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hardcore_gamer

Why do people trust opinion polls?

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They are usually just a bunch of bullshit thrown together by people with agendas. I know this because according to a poll I heard of 102% of people think they are wrong.

Are people simply this easy to lie to?

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hardcore_gamer said:

Are people simply this easy to lie to?

Why do people follow religion and put faith in homeopathy? A lot of people are just ignorant and will believe anything that reaffirms their belief. If an opinion poll does that, so be it. If not, it's obviously wrong. Does this require a hardcore_gamer topic asking the obvious?

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hardcore_gamer said:

I know this because according to a poll I heard of 102% of people think they are wrong.


Not sure if facetious......or serious.....

Also, this is kind of silly as Technician pointed out.

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Nobody has to trust such polls, take them seriously or accustomize his own behaviour to the results, and with that in mind, nobody should really feel motivated to fake them. Such polls have always been meant just as orientational, either for statistical purposes, or for people to get an inspiration / a rough overview, with a certain risk that the results simply won't be objective.

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Trusting one opinion poll is not reliable.

However, if you have multiple opinion polls, from various independent organizations with different interests; you could build a consensus off of the results. This is a much more reliable picture of public opinion.

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The problem with polls is that it fails to take into account the large number of people who don't spend all day filling out polls. It only represents a small portion of society, more specifically those that feel the need to broadcast their views. That might lead to a bias if one side of an issue feels more strongly about it than the other side.

I mean, they're not useless, but they're hardly infallible, either.

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80% of statistics are made up on the spot. Fact.

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Stephen T. Colbert said:

I know there are some polls out there saying this man [George W. Bush] has a 32% approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality." And reality has a well-known liberal bias.

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hardcore_gamer said:

They are usually just a bunch of bullshit thrown together by people with agendas. I know this because according to a poll I heard of 102% of people think they are wrong.

Are people simply this easy to lie to?


Numbers are easier than actual research. 9/10 people agree. The other 1/10 people do the research. 100% of people believe I made these facts up. 0% of people believe I did the research.

Same with game reviews. Numbers are just easier ways to digest.

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geo said:

Numbers are easier than actual research. 9/10 people agree. The other 1/10 people do the research. 100% of people believe I made these facts up. 0% of people believe I did the research.

Same with game reviews. Numbers are just easier ways to digest.


this is why i look at the whole article and actual comments rather than numbers. a toddler could vote on a poll they have no idea about. or someone can troll a poll putting 10000 votes for one option.

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hardcore_gamer said:

I know this because according to a poll I heard of 102% of people think they are wrong.

What this thread needs is a poll. I'd like to see if we can reproduce that result.

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hardcore_gamer said:

I know this because according to a poll I heard of 102% of people think they are wrong.

Margin of error typically ranges in the 2-5% area.

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It's relatively easy to get opinion polls to skew the way you want it to skew by the way you're phrasing your questions.

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GreyGhost said:

What this thread needs is a poll. I'd like to see if we can reproduce that result.

10% agree
15% disagree
77% impse

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@ Imp: stupid or willfully ignorant? Being willfully ignorant is a choice. It is a choice to not feel responsible for anything that is going wrong in society or anything that is deficient in yourself.

For example if someone watches cable news and believes all the statistics they read, they would end up unwillingly ignorant (stupid). Willful ignorance is a little bit scarier. The people who think they are informed by being uninformed ("all politicians are corrupt", "get the government out of my social security", "stalin actually had some pretty sound economic theories", "obama and bush are basically the same leader") about an issue but end up being the lapdogs of ideologues and tyrants.

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TheCupboard said:

@ Imp: stupid or willfully ignorant? Being willfully ignorant is a choice. It is a choice to not feel responsible for anything that is going wrong in society or anything that is deficient in yourself.

For example if someone watches cable news and believes all the statistics they read, they would end up unwillingly ignorant (stupid). Willful ignorance is a little bit scarier. The people who think they are informed by being uninformed ("all politicians are corrupt", "get the government out of my social security", "stalin actually had some pretty sound economic theories", "obama and bush are basically the same leader") about an issue but end up being the lapdogs of ideologues and tyrants.


All I was saying was that Society as a whole (At least the way I see it) are all blind sheep. Believe anything the government tells them.

For Example: I am not one of these people who sit around and research conspiracys or anything but I know bullshit when I see it. In my opinion (This is just my opinion) 9/11 was a great example how the government pulls the wool over your eyes and doctors you to believe what they want you to believe. Think about it like this....Okay two planes hitting the trade centers? Okay I can see that on video. A plane hitting the pentagon and leaving no debris or trace of a plane? BULLSHIT. I could go more into this theory but I don't want to sound like I am preaching or something. There have been some very valid points made about the Pentagon being hit. If people will believe such a bullshit story like that...the American people are such gullible sheep. Blindly believing everything they hear on the news or the radio as true. Not many people question things anymore. They just blindly obey.

So yeah thats my definition of "stupid". Maybe stupid isn't the correct terminology. Maybe blind is a better word? Can't think for themselves? Fuck I dunno. You get were I am going with this.


Hope that answered your question..

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hardcore_gamer said:

I know this because according to a poll I heard of 102% of people think they are wrong.

Archvile resurrections obviously.

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Opinion poll: Do you think hardcore_gamer's numerous, almost daily topics, are annoying?

*Yes, they are annoying.
*No, I love them.

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Netherstorm said:

Some people are insecure, so they'll let other people tell them the "truth".


Alex Jones, the Jim Sterling and Jesus Christ come to mind.

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Most governments should be terminated. They just make crappy rules about what you can or can't do. OBEY OBEY OBEY MAHBOI OBEY OBEY! And if you don't, they'll send their henchmen to beat you up, because they're too much cowardly losers sitting on their ever expanding fat asses making rules all day to be able to do it themselves. And they probably don't follow their own rules, they just make them to fuck up everyone elses life.

People would be just fine with one rule: Do no harm (to others).

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To get an answer to the OT, you'd need an opinion poll.

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Maes said:

To get an answer to the OT, you'd need an opinion poll.

Question: Why do people trust opinion polls?

Options:

  • Because they're easy to lie to.
  • Other (explain in thread).
  • Impse 1.
  • Impse 2.

Summary: An open question asking for an explanation cannot have an opinion poll, because the options to pick from = the explanations not found yet.

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