Broadening the involvement in amateur astronomy - help please!

[Helen]

I'm currently involved in some work to try to understand why the demographic of the amateur astronomy community is so different to the demogarphics of UK society (obvious when one attends any sort of astro event in the UK!).  

We want to start a conversation about experiences, and barriers to involvement.  But to do so we need some data from everyone in the astronomy community.  That way we can see whether different groups face different barriers, and can start to try to remove those barriers.

We've put together a short survey, a pilot study, about how different demographic groups perceive they are received within the UK amateur community (we think this is the first time this has been done).   

Preliminary results will be presented at the Europlanet Science Congress in September, and we hope this will stimulate further submissions to the survey, as well as starting a debate about future actions.  We hope to formally publish the research.

So please can you fill in the survey   https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfzkMvyhSfXHVCDODgHnj7mnATyFIkQy12iD_jnX2gMrldJ6A/formResponse and share with your astro friends - and also with anyone who perhaps has an interest but is not actively involved in astronomy (that way we can start to understand what keeps people out of active engagement).  You can keep your response completely anonymous.

Thanks!

Helen

 

So, to quote the survey covering note:

We believe astronomy should be accessible and enjoyable for everyone. What limited statistics are available suggest that the demographic balance in astronomy does not reflect that of the UK society. This survey aims to gauge how people from different demographics feel in amateur astronomy communities in the UK. We want to hear from amateur astronomers about your experiences in different  communities, how you got involved, and what you think can be made better and how. 

We hope that this survey will provide a better understanding of the UK amateur astronomy community and promote inclusion. This is the first study that looks at the way different demographics participate in UK amateur astronomy and we would be very grateful for your participation. Please feel free to share the survey with your friends and colleagues involved in amateur astronomy. 

If you have any further questions, you are very welcome to contact us at theinclusivetelescope@gmail.com.

[MarkAR]

Done.

[Daf1983]

Done

[Gfamily]

Do you want us to resubmit or can you use our original responses? 

And am I ok to share with my club members (we're a physical group with a Facebook group page)?

[Gfamily]

8 minutes ago, Helen said:

Ok, sorry for confusion for the early adopters!  Would you mind giving it another go - I'd hate to lose your contributions @MarkAR @JeremyS https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1wAnIrSwLEKPbyW4KesCWinFfjjlPjqqZ3cMHalKXPJI/viewform?edit_requested=true

Thanks 

Helen

 I suggest you edit your initial post to include the correct URL as people are more likely to click on the first one they see (I know I did ! )

[MarkAR]

Done again. 😉

[JeremyS]

No probs @Helen, now done the "real" survey 🙂

 

[Guest]

Great initiative, duly completed.

[knobby]

Done ... twice 🙂

 

[Helen]

You are all stars 🤩

[Helen]

3 hours ago, Gfamily said:

 I suggest you edit your initial post to include the correct URL as people are more likely to click on the first one they see (I know I did ! )

Yes, all the links now go to the right place 🙂. (so I'll delete my panicked replies 🤭)

Helen

[Helen]

3 hours ago, Gfamily said:

Do you want us to resubmit or can you use our original responses? 

And am I ok to share with my club members (we're a physical group with a Facebook group page)?

Yes, share away 😁. Thanks 👍

[Bukko]

survey completed.. 👍

 

[AstroNebulee]

Done 👍

[davew]

Hi Helen,

I'd like to say I completed the survey but I need a few " No idea " tick boxes along the way if that's possible. As a for instance, I have no idea if a woman feels welcome, nor someone who is in a minority group and don't even know what the QIA+  in LGBTQIA+ actually means. The problem I now have is that I can't progress beyond that page so I'm guessing that this makes me the type one needs to avoid ? ( That bit is light hearted ) I could make up my answers and say what I think you want to hear but I guess you'd not want that.

The sad part is that I'm being absolutely serious with no agendas whatsoever. It may turn out that I'm the only SGL member who can't answer a simple question but you can PM me to investigate my ignorance in more detail if you need to.

As soon as I've posted I will look up what the QIA+ means and then I'll be more informed. 

Dave.

[Helen]

9 minutes ago, davew said:

Hi Helen,

I'd like to say I completed the survey but I need a few " No idea " tick boxes along the way if that's possible. As a for instance, I have no idea if a woman feels welcome, nor someone who is in a minority group and don't even know what the QIA+  in LGBTQIA+ actually means. The problem I now have is that I can't progress beyond that page so I'm guessing that this makes me the type one needs to avoid ? ( That bit is light hearted ) I could make up my answers and say what I think you want to hear but I guess you'd not want that.

The sad part is that I'm being absolutely serious with no agendas whatsoever. It may turn out that I'm the only SGL member who can't answer a simple question but you can PM me to investigate my ignorance in more detail if you need to.

As soon as I've posted I will look up what the QIA+ means and then I'll be more informed. 

Dave.

Thanks for the helpful feedback Dave - I'll talk to the others and hopefully get the questions to be non compulsory so we can gather all views 🙂

Thanks

Helen

[Helen]

Ok, after @davew Dave's helpful feedback, we've made most questions optional, so you should now be able to proceed through the survey.  We do just want honest answers 🙂 

Thanks all!

Helen

[PhotoGav]

Done.

[John]

Done.

I had similar issues to @davew on some of the terminology used so I used a best guess there.

 

[Helen]

Thanks John, I'll feed that back too 🙂.

(It has been a tricky one to draft sensitively)

[davew]

Done.

Thank you for your patience as it does make a difference,

Dave.

[Helen]

1 minute ago, davew said:

Done.

Thank you for your patience as it does make a difference,

Dave.

Thank you for being interested enough to comment here constructively, rather than just giving up, as the changes we've made as a result will undobtedly also allow others to participate 🙂 

Helen

[Stu]

Done here too, and shared with my Astro FB group 👍👍

[DaveS]

Done too. I had the same problems that Dave had so put a neutral 3 in those questions I felt unable to give a sensible answer to.

[Second Time Around]

Done.