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Question Re The Survey Results

Posted: 2017-03-16, 17:17
by TwoTankAmin
I may be barely literate about the technical things relating to Pale Moon, but my areas of study were such that I do know a bit about surveys, sampling, statistics etc.

In the end, such information is only worth the useful data it provides. In this case, there was very little understandable information because there were no numbers on how many respondants were included in the results. How many people responded is what would determine the validity or usefulness of the results. Two things are relevant here.

1. How representative of the general population was the sample population (those who responded). The ideal is for the sample population actually to be statistically representative of the population as a whole. However, knowing this here would require information that I do not believe Moonchild has. So we cannot know how representative the sample was.

2. How many total responses were received is the other very important piece of information. It matters if there were 10 responses, 100, 1,000 etc. Numbers really matter and there were absolutely no numbers I saw at all, only percentages. Without knowing the total number of respondents, percentages are meaningless.

So, as one who values statistics and the information they can provide, is it possible to request we be told how many responses there were for the survey (obviously the 8% discarded should not be counted)?

I have one other question. This forum shows 5,855 registered users. If 1 in 10 P M users are registered here, it suggests there are about 60k users in total. It could be more by a lot or it could be fewer, I have no idea. Are there any actual numbers, or even gross estimates, re the total P M user base?

Re: Question Re The Survey Results

Posted: 2017-03-16, 22:29
by Moonchild
I'm sorry but the statistical relevance of the results are ultimately only important to me since I'm making the design/direction decisions here. I have to decide whether the number of responses is going to constitute a representative slice of our user base or not.
Percentages are the only thing that matters once you've crossed a threshold to make the survey as a whole relevant because there has been enough of a response. I think the well over 1500 unique and verifiable respondents makes the input relevant enough to post and draw from. It won't be a hard decider, but serves its purpose in indicating what our users find important overall. If people who didn't participate are unhappy with it or think it is not representative, then they should participate in the survey next time.

As for the total numbers of Pale Moon users, we can only estimate since no telemetry is gathered on users as per our privacy policy. We have also not kept track of the number of installations performed or of the number of times the installer was downloaded (which is only a very rough ballpark minimum anyway and not really usable).
Rough estimates based on traffic for update checks place the total user base in the order of half a million to a million active users. Not counting sporadic use or use by people who block most traffic.

Re: Question Re The Survey Results

Posted: 2017-03-17, 14:59
by TwoTankAmin
I participated, if that is what you were asking?

I do not care about the results per see as I know you decide what goes into Pale Moon regardless of what anybody else may think or want. It is your baby. All I wanted to know was the sample size in order to make some sense of the results you reported. This was not an unreasonable request.

Re: Question Re The Survey Results

Posted: 2017-03-17, 16:34
by New Tobin Paradigm
The whole point of the survey was to let the community have a clear voice to let the Project know what areas are important to them and what areas aren't. To help evaluate where to put developmental focus.

Re: Question Re The Survey Results

Posted: 2017-03-17, 17:29
by Moonchild
TwoTankAmin wrote:This was not an unreasonable request.
Somehow you don't seem to be satisfied with the response though.

Re: Question Re The Survey Results

Posted: 2017-03-17, 20:09
by rabnbeinn
Moonchild wrote:Rough estimates based on traffic for update checks place the total user base in the order of half a million to a million active users.
And growing at a steady rate I'd imagine :thumbup:

Re: Question Re The Survey Results

Posted: 2017-03-18, 00:49
by PastTense
Obviously the survey responses are NOT representatives of the users as a whole. Did you notice the results on Experience level? Only 14% are in the two lowest responses which would be the clear majority of browser users if the results were representative.

Lots of software packages have forums. Who shows up? Mostly the experienced people really interested in the program. The average user only shows up when he has a problem and is looking for help.

Re: Question Re The Survey Results

Posted: 2017-03-18, 01:18
by Moonchild
PastTense wrote:Did you notice the results on Experience level? Only 14% are in the two lowest responses which would be the clear majority of browser users if the results were representative.
Not necessarily. It just shows that what our browser has attacted so far has been a larger amount of "power users" an a smaller percentage of other users. If you would compare it with the audience of e.g. Chrome, that aims to serve the lower common denominator, then yes, it would not be representative, but apparently OUR user base is currently made up of a larger percentage of more experienced users.

We posted the survey availability not only on the forum, but also prominently on all our websites. We did this on purpose so the respondents would not be limited to the slice of our user base that is active on the forum.

Re: Question Re The Survey Results

Posted: 2017-03-18, 10:39
by Samsemilia
I actually wanted to respond in the thread in the "Forum and website" section, but I don't seem to have the privileges there, so here we go:

From the survey result:
[...]use anonymizers, use throwaway e-mail addresses and other behavior that invalidated their response.
I always use a VPN, but provided a valid e-mail address. Did my submission still get trashed? I mostly want to know for future surveys, if I should even invest the time to fill the survey or if it's just a waste of time.