Dutch streettog (and I need your help)

[Bjorn van Sinttruije]

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Hi everyone!

 

My name is Bjorn van Sinttruije and I am a Dutch street photographer. I have used a Leica M9-P with 50mm Lux since December 2011, and used a D-Lux 5 for a long time before it. Both of them are great cameras, but of course I love shooting with the M9-P most. I actually bought my M at the Leica factory in Germany, which was really cool experience. I wrote about it for the site of my friend Gordon Laing, Camera Labs, and you can read my story here: Leica M9-P review | Cameralabs

 

I signed up to this board a long time ago, but never really got around to posting because I am busy with my studies, taking pictures, or moderating Gordon's forum. I am writing my thesis at the moment, and as a big Leica fan I have chosen to relate it to Leica. This is where I need your help. I am trying to determine what the Leica brand means to owners like you, and have prepared a 5 minute survey to do so. If you have a bit of spare time, would you please consider filling it out! I will eternally grateful!

 

This is the link:

https://qtrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_72rb27JxiPUO6z3

 

I look forward to posting more on this board in the future, but until I finish my thesis, I might not be able to be very active. For now, if you want to see some of my pictures, most of them are on Google+ here:

http://gplus.to/bjornivar

 

Thank you in advance for helping me out, I really appreciate it!

 

- Bjorn

[jaapv]

Welcome; I had a quick look at your survey. I have a feeling you will lose most participants at the twenty questions about Leica.

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[Bjorn van Sinttruije]

Thanks for the input Jaap!

Not all 20 fields are "forced response", i.e. you can fill out however many you can and move on. Several respondents have entered 5 separate words for example, and that is just fine!

[Orient XI]

Adjust your "country" menu so that people in the US and UK can tick the correct box!

[Bjorn van Sinttruije]

Thank you Orient XI for the comment and your participation!

 

The menu for selecting your country is a template provided by the survey software, so I'm a little perplexed that the UK is listed as "United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". That's way more confusing than necessary. I cannot change the questionnaire now that it is live (that might raise suspicions with my thesis coach about the validity of the results), but I will definitely take this into account for the second study. Thanks again for bringing it to my attention.

 

- Bjorn

[alun]

I got to p.3 or p.4, I think before quitting - when I found that some questions on which I had no view whatsoever were 'forced responses' I simply gave up. Sorry.

[farnz]

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Bjorn,

 

I didn't find your questionnaire to be a problem and finished it in about 5 minutes. Some of the questions in the multiple choice could appear slightly offensive to Leica owners because they imply that Leica owners are different from owners of other camera brands. We're photographers. I expect that that was not your intention so you might like to reconsider the wording to make the questions more user friendly.

 

Best of luck.

 

Pete.

PS What did I win?

[lct]

Curious redundant questions directed at people supposed to feel more or less similar, different or unique and more or less proud to be or to look like Leica owners. Nothing about photogaphy in all that. I answered "Neither Agree nor Disagree" to most questions i'm afraid as i did not feel concerned at all.

[Michael Geschlecht]

Hello Bjorn,

 

Welcome to the Forum.

 

I didn't look at your questions but from what you have said here & from what people's reactions have been: Is this a Thesis in the field of Psychology? Is the questionaire & are the peopole who are responding part of your study?

 

Best Regards,

 

Michael

[jaapv]

Curious redundant questions directed at people supposed to feel more or less similar, different or unique and more or less proud to be or to look like Leica owners. Nothing about photogaphy in all that. I answered "Neither Agree nor Disagree" to most questions i'm afraid as i did not feel concerned at all.

The same here; A straight row of "neither agree nor disagree" because I could not relate to the questions at all.

I have a feeling they were prompted by the - false- image of the Leica owner as a poser. Which, in general, they are not.

[Bjorn van Sinttruije]

Thanks everyone for filling out the survey, even if you felt you had to quit halfway through. I appreciate you taking the time to do it.

 

Let me explain just a little bit more about the thesis. It is mostly about brand essence, so what Leica means to its users, but also to non-users. This was the first part of the study, where I asked you to list 20 (non-forced response) features of Leica cameras. This was the most important part of the study for me, so if you completed that (even with just a couple of features), I am very thankful for your input.

 

Then, as Michael Geschlecht correctly suspected, there are two streams of psychological literature that I apply in my thesis. Psychology is outside my normal field, which is marketing and business administration. While most of the psychological theory is quite easy to understand if you read enough about it, it is all too easy to follow the literature and assume that some effects are going to apply directly to us Leica owners. As some of your comments have shown, that is not true, and I am very glad you pointed it out.

Indeed it was not my intention to suggest that Leica owners feel superior or special in any way; this set of questions is simply derived from one of the psychological theories. I will certainly change the questions to make them friendlier and more related to photography, and drop some of them altogether. I wish I could explain the full theory here, as the questions might make a little more sense in that case, but since I still have to do my main study, I can't do it at this moment (it might influence my later results).

 

Pete, for the main study (the one after this one) I will give away a $120 Amazon gift card. If you are interested in winning that, let me know via PM and I will send you a link later.

 

Thanks again everyone for taking the time to fill out the questionnaire and leave me feedback on it, I really appreciate it!

 

- Bjorn

[earleygallery]

I completed the survey but as with others I had to answer neutral for a lot of the questions - I don't feel 'special' or 'unique' because I use a Leica, I use them for various reasons, but I also use other brands too.

 

I think the problem with your survey is that you're coming at it from some preconceived idea of what Leica users should feel or what they're about, rather than exploring the various reasons why some photographers choose Leica and/or the types of photography they enjoy.

[Bjorn van Sinttruije]

Thank you James for filling out the questionnaire!

 

I will certainly discuss your feedback with my coach, as I agree that the way these questions come across is wrong. The theory behind all this makes sense, but it's quite clear the questions don't.

 

Thanks again everyone for participating. I now have enough respondents for this first study, so I will close the survey.

 

- Bjorn

[farnz]

Bjorn,

 

I was joking about winning something and personally I'm not interested in winning an Amazon gift card.

 

Pete.

[Bjorn van Sinttruije]

I realized it was a joke Pete!