I think it's a good example of how demographics can have an unexpected bias
Isaac Send a noteboard - 11/12/2009 07:28:07 PM
Maybe I should know and follow it, but I rarely do. *shrug*
Take the DOW, I'm a sufficient news junkie I'd probably know it anyway, but anyone who's a big talk radio fan is going to hear it all the time, almost every hour break on a news talk station is going to have a 'and the dow up 14 points at 10559, NasDaq down 5 points...' etc. whereas on TV news or web news it tends to just flick up on the screen without commentary, so that generally speaking people who listen to radio are probably going to hear that figure announced many times a week, and as the bulk of newstalk radio listeners tend to be right-wing, they might be more likely to get that question, but then might score lower on the Israel-Iran one just because they get more news on the radio, whereas almost everytime the TV news mentions Iran, Iraq, or Israel they tend to flick a map up on the screen.
So, maybe not a big factor, but a great demonstration I think of the sort of unanticipated shifts you might get in a chunk of data without blatant correlation like you might expect on the Iran-Israel question for people of Jewish or Arab backgrounds.
The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
- Albert Einstein
King of Cairhien 20-7-2
Chancellor of the Landsraad, Archduke of Is'Mod
Test Your Political IQ.....
11/12/2009 12:49:31 AM
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Me Too!
11/12/2009 12:58:33 AM
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Pretty amazing that only 2% of respondents got all 12 questions right.....
11/12/2009 01:09:09 AM
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Because we're politically obsessive?
11/12/2009 03:58:28 AM
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Only 24% of people understand what cap and trade is.
11/12/2009 04:09:36 AM
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12/12. Of course, I'd probably do worse if it weren't current events. *NM*
11/12/2009 02:35:30 AM
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There's also a science one, on the same site
11/12/2009 04:13:05 AM
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only missed the one about mars
11/12/2009 04:27:22 AM
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12. I think the selection bias would be stronger on this one. Also, they're much easier questions. *NM*
11/12/2009 08:07:50 AM
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I don't agree, actually.
11/12/2009 10:34:36 AM
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It was a lot easier due to not having more than one america specific question. *NM*
11/12/2009 11:23:41 AM
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12 for 12 again! Me smart! Are there any others we can take? *NM*
12/12/2009 05:07:56 AM
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11. Didn't know DOW, surprise, surprise. *NM*
11/12/2009 05:02:49 AM
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Me too. Either. Whatever. Capitalist scum can keep their meaningless statistics *NM*
11/12/2009 04:52:44 PM
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Like it or not, that number is all too meaningful for every American. And non-Americans, too. *NM*
11/12/2009 05:01:57 PM
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actually, that number is pretty damn meaningless for the average american
11/12/2009 05:24:07 PM
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You're dead wrong. That number influences all sorts of things that affect people, whether...
11/12/2009 05:32:01 PM
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Influential, yes. Readily known and called to mind, not so much.
11/12/2009 06:33:19 PM
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I think it's a good example of how demographics can have an unexpected bias
11/12/2009 07:28:07 PM
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Eh? No mention of newspapers? Am I alone in getting most of my news by reading an actual...
11/12/2009 08:06:26 PM
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9. I haven't been paying attention to recent events. Two of them were statistics, unsurprisingly. *NM*
11/12/2009 08:06:15 AM
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11 - hesitated on the Afghanistan question and then picked the wrong one.
11/12/2009 10:37:21 AM
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6, and above average. Not bad for an Aussie with no interest in American politics.
11/12/2009 10:41:57 AM
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12/12. It's scary that 98% of people can't get it right.
11/12/2009 01:53:19 PM
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Perhaps...
11/12/2009 04:35:01 PM
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5% of the replies here. I doubt 5% of the replies at that site are from non-Americans.
11/12/2009 05:21:44 PM
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11/12 - I didn't give the official, read bullshit, number for unemployment. *NM*
11/12/2009 04:57:44 PM
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12 of 12, but besides the geography question, people should know those answers through osmosis.
11/12/2009 05:45:43 PM
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12/12 , im not surprised that alot of us got them all right, we are a pretty political group *NM*
13/12/2009 02:29:14 AM
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