Re: [asa] The Eagle Forum speaks on evolution

Iain,
I agree with your analysis. I was merely noting that those who wanted
their view preeminent could push the polls in their direction. An obvious
further point is the way the questions are phrased, without room for
qualification. A sociologist friend analyzed some of the questions that
produced biased results. Indeed, he noted that it is more difficult to
produce surveys that are not tendencious. Also, I recall various polls
that came to me when I was department chair where the choices did not
fit. They usually came from some earnest student collecting data for a
dissertation in education. I also recall a doctoral candidate who /ex
post facto/ consulted a senior colleague asking what could be extracted
from her pile of questionnaires.
Dave

On Sun, 27 Aug 2006 07:02:11 +0100 "Iain Strachan"
<igd.strachan@gmail.com> writes:
David,

You don't mention here the Gallup poll that always has "Created by God in
Present Form" at 47% or less. (and a quoted Margin of Error of +/- 3%)

However, even the 64% figure you quote for the Harris poll can hardly be
said to be "the overwhelming majority".

It just shows to me how unreliable the polls are, that there seem to be
such variations between the polls, greater than the Margin of Error
quoted on the Gallup poll.

I suggest that the nature of the other questions might affect the
outcome.

For example "God had no part" vs "Guided by God" (Gallup) is quite
different from "Not directly guided by God" vs "Guided by God" (CBS).
To the CBS poll one might well as a Theistic Evolutionist, answer "Not
directly guided by God", on the grounds that in Genesis it says "Let the
earth produce ..." ie God making creation such that it could produce life
of its own accord. But a Christian could not answer "God had no part".

Similarly the Harris Poll ( Evolved from earlier species/ Created
directly by God/ Powerful force) doesn't allow for a "guided (directly or
indirectly) by God". "Intelligent force" seems to be less popular than
"Guided by God", and without a "Guided by God" option, maybe more people
chose "Directly created by God" as closest to their view (because maybe
"evolved from earlier species" seemed too atheistic).

Iain

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Received on Sun Aug 27 22:55:31 2006