Friday, May 28, 2010

Math fail

I'm doing an online medical research survey this morning. It began with this message:

"The study consists of 3 sections, each of which is 15 minutes in length. The study will therefore take 1 hour to complete."
at

13 comments:

  1. DebMay 28, 2010 at 11:34 AM

    Perhaps they were factoring in a 15-minute break for you too? That would have been very thoughtful, but not likely.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ToddMay 28, 2010 at 11:52 AM

    Deb's correct. there is a five-minute breather scheduled before you begin and then between sections. You know, because those surveys are sooooo stressful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. terri cMay 28, 2010 at 12:32 PM

    That includes 15 minutes for banging your head on your desk.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 28, 2010 at 12:54 PM

    That's just enough time to go to the break room and enjoy a Diet Coke before the final section.

    ReplyDelete
  5. a.generic docMay 28, 2010 at 12:54 PM

    They figure you're going to get paged 3 times while filling out the survey.

    Or, more likely, you're right. They're just bad at math. And they probably just bought a lot of lottery tickets, too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. CynicMay 28, 2010 at 2:13 PM

    Maybe they factored in your prostate size and the amount of bathroom breaks would be needed:)

    ReplyDelete
  7. John WoolmanMay 28, 2010 at 3:06 PM

    Sounds like lawyers' time. You know, charge an hour's fee for 45 minutes work.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Pat F.May 28, 2010 at 3:14 PM

    Clearly, further research is required!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dreaming againMay 28, 2010 at 3:55 PM

    sounds like someone had more trouble with algebra than I ever dreamed of having!

    ReplyDelete
  10. InkstainedPsycheMay 28, 2010 at 4:19 PM

    I'm thinking it's sort of like in football, you know, where it takes four hours to play exactly one hour of real playing time. Maybe not as long. Or like a TV show where you get 40 minutes of show and 20 minutes of commercials.

    ReplyDelete
  11. The MotherMay 28, 2010 at 9:37 PM

    That includes 15 min to write your name and SSN. Because with only an MD, you can't be expected to pull that off quickly.

    On the other hand, I have yet to do a CME that takes me even 1/3of the allotted time.

    ReplyDelete
  12. MooseMay 29, 2010 at 4:09 PM

    I just started doing an online survey [mine are usually about computers, go figure :-)].

    First it asked me a bunch of questions like "True/False: People come to me for help with computers."

    Then when I hit next it asked:

    "Do you use a computer?

    Yes No"


    I'd show you a screenshot but my craptastic Windoze box crashes when I try to paste one. YAY.

    ReplyDelete
  13. ClaudeMay 30, 2010 at 12:08 PM

    P.S. Don't worry. I'm not the one who will evaluate the survey.

    ReplyDelete

So wadda you think?