Thursday, July 8, 2010

Survey says...

Earlier this week we got a letter in the mail from the Centers for Disease Control. Naturally, I was curious--why would they want to contact us? It turned out they'd randomly selected our home phone number (linked to our address) and wanted to conduct a survey regarding childhood immunizations. It just so happened, they specifically wanted information on kids age 12-35 months...Zoodle's age range.

So I called them. Yep, I actually called to take a 20-minute survey. I kind of like surveys. Is that weird?

Some surveys just seem genuinely important to me. I did a fairly lengthy phone survey last year that I think was being sponsored by some political party or someone in government--it was all about our family's health insurance, what I expect from the government regarding health care, etc. I was happy that I might have had some input into the future of American health care. I also felt the CDC survey was worthwhile. I believe in the importance of childhood immunizations, so I was glad to be able to share Zoodle's immunization history with them.

Beyond the importance of surveys, I just kind of think they are fun and interesting. I did a survey recently that I'm pretty sure was sponsored by our Democratic gubernatorial candidate. Our state has a governor's race coming up that promises to be hard-fought, entertaining, and expensive. It was fun to give my political opinions to those who are shaping one of the campaigns (assuming I drew the correct conclusion about who was funding the survey!)

What about you? Do you participate in surveys, or avoid them?

7 comments:

~Abbey~ said...

I am also "wierd" I love taking surveys. i don't knwo why but i find them interesting too...and i guess its nice to know when someone WANTS your opinion! LOL

Unknown said...

I like taking most surveys too. There is so much benefit for those taking the survey that I don't mind the time it takes to answer a couple questions. I have also taken a few for the CDC in this area on the health of the people living in my house and their awareness of local programs. They send them every couple of years. If it will help shape the programs available in this area, that is a great thing.

Call Me Cate said...

I'm a lot more likely to take a survey if I can do it online or call at a time that's convenient for me. Mostly they call during dinner and that's just not going to work.

Alex said...

I'm more inclined to take a survey if the person asking me either on the phone or in the street isn't a total muppet. usually there are some that phone the house for movie stuff and they are so rude, I don't know why they would think ANYONE would take the time to talk to them. I've never been asked about doing important more real survey subjects, apart from this thing I do online where I am sent surveys to take part in. Thats called pureprofile.com and I get a mixture of government stuff, product stuff and movie trailer review surveys, which is kinda fun. Also I get paid for that. I'd like to be compensated for the nonimportant/government type surveys because the people/companies collecting this information get paid to provide it to whoever requested it and my time is money and I think that if I am to give them my personal information that they benefit from for nothing, then why should I?

Helen said...

I like them as well. I recently took one concerning how I feel about the U.S. military. Since my brother is in the National Guard, I felt it was very important to show my support.

Heidi said...

Because I'm a very opinionated person I love to take surveys. Of course, we have "do not distrub" on our phone so you have to enter a code for our phone to even ring, so that means no phone surveys, but I'll willingly do ones where I call them, where I fill out something and send it back or an online one.

Mellodee said...

I know lots of people participate in surveys, including me! IRL we don't often get a chance to give our opinions without then having to argue about it!! :)