[Cruver Collecter]

Probably need to come up with some general consensus between members at the very least. Idea of separate eras with specific number of plane choices per each was promising idea, as was just going with one individual era to start off with. I am not to enthusiastic with going to specific company poll site. With this option you are back to the customers (Yep us) not having at least some measure of input to possible future releases.

[DADoser]

[Disclaimer: I haven't read every post in this discussion in detail - but I just skimmed this discussion.]

We discussed this before - to a degree - on the old Model Hangar forum. It seems to me that this forum would be a GREAT place for manufacturers' Marketing/Sales Depts to do research.

HOWEVER - I think THEY need to register and then utilize the poll structure on this forum. (I'd hate to see us come up with some overly complicated market research polling system - only to find that manufacturer's don't see the forum as a valid and reliable research source.)

I have tried to post polls, that I think - if manufacturer reps are looking at our forum - could use to make valid observations of our market and wants.

http://themodelhangar.com/forum/showthread.php?t=26145

I think these polls need to be model.scale specific as well as focus on the manufacturer's bottom line - "How many can we sell?" Also, they need to be SIMPLE.

However, if we look at the "1:72 Helldiver poll" linked above, here are the problems:

Only 61 of 758 members responded. Less than 10% - even though one of the choices was "I would not be interested." This is probably not a valid or reliable sample for a manufacturer regarding market research. Lets be honest - the overwhelming majority of us just don't respond to the polls on this forum - regardless of the subject. (If we knew, definitely, that specific manufacturer's were looking - that might change - but who knows?) Maybe if we had 400+ respond to a poll like the Helldiver one - then, that would be a more valid/reliable research sample for manufacturers. I just know that the number need to be much higher than 61.


The other question (thinking from a manufacturer's perspective):

"Does the membership of the Model Hangar truly represent the actual or potential diecast market?" I really don't know the answer to this one. Maybe some of the dealers who frequent this forum are better at gauging that question.

Again - I think this forum would be a great place for manufactorers to do their market research AND I think the original theme of this discusssion is a good one. So.....I'm not trying to "crap" alll over this idea or those suggesting it - I do, however, think there ar some issues.

I guess the real question is: How do we communicate to diecast manufactures what models we will buy in numbers that would be profitable for diecast manufacturers?

[Epapazian]

DADoser raises a point which I noted earlier in this thread, namely the issue of readability. There's no point in conducting a poll that gets only 100 voters, let alone trying to slice and dice the replies by variants and paint schemes. You will wind up with tiny samples which most manufacturers will ignore. Whatever form the poll takes, it needs to be constantly promoted---perhaps via alerts, emails, etc. so it meets a minimum goal of about 350-400 respondents. Such results from an elite group of savvy buyers, while not representative of all diecast collectors, should be a decent sampling of those who constitute the core of this market.

[SKUNKY]

What is this thread about?....

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by SKUNKY

What is this thread about?....

Looks to be about eleven pages.

[Epapazian]

Originally Posted by Cruver Collecter

Looks to be about eleven pages.

I think that the reason that there are so many posts on this thread, including some of the back and forth debates on methodology, is that a lot of us like the idea a poll of this nature and wish to help. That's not a bad thing.

[Cruver Collecter]

The discussion on this poll seems to be winding down. There have been some great ideas forwarded, but no evident progress or consensus so far. Epapazaian and DADoser have both indicated a significant problem dealing with lack of respondents to polls on this site in general (Age Poll 98, Scale Poll 64 and Token Poll 39 as an example.). My thought is that discussing methods of setting up a poll regarding plane wish list could in fact be an example of putting the cart before the horse. Maybe it should first be determined if forum members are interested in conducting this poll in the first place. Are we looking at a fairly small group who have expressed an interest or are most collectors interested in general? If you start off with a base of 759 members and only have lets say 60-70 percent actually involved, you are now looking at a window of 455-531 possible respondents (That is taken for granted they are all aviation buffs and not armor enthusiasts). Let us say that only 50-60 percent actually participate, you are now looking at a window 227-318 members actually placing votes. Even in a perfect world and all 759 members were purely into aviation and half participated, it would still only come out to 397.5 respondents. I don't want to come off being pessimistic, but feel this may be fairly representative of the response you might expect to get. Possible first step would be to start a thread that asks members if they would be interested in participation in such a poll. No sense putting out work if there is no interest base. I don't think it necessarily requires all the bell and whistle button for a poll, just simple responses. Also request responses are limited to " Yes I am interested" for simplicities sake, because this thread has pretty much covered the opinion issues. If conducted you might want to consider placing a COB (Close of Business) date of 2 to 4 weeks on thread. I have a feeling that you will have a good idea of the interest level within the first week. Finally I would fairly straight forward as to how many responses would be required before project would considered or shelved for a future date when interest might be higher.

[lanslide]

Hworth, can you let us know if this poll is in the works or not? Do you need us to assist in any way? Do you need any more opinions? LOL

[Cruver Collecter]

It would be nice to know if there are any updates as to if Poll is a go or a no go.

[lanslide]

to poll or not to poll...THAT is the question