Return to tldreport Forum - Message Thread - FAQ

Username: kristopher
Date/Time: Sun, November 12, 2000 at 10:06 AM GMT
Browser: Netscape Communicator V4.76 using Windows 98
Score: 5
Subject: You are a funny guy!

Message:
 

 
>So I can say this:
if all Internet users were informed about the matter, at least 77.2% of them would support IOD. This result is rough but accurate at 99.73% (confidence level).<

Haha! That's something that not *even* mathematics can accurately predict. Being a physicist, you should know that predicting how people are likely to react to information is hardly a science and is highly unpredicatable, namely because social and psychological factors cannot (easily) be quantified (ever take cultural anthropology or human psychology Mr. Coppola?). You *assume* that people are more likely to support IOD after learning the facts, however you have little evidence to prove this, and your own bias plays a role in this belief.

The only way you could really make an educated prediction on how people are likely to feel after being informed of all the facts on this issue would be to conduct a survey. Like the survey I posted above, you would need to take a sample that had no previous knowledge of this situation and you would need to give the entire sample the same information, both pro and con. This sample would need be composed of a group of people who reflect the demographic makeup of the general Internet population. Only by doing this could you make a valid, scientific estimate of how the general Internet population is going to "vote" when it comes down to this issue.
     

 


Message Thread:


Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Cookies Policy