5 ms·

Yep, asking people vague questions about the boogieman du jour is a questionable excercise at best. If a competing research team had gone out and done a survey

Yep, asking people vague questions about the boogieman du jour is a questionable excercise at best. If a competing research team had gone out and done a survey with the question rephrased as, "Do you want a global ban on medical syringes and bottled water?" You might find out, amazingly, 92% of people strongly support single-use plastics!

lolinder 2y ago
The actual question was [0]: > The United Nations agreed in 2022 to develop a global treaty to end plastic pollution. How important or unimportant do you believe it is to have global rules to… > Ban unnecessary single-use plastic products, e.g., shopping bags, cutlery, cups & plates? As survey questions go, this is actually a pretty precise question. [0] https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2024-05/Ipsos%20report%20-%20Single-use%20plastics.pdf https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/...
- dumbo-octopus 2y ago
  Providing the context about the UN treaty makes it unnecessarily loaded. People are biased towards being agreeable, if you start out saying "everyone in the world agrees X, do you also agree X?", people are more likely to say yes than if you asked the question in isolation. The word "unnecessary" also adds bias, and skews the results: "Of course we shouldn't unnecessarily use plastic. Oh, but my personal water bottle and the bag I get my food in and the cutlery I use to eat it and the... well not those, those are very necessary: I need them to eat and drink!"
- TylerE 2y ago
  That's a horrible question. What exactly is "unnecessary"?
  - lolinder 2y ago
    > e.g., shopping bags, cutlery, cups & plates?
    - TylerE 2y ago
      Are trash bags nessesary or unnecessary?
      - defrost 2y ago
        In what context? It's certainly possible to live without them given the existence of large bins, small bins, compost bins, etc.
        TylerE 2y ago
        At a huge cost to public sanitation - rats, etc. That’s my point. These simple things are NEVER as simple as these trite push polls imply.
        defrost 2y ago
        > At a huge cost to public sanitation - rats, etc. Not in my six decades of experience. The majority of people about where I live don't use plastic trash bags and are well accustomed to keeping mice, rats, cockroaches, etc. at bay. I must say, I'm surprised the rats of which you speak are apparently unable to chew through a plastic bag ... why are they so disabled wrt other rats about the globe?

lolinder 2y ago

The actual question was [0]: > The United Nations agreed in 2022 to develop a global treaty to end plastic pollution. How important or unimportant do you believe it is to have global rules to… > Ban unnecessary single-use plastic products, e.g., shopping bags, cutlery, cups & plates? As survey questions go, this is actually a pretty precise question. [0] https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2024-05/Ipsos%20report%20-%20Single-use%20plastics.pdf https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/...

dumbo-octopus 2y ago
Providing the context about the UN treaty makes it unnecessarily loaded. People are biased towards being agreeable, if you start out saying "everyone in the world agrees X, do you also agree X?", people are more likely to say yes than if you asked the question in isolation. The word "unnecessary" also adds bias, and skews the results: "Of course we shouldn't unnecessarily use plastic. Oh, but my personal water bottle and the bag I get my food in and the cutlery I use to eat it and the... well not those, those are very necessary: I need them to eat and drink!"
TylerE 2y ago
That's a horrible question. What exactly is "unnecessary"?
- lolinder 2y ago
  > e.g., shopping bags, cutlery, cups & plates?
  - TylerE 2y ago
    Are trash bags nessesary or unnecessary?
    - defrost 2y ago
      In what context? It's certainly possible to live without them given the existence of large bins, small bins, compost bins, etc.
      - TylerE 2y ago
        At a huge cost to public sanitation - rats, etc. That’s my point. These simple things are NEVER as simple as these trite push polls imply.
        defrost 2y ago
        > At a huge cost to public sanitation - rats, etc. Not in my six decades of experience. The majority of people about where I live don't use plastic trash bags and are well accustomed to keeping mice, rats, cockroaches, etc. at bay. I must say, I'm surprised the rats of which you speak are apparently unable to chew through a plastic bag ... why are they so disabled wrt other rats about the globe?