On Wednesday 4th December, we asked some extra questions that were a little different from our normal style. If you found these questions really hard to answer, you weren’t alone! They were definitely a change from our usual style, PLUS asking about something that is pretty confusing – pensions!
But why were we asking them, and why were they so hard to answer?
We have created a NEW way to ask questions
Our team has developed an exciting feature for the app that lets us ask a new type of question called ‘discrete choice’. This means we can present you with two different scenarios—each with a random set of features—and ask you to choose between them.
The scenarios could cover anything: job adverts, PPA allocation, or (as we’ve done this week) pension options.
We know that making a choice can sometimes feel tricky—and that’s OK! This approach requires you to choose even when neither option feels perfect or when the differences between them seem minor. That’s actually part of what makes this type of question so powerful.
Why are we doing this?
If it feels difficult, why are we using this method? Don’t worry—we have a good reason!
This research approach, called a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE), is designed to uncover what really matters to people when making decisions. The results are incredibly insightful, but DCEs require a large sample size to work effectively. That’s where Teacher Tapp comes in! Thanks to our amazing user base, we’re uniquely positioned to run these experiments at scale and generate meaningful results.
Because each person gets a slightly different combination of scenarios, you might sometimes see combinations that seem odd—or even feel frustrating if neither choice seems ideal. But these less obvious comparisons are actually crucial when it comes to analysing the data. They help us identify what influences decisions, even in subtle or unexpected ways.
Your Contribution Matters
We know it might not feel fun if you encounter a pair of options where both seem unappealing, but each response you provide adds an essential piece to the puzzle. So thank you for sticking with it—your input is invaluable to this research project!
In the future…
Because this is such a good way to find out information, we may well use the discrete choice questions again BUT we have learnt from your feedback and will make some changes in the future!
Things we will do in future:
- We will put in a question at the end for any feedback on your answers. This is really helpful! Those of you who wrote to say specifically why questions were hard to answer helped us learn more about the topic we were investigating.
Also – we would like all of our Tappers to know that:
- Please don’t worry about getting the ‘right’ answer! It’s a survey, not an exam – just give the answer that feels best for you.
- If you genuinely don’t have any preference, then pick either
- These are optional questions, so if you don’t want to answer them it doesn’t affect your streak!
You are heroes!
You might have felt it was not ideal to answer questions like this at the end of a long day, amid a long term. We hear you! And we are so grateful for every single person who gave them a go. You are pioneers! This sort of research simply isn’t possible without Teacher Tappers, you’re all heroes!
We promise we will only ask these sort of questions when there’s a good reason and that it will go towards better informing policymakers about what teachers do (and don’t!) want their pensions to be.
