Knowledge and Perception of UK Dog Law - Survey

[coffeejo]

Imagine somone not being frightened when they are facing a dog attack.

To be fair, I was attacked by dogs many years ago and I wasn't frightened at the time.

 

[jefmcg]

sorry, I didn't finish it. I didn't really understand question 3 at all, then I got bored answering "don't know" to all the dangerous dog act questions, as I don't own a dog.

Actually, I wouldn't be familiar with it if I did own a dog; not letting your dog hurt others seems to be a basic responsibility as a human, I don't need to study a law to do that.

 

[Twinks]

done

 

[Arrowfoot]

To be fair, I was attacked by dogs many years ago and I wasn't frightened at the time.

You are a brave one.

 

[summerdays]

I think I base my ratings of dogs on bits of news you see, and the stance of the dog and the owner!

 

[KneesUp]

Share the same concern. It will be good if the supervisor or even a friend run thru the questions first. Imagine somone not being frightened when they are facing a dog attack.

It's the details that bother me - things like can't-be-bothered-following-through capitalisation on the first page ("Data Protection act") and things like question 2 ("In the last year have you ever been bitten by a dog ?") - the "ever" is unnecessary - and in fact serves to make the key bit ("in the last year") less obvious. And then there is every e.g. written as eg. ...

And then you read the actual questions and, to use question 2 as an example again, you are forced to choose answers that might not be correct - for example, what if you have been bitten by your own dog and another dog in the past year? The radio buttons only allow you to chose 'by your own dog', 'by another dog' or 'no' so you cannot answer correctly.

As a further example, question 4 is very clumsy (Please rate the following statements which would make you feel frightened if another dog was to do the following in your presence ?) especially when the responses are 'strongly agree' etc. I didn't get much further because I didn't see the point. As others have said, as I am neither a lawyer nor a dog-owner, I don't really care, and nor do I care for a survey to find out how much people know about something they probably don't need to know about. I also wonder about how the data will be corrected for sample bias because I don't expect a self-selecting sample of people using a specific-interest internet forum is going to be very representative of the population as a whole.

The survey reads like a decent bit of A level course work, or a very good bit of GCSE coursework (I used to be a teacher) I'm astonished it's for a Masters. Although the specific comments about questions are about the OP, the following is not specifically: I think my annoyance at these surveys - which so often are flawed - is that it suggests that standards are declining. As I don't believe that the population as a whole is getting less clever, it suggests to me that we do not have a meritocracy in education.

[puts on flak jacket]

 

[Tony Raynor]

@KneesUp thank you for your feedback. Very interesting comments.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

Not a particular reference to the OP, but it depresses me no end that so many of the requests for help with research contain basic errors.

You should try reading job application forms completed by an awful lot of recent graduates if you really want to bring yourself down.

 

[KneesUp]

You should try reading job application forms completed by an awful lot of recent graduates if you really want to bring yourself down.

I get CVs from curent under graduates all the time - I know exactly what you mean.

 

[theclaud]

I get CVs from curent under graduates all the time - I know exactly what you mean.

Do they commit dreadful sins, such as misspelling 'current' and inserting unnecessary spaces in words such as 'undergraduate'?

 

[Crackle]

Done on 2nd attempt. Not too sure about your view on levels of competency of ownership, in fact it made me laugh. I know owners of dogs who've always had dogs, who have no clue how to train or command a dog.

 

[KneesUp]

Do they commit dreadful sins, such as misspelling 'current' and inserting unnecessary spaces in words such as 'undergraduate'?

Touche.

I would hope most of them are not writing their CV whilst eating their lunch on one of their busiest days of the year though

 

[Ern1e]

I think I base my ratings of dogs on bits of news you see, and the stance of the dog and the owner!

I would add only this a dog is what it,s owner makes it so look at the person with it !

 

[dan_bo]

Done

 

[Saluki]

Another of your questions is a little odd and the check box saying home/garden need separating. If one of my dogs bites an intruder to my home, that's fine and dandy. If they bite an intruder to my garden, I can be prosecuted.

Personally, I think that if I have an intruder, they deserve all they get but Greyhounds are likely to wake up, demand a treat and go back to sleep.