D&D 5E 2016 5th edition D&D Dungeon Master Survey

[Bacon Bits]

Every question in this survey fails to have an accurate answer for me as an option by being entirely "this" or "that" with no "some of both" types of answers. As a result, I feel the information gained by the answers that I can select will not actually provide the stated desired idea of how I prepare and run my D&D games.

Further, some of the questions are ambiguously worded. I cannot be sure if "For each session, how much time do you spend on developing the story of the adventure?" is meaning to ask me how much time I spend doing prep work that develops the story (next to none) or is meaning to ask me how much time during a session of play gets spent developing the story (basically all of it, in one way or another).

That's the nature of a survey, man. It's not supposed to list your actual answers. It's supposed to make you think and pick something that's close. That's why they always say, "Choose the option that best fits your answer."

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

That's the nature of a survey, man. It's not supposed to list your actual answers. It's supposed to make you think and pick something that's close. That's why they always say, "Choose the option that best fits your answer."

I don't think it is the "nature of a survey" at all to have questions that don't actually serve the stated purpose of the survey.

In this case, the creator of the survey stated their intent as "to discover how 5th edition Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters prepare for and run their games." (it's at the top of the survey), and started out with a few questions that actually did allow selection of all that apply, but suddenly started guaranteeing the information gathered would be less accurate than it otherwise would by switching to mutually exclusive answers even on questions that it is not only possible, but likely, that someone would do more than one of the things answered.

But hey, if you think it is the "nature of a survey", maybe you are right and I'm just not skilled enough at picking something that is close. Why do you help me out?

For the question "How do you prefer to run combat in D&D?", which answer should I be choosing from: A) "I prefer to use abstract maps and general positioning but without a grid."; B) "I prefer to run combat with maps, miniatures, and five foot per square grids."; or C) "I prefer to run narrative "theater of the mind" combat." when the actual case is that I prefer to switch back and forth between B and C within the same session based on the details of each combat - those with terrain, objects, or numerous creatures that the players might lose track of using B, and those which are very straightforward and would take less time to play out using C than they would to set up on the table for B using C.

If you can tell me which of those choices is "closest", we can proceed on to other questions that I feel cannot succeed at the stated intent of the survey because they didn't include anything even resembling an accurate answer for me.

 

[SlyFlourish]

Thanks!

Thank you all again for taking the survey. I understand that it isn't a perfect model of everyone's play style. Had I put in questions like "any of the above" for some of the questions, my guess is that most people would select that and we wouldn't learn much about preferences. Again, I know its not perfect and I thank you for taking the time.