Bike Theft Survey

I think there were too many questions in the survey. You could have included just a few of them and focus on what is important and necessary to achieve your goal. I would have bounced off right away upon seeing the long list.

Yep, I agree with the previous commet. It seems to be too long, really.

It wasn't that long. Granted it could've been condensed and some questions seem almost irrelevant, but it's their survey for whatever, they know what kinds of questions they need answered.

Why don't you sign your real name and address to this post? I don't know who you are and I think all survey respondents have a right to know your name and contact information. Your question #18 is soliciting contact information from respondents -- but you won't identify yourself up front. Seems fishy to me.

Are you selling respondent answers to someone? Is your survey making electronic attempts to identify the respondents?

I don't think you should be soliciting survey data from minors under the age of 18 without the consent of parents. If these innocents give you their names and addresses and phone numbers, what are you going to do with that? Granted, anyone can say they are over 17, but your survey is soliciting from minors and you are not identifying yourself in any way.

I simply can't imagine why you want to ask people for comments about their bicycles and how they secure them in question #1. What does that usefully tell you and how does it assist you in designing a new locking system? I mean, you could ask police agencies for their statistical information about actual thefts and quite possibly have a lot of data in electronic format that you can work with.

If you want to design a tougher locking system -- go right ahead. Build a prototype lock, then use it to lock an expensive bicycle to something. See how long it takes the bicycle to get stolen. You don't need to do a survey when you have access to statistical data from authoritative sources. So I think your "survey" has some other goal in mind.

Thanks

Bob

Gotta agree with BobCochran on this one.

Some stuff there is just a little too sketchy for my liking.

I agree. Also, maybe I am being a little too simplistic, but the idea of locks is to prevent the bike from being stolen, so there's not that much to it, a strong and flexible one so that is not easily cut.

I used to lock mine using a chain, whenever I could go to watch football. Nowadays bike theft is not common as it used to be. Buying a new bike costs that is why we have to make sure that we lock our bikes. Your idea is good and I am sure many people will like it.

I have successfully filled up your survey. For me it was not long at all, just a normal length I guess.
I use a cable lock to secure my bike, and so far I have not had any situation when my bike got stollen, luckily enough. Maybe because in my place, people would rather go for a car when stealing is in question, rather than for a bike. Rarely people ride their bikes here, mostly children do.
Which obviously makes me happy since I adore my yellow bike. It is not a famous brand bike, but it is my pride and joy, and I loved the question you posting about how much we loved our bikes.

You need to state precisely on your survey form -- or perhaps another web page that you link to -- exactly what you will do with the information disclosed to you, especially the personally identifiable information. Who else has access to the information and what will those parties do with it? You aren't even using a secure (https) connection which encrypts the data; so all the information people send you is transmitted in cleartext. The world can collect your data.

Most universities also have rather strict rules around the collection and use of electronic information. If you are conducting a project under the auspices of your university, then you better start talking to your professor about how to handle the information you do collect and what information the university is willing to allow you to collect. I know there are such policies among universities because I've been associated with academics for a long, long, long time. Of course they vary from school to school and country to country.

You don't need to do a survey to design a better lock. Talk to any cop for a few hours. Ask for an interview with any thief now doing prison time, and you'll get all the pointers in the world. Set up a booth in a shopping mall and talk to shoppers who are willing to speak to you. Don't collect information from children under the age of 18. I don't know what the law is over there, but you can attract a lot of attention of the wrong kind by storing and using personally identifiable information on individuals who are under legal age to drink and/or vote.

A far more believable approach is for you to submit engineering drawings of an actual lock mechanism to the community and then ask for commentary. Better yet, build a prototype and ask for commentary. Your questions are pointless and a waste of time from an engineering and design perspective. You are merely collecting information, most of which is useless from the viewpoint of designing a bicycle lock. Worse, it is personally identifiable.

You sound innocent, but respondents don't know that, and you started out by hiding information about yourself. We have absolutely no idea how you will consume this information, or whether it is truly carried out for academic purposes.

Also, to clear the air a little, your "dissertation" is not for a doctoral degree or an engineering degree, am I correct? It is merely a paper assigned by a professor or teaching assistant, whom are teaching at the baccalaureate level and the paper is what most Americans would call a "term paper". Probably of about 7,000 -- 10,000 words length. So this is something that does not require a major, months- or years-long effort. It's just a little paper that you will soon forget, anyhow. Why should respondents risk their own information on you?

Thanks

Bob

Quote by Cern Hyde:
"I am however required to write a dissertation on the subject of bicycle security as part of the course and project, for which first-hand information on more broad aspects are necessary."

I suggest you attend one or more of the European Bike Stealing Championship events.
[media]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yTFiP_co0U[/media]

Pardon me for not answering the survey sheet because I don't have much time to spare, well, my internet is very slow and it's annoying. I used to have the impression that bike stealing is exclusive for us. I didn't know that bikes are also stolen in America and probably in some European countries. But in China, their law is harsh, the reason why no one dares to steal a bike unless he is willing to suffer the consequences. Does that mean the Chinese are lesser mortals than us when it comes to stealing bikes?

No. It means the Chinese are lesser mortals because they do not recognize patent law, intellectual property rights and are adept at faking and selling inferior cloned products and knockoffs.

I answered your survey. I have had previously experience having my bike stolen but managed to get it back afterwards. Nowadays I haven't had any problems losing the bike since I got better lock.

I didn't find the survey too long. I didn't have much to contribute though because luckily I've never had my bike stolen, despite living in an area where bike theft is fairly common.

I keep my bicycle in our entryway behind two locked doors so I don't have to worry too much in general, but when I'm commuting and need to leave it outside a store or whatever I lock with up with my combination lock. If someone was really determined I'm sure they could probably get through it, but it's more a deterrent than anything.