 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-10-27 01:55
I wonder which makes/models were being compared? .....
http://www.yamaha.com/band/NEWS/98SURVEY/clarinets.htm
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Author: David Peacham
Date: 2002-10-27 09:48
The overview page describes what they did: they asked repair techs various questions along the lines of "which make is best for...". They then reported which three companies were most often mentioned in the answers they received. Neither the interviewer nor the interviewee knew who was paying for the survey. It is implied that the interviewees were not asked to limit their answers to particular makes or models.
At first sight the results look impressive. Yamaha comes out top on most questions, though not on every one. But what we are not told is whether these are all the questions that were asked. There may have been other questions on which Yamaha did not score highly, and which have been omitted from the web pages.
The selection of questions is certainly rather odd. It is heartening to know, for example, that Yamaha trumpets have solder joints that are easy to repair. But there is no indication of which makes have solder joints that don't break in the first place.
David
Sometime statistician.
Yamaha owner.
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Author: Gordon (NZ)
Date: 2002-10-27 10:29
And there are significant makes that did not receive a mention. Are the technicians involved not exposed to these other makes?
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-10-27 23:24
I understand that some years ago, one packer guaranteed that their tuna would not turn pink in the can.
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-10-28 04:26
Nice thought, george, but they were selling tuna. I was actually just trying to reinforce David Peacham's final comment. The whole concept of the tuna advertising was the implication to customers that salmon, their competition, was sort of a strange product. Or, in this case, from the player's standpoint, "These instruments are really easy to repair" sounds very nice, but without knowing how often the repair will be necessary, the statement is potentially meaningless. And it certainly is no way as good as "This instrument will never need repair."
Who cares if a trumpet is really a dream to resolder? Certainly the player is minimally concerned. If I were buying one, I'd rather know which brand is least likely to break. And if my bell fell off during a performance, the *last* thing on my mind would be, "What a wonderful consolation. I know my technician can repair it in less than an hour. Oh, swell."
Beyond all that, any time I see a "summary" of a survey, I'm immediately on guard that someone else has already drawn the conclusions for me as to what is really important. As you might imagine, I do not appreciate that at all. Some people who conduct surveys wouldn't know a proper conclusion from a peanut-butter sandwich (or Vegemite, if you prefer).
Regards,
John
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Author: Ken Shaw
Date: 2002-10-28 16:45
David -
There could be hidden bias in the selection of the statistical universe. According to the description on the Yamaha site, Yamaha, not a neutral source, supplied the names of 46 "leading service centers." You can be sure that each of these was a Yamaha-authorized site. I wonder whether they also made sure each was authorized by Buffet, Selmer and Leblanc.
Also, the selected centers may have had a preferred-provider agreement under which they put Yamaha at the top of their recommendation lists.
I'm not saying they cooked the books -- only that the results aren't air-tight on the information they supply, and there's at least one non-blind factor.
Best regards.
Ken Shaw
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Author: JMcAulay
Date: 2002-10-28 18:46
Ken Shaw said: "I'm not saying they cooked the books...."
Well, if you won't, I will. And if they didn't, it wasn't because they avoided the opportunity.
Regards,
John
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