Singles
Survey
Methodology
Davide Dukcevich,
June 5, 2003
Forbes Methodology from the Survey was:
To determine the best city for
singles, we ranked the 40 largest U.S. metropolitan centers in six
different areas: nightlife, culture, job growth, number of other
singles, cost of living alone and coolness. Each metro is assigned
a ranking of one to 40 in each category based on quantitative
data. Those ranks are then averaged and readers' preferences are
incorporated to determine the final rankings.
Forbes definitions from the Survey are:
Singles: Ratio of a metro's population above the age
of 15 that has never been married.
A public message from
SkFriends.com:
It is my opinion that the
Forbes definition of "Singles" (above the age of 15
that has never been married) is unrealistic and fails to recognize a
large number of singles.
With this too-narrow
definition, the Survey eliminates ALL DIVORCED SINGLES -- a
large percentage of singles in Greensboro and everywhere else today,
as confirmed by the 2000 U.S. Census.
The Survey is misleading!
A message to the
Greensboro News & Record for not informing readers that the
Survey eliminated divorced singles, I say this:
You have damaged yourself and Greensboro. You are
journalistically incorrect.
And a message to Forbes calling Greensboro a "singles
purgatory", I say this:
You have done yourself and all divorced singles everywhere a
disservice. The worst of single life everywhere is often
better than the best of married life anywhere. I'd like to
know anyone married in Greensboro who doesn't dream of being
single in our "singles purgatory!"
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Nightlife: Nightlife is based
on the number of restaurants, bars and nightclubs in each standard
metropolitan area. This year we tweaked our formula to give a
higher weighting to restaurants and less to bars and nightclubs.
Culture: Our cultural index is
determined by ranking and then equally weighting the number of
museums, pro sports teams, live theaters and university population
in each metro.
Cost Of Living Alone: Our
proprietary Cost Of Living Alone index is determined by the
average cost of a metro area's apartment rents, Pizza Hut pizza, a
movie ticket and six-pack of Heineken.
Job Growth: Job growth rankings
are determined by the projected job growth percentage over the
next five years for each metro.
Coolness: We determine coolness by
an area's diversity and its number of creative workers (i.e.,
those whose jobs require creativity, such as artists, scientists,
teachers and musicians).
Buzz Factor: The city's buzz
factor is determined by the outcome of an interactive poll in
which we asked our readers to give a city a thumbs-up, a
thumbs-down or a shrug. Buzz is substantially less heavily
weighted in determining the final rankings then the other factors.
For full Methodology see:
http://www.forbes.com/2003/06/05/cx_dd_0605singlemeth.html
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Triad brings up the rear in
coolness rankings
6-6-03
By STEPHEN MARTIN, Staff Writer
News & Record
Please see public message from SkFriends.com
above
Is there a big metro area in the United States any less cool than
the Triad?
If there is, Forbes.com hasn't heard of it.
For the third straight year, the Triad finished 38th out of the
nation's 40 biggest metros in the site's survey of the best spots
for singles.
Dooming the region this year: a dead-last finish in the survey's
"coolness index," which measures artistic and Bohemian life.
Also causing problems: an online poll inviting readers to rate
metros.
"The vast majority of people gave (the Triad) a thumbs down,"
said Davide Dukcevich, a Forbes.com staffer who coordinated the
singles rankings.
Still, the news wasn't all bad in the survey, which ranks metros
in categories ranging from culture to job growth.
The Triad avoided last place overall by jumping from No. 40 to
No. 21 in the nightlife rankings on the strength of its restaurant
scene.
That's something to build on, said Jenny Stokes, the
young-professionals coordinator for nonprofit Action Greensboro.
Moving up in the Forbes.com rankings "is not going to happen
overnight," Stokes said.
And it could always be worse. Just ask folks in Pittsburgh, which
finished last for the second straight year.
Austin, Texas, finished first in the rankings, followed by
Denver-Boulder and Boston.
Contact Stephen Martin at 373-7070 or
smartin@news-record.com
Source:
Triad brings up the rear in coolness rankings
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