Et Phone Home?

[VoIP]

Hi,

No this is not about the Steven Spielberg movie "ET", but about 'aliens' or expats in Thailand and how they call 'home'..

Related to my masters thesis, I am conducting a survey on international telephony, more specifically on how expats in Thailand phone 'home'.

(ok, I can imagine many people call Thailand their 'home', so I should say "how expats phone people in their "country of origin")

The goal of the survey is to get a picture on the way expats call friends and family back home and make other non-work related international calls.

I also try to investigate how often internet telephony (like Skype) is used versus 'traditional' telephony, and reasons behind this.

The survey can be found here

(www.zan.be/limesurvey/index.php?sid=65439)

It takes approximately 10 minutes to fill in the survey, and this is greatly appreciated

The results of the research will be published June 15th 2008 on www.zan.be/research

(the survey is anonymous, collected data to be used for academic purpose only)

I am looking forward to receive your responses.

Thanks a lot for your cooperation!!

[tartempion]

Done, but not much of action by TV members seeing so many enthusiastic replies towards a poor student

[VoIP]

Done, but not much of action by TV members seeing so many enthusiastic replies towards a poor student

Indeed, it is not that easy to find respondents for a survey without offering prizes or money...

Anyway I want to thank those TV members that completed or will complete the survey!

I also want to clarify that the link contains the word 'Limesurvey' which has nothing to do with Limewire (filesharing software) like some users commented.

Limesurvey (limesurvey.org) is a free and open source software package to online create surveys.

You do not have to download anything, nor will you get infected with a virus from completing this survey!

So far I can say I am getting varied responses: some users only use SkypeOut, Skype and similar pc-to-phone/ pc-to-pc solutions, others never use computer initiated telephony, and a group mixes both methods. Very interesting to learn about the expats' international telephony profiles!

I am looking forward to receiving more answers. As said, the outcome will be published in June.

[Spaniel]

Just completed. Good luck with your survey.

[quiksilva]

Done.

Skype FTW!

[VoIP]

Done.

Skype FTW!

Thanks to all the ThaiVisa members filling in the survey I received 15 completely filled in responses from the forum.

Soon the mysteries surrounding expat' international telephony behaviour will be unraveled

The survey is still open, those who didn't fill it in yet still have a chance to do so here

[tartempion]

Voip,

do I read some sarcasm in your "Thanks to all TV?"

Because 15 responses on 61.000+ TV members is not THAT much, isn't

I hope you do get better resuts from lesser boards

[midasthailand]

All done, good luck.

[rken]

I have been using Yahoo Messenger with there calling application. 1 cent per minute. You need a mic and a computor. It will work from internet Cafe also. aloha

[Jingthing]

I didn't think the survey covered Vonage users, so I bailed on it ...

Aside from that, I think a small sample of people who answer it would tell you basically nothing. Good luck though.

Edited May 16, 2008 by Jingthing

[VoIP]

Because 15 responses on 61.000+ TV members is not THAT much, isn't

I hope you do get better resuts from lesser boards

No sarcasm intended tartemption. Every answer counts. it all adds up ...

I tried to get respondents via a whole range of ways:

- Completed a number of surveys via the phone. Time consuming, and having to read out each question+possible answers over and over again ...

- Posted on TV and tried a few other places. Limited responses, but quality answers with valuable comments.

- Distributed it via my network of acquaintances (e.g. uni, work, friends, etc..)

- Dropped 120 copies in a language school that agreed to participate . got a number of completed forms back.

- Went 'on the streets' with the paper version, asking people to fill in the survey, or reading them the questions and asking the answers.

This last method is the worst.. hard, hostile reactions, very low response rate. Exhausting.

I understand though, I myself try to avoid those 'survey takers' on sukhumvit (since years, alwasy there, for this same 'tourist' survey).

I understand everybody mistrusts people approaching and asking something.

Anyway, it was a good experience, being on the 'other side' for once. Conducting a survey is hard oh man!

And that is the reason why most students simply make up their data. However, I am happy I did it the hard way.

I suppose you would get a better response if you would pay people to participate, or promise a prize or something.

Hiring an army of pretty girls to conduct the survey might also yield more responses.

I think a small sample of people who answer it would tell you basically nothing. Good luck though.

In total I have 200 something responses so far all together, of which 168 'completely filled out'.

I should at least get over 200 decently filled out forms.

I know, it remains a biased sample, not an exact reflection of the expat population, but given the means at my disposal, cost and time concerns, I think it is the best I can do given the circumstances.

Anyway, no doubt some interesting results will come out of the collected data!

For those who are interested, I will publish the results next month via www.zan.be/research

[Tomkagai]

Hi,

No this is not about the Steven Spielberg movie "ET", but about 'aliens' or expats in Thailand and how they call 'home'..

Related to my masters thesis, I am conducting a survey on international telephony, more specifically on how expats in Thailand phone 'home'.

(ok, I can imagine many people call Thailand their 'home', so I should say "how expats phone people in their "country of origin")

The goal of the survey is to get a picture on the way expats call friends and family back home and make other non-work related international calls.

I also try to investigate how often internet telephony (like Skype) is used versus 'traditional' telephony, and reasons behind this.

The survey can be found here

(www.zan.be/limesurvey/index.php?sid=65439)

It takes approximately 10 minutes to fill in the survey, and this is greatly appreciated

The results of the research will be published June 15th 2008 on www.zan.be/research

(the survey is anonymous, collected data to be used for academic purpose only)

I am looking forward to receive your responses.

Thanks a lot for your cooperation!!

ET has been caught...He was apparently cooking meth in Kentucky....