Loose Strife

So my market research is in and Lanali Farm is clearly the winner in the ranking contest. Thanks to everyone who participated. Here is a histogram showing the number of votes received for each rank where the darkest blue represents a the number of votes for a ranking of “1”, i.e. most preferred and the lightest blue represents a ranking of “7”, least preferred.

Multiple choice rankings are not the most straightforward way to analyze opinion. If we were to pick just one winner then it doesn’t make sense to only count the number of “1” votes for each name because a plurality might prefer a particular name, but a majority might rank a different name with “2” or “3”. Which name would satisfy the most people? Furthermore, how do you generate a proper ranking of preference for all the names, not just the winner?
It turns out that for these results the winner is not ambiguous and different methods all yield what the eye can see from the chart. Lanali received more “1” and “2” votes than any other name and had no “6” or “7” votes. In other words, lots of people liked it as their first or second pick and nobody hated it. Visually, there isn’t necessarily a clear second place winner although Elsie’s Garden received a good number of top picks.
I applied three ranking methods, Borda and two variants of average ranking with different default values. The differences in these methods came down to how to deal with voters who didn’t rank all the options. Were you trying to give the names you voted on more emphasis? Did you think of the 1 to 7 ranking as a score? If so, would 3 be average? Would a missing value mean that it was so bad that it didn’t deserve a vote? I found that whether the votes were ranked or scored and whether or not a blank vote meant a “3” or a “7” didn’t change any of the results. The final ranked results were:

The 3rd and 4th were always very close. And there’s no question that Sweet William’s was the least favorite among many. The fact that the sample size is low (33 responses) and you could check the results before you voted could have skewed the final results. I found no evidence of repeat voters.
Obviously this poll brought out my nerd tendencies. (It’s not hard.) But I enjoyed the contest and am pleased with the results.
I’m tempted to go with the top two. Lanali Farm is the name, but if it’s useful I might name the flower part of the business Elsie’s Garden. I’ve been thinking about a marketing brochure to give to a couple additional local florists, for example, and I can imagine advertising as “Elsie’s Garden at Lanali Farm”.
I have to admit that I was leaning towards 3rd place ranked Phillips Road Farm, but the lukewarm response it got tells me that’s not the best choice.
I’ve enjoyed receiving many interesting emails on this naming exercise. At least one person worried that Elsie was unflattering — being in her eyes a cow’s name. It’s true that it might be better if I were a dairy. Others were bothered by berry anything, since I grow more than berries, and basket to others seemed overused — so it’s no surprise that the berry names were ranked low.
Others kindly pointed out that my name was missing from Lanali or expressed concern that these tribute names would be awkward for other women who might become, um, shall we say, a part of my life. To that last point I’m not the least concerned. I’m at peace with the past and can’t think of a better way than through such tributes to respect a major change and a tremendous loss for the girls and me and to hold on to good memories, but that’s not keeping me from moving on.
I look forward to your visit to Lanali Farm some day soon.