An example might shed some light on one point involved here. Recently
Plymouth State College considered the possibility of arming -- well,
part of the question was WHOM. Many of us refered to them as Campus
Security while they insisted they were Campus Police. Looking at old
phone books it appeared the name had changed some years ago. We did
not do a formal survey, but one question might be how people felt
about this change. In our situation I think most of the responses
would be either "I did not know this change took place" or "I have no
idea what the change means, other than a change in the label".
(Whatever you call them, the folks whose name changed seemed to feel the
change was very significant to them.) Such answers would probably be
lumped under a "?" choice and they do NOT mean neutrality or "this
does not apply to me". Indeed, in this situation relying on a "?"
option would tend to blind one to the fact that what might really be
appropriate here would be questions like "Prior to the recent
controversy on arming, did you know Campus Security had become Campus
Police?" "Do you feel you have a clear understanding of what this
change means?"
--
_
| | Robert W. Hayden
| | Work: Department of Mathematics
/ | Plymouth State College MSC#29
| | Plymouth, New Hampshire 03264 USA
| * | fax (603) 535-2943
/ | Home: 82 River Street (use this in the summer)
| ) Ashland, NH 03217
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