I've been asked by the boss to come up with questions for the field and office staff prepatory to
setting up a training program. I'd like to know from you if these are too hard, or too easy. How many of these can you answer off the top of your head? (I realize that a few of these are very local in nature, I wouldn't expect anybody outside of my area to know 4 or 12)
1. What is the difference between the Ellipsoidal Height and the Orthometric Elevation of a point called?
2. Name the 2 national elevation datums. Which one is most compatible with the use of GPS? Why?
3. What does the acronym GNSS stand for, and how does it differ from GPS?
4. When working in Washington County, Oregon what zone of the Oregon Coordinate Reference System should you use?
5. What is the advantage of using an OCRS (low distortion) projection over traditional State Plane projections?
6. True or False. The speed of light is constant under all conditions.
7. What is the current adjustment of NAD83 called?
8. When your total station has a DIN18723 specification of 3 seconds, what is expected precision of a measured angle that consists of one foresight and one backsight?
9. Your GPS receiver tells you that your PDOP is very low (<3). What steps should you take before proceeding with establishing control or tying boundary monuments?
10. What is the significant advantage of using a least squares adjustment over compass rule?
11. In a projection, what is the angle between grid north and geodetic north known as?
12. How much does ODOT charge users for unrestricted use of its ORGN service? What does the acronym ORGN stand for? What does it do?
13. Your least squares adjustment reports a positional error of 0.04' at the 95% confidence level for a certain point. What is the (approximate) standard deviation of the positional error? What would the positional error at the 99% level be?
14. What does stating a positional error at the 95% level represent?
15. Discuss Network Accuracy vs. Relative Positional Accuracy.
16. In a least squares adjustment what is a "residual"?
17. What does the elevation mask setting in your GPS receiver do?
18. How long do you have to observe for OPUS Static to return a position?
19. In single base RTK what is the typical maximum length of an RTK vector? Discuss the reasons why.
20. What national vertical datum does (your local) County use?
You forgot to ask:
Which day is pay day?
What is the best way to sharpen a machete?
Can you name 47 uses for survey flagging.
Why should you never put your hand on your supervisor and then grab an electric fence with the other hand?
When someone says, "Your other left.", which direction should you move?
How does a stob differ from an I.P.?
Why does your slide rule malfunction if your logs lose their rhythm?
Holy Cow, post: 358388, member: 50 wrote: You forgot to ask...
I'll put you down as "none".
Norman Oklahoma, post: 358385, member: 9981 wrote: I've been asked by the boss to come up with questions for the field and office staff prepatory to
setting up a training program. I'd like to know from you if these are too hard, or too easy. How many of these can you answer off the top of your head? (I realize that a few of these are very local in nature, I wouldn't expect anybody outside of my area to know 4 or 12)1. What is the difference between the Ellipsoidal Height and the Orthometric Elevation of a point called?
2. Name the 2 national elevation datums. Which one is most compatible with the use of GPS? Why?
3. What does the acronym GNSS stand for, and how does it differ from GPS?
4. When working in Washington County, Oregon what zone of the Oregon Coordinate Reference System should you use?
5. What is the advantage of using an
OCRS(low distortion) projection over traditional State Plane projections?6. True or False. The speed of light is constant under all conditions.
7. What is the current adjustment of NAD83 called?
8. When your total station has a DIN18723 specification of 3 seconds, what is expected precision of a measured angle that consists of one foresight and one backsight?
9. Your GPS receiver tells you that your PDOP is very low (<3). What steps should you take before proceeding with establishing control or tying boundary monuments?
10. What is the significant advantage of using a least squares adjustment over compass rule?
11. In a projection, what is the angle between grid north and geodetic north known as?
12. How much does ODOT charge users for unrestricted use of its ORGN service? What does the acronym ORGN stand for? What does it do?
13. Your least squares adjustment reports a positional error of 0.04' at the 95% confidence level for a certain point. What is the (approximate) standard deviation of the positional error? What would the positional error at the 99% level be?
14. What does stating a positional error at the 95% level represent?
15. Discuss Network Accuracy vs. Relative Positional Accuracy.
16. In a least squares adjustment what is a "residual"?
17. What does the elevation mask setting in your GPS receiver do?
18. How long do you have to observe for OPUS Static to return a position?
19. In single base RTK what is the typical maximum length of an RTK vector? Discuss the reasons why.
20. What national vertical datum does (your local) County use?
The answers to most (17/20?) of those questions should be front of mind knowledge for most PLSs. I wouldn't fault somebody for saying they didn't know the answer to any of the questions as long as they could cite a source to find the answer; of course... "I'd Google it" would not be adequate in my mind.
It really comes down to the level of education/experience you expect your staff has vs. the staff's retention (hopefully from daily use in good practice) of knowledge from education/experience.
No trick questions or jokes?
Excluding 4 & 12, there would only be one question (5)that I would not have full confidence with a reply. Answer could be depends on the type of project surveyed.
Also, question 9 is a set-up trick question and I wouldn't use it.
Another question(19)would have a "it depends" factor to me.
Call me silly but in reality wouldn't 9 be solved more or less by waiting? So the satellites change position?
I mean unless you are not in a good area with sky visibility.
I believe your questions should be more on the line of:
What is required to be entered in the project field book?
Is the office staff allowed to make corrections in the field book?
What do I write down before and after I turn on a GPS/GNSS receiver?
Why don't you use a different total station every day?
How do I carry an instrument?
Why does the I-man review and sign the raw data print?
Why does the drafter refer to the field book and raw data print?
Who is allowed to rotate a coordinate system?
What is a resection or two point free station? Why do you do it?
Why should I record instrument height if I am not doing a topo?
Why do I care what size rebar it is?
Why are your questions at least one pay grade above your questionees?
Paul in PA
Rich., post: 358396, member: 10450 wrote: Call me silly but in reality wouldn't 9 be solved more or less by waiting?
It's a trick question. PDOP of 3 is good. The user should get to work.
Paul in PA, post: 358400, member: 236 wrote: I believe your questions should be more on the line of ..... /QUOTE]
Those are good questions and I may use them sometime in another context. Mine are designed to specifically test GPS, Coordinates System, and adjustments knowledge.
Paul in PA, post: 358400, member: 236 wrote: I believe your questions should be more on the line of ...
Those are good questions and I may use them sometime in a different context. Mine are designed to test GPS, coordinate systems, and adjustments knowledge.
Robert Hill, post: 358394, member: 378 wrote: Another question(19)would have a "it depends" factor to me.
The "discuss the reasons why" part of this question is the more important part of this question.
In NC, teachers are supposed to begin each unit of instruction with a pre-test. The pre-test poses questions that students should be able to answer when the unit is completed. In a sense, it is a syllabus for the unit, but it also gives teachers a sense of students' prior knowledge.
These are excellent questions. Is their purpose to assess prior knowledge or to provide a preview of the training or to do both? Or are they a springboard for discussion? Paul and HC seem to think that sprinkling in some day-to-day procedural and administrative questions might be helpful. If that's what the training is about, then that's a good idea.
Sometimes it's difficult to get folks in a workplace setting to focus on in-house training. It never hurts for someone to be educated beyond today's work assignment, regardless of their ambitions. Knowing that a post-test is coming at the end can help get their attention.
I know 10 trillion things. Whether or not someone else knows those same things does not mean they are smart or dumb. The trick when asking questions is to do so in such a way that the one being asked the questions doesn't give up if they do poorly, but rather to discover what it is they need to learn.
As MathTeacher pointed out, this is a proper pre-test to begin a course of education that should lead to the students being able to answer all of the questions correctly when done. If it is used to weed out applicants, it's not so great, unless you have a tremendous potential pool of applicants to choose from.
Holy Cow, post: 358436, member: 50 wrote: I know 10 trillion things. Whether or not someone else knows those same things does not mean they are smart or dumb. The trick when asking questions is to do so in such a way that the one being asked the questions doesn't give up if they do poorly, but rather to discover what it is they need to learn.
As MathTeacher pointed out, this is a proper pre-test to begin a course of education that should lead to the students being able to answer all of the questions correctly when done. If it is used to weed out applicants, it's not so great, unless you have a tremendous potential pool of applicants to choose from.
No scat Sherlock.
The OP made it clear immediately that it was a pre-test for a company training sessions. Maybe a 'reading comprehesion' should be included to avoid misperceptions.
To reply within 10 minutes with a flippant post shows a lack of knowledge and a degree of boorishness.
Norman Oklahoma, post: 358405, member: 9981 wrote: It's a trick question. PDOP of 3 is good. The user should get to work.
9. REVIEW MISSION PLANNING TO ENSURE LOW PDOP FOR SCHEDULED WORKÛ?(WHEN DO WE NOON?)
DDSM:beer:
(MODIFYING OREGON TO ARKANSAS...18/20...THE OTHER TWO WITHIN 15MIN. REVIEW OF REFERENCE LIBRARY)
If you had office staff that could answer or intelligently discuss those questions you would be sitting pretty with a real competent staff. If you used those questions as training or for job applicants I might think you could scare off the best employees you ever had. Having knowledge is one thing, being confident enough in your knowledge to regurgitate it on an exam is something that escapes a lot of people.
Kinda reminds me of the joke about the socio-economically deprived country gent that was trying to register as a voter. After amazingly answering all the difficult questions the election board threw at him in an effort to discourage his registering; he was handed a manuscript written in 8th. century Chinese and asked to translate.
"I can't read it word for word," he said, "But I'm pretty sure I can summarize the content." The clerk raised his eyebrows in utter amazement and asked, "What does it say?"
The would-be voter replied, "This here is one backwoods hick that ain't gonna git a chance to vote...".
1 answer is likely dependent on test taker's software and/or training
3 is this relevant or important to the future purpose?
5 could be seen as over some staff member's head
8 is this a closed book or no resource test?
13 is this a closed book or no resource test?
19 it depends. good to see the part that says, 'discuss why'
20 for this county, two
all other questions seem reasonable
Flippancy is good. It encourages one to think a bit differently on an otherwise serious subject. It challenges the mind.
There are thousands of different things skilled field and office workers need to know to be fully functional. But, number one they need to have common sense and a practical manner. The good ones will take to whatever you need to teach them, if they view doing so as a positive thing. If they feel attacked on day one, there can be problems ahead.
Norman has been tasked with developing a list of questions for a specific in-house training opportunity/requirement. It carries no more importance than a similar list of questions for another potential in-house training opportunity/requirement unless it has been decided that anyone who can't handle this class should hit the road and not let the door hit them on the way out. I'm assuming he is with a firm that pays well for having superior knowledge and doesn't pick up help off the street.
There is no lack of knowledge as suggested above. The accusation of boorishness is incorrect and unwelcome. But, you already knew that.
Norman Oklahoma, post: 358385, member: 9981 wrote: I've been asked by the boss to come up with questions for the field and office staff prepatory to setting up a training program. I'd like to know from you if these are too hard, or too easy. How many of these can you answer off the top of your head? (I realize that a few of these are very local in nature, I wouldn't expect anybody outside of my area to know 4 or 12)
I didn't count how many I could answer. Of course, I would try to clarify to my staff, that I am not using this to rate their knowledge as much as to know where they are lacking so I can adequately teach them. Some surveyors are very proud and don't want to admit to some things they should know and don't. My comments below:
1. What is the difference between the Ellipsoidal Height and the Orthometric Elevation of a point called?
I like that one, and surveyors should know it. They need training if they don't understand.
2. Name the 2 national elevation datums. Which one is most compatible with the use of GPS? Why?
Question is "okay". I think I would rather hear "what the difference is between the datums vs. which one is the most "compatible" with GPS. But maybe that's just me.
3. What does the acronym GNSS stand for, and how does it differ from GPS?
I wouldn't place a lot of stock in what an acronym stands for.
4. When working in Washington County, Oregon what zone of the Oregon Coordinate Reference System should you use?
If I don't know what zone I'm in I look it up. Maybe asking how they can find out what zone they are in would be a better question
5. What is the advantage of using an
OCRS(low distortion) projection over traditional State Plane projections?
I like that quesiton.
6. True or False. The speed of light is constant under all conditions.
7. What is the current adjustment of NAD83 called?
okay questions.
8. When your total station has a DIN18723 specification of 3 seconds, what is expected precision of a measured angle that consists of one foresight and one backsight?
Good. Or ask how many sets of angles they need for a certain precision?
9. Your GPS receiver tells you that your PDOP is very low (<3). What steps should you take before proceeding with establishing control or tying boundary monuments?
10. What is the significant advantage of using a least squares adjustment over compass rule?
I don't know how I "feel' about that question. It would be good to find out how much they understand about using least squares as a tool. Get some feel if they need training in using least squares. I think most surveyors could answer your question without you being able to figure out if they understand LS.
11. In a projection, what is the angle between grid north and geodetic north known as?
Could you instead give them the grid azimuth between two points and the convergence angle, and ask them what the true azimuth would be? (maybe "true" is the wrong word, but knowing what the convergence angle is called (if I used the right term) is less important than understanding its use.
12. How much does ODOT charge users for unrestricted use of its ORGN service? What does the acronym ORGN stand for? What does it do?
I am not into testing someone on how well they know what acronyms stand for or the price of the service. I think if you want to impress on them the value, you should just tell them. The organization I work for has so many abbreviations and acronyms, I get more upset with someone not just telling me the actual words instead of quizzing me what they stand for.
13. Your least squares adjustment reports a positional error of 0.04' at the 95% confidence level for a certain point. What is the (approximate) standard deviation of the positional error? What would the positional error at the 99% level be?
14. What does stating a positional error at the 95% level represent?
15. Discuss Network Accuracy vs. Relative Positional Accuracy.
16. In a least squares adjustment what is a "residual"?
17. What does the elevation mask setting in your GPS receiver do?
18. How long do you have to observe for OPUS Static to return a position?
19. In single base RTK what is the typical maximum length of an RTK vector? Discuss the reasons why.
20. What national vertical datum does (your local) County use?
I like these, with the possible exception of 20. If I don't know, I need to find out. I am into making sure engineers understand the importance of knowing what datum we (or they) are working on....but I would think understanding why it's important to be in the right datum. (I have just seen too many times where someone is designing in a datum they don't know they're in, and telling you to use the wrong one). I know...how about a question like "You're staking an construction job, and you seem to miss existing by around 3' (or whatever the difference between NAVD'88 and NGVD'83 is in your area) what is the most likely cause of the discrepency?"
Something to make sure they understand the differences, and are aware that they shouldn't just keep on staking in a bad datum.
Don't mean to be critical. It's a matter of opinion what are good questions. I hope my thoughts help a little
Holy Cow, post: 358453, member: 50 wrote: Flippancy is good. It encourages one to think a bit differently on an otherwise serious subject. It challenges the mind..
This is a tool I've used to great effect both in teaching others and in learning things myself.
Holy Cow, post: 358453, member: 50 wrote: There are thousands of different things skilled field and office workers need to know to be fully functional. But, number one they need to have common sense and a practical manner. The good ones will take to whatever you need to teach them, if they view doing so as a positive thing. If they feel attacked on day one, there can be problems ahead.
I like to call this a pragmatic approach. And I use this approach both in my professional life and outside of it. And it works wonders, most of the time. I love to look into very hypothetical situations and suss out the multiple possible interpretations of things from time to time. But, for the most part, doing what is most practical for a given situation has been my standard approach.