I got a request to collect participants for an online survey on science fiction — take a look and help out if you want. It’s long, and a little depressing: it’s a list of science fiction movies and TV shows, and you’re supposed to rate their scientific accuracy. I think I’m rather picky about that, so just about all of ’em got slammed when I did it.

I am conducting a small pilot-study on the properties of various sci-fi works (focusing on film and TV in particular). For the purposes of this study I designed two web forms (Web-form 1 & Web-form 2) that ask participants to rate sci-fi works in terms of different sci-fi properties. Web-form 1 asks how accurately a sci-fi work portrays scientific facts and Web-form 2 asks what the work’s general attitude towards science is. The number of sci-fi works that a participant is supposed to rate (121) is substantial (one needs about 20 min to complete one web-form) but it is necessary for the kinds of analyses I’d like to be able to do.

I am in dire need of study participants, as you might imagine. Specifically people who are above average in terms of scientific literacy and who are also fond of sci-fi. I’m more than certain your blog would provide me with just the right sample population- if you’d kindly »nudge« your »hordes« to go and fill out the two web-forms I provided:

WEB-FORM #1: Soft vs. Hard sci-fi
If you were born on an ODD day of the month (say the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th etc.) then please fill out VERSION 1 of web-form 1:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dDZXTmM0dFJnQm1sV2ZzWl8yblpkWHc6MQ#gid=0

If you were born on an EVEN day of the month( say the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th etc.) then please fill out VERSION 2 of web-form 1:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dDBSYWstbDB0bzlhM1FUMXkyZDBBTFE6MA#gid=0

WEB-FORM #2: Optimistic/Utopian vs. Pessimistic/Dystopian
If you were born on an ODD day of the month (say the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th etc.) then please fill out VERSION 1 of web-form 2:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dDNuWE9NdnBzeVpXeEdjcDVkVUxWM2c6MA#gid=0

If you were born on an EVEN day of the month( say the 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th etc.) then please fill out VERSION 2 of web-form 2:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dExsMDhtWkRqbTN5b1J6aENYU1preGc6MA#gid=0

Important EXTRA instructions for participants:
Each of these two web-forms asks you to rate 121 different sci-fi works. While this may seem a lot it is also a prerequisite for a certain type of data analysis I’d like to do so please bare with me. The works are all English-language movies and TV series made in the period between 1950 and 2009. If one is at least a casual watcher of sci-fi most of these titles should be quite familiar. You will need about 20-25 min to complete one web form.

I’d kindly ask you to complete one web form in a single “run” (do not take big pauses when you are in the middle of it). You can complete the other web form after a break (even say the next day), but please do not forget to fill out BOTH forms or your input will be of very little value.

Please only fill out the forms once and please only fill out the VERSION appropriate for your birth date. The only reason for the different versions is so certain biases in the way the data is gathered will average out. The versions otherwise gather the SAME data and ask the SAME questions.

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I hope I am not asking for something completely out of order and that you can help me gather enough participants. I am currently tethering on the edge of 30 respondents but this is nowhere near the number I’d need to get valid results.

With kind regards,
Jurij Dreo
Ljubljana, Slovenia