Improve the pilgrim experience 👣

[AlbertoCamino]

Hello, we are conducting a completely anonymous study for the faculty with the aim of finding out what the ideal experience is for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago.

The questionnaire takes 2 minutes to complete, and you are free to share it with other pilgrims, which we would also be very grateful for. Have a good journey.

https://forms.gle/heTicR9kcJD82Y7P7

 

[AlbertoCamino]

Moderator note: this post was moved from another thread after some responses were posted on this thread.

Hello, I am a student at the Faculty of Tourism and I quite like walking.
I am currently preparing the TFG and I have launched a survey that you can find in the forum.

Greetings to all. Buen camino.

 

[henrythedog]

I would have to sign in with Google to complete the form, which I’m not going to do.

Alberto. Welcome.

Sometime soon someone’s going to ask you who ‘we’ are; what you’re going with the data and a whole lot more. Perhaps you could provide some more information?

 

[Tincatinker]

Hello, we are conducting a completely anonymous study for the faculty with the aim of finding out what the ideal experience is for pilgrims on the Camino de Santiago.

The questionnaire takes 2 minutes to complete, and you are free to share it with other pilgrims, which we would also be very grateful for. Have a good journey.

https://forms.gle/heTicR9kcJD82Y7P7

I just completed your questionnaire. Every answer was a lie. Does that help?

Who are you and why are you asking?

 

[AlbertoCamino]

Hello, you just need to log in but no data is saved, most of the time the session is already started.

If you look when you enter the form it tells you that the form is anonymous and that no data is shared. When you log in it also tells you that your email is not shared. This is all generated automatically by the Google Forms platform, so you can be sure that it is anonymous and no data is stored.

The only objective is to know how to improve the pilgrim's experience, there is no other goal. We already have a few dozen responses, and also many criticisms, anyone who wants to do so we are grateful.

 

[AlbertoCamino]

Sorry, my English is not perfect, we have a few hundred responses.

It is a simple questionnaire for a final year project from a tourism faculty.
Anyone who wants to help is welcome, and if not, nothing happens.

 

[SabsP]

Hello, you just need to log in but no data is saved, most of the time the session is already started.

If you look when you enter the form it tells you that the form is anonymous and that no data is shared. When you log in it also tells you that your email is not shared. This is all generated automatically by the Google Forms platform, so you can be sure that it is anonymous and no data is stored.

The only objective is to know how to improve the pilgrim's experience, there is no other goal. We already have a few dozen responses, and also many criticisms, anyone who wants to do so we are grateful.

Yes. But which faculty? Where? Which department?

And oh yes, the Camino does not need improvement nor does my pilgrim's " experience".

 

[Tincatinker]

Nah, go on, explain. How do you intend to improve the pilgrim’s experience? What are your criteria for success?

All I want is free aguadiente whenever I buy a “solo”. How do you propose to improve my experience?

 

[SabsP]

Nah, go on, explain. How do you intend to improve the pilgrim’s experience? What are your criteria for success?

All I want is free aguadiente whenever I buy a “solo”. How do you propose to improve my experience?

I will create you an aguardiente app! Secret code and all of that .

 

[Barbara]

Nah, go on, explain. How do you intend to improve the pilgrim’s experience? What are your criteria for success?

All I want is free aguadiente whenever I buy a “solo”. How do you propose to improve my experience?

Now, that's enough teasing. Be gentle. You need a very large aquadiente to improve the experience, obviously. Success is measured by the number of pilgrims falling over after their second breakfast.

 

[AlbertoCamino]

Yes. But which faculty? Where? Which department?

And oh yes, the Camino does not need improvement nor does my pilgrim's " experience".

I hope you understand that that is your opinion. Many other pilgrims have written improvements in our questionnaire.

It seems like someone else has felt threatened and I still don't understand why. The form is anonymous and everyone is free to do so if they want.

 

[Tincatinker]

@AlbertoCamino, sorry amigo but you just got roughed up by a few people who are very passionate “pilgrims”. We don’t want the Camino to be “improved”. It’s just fine just like it is. It was just fine way back before Xunta de Galicia started paving it. It was just fine before baggage transport and breakfast smoothies and pre-booked beds and “your luxury minibus will transport you to the start of your 5 km experience”.

Camino doesn’t need improving or enhancing or any other bloody ‘ing. It needs leaving alone. It needs just to be itself. A thousand paths, a thousand ways to Santiago, to the shrine of one who once may have stood with the Divine.

If you’re just seeking further justification for turning Camino into a theme park. Shame on you

 

[cecirarias]

I answered the survey and it seems to me more like someone looking to invest on a new accommodation and trying to understand how to make that unique. I found the question about the jacuzzi a bit funny, and too specific to be about the Pilgrim's experience.
BTW, it does collect personal data as I responded from a post on Reddit, and when I just clicked on the link, it said I already responded. If you weren't storing any personal data, I should be able to respond more than once.

 

[C clearly]

The form is anonymous

People are quite rightly nervous about entering any personal information on the internet.

They also become rather skeptical about random surveys, especially when the person posting it has not given any explanation.

Finally, please realize that forum members are passionate advocates for the Camino, but many are concerned about the mass commercialization. Therefore some members are alienated by surveys that ask, for example, whether we would like to have private Jacuzzis at our accommodation, or transport from our point of arrival (in the town?) to the accommodation (in the same town?), and then a ride to the point of exit the next morning. Many members would not consider these to be improvements to the Camino!

 

[Sirage]

People just need to visit this Forum and there is a chance that their Camino will be enhanced.

 

[AlbertoCamino]

Okay, I understand.

I'm not looking to invest in anything, or create a theme park, it's just information for a TFG. I would probably do many other things before spending my money on the Camino.

I have already repeated it several times, NO DATA IS COLLECTED, when you enter the form it tells you clearly and tells you that your email is not shared, that is automatically generated by the Google Forms website. You can search for more information on your own to corroborate it.

In my opinion there are always things that can be improved, and that does not have to go against the perseverance of nature.

 

[C clearly]

it's just information for a TFG

What is a TFG?

 

[duncanwhyte]

Tfg

Totally fake graph?

 

[duncanwhyte]

Taken for granted

 

[Robo]

An interesting survey.

It's hard to imagine what the purpose is.
Do those really undertaking a Pilgrimage want Games Rooms, Organised Activities, Private Jacuzzi ?

I'll stop there before I get into trouble.............

 

[dougfitz]

There are over 70 definitions of the acronym 'TFG' here. Which of these, if any, would you want us to understand when you use it?

ps. I did find total fundoplication gastroplasty a rather appealing meaning.

 

[trecile]

Do those really undertaking a Pilgrimage want Games Rooms, Organised Activities, Private Jacuzzi ?

If all else was equal and one albergue had a jacuzzi, and another one didn't I would pick the place with the jacuzzi to ease my tired muscles. But definitely not something that I would search for.

And I have stayed at albergues that did offer group yoga, which was nice.

 

[dougfitz]

Hello, you just need to log in but no data is saved, most of the time the session is already started.

That just isn't true. I logged in, completed some responses, logged out and when I returned my data was restored. So it was saved somewhere by someone. Please be more careful about spreading what essentially looks like mis-information to me.

 

[Theatregal]

The AI Trap: Top Signs that Social Media Content is AI Generated

1. Repetitive Language Patterns.
2. Absence of Personal Stories.
3. Broad, Generic Responses.
4. Formal and Rigid Tone.
5. Inconsistent Style and Voice.
6. Missing or Misunderstood Context.
7. Lack of Genuine Humor.
8. Factual Errors or Misrepresentations.

 

[Kathar1na]

There are over 70 definitions of the acronym 'TFG' here. Which of these, if any, would you want us to understand when you use it?
ps. I did find total fundoplication gastroplasty a rather appealing meaning.

Funny.

I did not know what the abbreviation means but it is pretty obvious in this context: Google came up immediately with numerous search results about TFG and TFM. One of the first results explains the difference:

• ¿Qué es un Trabajo Fin de Grado o TFG?
• ¿Qué es un Trabajo Fin de Master o TFM?

It is the last project during the last year of a course that leads to a Bachelor degree. The University of Castilla-La Mancha has this definition in English:

The Bachelor’s Degree Final Project (TFG) is a compulsory 6-credit ECTS module/subject that will be carried out throughout the [final] year and will be defended once students have passed the rest of the subjects of the Degree.​

There have been similar requests on the forum before. My attitude is: Participate or leave it to others. Their purpose is to allow students to practice some skills and get their degree, and in general, these final year projects achieve nothing else nor are they meant to do that.

 

[Kathar1na]

- https://forms.gle/heTicR9kcJD82Y7P7

I’ve not yet looked at @AlbertoCamino‘s questionnaire.

The first thing I do before I click on a link is looking at the url. So here is another unusual abbreviation: GLE. The website whoapi.com has some info about this domain name. It is owned by Google and serves to provide a specific service of Google’s many services.

Scroll down to the topic of forms.gle – popular use of .gle domain. (The text is rather technical; there are probably better ones with an explanation for Google Forms and data protection).

 

[Kathar1na]

I’ve not yet looked at @AlbertoCamino‘s questionnaire.

I've now looked at it. It is a short questionnaire. I've seen worse student questionnaires and requests to fill them in on this forum. I answered it without fibbing. The title is actually "What would your ideal experience on the Camino de Santiago be like" and not "Improve the pilgrim experience" but I do understand that such wording can be infuriating.

The questionnaire does not collect my personal data. Right at the beginning the email address with which I log into Google services is displayed with the notice that it is not shared, i.e. Google knows it but not the owner of the form. And now Google knows and remembers that this email account has already logged in before and has completed the questionnaire when I log in again. But that is what Google knows and not the owner of the form who is (in GDPR speak) the data controller of the information entered into the questionnaire but not the data controller of all the personal information that Google collects and stores about me and the email address I use and that is associated with everything I do on Google's websites.

 

[AlbertoCamino]

As I already said, it is a final degree project, it could be a hostel, an apartment, a cabin in the mountains, a snack machine, I don't know, it depends on the results.

Everyone here begins to create their own movies without any basis; that I want to turn the road into a theme park, that I collect data, that it is made by artificial intelligence... too much genius in so little space.

The questionnaire does not collect data and is done manually question by question. Before accusing someone you have to corroborate that what you believe is true. I'm surprised to see even veterans of the forum act this way.

Thanks for providing some wisdom Katharina. We are not interested in anyone's data.
It is a simple questionnaire, those who want to help us are grateful and those who do not are also grateful.

 

[filly]

Yes. But which faculty? Where? Which department?

And oh yes, the Camino does not need improvement nor does my pilgrim's " experience".

… we are STILL awaiting answers to these most basic questions. So please reveal WHERE you are studying and what is the ACTUAL degree course. Some rightly feel they need this before they even consider whether to click on the link!

 

[Kathar1na]

Thanks for providing some wisdom Katharina. We are not interested in anyone's data. It is a simple questionnaire, those who want to help us are grateful and those who do not are also grateful.

Not wisdom, just sharing what I found and collected from general knowledge .

BTW, for others: ECTS means European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System. I am way past my uni years. The whole tertiary education system (universities and other higher education institutions) has been completely remodelled in most if not all current EU countries with the aim of making courses and degrees more comparable. This happened many decades ago but I am still not very familiar with it. When and where I studied at uni (founded more than 600 years ago by the ruling Prince-bishop so with a long and distinguished tradition) we did not have Bachelor's degrees and Master's degrees and Erasmus programs and mobility between unis in different countries. It was a different world.

I must say that I don't like it when there is no further explanation on these forms for questionnaires and surveys with no name of the student behind it, no name of the supervisor, no name of the faculty or institution. However, in the age of the internet (with its sh** storms) I actually do understand this wish for anonymity and I respect it and I have no issues with it. When it is the higher echelons in academia, i.e. a faculty member or perhaps even just a PhD student labouring on her or his thesis who asks for participation in a survey my expectations are higher, however, and then I would want to know exactly who and what and why and for whom and what happens (if anything) when results and conclusions are published.

I wish you all the best for the future, @AlbertoCamino!

PS: He does say in one of the earlier posts of this thread that he is a student at the Faculty of Tourism and that the questionnaire [is] for a final year project from a tourism faculty.

 

[Kathar1na]

If all else was equal and one albergue had a jacuzzi, and another one didn't I would pick the place with the jacuzzi to ease my tired muscles. But definitely not something that I would search for. And I have stayed at albergues that did offer group yoga, which was nice.

I now regret that I did not do the survey in the original Spanish and did not make screenshots to help me remember the wording of the questions that are asked. I think that the options for the answers were usually along the lines of "yes, please", "no, never" and "could not care one way or the other".

As to "jacuzzis". The albergue Camino del Perdon in Uterga, an albergue not exclusively for pilgrims but oriented towards them, as so many albergues are because there are not enough albergues exclusively for pilgrims on the Camino Francés, has an adjacent building with a room with a hot tub in English - it is a bañera hidromasaje in Spanish. Perhaps just a bath tub with some fancy options ... . Come to think about it, I am amazed that showers with hot water are tolerated. I've been on week long treks (not pilgrimage treks) where there was only cold water available, and it did not even come from a showerhead.