I am revealing the results of the short survey I ran for two weeks back in the end of August and the first week and a half of September. While the total number of survey participants wasn't overwhelming, there were quite a number more than I actually anticipated. And, considering the statistics on surveys like this, the indication is there are a lot more readers than I estimated. In my book that's all good.
I was anticipating a typical bell-shaped curve. Actually, all three curves somewhat resemble a bell-shaped curve. However, the interesting thing is the peaks of the curves, as you'll see in the three bar graphs I've prepared, are skewed a bit past the median point in the scale toward the higher end. That is gratifying.
This is, of course, a very simple survey and certainly not scientific. The major reasons I ran this survey were twofold. First, I wanted to realize some indication of where readers of this blog feel they are in their lives regarding the overall concept of living a free and happy lifestyle. Second, I wanted to gain some insight to who the readership is and what, in general, you are seeking.
The second part of the information was somewhat vague, of course, since I made the questions very broad based. I had a few readers contact me and ask why I didn't ask a lot of individual questions about the numerous facets of a living free lifestyle I posed in question #1. My answer to that is because the more questions I ask, the more time it takes to think about and answer the questions. Typically, the more complex or time consuming such an exercise is, the smaller the number of respondents.
So, with that said, Here are the three bar graphs derived from the respondents to the survey. Obviously, the numbers across the bottom of the graphs represent the 1 – 10 rating scale I asked you to use to on the survey to give me an idea of where you are on the continuum. Remember, the survey was anonymous. I know of a few people who responded because they contacted me after they responded to the survey. But, I have no idea of what their responses were.
Additionally, I am not releasing the number of respondents to the survey. Surveys or polls, at the very best, are only indicators of where an identifiable group of people stand on whatever the questions might be. They are always based on a sampling. There is no relevance other than to know there were enough responses that it took me a bit of time to extrapolate the data.
As you'll note when you look at the graphs, there are a few anomalies or “glitches” as I would refer to them. Professional survey administrators and pollsters probably have some kind of algorithm they run the results through to give them a much smoother looking result. And, of course, there is always a margin of error. I haven't applied one.
So, here are the results:
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Question #1. How do you rate your current degree of personal freedom?
Consider all facets of your life including but not limited to relationships (single, married, significant other, domestic partnership, immediate & extended family, friends, neighbors, peers, employers, customers, co-workers, employees, etc.), employment/business (full-time, part-time, transient work, migrant work, one or more businesses, freelancing, independent contracting, etc.), housing/living arrangements (living in a fixed or mobile residential lifestyle, communal arrangement, etc.), economic (paying rent/mortgage, monthly overhead, child support, alimony, supporting one or more family members, etc.), governmental (limitations, restrictions, regulation, federal, state, local, HOAs, etc.), health (medical conditions, prescriptions, physical fitness, disabilities, etc.), finances (actively earning, retired/semi-retired, Social Security, pensions, gov't services/subsidies, etc.), personal time (to pursue your own interests like reading, education, hobbies, meditation, spiritual growth, exploring the world on your terms, volunteering, activism, etc.) and anything else that either frees you or hampers your personal freedom as you define it for yourself.
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Question #2. How happy do you rate your life currently?
Taking all facets of your life into account as listed above, consider how happy you are in general terms.
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Question #3. Do you consider yourself living a simple/minimalist lifestyle?
What Does This Tell Me?
First, as you can see in the graph for question #1, in general, the people who read this blog feel they are a bit freer in their overall assessment of their lifestyle than, perhaps, the average individual. Since this survey only polled blog readers I don't know where the average person might fall, but in evaluating all the facets I included in the question, I will make a assumption that the peak for non-blog readers would fall to the lower part of the 1 – 10 scale.
The question was, obviously, very broad and begs of more refinement of data. So, some time in the future I'll design another survey asking for ratings to several of the facets in question #1. I'm hoping this will give me more guidance as to where to focus my research, reading and writing with the intention of providing you with more focused information. Based on the page view numbers of the “52 Weeks to a Simpler Life” series I'm currently running on the blog, that topic seems to be meeting some needs.
Question #2 showed a very sharp spike at 7. It rolled off as the scale went toward the higher end. On the lower end of the scale there seems to be plateau between 3 and 6. Very few indicated there were not happy or maybe just a little happier than being at the very bottom of the scale.
This indicates to me that in general the majority of this audience are nominally happy. Again, I might make the assumption they are happier, for the most part, than the average individual. It would be interesting to explore just how this generally happier attitude is expressed and defined.
Question #3 had two bumps. So, it would seem there are a sizable number of people from this blog's audience who either choose not to embrace a minimalist lifestyle or perhaps not a very minimal lifestyle. And then it appears there are a slightly larger group who, again, skew toward the higher end of the scale. But, very few have made it to the ultimate minimalist lifestyle as they define such a lifestyle.
Remember, there is a huge variable factor in a survey like this. I did not specifically define the parameters for living free, being happy or living a comfortable, minimalist lifestyle.
So, the barn doors are open. I had fun playing with this little survey. For those who participated, I hope you enjoyed taking the survey and can see where you fall into this spectrum. For those who didn't participate, I hope you will join in and respond on the next survey. I don't know if you gained any useful insight from this survey, other than figuring out where you stand on these factors of living free. I hope you did.
If you have any thoughts, please comment here on the blog or drop me an email or go to the Facebook Fan Page or the Google + page. I really enjoy any feedback you provide.
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