diff --git a/Docs/Reasonings/CensusAgeRange.png b/Docs/Reasonings/CensusAgeRange.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..31a2d67d60 Binary files /dev/null and b/Docs/Reasonings/CensusAgeRange.png differ diff --git a/Docs/Reasonings/CensusComputerSkills.png b/Docs/Reasonings/CensusComputerSkills.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..cb0892148a Binary files /dev/null and b/Docs/Reasonings/CensusComputerSkills.png differ diff --git a/Docs/Reasonings/CensusGenderIdentity.png b/Docs/Reasonings/CensusGenderIdentity.png new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..6f3b1b09ba Binary files /dev/null and b/Docs/Reasonings/CensusGenderIdentity.png differ diff --git a/Docs/Reasonings/MapComplete_User_Census.md b/Docs/Reasonings/MapComplete_User_Census.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..a74f9a52d5 --- /dev/null +++ b/Docs/Reasonings/MapComplete_User_Census.md @@ -0,0 +1,66 @@ +_# MapComplete user census + +As you noticed, MapComplete ran a user survey during january. +What did it tell us? + +The use survey had a few goals, namely: + +- discovering what demographics are using MapComplete +- and discovering what needs and wants are still there + +## Basic demography + +The first question is of course: who did fill out the survey? If we look to the numbers, a clear pattern emerges. + +The age distribution looks pretty normal - there is a clear peak around the bucket `30-40`, which falls down left and right. + +![](CensusAgeRange.png) + +The gender is not as balanced. Unsurprisingly, the majority of respondents is male: + +![](CensusGenderIdentity.png) + +Around 10% of respondents identified as female; and 11 people identified as having a non-conventional gender. +Note that there was _no_ option for trans people - they could choose between either their chosen gender or use the 'something else'. As such, I don't know how much trans people are in each category. One person, identifying as female however stated to be trans (and I suspect that there are a few more). + +This tells us that women are vastly underrepresented in this survey - ideally they would be around 50%. + +In the same vein, non conventional genders are vastly overrepresented in this survey. [According to Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-binary_gender#Population_figures), about 0.5% of adult populations identify as non-binary. With 11 out of 177 respondents using a non-conventional gender, we end up at 6%. It seems like we are a pretty welcome community - or at least I hope so. +Fun fact: it's a bit of a running joke that many trans-people are programmers. 7 out of 11 of the respondents who picked genderqueer/non-binary/something-else also indicated that they _are developers or studied computer science_, so this stereotype holds up... + +But this might also be a statistical bias. 55% of _all_ respondents indicated that they are programmers: + +![](CensusComputerSkills.png) + +Now, this is a bit painful. MapComplete aims to be an easy-to-use tool for non-technical users. The survey clearly failed to reach these people. + +In practice, the communication about the survey should reach respondents which then, need to be motivated to fill out this survey. + +As the survey has been promoted via [Mastodon](https://en.osm.town/@mapcomplete), this probably had a major influence: Mastodon has a userbase which is both very developer-oriented but also quite queer and has (relatively) many transgender and genderqueer people. As the post about the survey gained a lot of traction there, I suspect many found the survey via that channel. + +A second important effect is the language. The invitation for the survey and the survey itself where all in english. Developers are generally fluent in English, but a non-technical user might not bother with a survey that is not in their native tongue. + +At last, some people from minorities are less likely to fill out surveys ([source](https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED501717.pdf)). I tried to counter this by explicitly inviting those groups to fill out the survey in the request, but this psychological effect is very hard to measure. + +As such, while I do think that the data is mostly representative, I think that less-technical people are underrepresented. + +### Identity + +A last question in the 'demograpy'-set was "how would you describe yourself?" - a notoriously hard question which only 66 persons (37%) answered. + +This question is intentionally open-ended, as people will state what _they_ find important in live. + +18 of them mentioned to be a map lover or OSM lover, 15 self-identified as being a 'techie', 'developer', 'engineer' or similar. 8 found Open Source-software important; 7 mentioned to be interested in environmentalism, urbanism, transportation and/or political issues. Other notable mentions were to be involved (professionally) with GIS. Other notable categories are teachers (2), cyclists (4) and climbers (2). + +## Reach + +How did people get in touch with MC? How well-known is it? +How did SC and ED gain users quickly? + +## Usecases + +Why do people use MC? +What would people still want? +What issues do they report? + +## Good questions to ask next year?