The medium and format you've chosen here are unlikely to give you good data for your research project, as you can see from the replies above. In none of the replies do you get answers to all of the questions. For the few specific questions that are answered here and there, the responses are so variable that it would require you to interpret/categorize the replies, which would open your conclusions up to criticism on the basis that you misinterpreted/manipulated the data.
Also, the questions are not well designed, which will make it difficult for you to categorize the responses, much less draw conclusions based on the data. Take, for example, the question "Does it guide where and how you shop?" This is a yes/no question (which is good), but say I answer "Yes" (see below): does that mean that the compatibility issue affects where I shop? Or how I shop? Or both? In my case, it affects both, kind of. It affects where I shop on-line, but not where I shop when going to a brick and mortar shop (I use one LBS, unless I have trouble on the road where I'll find the closest shop). If I order on-line, I order from a site with a simple and generous return policy so if I get the wrong part I can return it without financial penalty. Compatibility issues affect how I shop if I order from my LBS: I am very specific about what I'm ordering (e.g. "quick link for a SRAM PC-80 chain for an 8sp drivetrain", instead of "hey, I need a quick link for my chain"). So, you can see that you need a better question to generate responses that will give you high quality data.
The last question is particularly poor, in that it is not designed to elicit a limited number of replies, one could answer in many different ways, again making it difficult to categorize the replies.
You need to: (1) redesign your questions to elicit specific sets of responses (e.g. either yes/no, or provide a set of multiple-choice responses, with or without "other" as a choice); (2) choose a better medium - a forum such as this, in theory, would be a good choice because one of the main functions is for people to swap information about bikes and riding, but in practice the main purpose is entertainment, so you'll get a lot of garbage (humorous or even intentionally misleading) responses; (3) provide the questions in a format that encourages the responder to answer all of the questions (for example, a questionnaire, either .pdf or, preferably, web-based; and (4) you need to provide an incentive for people to answer your questions, whether that be tangible (e.g. a fun app they can download at the end) or intangible (e.g. explain how the outcome of the study could benefit them in the future), otherwise your data set will be so small as to be meaningless.
Good luck.
If you're a regular customer/consumer, I'm interested to know if Bike Parts Compatibility is, or has been, a stumbling block for you at some point.
Does it guide where and how you shop? Yes
Does it make buying online difficult, or impossible? No
Do you find all the bike standards a bit confusing sometimes? Yes
Would you buy more parts online if it was clearer to you that something "definitely would" fit your particular bike? No
If you shop online, how do you generally find out what parts to buy? Google search
Last edited by noimagination; 11-23-22 at 06:45 AM.