From the Editor - September 1995
David M. Kalman

Fun With Surveys

Many thanks to everyone who responded to the survey in my July 1995 column ("Making Plans for '96"). I've reviewed the responses, and I find them verrrry interesting. Before I review the results with you, I should mention that these numbers have little statistical value. They come from a small sample (40 surveys) of self-selected respondents (readers with the inclination to offer an opinion). Nonetheless, I'll assume that the readers who did express their opinions are brilliant and care deeply about the magazines they read.

To produce an overall ranking of topics from Most Important to Least Important (in descending order), I assigned each response of Not Important, Somewhat Important, or Very Important a weight of 0, 1, or 2, respectively. I then summed the values for each category, and ranked the results, as follows:

DBMS article topics in descending order of importance:

1. Database server comparisons
2. Data warehousing
3. SQL techniques
4. Data modeling and object modeling
5. Query and OLAP tools
6. Handling very large databases
7. Second-generation client/server
8. Unix DBMSs
9. Windows NT DBMSs
10. Object-oriented database reviews
11. Downsizing the mainframe
12. Visual Basic development techniques

I was somewhat surprised to see Visual Basic at the bottom, considering VB's wide popularity. I suspect a possible Microsoft backlash from the development community. Or, perhaps readers perceive that VB programming just doesn't belong in DBMS.

Because importance is so subjective, I decided to combine all the Somewhat Important and Very Important responses. Also, I wanted to see what percentage of respondents found a topic at all interesting (and conversely, not at all interesting).

Respondents rating topics as either "Somewhat Important" or "Very Important":

Database server comparisons 92%
Query and OLAP tools 84%
Data warehousing 81%
SQL techniques 81%
Data modeling and object modeling 78%
Handling very large databases 73%
Unix DBMSs 73%
Windows NT DBMSs 73%
Object-oriented database reviews 73%
Second-generation client/server 68%
Downsizing the mainframe 57%
Visual Basic development techniques 41%

I have to consider the potential size of the audience for any particular article that we print. I might consider 70 to 90 percent of readers as a compelling audience (representing a readership of 46,900 to 60,300, based on our current circulation). A result below 60 percent suggests limiting the frequency of coverage.

I'll post the results in a future issue of DBMS!

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