Project #6 Google Docs Form/ Questionnaire

I sent a questionnaire to everyone enrolled in EDM310 for Fall 2010 titled "USA's Bicycle Abandonment Policy." I am thankful to the 100 people who responded to the questionnaire.
To introduce the topic, I included the following prior to the questionnaire.
"Currently there are numerous bicycles on campus which have been recognized as abandoned by the University of South Alabama. These bicycles are cluttering up public areas and being put to no use. A number of students have come together to fight this problem. As a response, the University put notices on all of the bikes that had not been registered. The bikes that were from there not claimed and registered were deemed abandoned property. From this point, the University plans to just trash these bikes (as the current policy only allows the University to do as such). But many students wish to see these bicycles be put to a better use. Are you one of those students? Please, take a moment to fill out this quick questionnaire."
My questions included the following.

1. Are you presently a student of the University of South Alabama?
2. What is your living arrangement while attending USA?
3. How do you get around while on campus?
4. Do you know how to ride a bicycle?
5. If not, would you be willing to learn?
6. Would you ride a bicycle if you had access to one?
7. On a scale from 1 to 5, do you agree with the policy that campus residents should register their bicycles?
8. Do you think that the university should throw away bicycles that have been deemed abandoned by their owners?
9. Do you think that the students should have a say in what is done with the bicycles?
10. What do you think should be done with the abandoned bicycles?

My results are as follows:
1. Are you presently a student of the University of South Alabama?

• Yes: 99%
• No:1%

2. What is your living arrangement while attending USA?

• Dorm: 18%
• Fraternity or Sorority: 0%
• Grove: 6%
• Off-Campus: 76%

3. How do you get around while on campus? (Students were able to check all that applied. Therefore, percentages may add up to more than 100%)

• Personal vehicle: 71%
• Jagtran: 16%
• Bicycle: 3%
• Walk: 58%
• Other: 2%

4. Do you know how to ride a bicycle?

• Yes: 96%
• No: 4%

5.If not, would you be willing to learn?

• Yes: 75%
• No: 25%

6. Would you ride a bicycle if you had access to one?

• Yes: 69%
• No: 31%

7. On a scale from 1 to 5, do you agree with the policy that campus residents should register their bicycles? (With 1 being strongly agree and 5 being strongly disagree)

• 1: 42%
• 2: 5%
• 3: 7%
• 4: 6%
• 5: 40%

8. Do you think that the university should throw away bicycles that have been deemed abandoned by their owners?

• Yes: 21%
• No: 79%

9. Do you think that the students should have a say in what is done with the bicycles?

• Yes: 93%
• No: 7%

10. What do you think should be done with the abandoned bicycles? (Students were able to check all that applied. Therefore, percentages may add up to more than 100%)

• Throw away: 3%
• Treat as scrape metal: 7%
• Donate as are: 56%
• Refurbish and make available for students: 60%
• Refurbish and donated to the community: 55%
• Other: 8%

Results of this questionnaire was included in a paper done by Jed Oliphant which discussed how the University of South Alabama's present abandonment policy as it refers to bicycles is out dated and needs to be revised. The questionnaire and paper were co-inspired by both the excess of abandoned bicycled and the deficient amount of parking spaces on campus. Oliphant and I wanted to spread awareness of both problems and offer a solution. These abandon bicycles are cluttering the campus bringing down the aesthetic appeal of the entire University. If the University would actually act on its current abandonment policy, these bicycles would simply be thrown away. But my results show that over three-fourths of the students disagree with the only option made available by the present policy. But perhaps that is not the only option that the University should consider. Just because these bicycles have been deemed abandoned doesn't mean that they are no longer functional. In fact, a group of kids have gone around recording the current states of these abandoned bicycles and found that the majority of these bicycles are in near like-new condition and most that need refurbishing merely require minimal repairs (such as aired tires, new chains, or new seats). These bicycles could be utilized by others. According to this questionnaire, nearly 70% of the students would be willing to ride a bicycle if they had one. If more students rode bicycles as opposed to driving there personal vehicles, there would be less of a demand to parking spaces. I will recognize that the majority of the students do not live in campus housing and therefore drive to school. But students who live nearby, such as in the Grove or one of the many nearby apartment complexes, could easily ride a bicycle. Over half of these students also think that these bicycles could find better use through being donated to the community. Other options suggested by those who participated in the questionnaire include selling the bicycles to students, letting clubs sell the bicycles to raise money, and checking who registered the bicycles and fining the owners. While the first two are reasonably understandable suggestions, the third is actually rendered impossible by the situation at hand. We can not fine the owners of bicycles which have been deemed abandoned due to the fact that a bicycle is deemed abandoned if it is not registered. Therefore, the University would have no way of knowing who the owner is or was. I will recognized that the data is skewed by the fact that over three-fourth of those who participated live off campus. But still, this questionnaire was meant to raise awareness of a problem and offer as a source of solutions.