--- Forwarded Message from Thomas Robb <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1999 17:42:21 +0900
>To: [log in to unmask]
>From: Thomas Robb <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: The life & death of software
>Cc: Bernard Susser <[log in to unmask]>

Dear Colleagues

You know those postcard questionnaires that come with each piece of software
you or your school buys?  They provide a valuable source of data for software
developers on their customers' needs and decision-making processess.

This data, unfortunately, is proprietary information.  They won't share it
with us, yet this is data that we need to better understand how people really
*do* go about making decisions for buying courseware.

M.A./ M.A.T. courses often have a component on software acquisition.  Thick
tomes are regularly published outlining at length the myriad factors that can
be considered when making a purchase decision. All those that we are aware of,
however, deal with the 'ideal' method of selecting software; none tell us what
actually happens in the real world of courseware selection.

This survey is an attempt to fill this void.  It requires no more than your
recollections of how your school decided to purchase some of its software and
about 5 minutes of your time.

We will make the data thus gathered available to everyone, announcing the URL
for the final paper on this list.

The survey is available at:

       http://www.kyoto-su.ac.jp/~trobb/softpick.html


Collegially,
   Tom Robb, Kyoto Sangyo University
   Bernie Susser, Doshisha Women's Junior College

(PS: Some of you may recall the pilot questionnaire a few months ago.  The
first response to my message was a request from a vendor for a copy of the
results! :-)