I agree that a survey can be very interesting.  I have a specialization
in health surveys (questionnaire/validation process/etc...) and since I
began to surf the net, I dream about using it for that.
        What is particulary time consuming and boring in survey is to encode all
the informations given by respondents.  So I think that if you use a
questionnaire with already encode choice of answers, you will save you
lot of headeaches.  And each respondent will have to put the number
of his/her answer for each question. A row for each ferret.
 
So it will looks like that:
1389543287054....
        As the sample population is used to computer, it will be easy to
ask them to conform with formatted type answers.  They can be allowed
also to put at the end (in an other row) comments or pertinent
information not covered by the questionnaire.
 
After a short introduction explaining how to answer the questionnaire
(like answer *all* the question or the answers won't be valid...), one
line for each ferret were sending it, etc...  Questions and answers can
be formatted like that:
 
1) Is the ferret:  male (0)
                   female (1)
2) Is he/she still alive:  yes (0)
                           no (1)
Etc, etc...
 
And if you find some incongruity, it's easy to ask for explanation or for
reformating the answers as you have the e-mail identification.
 
So like that you will have a very nice and clear data base very easy to
use directly with any good statistical software.
 
Maybe someone have better idea, let discuss it...
 
P.S.  For sure there's a bias, but if you say that it's a survey of the
ferrets of the FML readers, you bypass it.  It won't be generalizable to
all ferrets of the universe, but it's a specific population.
 
P.S.#2  Rudy, I will be please to help you if you want.  Not in wording
(do you like my french looking writing style? ha! ha! ha!).  Feel free to
e-mail me directly.  Here it's a ferret-free zone... Thanks God!
 
Anne and the gang of french-speaking cousins: Victor, Hugo and Adele H.
 
############################################################################
 
 Anne Charbonneau E-mail: [log in to unmask]    Fax: (514) 343-2233
                  Tel: (514) 343-6111 poste 3048          Local: I-213
 
                  Faculte de medecine dentaire
                  Universite de Montreal
                  C.P. 6128, Succ. A,
                  Montreal, Quebec, Canada, H3C 3J7
[Posted in FML issue 1153]