Knife Attitude Survey for College Class...Ideas, please!

[Safety Guy]

Hello all. I'm attending a somatics (body/mind) class here at the Ohio State University taught by my friend (and one of our former self-defense instructors) Fanny. The class involves different teaching methods and styles, etc. We've done Feldenkrais, Pilates, Tai chi, and had a Santeria ritual (no, not the chicken sacrifice- -we just danced around).

My presentation will be next Wednesday (Feb. 13) and will involve...

A MINI KNIFE SHOW!

Although my Fairbairn-Sykes and Matriarch are "not welcome" at the show (I checked with the "appropriate authorities"), I will have many cute, colorful, and nifty "knife-tools" for the students to look at and handle. I'll have scrap paper to cut with them as well, and some books, illustrations and other things on display. I have at least twenty minutes, so I'll talk and give a safety briefing for about eight or ten minutes, and the students can look at the knives for the remainder of the time.

The main goal is to reduce people's fear of knives and/or distrust of those who carry and use them through "demystification."

Many of the students will be going into teaching, so this ain't just for fun. I really do want to see if I can reduce fear/distrust and offer some insight and better understanding of blades to the "twenty-something" college students who may not be "knife and tool oriented." Who knows--it may also be something I can develop further. Fanny has already mentioned I should tell the class it is something which could be oriented towards principals and other school personnel. A teacher or other school person could react in a more appropriate and informed manner and keep calmer than if they were overcome with fear due to a blade in a student's hands--for whatever reason. And one of the main reasons anyone has a knife is, of course, as a tool. That will be my focus--knives as tools for everyday living.

Instead of just giving the presentation, I will also be handing out a "knife attitude survey" the Monday before my show. After the show, I will then hand out a post-show survey to see if there are any attitude changes. I hope to measure some sort of change--for the positive.

Thus the purpose for this post: to generate ideas of what I should put on the surveys. I figure a simple Likert scale would be best, and I want to limit the items on the survey to ten, with space for comments. The followup survey should be the same except for the question as to whether or not their attitudes towards knife users/carriers was changed by the show.

Although my background is sociology/criminology, I don't have a lot of statistical/survey experience. I went to the following site to check up on more survey info:

http://trochim.human.cornell.edu/kb/scalgen.htm

It seemed pretty good. I will either use a four stage Likert scale:

"strongly disagree / disagree / agree / strongly agree"

or the five stage:

"strongly disagree / disagree / don't know / agree / strongly agree"

The four stage scale forces the surveyee to "pick a side," while the five stage scale leaves a neutral opinion open. I'm currently leaning toward the four stage, since I don't want a bunch of noncommital "don't knows."

1. Any ideas on which scale (four or five) might be best for measuring "knife attitudes?"

2. What ten statements should be on the survey? Here are some examples:

"It's common for folks to carry pocketknives."

"Those who carry knives are paranoid."

"No one needs to carry a knife around every day."

"People who carry pocketknives are more prepared than those who don't."

"I don't carry a pocketknife because I never need one."

"I wouldn't mind carrying a knife."


You can see that statements can run the gamut from fairly reasonable to clearly biased. Since I am trying to discover clear attitudes from my surveyees, I don't want to include anything too "biased." Also, there may be perceived differences between asking about carrying "knives" vs. "pocketknives." This could get complicated, and I'm trying to avoid that!

I almost forgot--I will first ask some questions about the surveyee's knife carrying history and family, such as if they carry one, if their father/mother, etc. carry one, and so forth. In other words, get a "baseline" for what their "knife background and biases" may be.

I hope this isn't too much to ask, but I know some of you may be quite familiar with Likert scales and opinion research, so I figured it would be good to get some more ideas.

Have at it, and by next week I should be posting what happened and how the "knife show" went!

Thanks,

Karl

 

[bloodnut]

This may be a bit too far afield for you - but on the baseline questions, you might try to get a read on the survey taker's philisophical outlook as it relates to being self-reliant. Maybe get their political affiliation; do you change your own flat tires or call AAA?; do you go camping/hiking/fishing (leave out hunting cause of the gun factor ); do you run/canoe/skydive, etc. I would expect you to find a positive correlation between self-reliant individuals and an acceptance of knives.

Somewhere in your presentation, you might point out that freakin' cavemen had edged implements and if they don't have one, they are less prepared than the average caveman! (I've made this point before.) Have fun and good luck.

Please post your findings and wathc out for the hopolophobes .

 

[krept]

Don't really know what to say, but good luck with your project!

Some ideas, off the top of my head.

Reinforcing the tool concept or technically how useful a sharp blade can be for utilitarian purposes might capture the audience's attention when you actually begin the talk. Of course, the part about safety will be paramount, but honestly shouldn't take more than a minute if that.

Something about the first humanoids using obsidian flake or even flint scrapers and some pictures of some would be good. A tad on metal and the development of the blade as we know it would be good too. This all can take, umm... well as long as you want to make it.

I promise you this, however... if you do add a little more about the history of knives without laying it on TOO thick, the people will come to appreciate exactly how refined the knife or tool they are holding in front of them is.

If you end your talk with something that will help them realize that so much time and effort went into this instrument, they just might look at them with a little more admiration.

At some point you can mention stuff like the Scouts basically including the knife as part of their uniform, how EMTs, police officers, etc. all have them, etc.

I mean, the more that you can emphasize the non-weapon uses of the knife (which is going to be very clear to everyone) the better you will do, I feel...

Just some thoughts... surely nothing new.

 

[fracmeister]

1) for grins, I'd have a knife sharpening demostration at least.

Some statements for the survey:

Knife owners are much likelier to be violent than non-knifeowners

Everyone should knw how to sharpen a knife.

Sharp knives are safer than dull knives.

In an emergency, a knife would be very useful.

I need to cut something almost every day.

I know how to sharpen a knife well.

I would like to know how to sharpen a knife.

Carrying knives should be prohibited in ___________ (multiple choices here)

Kitchen knives are more dangerous than outdoor knives.

It is more dangerous to use the wrong tool to cut things than using a knife.

I have cut myself seriously with a knife.

I have cut myself seriously with something other than a knife.

I want a Sebenza.

 

[Safety Guy]

"I need to cut something every day."

Hey, I just thought of one: "I am a hopeless hoplophobe."

And my five point Likert scale:

Passively sort of agree / agree / who cares? / disagree / VIOLENTLY I WANNA KILL SOMEONE DISAGREE

Thanks guys! Keep em coming...

Karl

 

[JTurner]

I like the four part test. But then you have to ask pretty simple questions to make sure everyone knows what you are talking about.

I would ask something about how they feel when someone pulls a knife out to use it like:

I cringe when I see someone pull out a pocketknife.

I am in favor of a complete ban on pocketknives on airplanes.

I would favor a national law requiring all pocketknives to be under a certain length (you can insert a very small length).

I never see a need to use or carry a pocketknife.

Me or Someone I know carries a pocketknife daily.

Pocketknives are tools.

Pocketknives are weapons.

Since your only going to ask ten questions you probably won't have time to talk politics or general views. I would just stick to simple easy to understand and easy to side one way or the other questions.

Good luck and could you post a summary after you do it?

JT

 

[Stompy]

Some quick thoughts on some 'pre' questions for the survey. Have a simple Sex?, Age? section on the survey. This would benefit your efforts by providing age/maturity/thought process information, as well as any sexual affinities to or against knives.

Also of benifit would be a simple yes/no question asking, for example, Have you or are you planning on participating in an activity such as hiking, backpacking, camping, canoeing, mt. climbing or any other outdoors activity? Or maybe something like: Have you ever used a large knife for cooking, and did you have difficulty cutting with it because it was dull?

Anyways you're stuck w/ a big assignment man . Just remember even though a short survey is important for people, if you can make the survey seem more important and interesting you can get away with more questions.

The point of a survey regarding important issues does more than just gather information, it gets people thinking.

 

[Hawaiian]

Would you date someone who carried a knife?

 

[Mitchell Knives]

That sounds like it will be a fun presentation. Too bad you can't break out the Matriarch. I would go with the 4 choice scale since it would eliminate the "don't knows", and give a more clear cut verdict. Possible questions that deal with more of the sociologial aspects:

1. Knives are weapons.
2. Knives are not needed in a modern society.
3. Only criminals carry knives.
4. Carrying knives should be illegal.
5. Knives are tools.
6. A knife is a useful thing to carry.
7. Knives scare me.
8. Women should carry knives.
9. Men should carry knives.
10. Carrying a knife means being prepared.
11. There should be knife regulation.
12. Nice people don't carry knives.
13. No one has a reason to carry a knife.
14. Knives are dangerous.
15. Knives should only be carried by law enforcement.
16. I would carry a knife.

Good questions by all. I agree with Stompy's suggestions to get a better idea of the type of person who likes/dislikes knives. I would defiently make your research more interesting. Yes, an assignment on knives is very broad...you could talk for days and write a 1,000 page book. You have to remember though, when dealing with the general public, being concise while entertaining is the key. Good luck.

 

[shappa]

Point out how much knives are used everyday. Have you ever had surgery...You've "gone under the knife"...a scalpel.
Wear leather boots...Knives are used in leatherwork.
Shave? a razor is just a specialized knife.
Had a hair cut? scissors...Two knives combined to do a job more efficently.
Maybe set up a male friend who has had surgery and is wearing leather. display all these points??? An idea...maybe, maybe not.

 

[Colinz]

I think that you may have some method problems in a survey done in the way you describe. The weak points are:

1. The answers for your statements. It should be something like this: "I would like you to answer on a scale from 1-5, where 1 is [I totally disagree] and 5 is [I fully agree] to the statements below."

By doing this you have an anchorpoint at max (5 - I fully agree) and at min (1 - I totally disagree). Avoid writing the text "I totally disagree" etc. in every survey question - It just uses up a lot of space and you want the statements to be no more than two pages or you´ll get the "ThankYouGoodBye" effect. It´s something researchers has found happening when a resarch is getting too long, people get bored. So they just circle a number (any number) to finish the survey to get away from the situation (your survey).

By having a middle number on the scale you can get valuable information about how the public in general looks at knives. If many of your students choose 3 (I don´t know). It might show that they are not interested in knives at this moment. The follow-up survey then could show how they have made an opinion on knives (there are less "I don´t know" statements). This could mean that educating people that haven´t made up their mind about knives can lead to a positive or a negative opinion (your survey might answer that question). Then ofcourse you could do changes in your presentation and see what the effects are by doing new opinion surveys. But that´s more complicated because you´ll have to take into consideration how your samples where taken etc.

2. The scale. By choosing a fourstage Likert scale the amount needed to change someones opinions are increased. Think about it. If you have one color in four different hues or one color in seven different hues. Isn´t it easier to choose something closer to your liking when you have seven hues to choose from rather than just four. The thresholds between 1 and 2 in a four stage scale is bigger than in a seven stage scale. Choosing a five stage scale is good, a seven stage scale is better.

By using a finer scale (the seven stage rather than a four stage scale) you can also go to a friend that´s good at statistics. That person can do some nice calculations and see if the changes in opinion betweend the pre- and post-survey are statistically true. Changes in the pre- and post-survey might exist but might be too small to be statistically accepted (Level of significance - check with a statistician). Important if you ever choose to use this as a pilot-study for a serious paper sometime (never say never, one day you will be glad that you went through all this trouble and you will have saved A LOT of time).

3. Add some (2-3) survey statements that you have as an indication if someone isn´t paying attention (like the ThankYouGoodBye-effect mentioned earlier). A statement like: "I am over the age of XX". Where XX is well below the youngest participant (15 or 18 for an example). Or like this statement: "Washington DC is the Capital of USA." You might come up with even better ones, these were just a couple of examples.

4. Make more statements and drop the space for comments (on this survey). Some people get longwinded (like this post ) and you won´t have any time left over for "Show and Tell". Trust me on this one I´ve done that misstake (ONCE - never again). If you have more time (like for that graduation paper your are going to do in the future ) It´s great to add space for comments. With a time limit it´s not. Choose 30 good statements instead.

5. Drop the name "KNIFE opinion survey". Just call it an "Opinoin Survey". Using the word knife after 9-11 can bring up or reinforce some feelings which can lead to a bias against knives even before the participants have read the statements.

6. Everyone taking the survey is anonymous and voluntarily doing it. IMPORTANT this is the first rule of any survey. Everyone must know for sure they are answering the survey as anonymous individuals AND that they have the right to say "NO - I don´t want to do this survey." The anonymus issue is another reason for dropping the "Comments" section on your survey. Some participants might think that you know their handwriting and therefore won´t answer your survey as they would if they were truly anonymous.

One way of making it sure is by saying it before anyone gets the survey in their hands. When they return it they may put it in a envelope that passes around in the classroom - NO PEEKING shold also be adressed when you explain the survey (don´t say too much - bias you know...).

Well this was a bit long but then again who said science was easy. I´m sure there are people out there that will find even more stuff, I chose to comment on the stuff I find important. I´m also sure there are different opinions on my opinions - that´s the way it is in science. Different people like to do things in different ways.

If you choose to ignore most of the stuff I wrote, just remember one thing: THE 6:TH POINT IS NOT NEGOTIABLE if you ever want to use this data in a serious study sometime in the future.

Have fun (science should be fun - sure a lot of hard work but always fun )

I hope everything works out and if it doesn´t remember that scientists often have a lot of data they have skrewed up in one way or another just lying on the shelves collecting dust. It´s like everything else, you learn by your misstakes.

Please report your findings.

Thanks,
Colinz

Sorry about my spelling...

 

[amywilkerson]

Sounds like an interesting survey and I can't wait to see the results! Good luck Karl. And let us know how it goes.

 

[Safety Guy]

Wow! Great ideas!

Some more info:

There are 26 students registered in the class, last time Fanny told me. I therefore expect the number of surveys I will get back will be around 18 to 24, due to absences, nonparticipation, etc. Additionally, I would like to match the same (anonymous) respondants to get an idea of individual changes, if possible. By numbering the original survey, using an envelope for collection, and having students remember their number and writing it on the second (followup) survey, maybe this will work. I might have them fill out the followup survey immediately after the "show." Might take two minutes.

My expected instrument so far:

Title: "Opinion Survey for 411" (the course number is 411)

Demographic/personal info questions: gender, age, ??


Factual knife using/experience questions: (yes/no)

Other than kitchen knives, do you own a knife?

Do you carry a knife?

Have you ever carried a knife?



Then the survey questions:

I think I'll do a seven point Likert scale, with only the numbers (1 2 3 4 5 6 7) to circle for brevity and convenience. I'll probably increase their number to 20, with at least two totally "knife unrelated" questions to check for "stability" (I am an American citizen; I am a student at OSU). And I will keep them as short (and painless) as possible.


As for comments, I haven't decided yet. Probably not, especially if I collect them immediately after the "show."


More comments?

Thanks again,

Karl

 

[mnblade]

Ridiculously, for a lot of folks these days, the image of someone who carries a knife somehow equates with terrorism. So in your presentation you might relate the stories of how a knife was used to <i>help</i>, following the Oklahoma City bombing. In the wreckage at Okla., a doctor named James Andrew Sullivan told of rescuing a trapped victim by amputating her severely damaged leg. He used several disposable knives that grew dull and finally had to rely on his pocketknife to amputate the leg and save her life. The story is all over the 'net .... just search for "pocketknife," "amputate" and "Oklahoma."

And you could relate how a knife might have made things easier
for window cleaner Jan Demczur and the other folks who found themselves trapped in a World Trade Center elevator Sept. 11. They had to struggle to cut their way though a sheetrock wall to escape using a squeegee. And you thought opening boxes with car keys was bad. Think they would have preferred a good, stout knife? Damn right.

 

[Colinz]

It looks good.

One little tip. Don´t expect people to remember their specific number in this survey. A lot of them won´t, trust me I´ve done that misstake too . It is a good idea so why not give everyone an envelope with their number on. Surveys need only to be marked PR for Pre-survey and PO for post-survey. Inside the envelope there is only one survey (PR). Let them do the survey and put it in the envelope. Then you do the "Show and Tell" and after that you hand out the post-survey (marked PO). That should avoid the small (but existing) possibility of someone doing both BEFORE you have done your "Show and Tell".

This may sound like overdoing it but I promise you that there are so many things that can go wrong that you don´t want something like this happen. Make sure they don´t peek during the post-survey (yep, some people will do that).

I especially like the Age and Gender (a circle around M or F is easy) idea, might give some interesting stuff if you do a statistical analysis. When doing a quick survey like this Age should (IMO) be the ONLY question answered with writing instead of circling a number.

If you decide to use:

Factual knife using/experience questions: (yes/no)

Other than kitchen knives, do you own a knife?

Do you carry a knife?

Have you ever carried a knife?

May I suggest that you make them in the end of your Post-survey. That way some won´t be (so) biased doing the Likert-scale part of your survey. I mean if you happen to write a question that seems pro-knife in someones eyes it may create a bias (in the Likert-scale) that can result in the PR and PO don´t show any difference when it should, if there weren´t anything "disturbing" that person.

What you should be searching is a "true" statement from everyone on every survey question. Avoid bias in all possible ways.

This stuff may be very interesting. I believe you also have enough people to use some cool statistic formulae (yes, you read COOL ).

BTW it won´t take two minutes per survey, probably more like five minutes per survey. Use the survey on some people you know (a friend, wife, etc.), maybe two or three is enough. That way you get an estimate on how long it will take for your class to do the test. Don´t forget to include the oral information in that time. This is a good tip, trust me. I´ve done a couple of these and everytime I´ve tried them out there are always some small stuff that needs to be adjusted. A statement might be interpreted in more than one way, something in the oral instruction was not understood etc.

/Colinz

 

[Safety Guy]

Thanks, Colinz! I think the envelope idea will work fine. The age thing may have to be handled a bit less exactly, since most students are 18-24 years old, with about four of them being up to their forties, so I don't want to make the older folks hesistant to indicate age. I think I'll do age ranges to be circled:

under 21 years;

22 to 25 years;

26 years and older.

How does this sound? I could even do two ranges: "26 and under" and "over 26." Would this be better? It would still give some insight concerning older students vs. the more common younger ones, insofar as their "generational orientation." I just don't think my sample is very large.

My hypothesis: the older students would be more accepting of pocketknife carry. Don't know if only 3 or 4 "older" responses would be statistically significant, though, except perhaps if all their answers supported my hypothesis.

Keep in mind I'm thinking of this as more of an "exploratory" event, and mainly something interesting to share with BF knifeknuts and college students alike.

Karl

 

[Colinz]

Safety Guy,

There are always trade-offs in this kind of research. The age issue you have solved in a good way. The first idea is the best for future statistical numbercrunching. Always avoid the second example where age groups are divided in this mannor: 0-20, 20-40, 40-60. The correct way to do it is like your first example shows: 0-20, 21-40, 41-60. That way you can separate people in distinct age groups.

This will be a ok exploratory event and I think this will be a very good hypothesis test. I notice that you haven´t slept through science methods and statistics course "101" . Even if you (right now) decide that you won´t do any statistical analysis of your data it is always good to have it handy for that pilot study sometime in the future. It never hurts to impress some professor when the time comes.

Isn´t it like they say over at "Practical Tactcal" - Always be prepared.

Good luck. Looking forward to your findings.

/Colinz

 

[Buzzbait]

Does anybody have any knife carry statistics, such as people killed by knives vs, people who carry knives? People killed by pocket knives vs. kitchen knives? Stuff like that.

 

[amywilkerson]

Anyone interested in reading the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports, just click here or you can download the PDF listing types of weapons used from my website here

 

[The_BillyTran]

in da jangle, we dan haf any ideas about the knafe. We all hab tham!!
an lawnmower blade too!


tak some good one!