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

Arch - see above! Also - three types of bike - hmmm, what am I missing. Recumbent? Tandem? TANDEM????


----------



## Arch (24 Aug 2009)

Cathy said:


> Arch - see above! Also - three types of bike - hmmm, what am I missing. Recumbent? Tandem? TANDEM????



recumbent, tourer and yes tandem, although I don't have one of those, be a bit daft, me being single....

Also, I'm a rather ungirly girl, so I probably throw the stats out a bit....


----------



## wafflycat (24 Aug 2009)

Cathy said:


> I am a writer who is researching the viability of some resources for women who cycle. The information should be interesting to all which is why I am prepared to share it with people - there is not much point in collating information about cycling habits and keeping it to myself. I cannot see any sinister undertones or privacy issues in knowing how often 'Sarah from London' or indeed 'Wafflycat' cycles and whether she owns a WSD or a man's bike. However, if you feel your privacy will be compromised by the survey, by all means do not complete it.



It's about being open about who you are, what you are doing, why and for what purpose when you are asking for third parties to share information on their personal habits with you... it's not an unreasonable thing to expect from you as you're the one asking for others to give their information. Why are you researching the subject? For what purpose? What do you mean by 'viability'? Are you writing this off your own bat, or are you researching it for a book? a company? marketing? a qualification? looking to sell us something?


----------



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

Right, I have fiddled with the opening question a tad so hopefully it should be a little more inviting and slightly less spam-tastic.


----------



## Arch (24 Aug 2009)

Waffles! Down girl...

Cathy, somewhere in Cafe, a while back, there was a thread all about ladies who cycle, might be worth searching for it.... Although it did turn out to be a lot about clothes and anyone who knows me will know that that's not a subject I major in. I mean I wear clothes, but only because I have to....


----------



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

wafflycat said:


> It's about being open about who you are, what you are doing, why and for what purpose when you are asking for third parties to share information on their personal habits with you... it's not an unreasonable thing to expect from you as you're the one asking for others to give their information. Why are you researching the subject? For what purpose? What do you mean by 'viability'? Are you writing this off your own bat, or are you researching it for a book? a company? marketing? a qualification? looking to sell us something?



I don't want to give away exactly what I am working on as I do not want other people thinking 'aha, that's a good idea, maybe I'll do that!'. But I can confirm I am not researching for a company, for marketing purposes nor am I trying to sell you anything. I can also confirm I am late for football and must dash but I will check in later and anyone is free to contact me at cathywallace@hotmail.co.uk with any further question/concerns/privacy issues.


----------



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

Arch said:


> Waffles! Down girl...
> 
> Cathy, somewhere in Cafe, a while back, there was a thread all about ladies who cycle, might be worth searching for it.... Although it did turn out to be a lot about clothes and anyone who knows me will know that that's not a subject I major in. I mean I wear clothes, but only because I have to....



My friend Weenie posted that thread. She and I have long rumbled that cycling is too male-dominated and there's not enough information, resources, signposting etc for women. Obviously everyone's different but I do feel the cycling world is very male-led and I wonder if it puts some women off.

Huge kudos for the tandem. I'm hoping to try one out soon (with Weenie actually) just for giggles.


----------



## wafflycat (24 Aug 2009)

Arch said:


> Waffles! Down girl...
> 
> Cathy, somewhere in Cafe, a while back, there was a thread all about ladies who cycle, might be worth searching for it.... Although it did turn out to be a lot about clothes and anyone who knows me will know that that's not a subject I major in. I mean I wear clothes, but only because I have to....



Sorry Arch - I won't. This is something that should be obvious to do as a matter of courtesy, openness and showing good faith if someone who is a total stranger wanting information. There's so much out there that is dodgy that you *have* to be careful about who you're giving information to in the form of 'surveys'.


----------



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

wafflycat said:


> Sorry Arch - I won't. This is something that should be obvious to do as a matter of courtesy, openness and showing good faith if someone who is a total stranger wanting information. There's so much out there that is dodgy that you *have* to be careful about who you're giving information to in the form of 'surveys'.



OK, I will not be holding my breath for input from Wafflycat. 

However I would be grateful if anyone who is not convinced that I will use such information as 'how many times a week do you cycle?' and 'what made you start cycling in the first place?' against them in a devious manner that will involve the clearing out of their bank accounts, would be good enough to fill out the survey and ask any other female cyclists to take a look and fill it out too. 

I think it will be interesting to have some solid facts and figures on womens' cycling habits as there doesn't seem to be much decent research in this field so far. 

Will also try the 'beginners' forum as I assume this one tends to be populated by experienced cyclists and it would be good to get a range of perspectives.


----------



## Baggy (24 Aug 2009)

Cathy said:


> Will also try the 'beginners' forum as I assume this one tends to be populated by experienced cyclists and it would be good to get a range of perspectives.



Well, I started filling it out, but it kicked me out on page 4..!

There's a real mix in cafe, beginners will probably skew the survey unless you're going to analyse the "how long have you been cycling" qualitative question and weight the results accordingly.


----------



## Aperitif (24 Aug 2009)

Hello Cathy, good luck with your research. I guess it is all a bit of a steep learning curve - particularly in today's ultra observant (and often rightly so) society.
I know of your friend wheeledweenie - she is skiving off the next FNRttC in order to watch her husband bulge out of some lycra overalls I believe - lifting furniture as an excuse apparently.
Luckily, all those in the vicinity of her exploding lights and accessories on the last ride (well, I htink it was her...) have made a complete recovery and are expected to attend.
It is a good idea to ask in Beginners / Welcome Mat as there maybe people less experienced in cycling perhaps, but who hold similar views to yours and would like to help.


----------



## Baggy (24 Aug 2009)

Just an observation...I know it can be difficult to put together questionnaires (used to do it for a living) and can't second guess what you're trying to do with the info, but to get meaningful stats surely you'll want to analyse age/against experience/against for example things that put you off - but if people don't put a ballpark age in the first question you've lost some useful data.

Could you edit to add age-bands?


----------



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

Baggy said:


> Just an observation...I know it can be difficult to put together questionnaires (used to do it for a living) and can't second guess what you're trying to do with the info, but to get meaningful stats surely you'll want to analyse age/against experience/against for example things that put you off - but if people don't put a ballpark age in the first question you've lost some useful data.
> 
> Could you edit to add age-bands?



I am not sure how much age will add at this stage. I am also limited to ten questions - as you probably guessed at by the way they're all crammed together at the end - and currently age is not a priority. I agree it would be useful but I am more interested in other factors - eg location, how often you cycle, barriers to cycling in general.
The 'barriers to cycling' is also a difficult one as obviously everyone on this forum cycles! I would like to also get some findings from non-cyclists on why they don't cycle. Sustrans have done a bit of research on this but I think there's scope for a lot more.


----------



## Cathy (24 Aug 2009)

Aperitif said:


> Hello Cathy, good luck with your research. I guess it is all a bit of a steep learning curve - particularly in today's ultra observant (and often rightly so) society.
> I know of your friend wheeledweenie - she is skiving off the next FNRttC in order to watch her husband bulge out of some lycra overalls I believe - lifting furniture as an excuse apparently.
> Luckily, all those in the vicinity of her exploding lights and accessories on the last ride (well, I htink it was her...) have made a complete recovery and are expected to attend.
> It is a good idea to ask in Beginners / Welcome Mat as there maybe people less experienced in cycling perhaps, but who hold similar views to yours and would like to help.



Oooh dear yes I recall WW telling me about her fall. Bless her. I did the first FNRttC with her, was great fun!


----------



## Baggy (24 Aug 2009)

Cathy said:


> I would like to also get some findings from non-cyclists on why they don't cycle. Sustrans have done a bit of research on this but I think there's scope for a lot more.


The Cycling Demonstration Towns have also done a lot of work on this, but am not sure whether much of it is made public.


----------



## Auntie Helen (25 Aug 2009)

Yeah, I've been involved in some surveys for Colchester's Cycling Town and had a range of answers about why people don't cycle. Mostly 'I don't have a bike' (which is hard to argue with!) and 'there aren't enough cycle paths' which always makes me wince. There are a quite a lot of cycle paths around Colchester and I almost never use them...


----------



## Cathy (25 Aug 2009)

When Sustrans did their survey there were some quite interesting answers too - 'I'm too busy' and 'would feel self-conscious' were quite stand-out answers, I thought. But the main one was road safety/traffic concerns.


----------



## Kirstie (25 Aug 2009)

As regards the kind of bikes people own, you could also include:

full suss mountainbike
singlespeed mountain bike
hardtail mountain bike
downhill mountain bike
29'er mountain bike

I have three different kinds of MTB, all of which I use for different things, so I've had to fill in the 'other' section


----------



## Wheeledweenie (25 Aug 2009)

Aperitif said:


> I know of your friend wheeledweenie - she is skiving off the next FNRttC in order to watch her husband bulge out of some lycra overalls I believe - lifting furniture as an excuse apparently.
> Luckily, all those in the vicinity of her exploding lights and accessories on the last ride (well, I htink it was her...) have made a complete recovery and are expected to attend.



That fall was soooooooo last month. I can vouch that Cathy is not spam-tastic. She's lovely.


----------



## Dayvo (25 Aug 2009)

Wheeledweenie said:


> That fall was soooooooo last month. I can vouch that Cathy is not spam-tastic. *She's lovely*.



We would like to see some photographic evidence!


----------



## bonj2 (25 Aug 2009)

Cathy said:


> I don't want to give away exactly what I am working on as I do not want other people thinking 'aha, that's a good idea, maybe I'll do that!'. But I can confirm I am not researching for a company, for marketing purposes nor am I trying to sell you anything. I can also confirm I am late for football and must dash but I will check in later and anyone is free to contact me at cathywallace@hotmail.co.uk with any further question/concerns/privacy issues.



There are a lot of people on here who are particularly anal and like to get worked up over things for which there is no need to get worked up over at all.
No amount of justification of what you are doing will satisfy them - you could post the full intricate details of what resources you are planning, and then they will look down their nose at it and decide they don't like the idea of what your'e proposing and refuse to fill it in anyway. You're best spending your time broadening your exposure than wasting time trying to convince these people.
You aren't asking for personal or identifiable information if people don't want to give it, but that isn't enough for some people.


----------



## Cathy (25 Aug 2009)

Nonetheless concerns should be taken into account - however I totally agree that no amount of justification will persuade the more neurotic that I am not a force of darkness and evil. 

I have 30 responses so far, which is pretty good for one day's work! So thank you to all who have filled out the survey and please do mention it to friends/colleagues/girlfriends/mothers/wives/sisters.....

Photographic evidence eh? I put a photo on my profile but it doesn't show up when I post, presumably I am missing some 'click here to display your grinning visage to all and sundry' box on the 'edit profile' section. Lets see what I can do.


----------



## Kirstie (25 Aug 2009)

Generally speaking it's good research practice to assure survey respondents that their responses will be treated in the strictest confidentiality and that their details will not be disclosed to third parties.

This is what I look for before disclosing any information, particularly personal information (like name, address, email address, as you have asked for) in a survey. If these kind of assurances are not up front on a questionnaire, then I assume that the person conducting the questionnaire is either not aware of research ethics or is incompetent at research. But then I teach social research methods, and research information privacy so I am over sensitive to this!

Actually this questionnaire design means that the respondent can choose to be completely anonymous, but I am unclear as to whether this is by accident or by design. As such I have not disclosed any personal information, but the reason for this is that I am not sure how exactly the information I disclose will be treated because of the lack of assurance at the front end of the questionnaire.


----------



## SavageHoutkop (25 Aug 2009)

I think you've just loaded it as your profile pic where you need to load it as your avatar as well / instead of.


----------



## Shaun (25 Aug 2009)

bonj said:


> There are a lot of people on here who are particularly anal and like to get worked up over things for which there is no need to get worked up over at all.
> No amount of justification of what you are doing will satisfy them - you could post the full intricate details of what resources you are planning, and then they will look down their nose at it and decide they don't like the idea of what your'e proposing and refuse to fill it in anyway. You're best spending your time broadening your exposure than wasting time trying to convince these people.
> You aren't asking for personal or identifiable information if people don't want to give it, but that isn't enough for some people.



True, however, this as an introduction to a request for information from people, doesn't really explain much:



Cathy said:


> I am interested in putting together some findings and data about women's cycling habits. Please take five minutes to complete this short questionnaire online.
> 
> http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=bj0O_2buAL24Rm6oV1RWcFug_3d_3d



The request doesn't introduce Cathy or tell us much about her background, doesn't explain whether the _findings_ will be used for personal or commercial use? and points to a plain survey page at an anonymous site called Survey Monkey.

Now Cathy does appear to have gone some way towards making ammends for this and has explained a bit more and been a bit more open about what she's doing, but it might have been greeted with less suspicion had her intro gone something like this:



Cathy said:


> Hello,
> 
> My name's Cathy.
> 
> ...



It's not so much about giving the information, more about the approach and making people feel at ease.

A bit of suspicion is a healthy thing to have and can protect you from fraud/harm, although not, of course, in this case ... 

Anyway, I'll shut up now, since I'm not a woman and haven't done all that much cycling of late!!! 

Cheers,
Shaun


----------



## Cathy (25 Aug 2009)

Of course I could have always avoided all the flak by introducing myself as a 'student working on a project for school' and punctuated the survey with several spelling mistakes for authenticity, like most of those dreaded marketing people do nowadays...


----------



## Arch (26 Aug 2009)

Cathy said:


> When Sustrans did their survey there were some quite interesting answers too - 'I'm too busy' and 'would feel self-conscious' were quite stand-out answers, I thought. But the main one was road safety/traffic concerns.



I have worked for a company promoting cycling for local authorities via try out roadshows and in my experience there are some people (not all, but some) who will find any excuse, but who basically just don't want to - you know this because as you demolish (nicely, of course) each of their 'concerns', they find another. The want to look as if they want to, because they probably know they could and should, but there are so many possible excuses it's easy to hide behind them...

Mind you, in a suitable mood it was fun destroying every concern until they were really scraping the bottom of the barrel....

'_would feel self conscious_'? Do these people walk along in burkhas never speaking? I suppose I'm relatively unbothered about how people see me, but that just sounds downright daft.


----------



## Arch (26 Aug 2009)

Cathy said:


> Of course I could have always avoided all the flak by introducing myself as a 'student working on a project for school' and punctuated the survey with several spelling mistakes for authenticity, like most of those dreaded marketing people do nowadays...



Innit....

(to be fair, perhaps some intro would have been better, a couple of posts before you stuck the survey up - just mentioning Weenie might have helped.... Nettiquette is a sticky business.)


----------



## ianrauk (26 Aug 2009)

A classic case of the pot calling the kettle black if I have ever seen one.



bonj said:


> There are a lot of people on here who are particularly anal and like to get worked up over things for which there is no need to get worked up over at all.


----------



## Shaun (26 Aug 2009)

Cathy said:


> Of course I could have always avoided all the flak by introducing myself as a 'student working on a project for school' and punctuated the survey with several spelling mistakes for authenticity, like most of those dreaded marketing people do nowadays...



I didn't mean to preach - just thought that if you're going to be asking on other forums/web sites, you might want to tweak your approach a little bit. 

So, did you have any preconceptions about how the results would work out, and have peoples responses differed wildly?

Cheers,
Shaun


----------



## Cathy (26 Aug 2009)

Didn't really have many preconceptions at all - partly because there really are no stats out there on women cyclists so it's hard to have much of an idea what the real picture is. I'm up to 40 results so far which is fantastic, however most folk who have seen the link so far are from this very forum and therefore some of the most dedicated cyclists out there. So far the vast majority of respondents say they cycle every single day and most own more than one bike - which makes me feel better about my two bikes  The most popular destination by far is to work - makes sense, lots of commuters on here myself included.
I am circulating the survey elsewhere too so hopefully once I've busted into more than 100 responses I will be getting some good findings. I suspect the frequency of cycling/number of bikes owned data will reduce as more casual cyclists fill the survey in - but who knows eh?


----------



## Cathryn (26 Aug 2009)

I think I might need another bike. I only have one and it sounds like most ladies have two....


----------



## SavageHoutkop (27 Aug 2009)

Arch said:


> '_would feel self conscious_'? Do these people walk along in burkhas never speaking? I suppose I'm relatively unbothered about how people see me, but that just sounds downright daft.



You don't sound like too much of a 'girly girl' but for all those 'women' out there who wouldn't be seen dead without makeup, straightened hair, stiletto heels, micro skirts (or as I prefer to see them large belts) and orange skin; I'd imagine being seen on a bike without one/all of those things is a fate worse than death. And it must be pretty hard to cycle in a micro skirt with stilettos.


----------



## Wheeledweenie (27 Aug 2009)

SavageHoutkop said:


> You don't sound like too much of a 'girly girl' but for all those 'women' out there who wouldn't be seen dead without makeup, straightened hair, stiletto heels, micro skirts (or as I prefer to see them large belts) and orange skin; I'd imagine being seen on a bike without one/all of those things is a fate worse than death. And it must be pretty hard to cycle in a micro skirt with stilettos.



Ah but surely it's worth a go just for research purposes.......


----------



## Arch (27 Aug 2009)

SavageHoutkop said:


> You don't sound like too much of a 'girly girl' but for all those 'women' out there who wouldn't be seen dead without makeup, straightened hair, stiletto heels, micro skirts (or as I prefer to see them large belts) and orange skin; I'd imagine being seen on a bike without one/all of those things is a fate worse than death. And it must be pretty hard to cycle in a micro skirt with stilettos.



To be honest, I'd be pretty traumatised if I saw that, let alone if I was seen like it....

I have a sneaking admiration for anyone who can walk in heels, let alone ride in them - but I also think you can ride in pretty much anything, if you want to - so it all comes back top whether you really want to. Look at the average Dutch lady rider, she'll probably be in perfectly 'normal' skirt and shoes - sandals, boots, anything. Because she knows it's possible, and normal...

Cathryn - remember, the ideal number of bikes to own is n + 1, where n is the number you currently have.


----------



## SavageHoutkop (28 Aug 2009)

This for example would be hard to cycle in I'd imagine. If stairs are an issue how can you pedal? and look at those shoes!


----------

