[R] R usage survey

Fri Mar 4 20:37:57 CET 2011

Now hold on a second Harsh! I was fairly neutral up to this point, but
this response is totally uncalled for. The problem is that despite
repeated requests you never clarified the purpose of your research!
That is all you were asked to do, but rather than responding to this
inquirly in a straightforward and honest manner you kept dodging the
question. The most charitable explanation is that you just don't
understand what information you were being asked to provide, which is
frustrating but understandable; your last response on the other hand
is completly out of line. Research participants have a right to know
the purpose for which their data is being collected, and as a
researcher you have a responsibility to tell them.

Rex, thank you for generating this discussion. When I first say
Harsh's original email I was just getting ready to fill out the
survey. When I saw your response I delayed. Boy am I glad I did!

Best,
Ista

On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 2:20 PM, Harsh <singhalblr at gmail.com> wrote:
> Rex,
> You're just paranoid and I'm in no way answerable to you. Your constant name
> calling presupposes your own naivete.
>
> The survey has a disclaimer and those who wish to respond can do so at their
> own discretion.
>
> Judging by the nature (and number) of respondents, there seem to be a lot of
> highly qualified people who have no qualms about sharing information
> regarding their R usage patterns.
>
> You can believe what you want and can continue to spin your imaginative
> tales of "industrial espionage" while assuming a position of apparent
> authority on survey design, Oscar gowns and data security AND my  apparent
> ulterior and "outrageous" motives.
>
> You also seem to be an ignorant and misinformed person. Google forms, using
> which the survey was created DOES NOT log IP addresses of the respondents.
>
> And exactly which question in the survey would contribute to endangering the
> professional or personal safety and security of people responding to the
> survey. The information sought is freely available on LinkedIn. I merely
> want to get more descriptive information directly from R users.
>
> If you haven't looked at the Survey questions, then refrain from making
> misconstrued remarks.
>
> I apologize to the other users of this list for prolonging this frivolous
> debate here. This will be my last response on the list regarding this topic.
>
>
> If anyone has an issue pertaining to the Survey, its outcome and my motives,
> they can get in touch with me independently and off the list. All forms of
> constructive comments are also welcome.
>
> For those interested in sharing their R usage information please visit
> goo.gl/jw1ig
>
> - H
>
>
>
>
> On 04-Mar-2011 10:34 PM, <rex.dwyer at syngenta.com> wrote:
>> You still don't say what organization you are associated with. Your domain
> name and e-mail address give no hint. How do we know that "Harsh Singhal" is
> even a real person? An e-mail address at a university (for example) would go
> a long way to establish that. Gmail doesn't cut it for me.
>> The preponderance of evidence is that you're just a naïve person who would
> give your own information to anyone who asked. On the other hand, it's
> possible that you are conducting industrial espionage by recording IP
> addresses and associating "use cases" with companies. In my opinion, the
> onus is on you to show your bona fides, and you haven't done it.
>> That's all I have to say...
>>
>>
>> From: Harsh [mailto:singhalblr at gmail.com]
>> Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 4:19 AM
>> To: Bill.Venables at csiro.au
>> Cc: Dwyer Rex USRE; r-help at r-project.org
>> Subject: Re: [R] R usage survey
>>
>> The R usage survey goo.gl/jw1ig<http://goo.gl/jw1ig> has been updated with
> the following changes:
>>
>> Addition of -
>> Disclaimer :
>> This data will not be used for any commercial purposes
>> Do not include any personally identifiable information
>> Contact: Harsh Singhal (singhalblr AT gmail DOT com) for any queries
>>
>> Removal of -
>> Name field
>>
>> My primary purpose in conducting this survey is -
>> - Find multiple use cases for various R packages
>> - Understand the nature of work when R is being used in Academia /
> Commercial settings
>> - The kind of technologies that are being used in conjunction with R
> (popularity of usage of Python with R, and what purpose does using Python
> solve)
>>
>> The outcome of this analysis will be published on my blog (in the process
> of being created).
>> There is absolutely no commercial purpose behind collecting this
> information and as earlier stated, this information will not be shared with
> personally identifiable information.
>>
>> Thank you once again Mr. Dwyer and Mr. Venables for raising very import
> questions.
>>
>> I thank the R users who have already filled in the survey goo.gl/jw1ig<
> http://goo.gl/jw1ig> and request more to do so.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Harsh Singhal
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 7:41 AM, <Bill.Venables at csiro.au> wrote:
>> No. That's not answering the question. ALL surveys are for collecting
> information.
>>
>> The substantive issue is what purpose do you have in seeking this
> information in the first place and what are you going to do with it when you
> get it?
>>
>> Do you have some commercial purpose in mind? If so, what is it?
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org<mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org>
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org<mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org>]
> On Behalf Of Harsh
>> Sent: Friday, 4 March 2011 1:13 AM
>> To: rex.dwyer at syngenta.com<mailto:rex.dwyer at syngenta.com>
>> Cc: r-help at r-project.org<mailto:r-help at r-project.org>
>> Subject: Re: [R] R usage survey
>>
>> Hi Rex and useRs,
>>
>> The purpose of the survey has been mentioned on the survey link
> goo.gl/jw1ig<http://goo.gl/jw1ig>
>> but I will also reproduce it here.
>> - Geographical distribution of R users
>> - Application areas where R is being used
>> - Supporting technology being used along with R
>> - Academic background distribution of R users
>>
>> The potential personally identifiable information such as name and
> employer
>> name are optional fields. Actually all the fields in the survey are
>> optional.
>>
>> Some of the analysis output(s) could be along the lines of :-
>> - Usage statistics of various R packages
>> - Distribution of R users across countries/cities
>> - Mapping various applications to packages
>> - Text Mining of the responses to create informative word clouds
>>
>> Personally, I am excited about the kind of data I will receive through
> this
>> survey and the various insights that could be derived. As already
> mentioned,
>> the results will be shared with the community.
>>
>> Thank you Rex for raising an important point. It is indeed necessary for
> me
>> to personally assure the user community that the results will be shared in
> a
>> manner that will not contain any personally identifiable information.
>>
>> Those who wish to gain access to the raw data will be provided with all
> the
>> fields but not the name and employer name fields.
>>
>> Just out of curiosity : It is possible to get name, employer name,
> location,
>> usage information and academic background details when searching for R
> users
>> on LinkedIn and the many R related groups there.
>> Does this also provide potential opportunities for misuse and "outrageous"
>> analyses, since almost anyone can get onto LinkedIn and access user
> profiles
>> ?
>>
>> Thank you for your interest and support.
>> Regards,
>> Harsh
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Mar 3, 2011 at 8:02 PM, <rex.dwyer at syngenta.com<mailto:
> rex.dwyer at syngenta.com>> wrote:
>>
>>> Harsh, "Suitably analyzed" for whose purposes? One man's "suitable" is
>>> another's "outrageous". That's why people want to see the gowns at the
>>> Oscars. Under what auspices are you conducting this survey? What do you
>>> intend to do with it? You don't give any assurance that the results you
>>> post won't have personally identifiable information. I don't get the
>>> impression that you know much about survey design.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: r-help-bounces at r-project.org<mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org>
> [mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org<mailto:r-help-bounces at r-project.org>]
>>> On Behalf Of Harsh
>>> Sent: Thursday, March 03, 2011 5:53 AM
>>> To: r-help at r-project.org<mailto:r-help at r-project.org>
>>> Subject: [R] R usage survey
>>>
>>> Hi R users,
>>> I request members of the R community to consider filling a short survey
>>> regarding the use of R.
>>> The survey can be found at http://goo.gl/jw1ig
>>>
>>> Please accept my apologies for posting here for a non-technical reason.
>>>
>>> The data collected will be suitably analyzed and I'll post a link to the
>>> results in the coming weeks.
>>>
>>> Thank you all for your interest and for sharing your R usage information.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Harsh Singhal
>>>
>>> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>>
>>> ______________________________________________
>>> R-help at r-project.org<mailto:R-help at r-project.org> mailing list
>>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
>>> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> message may contain confidential information. If you are not the
> designated
>>> recipient, please notify the sender immediately, and delete the original
> and
>>> any copies. Any use of the message by you is prohibited.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>
>> ______________________________________________
>> R-help at r-project.org<mailto:R-help at r-project.org> mailing list
>> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
>> PLEASE do read the posting guide
> http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
>> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> message may contain confidential information. If you are not the
> designated recipient, please notify the sender immediately, and delete the
> original and any copies. Any use of the message by you is prohibited.
>
>        [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
>
>

-- 
Ista Zahn
Graduate student
University of Rochester
Department of Clinical and Social Psychology
http://yourpsyche.org