jackyoung1

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Hi,

My name is Jack and I’m currently carrying out research for my dissertation with the University of Leeds. The research is around electric cars and I would be very grateful if you have a few minutes to complete this questionnaire. To complete it you need to be a UK resident, 18 or older and own your own car. The results are used solely for the use of this research and are kept strictly anonymous.


https://leeds.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/electric-cars-attitudes-and-perceptions-copy


Thankyou! :)
 

LostKiwi

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I've had a look at the survey and gave up. There were several areas where no answer was relevant and there was not a 'none of the above' option (for example the one about which of the three cars would be most suitable - it made no reference to fuel type etc).
Its not a survey I feel able to answer honestly.
 
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jackyoung1

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I've had a look at the survey and gave up. There were several areas where no answer was relevant and there was not a 'none of the above' option (for example the one about which of the three cars would be most suitable - it made no reference to fuel type etc).
Its not a survey I feel able to answer honestly.
Hi LostKiwi

Thankyou for the feedback and the attempt :)

Many thanks
Jack
 

Craiglxviii

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I’m with LK. You need to rethink your survey. It shows inherent selection bias towards people wanting EVs.
 

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I’m with LK. You need to rethink your survey. It shows inherent selection bias towards people wanting EVs.

But it does have relevant questions as to what people believe electric car's main problems are which is probably the point of it and more practical than knowing whether people want EV's or not
 
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jackyoung1

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I’m with LK. You need to rethink your survey. It shows inherent selection bias towards people wanting EVs.

Hi Craig :)

Thanks for having a look at it. Although I wouldn't want to give away too much while the survey is open, each question is designed in the way that it is for specific reasons. Eg the question that LostKiwi references, there is a very specific reason why there is no information about fuel type or other specifications and why the question does therefore say 'based only on the following information'.

The suggestion of bias is interesting as a lot of feedback I've had so far suggests people see more of a bias towards combustion engine cars. In the pilot the questions used software to randomise the question order and the answer order for each question but this was seen to be confusing to the people who tried it. Eg: jumping from a question about which car, then to a question about age, then back to a question about parking then to a question about their income.

Thankyou for the feedback and attempt though :), its much appreciated.
Jack
 

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The bias is in presuming that EVs offer enough of a solution to suit most people. I’m biased myself in that I work in the industry so understand the technology and the vehicle limitations better than most.
 

LostKiwi

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the question that LostKiwi references, there is a very specific reason why there is no information about fuel type or other specifications and why the question does therefore say 'based only on the following information'.
Interesting.
The point about fuel is because I'm not a fan of diesel and that would slant my answer. If for example an option was petrol and CO2 emissions of x then I would be more inclined to select that than diesel and CO2 emissions of 1/2x as I am more concerned about the cocktail of gasses than just one aspect of them (this is the error the government made when it introduced tax breaks for diesel cars all those years ago). In that particular scenario there was therefore insufficient data for me to make a decision as the fuel type to me is highly relevant. There were other questions that I felt had similar issues where a decision was not possible due to insufficient information.
 
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jackyoung1

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The bias is in presuming that EVs offer enough of a solution to suit most people. I’m biased myself in that I work in the industry so understand the technology and the vehicle limitations better than most.
HI Craig

Could you elaborate more on how it presumes that EVs offer enough of a solution to suit most people?

Many Thanks
Jack
 
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Interesting.
The point about fuel is because I'm not a fan of diesel and that would slant my answer. If for example an option was petrol and CO2 emissions of x then I would be more inclined to select that than diesel and CO2 emissions of 1/2x as I am more concerned about the cocktail of gasses than just one aspect of them (this is the error the government made when it introduced tax breaks for diesel cars all those years ago). In that particular scenario there was therefore insufficient data for me to make a decision as the fuel type to me is highly relevant. There were other questions that I felt had similar issues where a decision was not possible due to insufficient information.

Hi LostKiwi

I completely understand your point of view, if however I'd put in the fuel types then then that question would have been ruined, same reason I didn't include things like boot space.

I'll happily go into the reasoning for it further once it is all submitted but understandably some people will have very strong views on aspects that I didn't include.

Many Thanks
Jack
 

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8B1B1019-FC55-4B01-A0F0-C3ED2A16B259.png
HI Craig

Could you elaborate more on how it presumes that EVs offer enough of a solution to suit most people?

Many Thanks
Jack

Sure. Here. This page (and this question specifically). The question forces the responder to choose between three poorly performing cars, one an EV, one a petrol-electric hybrid and one a low emission petrol engine, at a rough guess.

The problem is that I’d run screaming for the hills if a ten- second car was offered to me. None of those would be in any sort of shortlist for me.

The questionnaire is pretty much coached in that way. I would suggest that a better selection would be to find out what peoples’ perceptions would be of what it takes to make EVs more appealing to become mainstream- which is I presume the general direction of your survey.
 

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Hi LostKiwi

I completely understand your point of view, if however I'd put in the fuel types then then that question would have been ruined, same reason I didn't include things like boot space.

I'll happily go into the reasoning for it further once it is all submitted but understandably some people will have very strong views on aspects that I didn't include.

Many Thanks
Jack

In that case you are including selection bias of your own by limiting the choices one can make. LK likes big petrol V8s; so do I. I like diesel V6s for general use. So we would both choose one and one of us would choose both of those selections if they were available. Similarly one question limits responses to 5 factors when choosing a car. I had about 8-9 factors in that which I could weight, responding to 5 only needlessly simplified my answer. Things like discounting of luggage room space disqualifies my answer, I’m a family man with two kids so I have to ensure enough luggage space to cart the kids’ (and DCS’) shoite around. That’s the specific reason I went from an A3 to an E Class for instance.

Anyway. I completed your survey but my answers are not honest as the limitations of the survey prevent them from being so.
 
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jackyoung1

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View attachment 41634

Sure. Here. This page (and this question specifically). The question forces the responder to choose between three poorly performing cars, one an EV, one a petrol-electric hybrid and one a low emission petrol engine, at a rough guess.

The problem is that I’d run screaming for the hills if a ten- second car was offered to me. None of those would be in any sort of shortlist for me.

The questionnaire is pretty much coached in that way. I would suggest that a better selection would be to find out what peoples’ perceptions would be of what it takes to make EVs more appealing to become mainstream- which is I presume the general direction of your survey.


Hi Craig

Completely understandable. I can't say I personally would be overly keen on a 10 second car. The cars chosen are very similar to each other to limit bias, eg I could have used the stats of a Tesla S for the electric car but that would have given it a huge advantage. By doing that then the persona answering can assume any other specs to be whatever they want as the real life cars are so similar.

If I'd compared say a Tesla with a Veyron and used those specs then it wouldn't have been fair as the majority of the population can't afford either and the specs are out of line to what many people would want. The car(s) I did use were all cars that would be suitable for families etc and the specs around range and acceleration are nearer to those of Astra's or Focus's which are generally popular selling cars.

Some questions it would have been impossible to frame in a way that was completely unbias. Again, with that question some people are accusing it of bias because the electric car has such lower specs than the petrol car, while others are upset that the petrol car has generally low specs.

Again, I'll discuss it further and give more reasoning for why it is how it is once its all submitted.

Thankyou for giving it a go :)
 

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The thing about the cars you chose are that the first two make little sense in the real world.
The first ICE powered car is very low emission but has less range than the second car with higher emissions.
The second car I would have guessed to be diesel but then the emissions are wrong (unless it's a 4x4 which introduces variables of its own) and it must have a massive fuel tank to get 700 miles?
The first car I would guess to be a hybrid perhaps? But then I'd expect better range from a car with such low emissions (unless the fuel tank were tiny which then makes it a much smaller vehicle). I pondered this question for about 5 minutes but decided it couldn't be answered (for me) on the limited information provided.
As you can see from my profile no one car suits my needs anyway. My summer commuter is a Smart - cheap to run, fun and easy to park). My pleasure cars (and tourers for holiday road trips) are both V8 convertibles. Our load lugger for carting furniture around the UK and France (which we've done a lot of over the past year) is a cheap old petrol estate that we only paid £600 for. Just from those descriptions in the question none of them look to fit my needs as my needs are so variable.

This is further reinforced by your comment that they are based around Astra/Focus sized vehicles - a class of vehicle I would be unlikely to look at.
 

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Ah jis bin dun that thur survey whilst y’all bin debatin it - yi he-a?
 

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Izzat how them thur Scots talk now?
 

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Although in seriousness I found it difficult
In my case trying to think from the perspective of...
Having two vastly different cars with vastly differing needs for each
Working in an industry which relies on that liquid stuff to propel combustion engines cars
 

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Surveys, mass data for desk dwellers.
 
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jackyoung1

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The thing about the cars you chose are that the first two make little sense in the real world.
The first ICE powered car is very low emission but has less range than the second car with higher emissions.
The second car I would have guessed to be diesel but then the emissions are wrong (unless it's a 4x4 which introduces variables of its own) and it must have a massive fuel tank to get 700 miles?
The first car I would guess to be a hybrid perhaps? But then I'd expect better range from a car with such low emissions (unless the fuel tank were tiny which then makes it a much smaller vehicle). I pondered this question for about 5 minutes but decided it couldn't be answered (for me) on the limited information provided.
As you can see from my profile no one car suits my needs anyway. My summer commuter is a Smart - cheap to run, fun and easy to park). My pleasure cars (and tourers for holiday road trips) are both V8 convertibles. Our load lugger for carting furniture around the UK and France (which we've done a lot of over the past year) is a cheap old petrol estate that we only paid £600 for. Just from those descriptions in the question none of them look to fit my needs as my needs are so variable.

This is further reinforced by your comment that they are based around Astra/Focus sized vehicles - a class of vehicle I would be unlikely to look at.

Hi LostKiwi

Sorry for the delay in replying, I don't mind saying which cars now as the survey is almost over.

Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV (hybrid), Mitsubishi Outlander,and the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV in just electric mode. So yes a 4x4 I don't have the exact variants to hand (somewhere amongst a very large pile of paperwork) The info on the specs etc were taken from the Mitsubishi website and the Parkers website. Yes the fuel tank on the hybrid is slightly smaller than that of the actual combustion engine equivalent. The cars were all obviously incredibly similar in every other way except performance and emissions and that's the difference I needed. They also have a bit of style to them which made them my car of choice for the question. The fact they're also the same brand also made them a good choice in terms of accessibility eg in terms of finance plans etc.

My dream car is a 1969 Pontiac GTO judge, so as you can guess the cars of choice I used were influenced by personal preference lol.
 

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