RNLI/RYA/MCA Research Project

Couldn't care less about the whole Yacht sailors saga, couldn't care less about the layout/style of the survey..... I just answered the questions and it was easy. :-)
 
Another example of a really poorly constructed survey. Questions so vague and context dependent that there can be little confidence in any conclusions drawn.

Rubbish in- rubbish out.
 
I teach social research methods a bit and I thought it was a reasonable piece of work. There's often a trade off between the refinement and discrimination of questions on the one hand and ease of analysis on the other. Cost is a factor too, it's not cheap to do this kind of work. As for the motivation of the promoters of the study, I just find it a bit mystifying that some people are so hostile to RYA, RNLI and the like. Of course they have their faults but the abuse they get here is ridiculous.

Oh, and another couple of things. Yes there's a literal error 'safety cautious' rather than 'safety conscious'? Second, regarding the study there is some indication that the survey is only one element of the work. Surveys and other methods such as interviews are often combined in well designed research.
 
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Never sailed from UK (except one trip from Belgium to the Channel Islands with stopovers in Dover and Cowes about 30 years ago).
Answered the questions anyway as i believe security is not restricted to one country.
 
Many thanks everyone for taking the time to complete the survey and for the interesting discussion here.

The RNLI exists to save lives at sea, and a key way we do this is to try and prevent incidents from happening in the first place. Around 280,000 people take part in yacht sailing each year, and our volunteer crews rescued almost 9,850 yacht sailors in the last five years. The best way for us to shape our future safety programmes and advice is to ask you, the sailing community, directly about your experience, training, hazard awareness, use of safety measures etc.

The results of this research will help us identify which areas we need to focus our safety programmes and advice on. We’ll be following up the survey with focus groups and interviews, to get even more detailed input. We chose to target the survey at yacht sailors specifically because, if we included a much wider group of water users, it would become much harder to ask relevant and specific questions.

We tried to strike a balance between asking questions which are general enough that any yacht sailor can answer them but not so general as to become meaningless. To help deal with this, we’ve asked about the last time you went sailing, so we can relate specific behaviours and precautions to the context of your last sail (rather than asking generally whether you ‘usually’ wear a lifejacket, for example). We also tested the survey with 20 yacht sailors of varying levels of experience. Every trial respondent gave us feedback on the draft, which was incorporated into the final version.

None of the partners intend to use the findings to campaign for compulsory training or licensing, instead the aim is to improve the safety advice we provide, so that it better fits the way that you participate in your sport.

Thanks once again for taking the time to complete the survey.

Tom

RNLI Research Manager
 
ORU-RNLI said:
Many thanks everyone for taking the time to complete the survey and for the interesting discussion here.

The RNLI exists to save lives at sea, and a key way we do this is to try and prevent incidents from happening in the first place. Around 280,000 people take part in yacht sailing each year, and our volunteer crews rescued almost 9,850 yacht sailors in the last five years. The best way for us to shape our future safety programmes and advice is to ask you, the sailing community, directly about your experience, training, hazard awareness, use of safety measures etc.

The results of this research will help us identify which areas we need to focus our safety programmes and advice on. We’ll be following up the survey with focus groups and interviews, to get even more detailed input. We chose to target the survey at yacht sailors specifically because, if we included a much wider group of water users, it would become much harder to ask relevant and specific questions.

We tried to strike a balance between asking questions which are general enough that any yacht sailor can answer them but not so general as to become meaningless. To help deal with this, we’ve asked about the last time you went sailing, so we can relate specific behaviours and precautions to the context of your last sail (rather than asking generally whether you ‘usually’ wear a lifejacket, for example). We also tested the survey with 20 yacht sailors of varying levels of experience. Every trial respondent gave us feedback on the draft, which was incorporated into the final version.

None of the partners intend to use the findings to campaign for compulsory training or licensing, instead the aim is to improve the safety advice we provide, so that it better fits the way that you participate in your sport.

Thanks once again for taking the time to complete the survey.

Tom

RNLI Research Manager
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Thanks for the useful feedback, I'm sorry to say that a vociferous few on here are quite aggressive about the great work you do, both in rescuing/ educating water users & in raising the funds to enable you to continue. I am a great admirer of your efforts.
 
I have worked with survey data all of my professional life. I have even taught on survey design courses. I could write a page of nit-picking comments on the survey and how it might be improved. My historic experience gives me insight into how badly designed most ad hoc surveys are. This one is well up into the top ten percent in my opinion. Which doesn't mean it's perfect. But then the last one I did before I retired contained a massive cock-up which made a nightmare of some aspects of of the data analysis.

One change I'd make. Say clearly and repeatedly that if you don't understand or simply don't like a question don't answer it. Missing values make the stats a bit harder, but it's worth it.
 
Amulet said:
I have worked with survey data all of my professional life. I have even taught on survey design courses. I could write a page of nit-picking comments on the survey and how it might be improved. My historic experience gives me insight into how badly designed most ad hoc surveys are. This one is well up into the top ten percent in my opinion. Which doesn't mean it's perfect. But then the last one I did before I retired contained a massive cock-up which made a nightmare of some aspects of of the data analysis.
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It's not too bad, but it does have an irritating number of inconsistencies and ambiguities. The meaningless questions on lifejacket use are particularly regrettable.

7. What is the highest level of training that you have completed (including theory and practice where relevant) in each category?

Highest level of theory and practice or theory or practice? Why only current qualifications when the survey covers people who started sailing 20+ years ago?
​

8. Which other theory/specialist or other yachting qualifications do you have (in addition to those contained within the certificates above)?

Ah, maybe where this is where the older stuff goes. But do old practical qualifications go here, or just the theory?
​

24. Equipment: Could you say whether you did any of the following the last time you were sailing in the UK?

Did you sail without wearing a lifejacket for the entire duration of your trip?

Ambiguous. Someone who wore a lifejacket for part of their last trip could perfectly reasonably either yes or no to that question.
​

26. In the course of your sailing over the past 12 months, please tell us whether you have done each of the following?

Had your lifejacket serviced/checked

Crewsaver told me to check my own. Does that count?
​

30. Please indicate whether any of the following occurrences have happened to you, nearly happened to you or not happened to you.

Run aground
Stranded (e.g. engine failure/no wind)

"Stranding" means running aground. Do they mean drifting onto a beach or just being becalmed somewhere?
​


Been hit when gybing

By another boat, or by the boom?​
 
ORU-RNLI;4981099 We tried to strike a balance between asking questions which are general enough that any yacht sailor can answer them but not so general as to become meaningless. To help deal with this said:
I agree that asking each respondent to focus on the last time they went sailing is likely to elicit actual behaviours. However there is then no real attempt to understand the context in which those behaviours occurred, such as sea state, wind and weather conditions, visibility etc. This is vital if the data is to be used to determine priorities for training or future safety campaigns.

For example, I responded that I had not used a harness during my last sail. So was this a potentially reckless omission on my part or a reasonable decision? Without the context, what conclusions might be drawn about my behaviour? Similarly if almost all respondents say they also did not use a harness, does this reflect a national ignorance of the use of harnesses, or might it be that most people actually sailed in benign conditions on sheltered waters, where few would see the need to clip on?

In my working life I have designed many questionnaires and surveys, so I have fallen into most of the available pitfalls. I'm sure that this survey will give a lot of useful information, and I applaud the motivation behind it. However I'm not convinced that it will provide the insight that its designers had intended. The use of more extended telephone interviews and focus groups are likely to be more effective in understanding the complexity of decision making about safety and risk.
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ORU-RNLI said:
Around 280,000 people take part in yacht sailing each year, and our volunteer crews rescued almost 9,850 yacht sailors in the last five years.
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Hi Tom

Please, please help us pendants.

9,850/5=1970 so an average of 1970 persons per year.

1970/280,000=0.007%

Is this a major problem?

I'd be interested to see the sail/motor split on the 1970 persons p.a.
 
prv said:
He said the 9,850 were "yacht sailors", which I take to mean all sail.

(Though some of the callouts may still have been due to engine failure, of course).

Pete
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I always understand yacht to mean a boat for pleasure, hence the request for clarification.

Sandy
 
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