Hi, my name is Lisa from the University of Kentucky and we're conducting a survey to better...
Have I told you guys about the undergraduate research assistantship that I'm doing this semester for class credit?
I took FAM 253 last semester and aced the class. The professor offered those of us in his class to take FAM 495 this semester. There are about 32 of us and all we do is randomly call people in the US and ask them to take a survey regarding posthumous reproduction. I really don't know why I agreed to do it. First off, I'm so shy and hate calling people like that. I'm so afraid that I'm bothering them. Secondly, I'm afraid that this is karmic retribution for hanging up on surveyors and telemarketers over the years. It's supposed to last all semester and when I'm done, as long as I completed all my required time, it will supposedly be the easiest "A" I've ever received. I only signed up for 2 credit hours (some signed up for 6) which requires 2 work hours per credit hour. Luckily we were able to choose our times and I chose Mondays and Tuesdays from 6 pm until 8 pm. Two hours a night is long enough for me. I couldn't handle doing all 4 hours in one night. Some people did sign up to do it all in one shift. That's just plain crazy to me. In 2 hours tonight, I only completed 2 surveys. And it was (barely) not from a lack of trying. I made over 90 calls tonight. I get so frustrated from making call, after call, after call and not getting an answer or someone to positively respond to my request. Sometimes, so I can avoid the hang-ups and the rejections and the busy signals and the answering machines and having to recite the first 5 lines over and over again, I take mini-breaks between calls. I'll take my time before I dial another number and stare off into space or text someone on my cell, especially when the graduate assistant isn't in the room supervising us.
The computer just randomly chooses one of the 40,000 (or maybe it was 24,000) numbers purchased by my professor. Since my shifts are early in the evening, I only call the eastern and central time zones. It could be a working number or not, it could be a business or possibly a cell phone. We're not supposed to use those numbers, though. We don't know anything about the people who we're calling except their phone number and the town and state in which they live. Tonight, I randomly called Natick, MA which made me think of Bethy. :-) The computer also randomly picks the person with whom I need to speak - either the oldest or youngest man or woman over the age of 18 in the house. I have to go through this long spiel before I even get to that part and most people have already hung up on me or declined, even if they weren't the one I needed to talk to. *SIGH* And I think I could recite that spiel in my sleep because I've said it so often - and it's only the 4th week!
As of tonight, I've completed 12 surveys. That's a little more than an average of 1.5 calls per hours that I've worked. And although there are others who have completed twice as many surveys as I have, I'm still #1 out of all 32 of us so far for the second week in a row. The ones who have completed more surveys than I have also worked more hours than I have. I think it's a little weird, but cool at the same time. One of the graduate assistants is supposed to be working on prizes such as gift cards for the top surveyors. I will probably have been knocked out of the top position by that time. That's my luck. I don't win things. But really, this is for the easy "A" and the fact that it will look good on my grad school application along with the possibility of a letter of recommendation from Jason (the professor). The prizes would just be a bit of a perk for this shitty experience that makes me want to pull my hair out a couple of times each night.
So the subject of the research project is posthumous reproduction. My professor has a personal reason for the subject which he shared with us last semester. He was married to a woman for about 6 years. They had talked about having kids one day, but she was murdered before that ever happened. He requested that the doctors freeze her eggs so that he might be able to have a biological child with his deceased wife one day when he was ready. But the medical professionals refused to cooperate. I guess he went 'round and 'round with them and by the time he made any progress, it was too late to save any of his wife's eggs. So now he wants to know other people's opinions on the subject. He gave the entire class the survey last semester before we knew anything about this research assistantship or about his personal situation. I don't know what he plans on doing with the results. Perhaps he'll submit them in a journal or something. I never have asked him. So he wrote many different vignettes for us to propose to the surveyees (what do we call those people?) that change at random for each call. Like one time, Rick and Vanessa may be married and Vanessa may have died. Another time Rick and Vanessa may only have been living together for years and Rick may have died. It may have been from cancer or suicide or a car accident or dying in combat. Who knows? Actually, if you guys watch the new ABC show Private Practice you might have seen a similar incident earlier this season. I don't watch the show, but he showed us a clip from that episode in class. It seems like the only people who I've gotten to agree to take the survey are 50+ yr old women. Even if the computer tells me to ask for the oldest or youngest male in the house, if he's not available, I'll ask whoever answered the phone. If that person is willing to take the survey (and is over 18), I'll just record their responses. At the end of the survey, I'm able to correct the gender and age, but still, it's not good that most of my responses have come from so many older women. I've only gotten 2 men to take the survey. Guys are jerks. Of course, so are some of the women. I've also found that many of those who have responded to me are well-educated. I don't know if they're more accepting of research phone surveys or if they're just nice people who happen to be educated.
*SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH* Only 11 more weeks till the end of the semester. Let's hope I survive.
I took FAM 253 last semester and aced the class. The professor offered those of us in his class to take FAM 495 this semester. There are about 32 of us and all we do is randomly call people in the US and ask them to take a survey regarding posthumous reproduction. I really don't know why I agreed to do it. First off, I'm so shy and hate calling people like that. I'm so afraid that I'm bothering them. Secondly, I'm afraid that this is karmic retribution for hanging up on surveyors and telemarketers over the years. It's supposed to last all semester and when I'm done, as long as I completed all my required time, it will supposedly be the easiest "A" I've ever received. I only signed up for 2 credit hours (some signed up for 6) which requires 2 work hours per credit hour. Luckily we were able to choose our times and I chose Mondays and Tuesdays from 6 pm until 8 pm. Two hours a night is long enough for me. I couldn't handle doing all 4 hours in one night. Some people did sign up to do it all in one shift. That's just plain crazy to me. In 2 hours tonight, I only completed 2 surveys. And it was (barely) not from a lack of trying. I made over 90 calls tonight. I get so frustrated from making call, after call, after call and not getting an answer or someone to positively respond to my request. Sometimes, so I can avoid the hang-ups and the rejections and the busy signals and the answering machines and having to recite the first 5 lines over and over again, I take mini-breaks between calls. I'll take my time before I dial another number and stare off into space or text someone on my cell, especially when the graduate assistant isn't in the room supervising us.
The computer just randomly chooses one of the 40,000 (or maybe it was 24,000) numbers purchased by my professor. Since my shifts are early in the evening, I only call the eastern and central time zones. It could be a working number or not, it could be a business or possibly a cell phone. We're not supposed to use those numbers, though. We don't know anything about the people who we're calling except their phone number and the town and state in which they live. Tonight, I randomly called Natick, MA which made me think of Bethy. :-) The computer also randomly picks the person with whom I need to speak - either the oldest or youngest man or woman over the age of 18 in the house. I have to go through this long spiel before I even get to that part and most people have already hung up on me or declined, even if they weren't the one I needed to talk to. *SIGH* And I think I could recite that spiel in my sleep because I've said it so often - and it's only the 4th week!
As of tonight, I've completed 12 surveys. That's a little more than an average of 1.5 calls per hours that I've worked. And although there are others who have completed twice as many surveys as I have, I'm still #1 out of all 32 of us so far for the second week in a row. The ones who have completed more surveys than I have also worked more hours than I have. I think it's a little weird, but cool at the same time. One of the graduate assistants is supposed to be working on prizes such as gift cards for the top surveyors. I will probably have been knocked out of the top position by that time. That's my luck. I don't win things. But really, this is for the easy "A" and the fact that it will look good on my grad school application along with the possibility of a letter of recommendation from Jason (the professor). The prizes would just be a bit of a perk for this shitty experience that makes me want to pull my hair out a couple of times each night.
So the subject of the research project is posthumous reproduction. My professor has a personal reason for the subject which he shared with us last semester. He was married to a woman for about 6 years. They had talked about having kids one day, but she was murdered before that ever happened. He requested that the doctors freeze her eggs so that he might be able to have a biological child with his deceased wife one day when he was ready. But the medical professionals refused to cooperate. I guess he went 'round and 'round with them and by the time he made any progress, it was too late to save any of his wife's eggs. So now he wants to know other people's opinions on the subject. He gave the entire class the survey last semester before we knew anything about this research assistantship or about his personal situation. I don't know what he plans on doing with the results. Perhaps he'll submit them in a journal or something. I never have asked him. So he wrote many different vignettes for us to propose to the surveyees (what do we call those people?) that change at random for each call. Like one time, Rick and Vanessa may be married and Vanessa may have died. Another time Rick and Vanessa may only have been living together for years and Rick may have died. It may have been from cancer or suicide or a car accident or dying in combat. Who knows? Actually, if you guys watch the new ABC show Private Practice you might have seen a similar incident earlier this season. I don't watch the show, but he showed us a clip from that episode in class. It seems like the only people who I've gotten to agree to take the survey are 50+ yr old women. Even if the computer tells me to ask for the oldest or youngest male in the house, if he's not available, I'll ask whoever answered the phone. If that person is willing to take the survey (and is over 18), I'll just record their responses. At the end of the survey, I'm able to correct the gender and age, but still, it's not good that most of my responses have come from so many older women. I've only gotten 2 men to take the survey. Guys are jerks. Of course, so are some of the women. I've also found that many of those who have responded to me are well-educated. I don't know if they're more accepting of research phone surveys or if they're just nice people who happen to be educated.
*SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH* Only 11 more weeks till the end of the semester. Let's hope I survive.