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02/12/2010 12:42:02 AM · #1 |
The New York Times and CBS News conducted a survey in which they asked 542 adults whether "gay men and lesbians" should be allowed to serve openly in the military, and another 542 whether "homosexuals" should be allowed to serve in the military.
The result of the poll was that 70% said that "gay men and lesbians" should be allowed to serve, while only 59% said that "homosexuals" should be allowed to serve. Similar margins were seen in the question asking whether they should be allowed to serve openly.
Putting aside the issue of whether you support don't ask/don't tell (which I would rather not discuss in this thread), this is an interesting case study of how subtle changes in the phrasing or conduct of a poll can have statistically significant impacts on the results.
The NYT article on this is at //nyti.ms/c3E7hA
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02/12/2010 01:13:34 AM · #2 |
| So how does this make them 11% idiots? Perhaps it is not a matter of smarts, but of how a word can bring about different feelings. An example would be should we legalize Sexual Escort services vs. should we legalize Prostitution....both being the same thing but one having a harsher connotation for some people. Wording is often what makes or breaks issues. |
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02/12/2010 01:40:09 AM · #3 |
| I think this just shows that the 2nd set of 542..were less tolerant of the lifestyle...lol |
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02/12/2010 07:31:39 AM · #4 |
Originally posted by ShutterPug:
So how does this make them 11% idiots? Perhaps it is not a matter of smarts, but of how a word can bring about different feelings. An example would be should we legalize Sexual Escort services vs. should we legalize Prostitution....both being the same thing but one having a harsher connotation for some people. Wording is often what makes or breaks issues. |
The idea that some proportion of the population thinks that it's ok for gays and lesbians to serve in the military, but not if they're homosexual, is just mind-boggling.
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02/12/2010 07:33:17 AM · #5 |
Originally posted by tfarrell23:
I think this just shows that the 2nd set of 542..were less tolerant of the lifestyle...lol |
The poll had a 4% margin of sampling error. Anything beyond that indicates a statistically significant difference indicates that people actually felt differently about the two questions.
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02/12/2010 08:28:25 AM · #6 |
Originally posted by ClubJuggle:
Originally posted by tfarrell23:
I think this just shows that the 2nd set of 542..were less tolerant of the lifestyle...lol |
The poll had a 4% margin of sampling error. Anything beyond that indicates a statistically significant difference indicates that people actually felt differently about the two questions. |
A valid point if you asked the same question to the same people. However, considering that we are dealing with two separate groups who were asked significantly worded questions, there does not exist any verifiable correlation between the two.
Ray
Message edited by author 2010-02-12 08:29:19. |
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02/12/2010 08:57:09 AM · #7 |
My wife used to work for a independent survey group, the first questions are pre-qualifiers for the intended target range. Not at all saying that any media looking for sensationalism would ever attempt to use region or age group to skew the resultsâ€Â¦ But.
As for your title, based on my day to day interaction with other humans, I would think that percentage is inaccurately low.. |
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