CLB's dictionary survey

[Alice Faber]

At 5:20 PM -0400 8/9/2000, Barnhart wrote, ostensibly about CLB's
dictionary survey:
>I recall my father having talked much about the organization of the ACD
>being based in part on a survey done in college classrooms.  I don't
>know if I can find a copy.  If I do, it might be helpful in
>constructing a new survey.
>
>Indeed, I believe a survey should be undertaken.  Perhaps two surveys:
>(1) the old-fashioned kind where the responses can be somewhat more
>controlled than one done on the Internet, and (2) an e-mail survey
>which might be targeted at more than one market (one for teachers, one
>for students, one for "pop" critics).
>
>I think that perhaps a committee of five should be selected (2 from
>ADS; 2 from DSNA; and coordinator).  Funding could be solicited from
>the major North American dictionary publishers of college dictionaries.
>  Another, more scholarly approach would be to solicit the support (and
>or advice) of the ACLS.   Other sources might include MLA, NCTE, and
>the like.
>
I think one has to be very careful about relying too heavily on an
email survey, for several reasons. One is that email users are not
necessarily representative of dictionary users in general. Another is
that any properly random email survey would be treated like spam by a
large number of recipients. To do it electronically, I'd do it off of
the ADS (or some other) web site, with announcements in various
places (sci.lang, alt.usage.english, etc), though even that runs the
risk of being treated as spam.
--
Alice Faber                                       tel. (203) 865-6163
Haskins Laboratories                              fax  (203) 865-8963
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