Viewing Results for

2013-2014 VT ETD Author Survey

1. While preparing your ETD, where did you find answers to your questions?
Please select all that apply.

$0.88%\%$ Telephone (2/226 responses)

$23.01%\%$ VT ETD Web site (52/226 responses)

$1.77%\%$ Other Web site(s) (4/226 responses)

$10.18%\%$ My committee (23/226 responses)

$0%\%$ InnovationSpace (was New Media Center) staff (0/226 responses)

$24.78%\%$ Graduate School staff (56/226 responses)

$13.27%\%$ Friends (30/226 responses)

$3.1%\%$ ETD tech support (7/226 responses)

$0.88%\%$ ETD seminar (2/226 responses)

$18.58%\%$ E-mail (42/226 responses)

$3.54%\%$ Other/Comments (8/226 responses)

100% of the people who took this survey
(89 / 89) answered this question.

Other Responses (8 for this question)

"It was very hard to get all my questions answered"

"other"( 4 ) responses

"the ETD help page doesn't exist, broken process for MS thesis in direct PhD program"

"The LaTeX template could stand to be slightly updated to improve the Appendix and Bibliography options, as is it doesn't label them correctly without additional packages."

"The website is confusing for people not using the main ETD website."

2. If you consulted the VT ETD Web site (etd.vt.edu), please indicate if the site was useful.

$12.94%\%$ Not useful (11/85 responses)

$12.94%\%$ Useful (11/85 responses)

$50.59%\%$ Somewhat useful (43/85 responses)

$23.53%\%$ Very useful (20/85 responses)

95.51% of the people who took this survey
(85 / 89) answered this question.

3. If you used the InnovationSpace (was the New Media Center), please indicate if the staff was helpful.

$27.27%\%$ Not helpful (6/22 responses)

$40.91%\%$ Helpful (9/22 responses)

$18.18%\%$ Somewhat helpful (4/22 responses)

$13.64%\%$ Very helpful (3/22 responses)

24.72% of the people who took this survey
(22 / 89) answered this question.

4. What authoring application(s) did you use to create your ETD?
Please select all that apply.

$6.67%\%$ Other (7/105 responses)

$0.95%\%$ Audio editor (e.g., Audacity, Garageband) (1/105 responses)

$2.86%\%$ Video editor (e.g., iMovie, DVD Studio Pro) (3/105 responses)

$11.43%\%$ Word processor--technical (e.g., LaTex) (12/105 responses)

$7.62%\%$ Graphics editor (e.g., Photoshop) (8/105 responses)

$70.48%\%$ Word processor--generic (e.g., Word, WordPerfect) (74/105 responses)

98.88% of the people who took this survey
(88 / 89) answered this question.

Other Responses (7 for this question)

"Adobe Acrobat, Mathematica"

"gnuplot, inkscape"

"Online flow-chart editors"

"other"( 3 ) responses

"R"

5. Throughout the development of your ETD, what format(s) did you use to share your dissertation with your committee?
Please select all that apply.

$8.57%\%$ Mix of electronic and paper (12/140 responses)

$0.71%\%$ Paper: Photocopy (1/140 responses)

$18.57%\%$ Paper: Printout (26/140 responses)

$1.43%\%$ Other (2/140 responses)

$35.71%\%$ Electronic: PDF file(s) (50/140 responses)

$35%\%$ Electronic: Text document (49/140 responses)

100% of the people who took this survey
(89 / 89) answered this question.

Other Responses (2 for this question)

"I shared with Word originally, and then did my final typesetting with LaTeX"

"other"

6. Compared to what you expected, how difficult was it to create a PDF file?

$5.75%\%$ Somewhat more difficult (5/87 responses)

$1.15%\%$ Much more difficult (1/87 responses)

$16.09%\%$ Somewhat less difficult (14/87 responses)

$24.14%\%$ Much less difficult (21/87 responses)

$52.87%\%$ Neither more nor less difficult (46/87 responses)

97.75% of the people who took this survey
(87 / 89) answered this question.

7. My computer is a

$15.63%\%$ Other (15/96 responses)

$3.13%\%$ Unix (3/96 responses)

$55.21%\%$ PC (53/96 responses)

$26.04%\%$ Mac (25/96 responses)

100% of the people who took this survey
(89 / 89) answered this question.

Other Responses (15 for this question)

"both Mac and PC"

"Chromebook"

"Dual-Boot Mac/Windows"

"I used Mac OS, Windows, and Chrome OS in preparing the ETD."

"Linux"

"Mix of PC/Unix"

"other"( 8 ) responses

"Thesis was written on all of the above. Also, Mac is Unix-based. And you probably should say "Linux" rather than "unix" because Linux is merlely similar to unix, Linux evolved from Minix, a unix-like system that was a cheaper alternative to unix."

8. Compared to what you expected, how difficult was it to submit your thesis/dissertation electronically?

$16.09%\%$ Neither more nor less difficult. (14/87 responses)

$14.94%\%$ Much more difficult (13/87 responses)

$27.59%\%$ Somewhat more difficult (24/87 responses)

$20.69%\%$ Somewhat less difficult (18/87 responses)

$20.69%\%$ Much less difficult (18/87 responses)

97.75% of the people who took this survey
(87 / 89) answered this question.

9. Where were you when you submitted your ETD?

$10.87%\%$ Other (10/92 responses)

$43.48%\%$ Off-campus residence (40/92 responses)

$1.09%\%$ Northern Virginia Center (1/92 responses)

$3.26%\%$ Off-campus workplace (3/92 responses)

$2.17%\%$ Newman Library (2/92 responses)

$1.09%\%$ InnovationSpace (1/92 responses)

$0%\%$ At another university (0/92 responses)

$38.04%\%$ Campus office (35/92 responses)

$0%\%$ Campus residence hall (0/92 responses)

98.88% of the people who took this survey
(88 / 89) answered this question.

Other Responses (10 for this question)

"Graduate School"

"ICTAS lab"

"On vacation :)"

"other"( 5 ) responses

"Train"

"Williams Hall"

10. How many ETDs did you consult while preparing your ETD?

$0%\%$ more than 10 (0/88 responses)

$2.27%\%$ 6-10 (2/88 responses)

$39.77%\%$ 3-5 (35/88 responses)

$44.32%\%$ 1-2 (39/88 responses)

$13.64%\%$ Did not consult any (12/88 responses)

98.88% of the people who took this survey
(88 / 89) answered this question.

11. If you restricted access to your VT ETD, on what did you base your decision?
Please select all that apply.

$1.64%\%$ Sponsor(s) (1/61 responses)

$13.11%\%$ Other (8/61 responses)

$8.2%\%$ Advice of others (5/61 responses)

$27.87%\%$ Personal choice (17/61 responses)

$1.64%\%$ Patent pending (1/61 responses)

$1.64%\%$ Advice of publisher (1/61 responses)

$45.9%\%$ Advice of faculty (28/61 responses)

49.44% of the people who took this survey
(44 / 89) answered this question.

Other Responses (8 for this question)

"does not apply"

"other"( 4 ) responses

"other ETD"

"Security Reasons"

"Unpublished Works"

12. Within the next 1-2 years, what do you intend to publish from your ETD?
Please select all that may apply.

$9.32%\%$ Don't know yet (11/118 responses)

$4.24%\%$ Will not publish (5/118 responses)

$26.27%\%$ Conference proceedings (31/118 responses)

$55.93%\%$ Journal article (66/118 responses)

$3.39%\%$ Book chapter (4/118 responses)

$0.85%\%$ Book (1/118 responses)

98.88% of the people who took this survey
(88 / 89) answered this question.

13. Please include any comments or questions that you have about ETDs.

Text Responses (14 for this question)

"ETD submission is a little bit more difficult than my expectation, because of the winter break. But the staff were very helpful."

"Having difficulty being a MS on the way to PhD with having access to all of the forms at the right times."

"I think the access to the ETD submission website should be easier to get to."

"None"

"Priscilla Wright in the Graduate Student office was awesome. She was very helpful, and it was just a real pleasure to have her help."

"The actual process is very unclear."

"The ETD instructions are not clear for direct PhD students. I struggled to find the link to submit the ETD."

"The graduate school web based support for ETD information is very scattered and difficult to navigate. There is a lot of outdated information. When I went to the graduate school office to get help with formatting I was not able to meet with somebody who could help me from a technical perspective. When I emailed the graduate school to get instructions and documentation for formatting requirements I was instructed to go to a workshop where a powerpoint was presented but no written specifications were made available. Everyone at the graduate school was courteous and polite."

"The instruction is not clear. On ETD Submission Webpage http://etd.vt.edu/etdsubmn.html, it does not mention the submission through ETD-db at all. It is quite confusing to have two separate submission webpages without notification about the existence of another."

"The process is extremely difficult for students who are getting a master's along the way to a PhD since everything is electronic and we are listed as PhD students."

"The process of submitting Master's thesis ETDs for students in direct-to-PhD programs needs to be clearer. I got conflicting answers several times when working through the process and would appreciate a clearer guideline being added to the web site by the time I do my dissertation."

"The thesis should be able to be named with an apostrophe! The site would not let me name my thesis my actual last name."

"The way to combine word file provided on ETD website is not the easiest way."

"This was entirely too difficult"

Other Responses (8 for this question)
"It was very hard to get all my questions answered"
"other"( 4 ) responses
"the ETD help page doesn't exist, broken process for MS thesis in direct PhD program"
"The LaTeX template could stand to be slightly updated to improve the Appendix and Bibliography options, as is it doesn't label them correctly without additional packages."
"The website is confusing for people not using the main ETD website."

Other Responses (7 for this question)
"Adobe Acrobat, Mathematica"
"gnuplot, inkscape"
"Online flow-chart editors"
"other"( 3 ) responses
"R"

Other Responses (2 for this question)
"I shared with Word originally, and then did my final typesetting with LaTeX"
"other"

Other Responses (15 for this question)
"both Mac and PC"
"Chromebook"
"Dual-Boot Mac/Windows"
"I used Mac OS, Windows, and Chrome OS in preparing the ETD."
"Linux"
"Mix of PC/Unix"
"other"( 8 ) responses
"Thesis was written on all of the above. Also, Mac is Unix-based. And you probably should say "Linux" rather than "unix" because Linux is merlely similar to unix, Linux evolved from Minix, a unix-like system that was a cheaper alternative to unix."

Other Responses (10 for this question)
"Graduate School"
"ICTAS lab"
"On vacation :)"
"other"( 5 ) responses
"Train"
"Williams Hall"

Other Responses (8 for this question)
"does not apply"
"other"( 4 ) responses
"other ETD"
"Security Reasons"
"Unpublished Works"

Text Responses (14 for this question)
"ETD submission is a little bit more difficult than my expectation, because of the winter break. But the staff were very helpful."
"Having difficulty being a MS on the way to PhD with having access to all of the forms at the right times."
"I think the access to the ETD submission website should be easier to get to."
"None"
"Priscilla Wright in the Graduate Student office was awesome. She was very helpful, and it was just a real pleasure to have her help."
"The actual process is very unclear."
"The ETD instructions are not clear for direct PhD students. I struggled to find the link to submit the ETD."
"The graduate school web based support for ETD information is very scattered and difficult to navigate. There is a lot of outdated information. When I went to the graduate school office to get help with formatting I was not able to meet with somebody who could help me from a technical perspective. When I emailed the graduate school to get instructions and documentation for formatting requirements I was instructed to go to a workshop where a powerpoint was presented but no written specifications were made available. Everyone at the graduate school was courteous and polite."
"The instruction is not clear. On ETD Submission Webpage http://etd.vt.edu/etdsubmn.html, it does not mention the submission through ETD-db at all. It is quite confusing to have two separate submission webpages without notification about the existence of another."
"The process is extremely difficult for students who are getting a master's along the way to a PhD since everything is electronic and we are listed as PhD students."
"The process of submitting Master's thesis ETDs for students in direct-to-PhD programs needs to be clearer. I got conflicting answers several times when working through the process and would appreciate a clearer guideline being added to the web site by the time I do my dissertation."
"The thesis should be able to be named with an apostrophe! The site would not let me name my thesis my actual last name."
"The way to combine word file provided on ETD website is not the easiest way."
"This was entirely too difficult"

http://lumiere.lib.vt.edu/surveys/results/view_results.php3
Generated at 05:00 pm on Monday, October 26th, 2015

	$0.88%\%$	Telephone	(2/226 responses)
	$23.01%\%$	VT ETD Web site	(52/226 responses)
	$1.77%\%$	Other Web site(s)	(4/226 responses)
	$10.18%\%$	My committee	(23/226 responses)
	$0%\%$	InnovationSpace (was New Media Center) staff	(0/226 responses)
	$24.78%\%$	Graduate School staff	(56/226 responses)
	$13.27%\%$	Friends	(30/226 responses)
	$3.1%\%$	ETD tech support	(7/226 responses)
	$0.88%\%$	ETD seminar	(2/226 responses)
	$18.58%\%$	E-mail	(42/226 responses)
	$3.54%\%$	Other/Comments	(8/226 responses)
100% of the people who took this survey (89 / 89) answered this question.

	$12.94%\%$	Not useful	(11/85 responses)
	$12.94%\%$	Useful	(11/85 responses)
	$50.59%\%$	Somewhat useful	(43/85 responses)
	$23.53%\%$	Very useful	(20/85 responses)
95.51% of the people who took this survey (85 / 89) answered this question.

	$27.27%\%$	Not helpful	(6/22 responses)
	$40.91%\%$	Helpful	(9/22 responses)
	$18.18%\%$	Somewhat helpful	(4/22 responses)
	$13.64%\%$	Very helpful	(3/22 responses)
24.72% of the people who took this survey (22 / 89) answered this question.

	$6.67%\%$	Other	(7/105 responses)
	$0.95%\%$	Audio editor (e.g., Audacity, Garageband)	(1/105 responses)
	$2.86%\%$	Video editor (e.g., iMovie, DVD Studio Pro)	(3/105 responses)
	$11.43%\%$	Word processor--technical (e.g., LaTex)	(12/105 responses)
	$7.62%\%$	Graphics editor (e.g., Photoshop)	(8/105 responses)
	$70.48%\%$	Word processor--generic (e.g., Word, WordPerfect)	(74/105 responses)
98.88% of the people who took this survey (88 / 89) answered this question.

	$8.57%\%$	Mix of electronic and paper	(12/140 responses)
	$0.71%\%$	Paper: Photocopy	(1/140 responses)
	$18.57%\%$	Paper: Printout	(26/140 responses)
	$1.43%\%$	Other	(2/140 responses)
	$35.71%\%$	Electronic: PDF file(s)	(50/140 responses)
	$35%\%$	Electronic: Text document	(49/140 responses)
100% of the people who took this survey (89 / 89) answered this question.

	$5.75%\%$	Somewhat more difficult	(5/87 responses)
	$1.15%\%$	Much more difficult	(1/87 responses)
	$16.09%\%$	Somewhat less difficult	(14/87 responses)
	$24.14%\%$	Much less difficult	(21/87 responses)
	$52.87%\%$	Neither more nor less difficult	(46/87 responses)
97.75% of the people who took this survey (87 / 89) answered this question.

	$15.63%\%$	Other	(15/96 responses)
	$3.13%\%$	Unix	(3/96 responses)
	$55.21%\%$	PC	(53/96 responses)
	$26.04%\%$	Mac	(25/96 responses)
100% of the people who took this survey (89 / 89) answered this question.

	$16.09%\%$	Neither more nor less difficult.	(14/87 responses)
	$14.94%\%$	Much more difficult	(13/87 responses)
	$27.59%\%$	Somewhat more difficult	(24/87 responses)
	$20.69%\%$	Somewhat less difficult	(18/87 responses)
	$20.69%\%$	Much less difficult	(18/87 responses)
97.75% of the people who took this survey (87 / 89) answered this question.

	$10.87%\%$	Other	(10/92 responses)
	$43.48%\%$	Off-campus residence	(40/92 responses)
	$1.09%\%$	Northern Virginia Center	(1/92 responses)
	$3.26%\%$	Off-campus workplace	(3/92 responses)
	$2.17%\%$	Newman Library	(2/92 responses)
	$1.09%\%$	InnovationSpace	(1/92 responses)
	$0%\%$	At another university	(0/92 responses)
	$38.04%\%$	Campus office	(35/92 responses)
	$0%\%$	Campus residence hall	(0/92 responses)
98.88% of the people who took this survey (88 / 89) answered this question.

	$0%\%$	more than 10	(0/88 responses)
	$2.27%\%$	6-10	(2/88 responses)
	$39.77%\%$	3-5	(35/88 responses)
	$44.32%\%$	1-2	(39/88 responses)
	$13.64%\%$	Did not consult any	(12/88 responses)
98.88% of the people who took this survey (88 / 89) answered this question.

	$1.64%\%$	Sponsor(s)	(1/61 responses)
	$13.11%\%$	Other	(8/61 responses)
	$8.2%\%$	Advice of others	(5/61 responses)
	$27.87%\%$	Personal choice	(17/61 responses)
	$1.64%\%$	Patent pending	(1/61 responses)
	$1.64%\%$	Advice of publisher	(1/61 responses)
	$45.9%\%$	Advice of faculty	(28/61 responses)
49.44% of the people who took this survey (44 / 89) answered this question.

$9.32%\%$	Don't know yet	(11/118 responses)
$4.24%\%$	Will not publish	(5/118 responses)
$26.27%\%$	Conference proceedings	(31/118 responses)
$55.93%\%$	Journal article	(66/118 responses)
$3.39%\%$	Book chapter	(4/118 responses)
$0.85%\%$	Book	(1/118 responses)
98.88% of the people who took this survey (88 / 89) answered this question.