Now that their encampment in Zuccotti Park has been cleared out, Occupy Wall Street protesters have been looking for new ways to spread their message and gain support for their movement.

In a recent USA Today/Gallup poll 56% of respondents said they do not know enough about Occupy Wall Street to say whether they are for or against the movement. According to a poll released last week by Public Policy Polling, national support for the movement has lowered to 33%.

In a survey I conducted online from October 13 to November 22, I found out the following:

• 44% of respondents said they were completely sympathetic with Occupy Wall Street protesters. There were no respondents that said they were not at all sympathetic with the cause:

• Although only 22% of respondents said they have participated in the protests, a mere 33% completely ruled out doing so in the future:

• Only 11% of respondents said they have slept in Zuccotti Park:

• And 33% would consider sleeping there in the future:

Although these are some interesting statistics, only 18 people responded to the survey and they are therefore demonstrative of a small group of people.

In my survey, I tried to find out whether people still need libraries. Furthermore, I wanted to analyze what options or programs libraries could introduce to ensure their surviving while being pressured by new media and the struggling economy. As a result, there seem to be new ways for libraries, if they decide to use new media to their advantage.

The survey was filled in 22 times. Firstly, the majority of the people taking part in the survey still go to libraries quite regularly, about once a month. That is usually the general period in which a book can be borrowed.

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I think I did myself a disservice by not promoting my survey more. I did the basic Facebook/Twitter plugs once I created my survey, but I didn’t really follow through afterwards. I also feel like I should have reached out to more organizations, like the Harlem Business Alliance, for help getting some responses. Only one person took my survey, and I know that is not nearly enough to draw conclusions from.

The person can’t speak for the shopping habits of all Harlemites, but I did get a nice response in the “Anything else you want to add?” section. “Shopping in Harlem isn’t too bad,” the person wrote, “It’s just that there are about two stores that I actually like in the area.” This statement kind of reversed my preconceived notion that Harlemites don’t like shopping in Harlem, but it did back up the fact that many of them feel Harlem’s shopping scene isn’t up to par. Again, I don’t want to analyze this too much, because it is the only response to my survey and can’t be used to represent other people.

In retrospect, I would promote my survey more than once or twice and personally reach out to all of the people I know who live in Harlem. I didn’t use all my resources and it showed.

Photo Courtesy of Flickr User Hackett

Here is my survey:
http://toiltown.com/2011/11/04/does-yelp-help/

Analyzing the results of my survey is very easy…because there weren’t any. I tweeted to different business organizations and newspapers/ blogs in Brooklyn. I posted on their Facebook pages, pleading with people to take my survey, but still no one did.

I think coming from an unknown news organization, asking people to follow a link to an unknown website, will never work because people have no incentive to click, and no reason to trust that I am not a spammer.

If I had more time, I would print out my survey and go around to different businesses in Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, asking individuals what they think. I’m aware this isn’t online “interactive”, but people will have a harder time saying “no” to taking a survey if I am there, in person, asking them to take it.

The purpose of my survey was to find out what small businesses would be most welcome in the neighborhood and have more chances to succeed. Target audience was Greenpoint residents, that’s why I promoted my survey in two relevant facebook groups: Welcome to Poland LOL JK you’re in Greenpoint and I GREW UP IN GREENPOINT. My blog post was also accepted by the major blog in my CD – The Greenpointers, but at the time of this analysis, it hasn’t been published yet. In total, I have got five responses. 40 percent of respondents identified themselves as Greenpoint residents. Their responses are the only relevant to the purpose of my survey, so first, I would like to present the quality data analysis.

(Click on the exhibit to make it larger)

Cinema appears in responses of both Greenpoint respondents: as a small business to open and as a desirable venue. Thus, it could be a good type of small business to consider for local entrepreneurs.

  Both Greenpoint residents express some discontent with the neighborhood food spots. Shops that don’t satisfy their needs are meat markets and grocery stores lacking fresh fish. So, based on the survey results, a small business selling fresh meat and/or fish in the neighborhood might also be a good option. In spite of the expert opinion about the advantage of businesses with no employees, most respondents said that they would open a business with 3-5 employees.

Respondents also showed they are not afraid of additional taxes per employee. Their responses could represent confidence and motivation for doing business or ignorance of the expert advice on the subject Meanwhile, it seems that most of the respondents considered Michael D. Jenkins’ point about the Unincorporated Business Tax exemption relevant.

Moving to the quantitative data analysis, a small business that may be good to run in such a neighborhood, as Greenpoint is a music shop.

40 percent of the total number of respondents referred to it either as about a business to open (specifically in Greenpoint and in general) or to see in the neighborhood. Tearooms and Natural food stores were also mentioned in both categories.

However, quantitative data analysis results are not representative considering the purpose and the target audience of the survey. That’s why, based on the relevant survey results, the most compelling new business in Greenpoint would be a small butcher’s or fresh fish shop. Still, this data is not sufficient to make business conclusions. To make them, the survey needs more responses.

I recently conducted a survey to find out whether people thought their undergraduate degrees had contributed to their ability to find work later. A few inferences can be drawn among how one decided on a major, prospects for work, and overall satisfaction with income.

One of the first questions asked whether or not respondents felt their undergraduate degree was related to their current line of work. The numbers were pretty evenly split, with an equal number — 34 percent — saying they were very much related and not at all related.

In terms of finding work after graduation, 38 percent said they found work within three months. It took 17 percent four to six months to find work. And 24 percent said they never found work in the field they studied in college.
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When Jose Portes used to search for skate spots in Brooklyn in the late 80s, he traveled with a crew ten deep in case drug dealers harassed them. Today, the 38-year-old co-owner of Homage Brooklyn, a skateboard and snowboard shop in Boerum Hill, is still building a community of skaters. But now he brings them together at a training facility in Gowanus.

The facility, built last fall, is open to local skateboarders on Friday evenings and provides a place for the Homage skate team to train throughout the winter. The Homage TF, as it’s known, doesn’t make any money. Instead the endeavor is about bringing skateboarding back to its roots, reviving the trend of local skate shops like Skate NYC in the East Village supported up-and-coming skaters.

“Kids get to a certain age and the streets raise them,” said Portes. “We’re out in the streets, so they’re like our little brothers. So we want to make sure they go in the right direction.”