Surveys should be voluntary
It's late Saturday afternoon, the sky is dark with black clouds. It's raining and thundering. There's a knock at the door. As I'm expecting no one, I consider not answering it. But, there's a middle-aged woman standing on the porch, so I open the door a crack.
She's here from the National Survey on Use and Health and she wants to ask me a few questions. I have a vague recollection of getting a letter from someone in Bloomington a week or so ago saying this house had been selected for something or other. She said she put a brochure in my door a few days ago. That I do not recall getting.
She flashed some kind of hand-sized computer device which she seemed quite anxious to use.
I ask her if she's from the government; she says, yes, and shows me her I.D. But, frankly, it looked like something anyone could have whipped up on the computer and laminated.
I tell her I don't give out personal information to people I don't know. That's my standard reply to any survey, as a matter of fact. (Except for surveys I go seeking out.)
She says, it's not personal. We just need your age, how many people live in the house, and some information on your health and use.
I tell her that is absolutely the most personal information there is and to go away.
She says fine, but they'll just send someone else out.
I tell her fine, keep sending them.
She did give me a brochure which I will scan and upload later. Also, if I haven't thrown away the letter, I'll scan and upload that too. I have too much to do right now, which hopefully which shake off my paranoia.