Awesome Conferences

Researching looking for Sysadmins to take survey

Short version: Take this survey, you might win a $100 Amazon gift card but more importantly you'll be helping great research.

Long version:

Hello All,

Some of you may recognize my name - and some of you may recognize my
research. :) I study sysadmins and help organizations find ways to
understand the work of system administration better, in part, so they
can build better software. I conducted a study a few years ago that I
presented at LISA, and I'm working on extending it to a journal paper.
This extended publication would dramatically increase readership of
the results to include top researchers and executives, so I think it's
a worthy endeavor.

But... I have some reviewers absolutely incredulous at my claim that
sysadmins, as software or tech users, are any different from everyone
else. They think that sysadmins' expertise and view of the system
doesn't change the way we work. However, I have other reviewers that
believe in the work and my results. I have been asked to re-collect
this data to verify my findings - in effect, prove that my earlier
survey results weren't a fluke.

So: I would really appreciate it if you would take about 15 minutes
to complete the survey, even if it looks familiar to you from a few
years ago. Also, please feel free to forward this on to any other
sysadmins you may know. One participant (aka survey completer) will
be randomly selected to win a $100 Amazon.com gift card. AND if I get
lots of responses, I'll go ahead and add in extra gift cards: so one
person for every 100 completed will win. (Just so no one tanks their
odds by referring friends.) I would also be happy to share my results
with anyone who is interested.

The link is below in the official invitation, but I've also copied it
here: http://pepperdine.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_egoE0rHGsRHGILy


Thanks again!

~Nicole

===================================

Dear System Administrator,

My name is Nicole Forsgren Velasquez, and I am a researcher at
Pepperdine University. I am conducting a study to examine the factors
and qualities that motivate system administrators to use or not use
software applications, and we would really appreciate your help. You
are being invited to participate because as a system administrator,
you have a unique understanding of what makes a software application
(i.e., "tool") useful in your job.

The survey asks about the tools you use in your work and will take
about 15 minutes to complete. There are no right or wrong answers; we
are interested in your opinions. Approximately 200 system
administrators are being asked to participate in this survey. As a
way of thanking you for your participation, one participant will be
randomly chosen to win a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate. The survey
can be accessed here:
http://pepperdine.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_egoE0rHGsRHGILy

We would like to get the opinions of as many system administrators as
possible, so feel free to tell fellow system administrators about the
survey.

Thank you very much!

The author can be reached via her web site: http://www.nicolefv.com

Posted by Tom Limoncelli in Industry

Credits