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I think this could get legs. Are there any other like this issues where the government is blatantly thumbing its nose at its own people? I'm running a survey r

I think this could get legs. Are there any other like this issues where the government is blatantly thumbing its nose at its own people? I'm running a survey right now and one of the elements is support for the NSA surveillance, and almost nobody supports it. Like, 85% just say it's flat-out wrong.

gknoy 13y ago
Surveys are heavily influenced by the way you are asking questions. "Should the NSA be able to snoop all of our email/phone/etc records, and store them for later?" --> NO "Should the government be able to expand its limited search capabilities so that it can better prevent terrorist attacks?" --> WELL SURE That was a terrible example of a second way of phrasing it, but I am certain there is a way to frame what they are doing in a way which leaves out the "collect all your things" nuance (;)) and therefore will sound reasonable to many people. In the general case you will find that answers tend to trend in this way: NO: "Should the gov't ${trample_our_freedoms}?" YES: "Should the gov't ${catch_more_terrorists}|${protect_more_children}?"
- jasonkolb 13y ago
  I agree, that's why we tried to phrase it neutrally: "Does the NSA surveillance of US citizens concern you? " Yes/No/I don't know/No, I don't have anything to hide/No, it's necessary to keep us safe?" It's not intended to produce a specific outcome, we want some genuinely good data :) If you want to check it out and look at the results it's here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QBvTRxDQXmALhYqZMn7S3T_DBq8GRvjVwRZRY-G2zuE/viewform https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QBvTRxDQXmALhYqZMn7S3T_DBq8...
  - bostonpete 13y ago
    Which of those responses are you interpreting as "it's flat out wrong" as you put it? I think there's a lot of space between having concerns about something and being vehemently opposed to it.
rayiner 13y ago
Survey of who? Do you have a tech-biased or liberal-biased or youth-biased audience? http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/most-americans-support-nsa-tracking-phone-records-prioritize-investigations-over-privacy/2013/06/10/51e721d6-d204-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/most-americans-suppor... ("Overall, 56 percent of Americans consider the NSA’s accessing of telephone call records of millions of Americans through secret court orders 'acceptable,' while 41 percent call the practice 'unacceptable.'")
- jasonkolb 13y ago
  I'm just trying to get random people to respond. I would refer to gknoy's comment about how easy surveys are to manipulate, and question whether the survey you mention was created with a purpose. I've been working with some research companies lately and one thing which surprised me was the fact that surveys are often constructed with the sequence of questions carefully set up to test various messages. Unless you can see the survey itself, I would question the results. For example, the question prior to 'How do you feel about the NSA’s accessing of telephone call records of millions of Americans through secret court orders' might have been 'Is it important that the NSA’s accessing of telephone call records of millions of Americans has stopped terrorist attacks?' This type of question can mightily swing the outcome, so if you don't have access to the survey you need to ask yourself if the organization putting out the survey has an agenda...
  - rayiner 13y ago
    What do you mean "random people?" What sorts of sites are you posting the survey to? If people like my mom aren't part of your survey demographic, your methodology is flawed. The Washington Post-Pew survey is detailed (through a link) in the article, specifically this question: "Q: As you may know, it has been reported that the National Security Agency has been getting secret court orders to track telephone call records of MILLIONS of Americans in an effort to investigate terrorism. Would you consider this access to telephone call records an acceptable or unacceptable way for the federal government to investigate terrorism?" 58% responded 'acceptable' and 41% responded 'unacceptable'.
bwaldrep 13y ago
As of now your survey has less than 50 responses, and is heavily skewed towards young males. Right now it looks like barely 20 people have said it is "flat-out wrong." How are you concluding that "almost nobody supports it" based on a sample this small?

gknoy 13y ago

Surveys are heavily influenced by the way you are asking questions. "Should the NSA be able to snoop all of our email/phone/etc records, and store them for later?" --> NO "Should the government be able to expand its limited search capabilities so that it can better prevent terrorist attacks?" --> WELL SURE That was a terrible example of a second way of phrasing it, but I am certain there is a way to frame what they are doing in a way which leaves out the "collect all your things" nuance (;)) and therefore will sound reasonable to many people. In the general case you will find that answers tend to trend in this way: NO: "Should the gov't ${trample_our_freedoms}?" YES: "Should the gov't ${catch_more_terrorists}|${protect_more_children}?"

jasonkolb 13y ago
I agree, that's why we tried to phrase it neutrally: "Does the NSA surveillance of US citizens concern you? " Yes/No/I don't know/No, I don't have anything to hide/No, it's necessary to keep us safe?" It's not intended to produce a specific outcome, we want some genuinely good data :) If you want to check it out and look at the results it's here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QBvTRxDQXmALhYqZMn7S3T_DBq8GRvjVwRZRY-G2zuE/viewform https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1QBvTRxDQXmALhYqZMn7S3T_DBq8...
- bostonpete 13y ago
  Which of those responses are you interpreting as "it's flat out wrong" as you put it? I think there's a lot of space between having concerns about something and being vehemently opposed to it.

rayiner 13y ago

Survey of who? Do you have a tech-biased or liberal-biased or youth-biased audience? http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/most-americans-support-nsa-tracking-phone-records-prioritize-investigations-over-privacy/2013/06/10/51e721d6-d204-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/most-americans-suppor... ("Overall, 56 percent of Americans consider the NSA’s accessing of telephone call records of millions of Americans through secret court orders 'acceptable,' while 41 percent call the practice 'unacceptable.'")

jasonkolb 13y ago
I'm just trying to get random people to respond. I would refer to gknoy's comment about how easy surveys are to manipulate, and question whether the survey you mention was created with a purpose. I've been working with some research companies lately and one thing which surprised me was the fact that surveys are often constructed with the sequence of questions carefully set up to test various messages. Unless you can see the survey itself, I would question the results. For example, the question prior to 'How do you feel about the NSA’s accessing of telephone call records of millions of Americans through secret court orders' might have been 'Is it important that the NSA’s accessing of telephone call records of millions of Americans has stopped terrorist attacks?' This type of question can mightily swing the outcome, so if you don't have access to the survey you need to ask yourself if the organization putting out the survey has an agenda...
- rayiner 13y ago
  What do you mean "random people?" What sorts of sites are you posting the survey to? If people like my mom aren't part of your survey demographic, your methodology is flawed. The Washington Post-Pew survey is detailed (through a link) in the article, specifically this question: "Q: As you may know, it has been reported that the National Security Agency has been getting secret court orders to track telephone call records of MILLIONS of Americans in an effort to investigate terrorism. Would you consider this access to telephone call records an acceptable or unacceptable way for the federal government to investigate terrorism?" 58% responded 'acceptable' and 41% responded 'unacceptable'.

bwaldrep 13y ago

As of now your survey has less than 50 responses, and is heavily skewed towards young males. Right now it looks like barely 20 people have said it is "flat-out wrong." How are you concluding that "almost nobody supports it" based on a sample this small?