[nagdu] Consumer report

[Tracy Carcione]

Hi Julie.
I like statistics, too, but they have to mean something, and they have to
be consistent across the board, somehow.  Remember the discussion about
how many hours each school spends training a dog, based on the GDUI
survey?  The answers were wildly different, so either each school is
counting hours differently, or some are training their dogs in a lot
shorter time than others.  I think the upshot of the discussion was a bit
of both.  (And is shorter worse?  GDB claims it can train dogs faster
using clicker training than the old way.)

I would be extremely interested, for instance, to know how many dogs were
returned to a school within a year.  That ought to tell me quite a lot
about customer satisfaction.  But I seem to recall Jeanine saying that
schools were not too eager to share that data, and the average graduate
wouldn't know it.

And even a satisfied customer can see room for improvements.
If we could figure out how to ask the right questions, it could be very
interesting.
Tracy

> It goes back to the discussion last week or the week before.  Why won't
> people name the school when the review is negative?  The answers varied a
> bit, but it generally came down to fear of repercussions.
>
> Perhaps people would feel safer if their name was in no way attached to
> their statements.  And I agree that statistics aren't the answer to
> everything, but for me at least, they would be one more piece of
> information
> to figure into the equation.
>
> JMHO
> Julie
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)" <REBECCA.PICKRELL at tasc.com>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users"
> <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 10:23 AM
> Subject: Re: [nagdu] Consumer report
>
>
>> Why not treat it like any other business? When Mark asked what schools
>> people liked, we all can say "I like Seeing Eye because..." or "I don't
>> like Seeing Eye because..." and trust that Mark will figure out what he
>> wants. Like anything else, he isn't stuck for life with the school he
>> picks today. The school that is right for him as a late teen may not be
>> right for him as a mid twenties adult.
>> Just sounds like we're making this way harder then it should be. Tracy
>> is right, statistics don't cut it, and she's also right about folks with
>> an ax to grind, but why can't we trust Mark to figure out what he wants?
>>
>> We have a concert venue my parents hate due to something that happened
>> some 30 years ago. They refuse to go back there and if you asked the if
>> this was a good venue, they'd say "hell no" and go into why. I've been
>> to this venue and love it. It has its flaws, but so does everything. Why
>> not use the same approach for schools?
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>> Behalf Of Tracy Carcione
>> Sent: Friday, August 20, 2010 10:47 AM
>> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
>> Subject: [nagdu] Consumer report
>>
>> I think some kind of consumer report would be great, though I don't know
>> how it could be done right.
>> When I read "A Guide to Guide Dog Schools", it made some schools who
>> have
>> a bad reputation sound great, and some with a good reputation sound bad,
>> so plain statistics don't really do the job.
>> Then you have those who think their school can do no wrong, and those
>> who
>> have an axe to grind from something school X did 20 or 30 years ago.
>> And
>> those who are reluctant to talk about problems.  I find myself sometimes
>> hesitant to "air dirty laundry in public."  But, if someone can figure
>> out
>> how to get around those problems, a consumer report would be a very good
>> thing.
>> Though of course it would have to be updated from time to time, as
>> schools' policies and training change.
>> Tracy
>>
>>
>>
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>
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