A Go Survey for Statistics Class

[EdLee]

But, I am open to suggestions.

Hi scapetude,

Your class is likely covering something of this nature: sample size determination.

If you happen to be in the vicinity of Los Angeles this weekend, you can poll a few Go people at the annual Cotsen tourney.

[Pio2001]

Hi scapetude
1) What is your gender? Male
2) What is your age? 40 Years old
3) What is your current Go rank? 8 Kyu (kgs)
4) How long have you been playing Go? 3 Years
5) Have you taken breaks from playing Go? Yes
If yes, how did it affect your Go games? Negatively (in fact it had no effect since I was beginner)
6) Do you do Go problems every week? Yes
7) On average, how many hours do you spend playing Go in a week? 9 Hours per week
8) Do you prefer fast or slow games? Slow

It is highly unusual to ask people to post private information in a public forum, and I wouldn't comply with the request even if I were sympathetic, which I am. I'd strongly recommend using an online survey tool like surveymonkey. This should:
1) keep your respondents' replies confidential,
2) increase your response rate, and
3) provide you the results in a spreadsheet-compatible format.

For me, it is rather the opposite : sharing information with other members is the only interest I see in answering. I wouldn't have bothered posting anonymous information for a project that I'll never hear about again.

But now, if the final stats are published here at the end, it is different. Then I'd be interested in posting, be it anonymously or publicly, to help build the statistics and see how mine compares to the average.

[sybob]

I am a little skeptical when someone creates an account just to ask for personal data. I think some information about yourself and posting history is more appropriate.

I agree.
And there is an other reason why I have not responded (yet).
I find the questions a bit awkward.

What is the purpose of this enquiry? What will you be trying to derive/conclude?
Do you have a theory or hypothesis, like: taking a break positively effects go strength? Or: a break positively effects go strength for older people, but not for younger ones (or man vs. woman?
Are you interested in mean answers, or distribution?
Do you want to distinguish kyu players from dan players?
And, who will use (for what purpose) the results? Are you a tour operator offering goplayers a break or what? Or perhaps a go tournament organizer who wants to decide if it is to be a slow or fast game tournament?

I also think not all questions are not adequately worded. What do you consider a break? A week, a month? A year or more? And how should I answer if I like both fast and slow games, either once in a while?

I do not want to sound sceptical or critical, but I think such a survey is not very meaningful.
Good luck.

[Abyssinica]

There is no magic number 30 or 35 that makes a good sample size. It depends on the population size, with what confidence you want the result, the type of question...

In what context were you taught/did you teach this magic number Abyssinica/DrStraw?

The centrral limit theorem for approxamate normality

[sparky314]

Also, a big factor: where you're retrieving the data. The population that frequents a Go forum is likely to be a little more dedicated towards Go than the average Go player. That'd make the statistics (if there was a large enough sample size) strongly influenced by this particular forum.

I'd prefer an anonymous survey...but, since I find this interesting...

1) What is your gender? Male

2) What is your age? 31

3) What is your current Go rank? 6 kyu KGS (barely...)

4) How long have you been playing Go? 10 months (non-consecutive)

5) Have you taken breaks from playing Go? Yes

If yes, how did it affect your Go games?
No effect. I learned how to play last year, but only played a few games over 2 months before stopping. Then I started again in March.

6) Do you do Go problems every week? Yes, daily

7) On average, how many hours do you spend playing Go in a week? Play games: ~3 hrs, Go problems/books: 4-5 hours

8) Do you prefer fast or slow games? Concrete definitions here would be preferred. I only play online, but on KGS I prefer 25 min + 30s byo-yomi, as it gives me more time to read and play. I'll play 10 min + 30s byo-yomi in order to train myself to read quicker.

[hyperpape]

1) Male
2) 31
3) 4 kyu (AGA)
4) 10 years
5) No
6) No
7) 3
8) Slow

[Uberdude]

I share sybob's concerns over the questions and what kind of hypothesis they seem to be testing (e.g. do people who do go problems tend to be stronger than those who don't?) and how well they will do it, but anyway as I'm not anonymous here are my answers both for the OP and general interest:

1) What is your gender? Male

2) What is your age? 30

3) What is your current Go rank? 4d EGF/KGS

4) How long have you been playing Go? 10 years

5) Have you taken breaks from playing Go? Not more than a month or so I guess

6) Do you do Go problems every week? No

7) On average, how many hours do you spend playing Go in a week? 4 hours +- 4 hours

8) Do you prefer fast or slow games? Slow if I want to play serious good games, fast to relax and for fun. If I have to pick one: slow.

Other bits that mean my answers could be misleading for your hypothesis testing:
- After 2 years I was 2d.
- In the past I have done go problems more frequently, and played more
- I spend time recently on Go activities other than playing, such as looking at recent pro games or chatting on this forum (and in the past on KGS).

[Kirby]

Male
31
Depends on ranking system, but I'll say 2d
11
Yes; sometimes positive, sometimes negative
Yes
3
Slow

[hyperpape]

I am a little skeptical when someone creates an account just to ask for personal data. I think some information about yourself and posting history is more appropriate.

Is this really that sensitive? Everyone on here already knows that Uberdude is Cleve Wathrope and you're one of the two Andrews who is always winning tournaments in Scotland (I never can remember which one, but I bet I could look it up if you gave me some time).

[Uberdude]

There is no magic number 30 or 35 that makes a good sample size. It depends on the population size, with what confidence you want the result, the type of question...

In what context were you taught/did you teach this magic number Abyssinica/DrStraw?

The centrral limit theorem for approxamate normality

Ah ok, so that is telling you roughly how big a sample you need for the distribution of some sample statistic (which is a continuous random variable like length of playing time, but not a binary yes/no) to be approximately normal even if the underlying distribution is not. But not much to do with how big a sample you need to answer a question like "What is the average strength of go players in the world, to 95% confidence?"; that will be be a lot larger than 35.

[Abyssinica]

Tbh I don't even know what he's trying to answer

[Jhyn]

1) Male.
2) 27.
3) 1d EGF, 1k KGS.
4) 9 years.
5) What do you call a break? If 1-2 months, yes, if 1 year, no.
Long term or short term effect? Long story short, no idea.
6) Yes.
7) I read this as "playing" and exclude all other go-related things. So 7 hours.
8) (relatively) Slow.

[Jujube]

1) What is your gender? Male (Choose one)

2) What is your age? 28 Years old

3) What is your current Go rank? 8 Kyu

4) How long have you been playing Go? 5.5 Years

5) Have you taken breaks from playing Go? Yes

If yes, how did it affect your Go games? Negatively (Choose one)

6) Do you do Go problems every week? Yes

7) On average, how many hours do you spend playing Go in a week? 6 Hours per week

8) Do you prefer fast or slow games? Slow (Choose one)

I also spend another 6 hours on problems, strategy, reading books, and so on. But you said specifically playing, so I answered thusly.

You didn't specify how long a break is. My break was for 4 years.