LabView research survey

[kansi]

Hi,

I am doing a research survey wherein I am comparing visual programming languages (VPLs) like LabView

to normal (textual) programming languages. The motive to assess whether it is easy to learn and work with

visual programming languages (VPLs) in comparison to normal (textual) programming languages

(like matlab, java or python) that might provide the same functionality.

Kindly fill the following very short survey form :

http://goo.gl/forms/uL6JNQnHVC

Thanks.

PS: if the above link doesn't work the use the following link 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/169kvsDhqnsAmWvn1ZHk0mgC8ZpwdUC5L0UQW_x04WsY/viewform

[altenbach]

You probably want to spell check the survey (LabVIEW instead of LabView, learnability instead of learability, etc).

The questions also make little sense.

None of the questions compare visual to text programming or give any kind of reference.

What is a "feature"? Seems to be very poorly defined.

You should also provide some background information on the purpose of this survey. Is this for an academic research project or just personal interest? How will the data be used?

[kansi]

Sorry for the miss spelled words. 

This small survey is for my academic project where in I am trying to find whether VPLs ,like LabVIEW and others, actually

make the task of programming easier or not. Since VPLs eliminate the requirement of having in-depth knowledge of

programming principals and language by providing graphical constructs and saving the user from writing huge amounts

of code. Through this survey I wish to see whether these graphical constructs really do ease the life of the user or not ?

Also I have included the context in which I am using the word  "feature" in the form itself.

[GerdW]

Hi kansi,

Since VPLs eliminate the requirement of having in-depth knowledge of programming principals

That just sounds like a big mis-conception of this survey…

Is this survey biased in any way?

[kansi]

Hi GerdW,

Its not a mis-conception its a hypothesis. I think that most of the VPLs don't require their users to know principals

like Objects, Class, inheritence etc in order to use them. Instead VPLs provide graphical constructs to their users. So I wish to find out
whether these construct really ease the life the user (who might not know programming at all).
Also, the survey has question asking whether the VPL requires its user have prior knowledge of programming or not.

Thanks for taking the survey. *kudos*

PS : why do you ask if the survey is biased ? I don't think there is any bias in my survey form.

[crossrulz]

LabVIEW is a full programming language.  To do anything beyond the canned examples NI gives, you have to know how to program.  And there has already been studies showing that engineers who learn LabVIEW before C understand programming concepts just as well as those who did it the other way around.  I talked to the guys at Ohio State University who did that study with their freshman engineering students.

[smithd]

Do you have a reference to that? I'd be curious to see it.

For my part, I think its also worth keeping in mind that different people learn differently. Some people may be visual learners, others not so much. I tend to think that I like LabVIEW primarily because I find it easier to remember the map of what is going on in the system, but someone who has no sense of direction might find such a map useless and would learn to develop code in some other way which might be more suitable for the text-based world. Or...that could be total nonsense.

[natasftw]

He asks if the survey is biased because every post you've made has led towards one conclusion.

You think something so you're setting out to "prove" it.  But, you haven't spent any time considering what proof is.  You're essentially doing bad statistics.  With bad statistics, you can show you've proven anything.  That dosen't mean you actually have.  It just means you are doing a decent job of waving your arms hoping nobody will notice your methods were weak, at best.

You bring up objects, class, and inheritance as the constructs that are important to you.  These are incredibly important in OOP.  Outside of OOP, they don't exist.  Are you under the impression that EVERY programming application is OOP?  If so, you might want to learn more about the field before you try to make wide assumptions about programming.  In some applications, OOP is very useful.  In others, it's not as useful.

In order to use a For Loop, you must understand what it is doing.  This is true whether you drop a rectangle or you write a line of code followed by curly braces.  If you don't understand what the loop is doing, you won't be able to use it to get the result you want.  You should think about this.

You're also ignoring how people are creatures of habit.  Learning something like LabVIEW before knowing other languages removes the bias of those other languages.  Knowing the other languages starts the user with a strong bias towards, or against, text-based languages.  You will be likely to find these users have beliefs about "VPLs" that correlate to their experience with text-based languages.

You're not looking to actually do anything with your hypothesis.  You're hoping for results you can twist into a survey-based "yes man."  That's pretty much the definition of a biased survey.  

[jcarmody]

It's curious to me that natasftw and kansi both joined the forums today.  Do the two of you know each other?

It makes sense to me that kansi would join then post in order to get feedback on the survey.  natasftw appears to have joined just to comment on it.

IDK.  Anyway, the links to the survey don't work for me.  I'll have to check it from home, maybe.

[natasftw]

No idea who he is.

I've been on the forums for a few years.  I just never posted.  I usually soak in information.  In this case, I rolled my eyes enough to post.