by Melonie Wright

Biased Question:

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-28 20:11:05 UTC

Considering the estimation that says that within a hundred years there will be no rainforests, do you believe that deforestation in an existing problem?

Unbiased Question:

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-28 20:11:43 UTC

Do you believe that deforestation is a problem?

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-28 20:34:13 UTC

The Process

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-28 20:44:31 UTC

The survey itself will be printed out on slips of paper with the option to mark “yes” or “no”. Thirty separate people will be surveyed for each question with all answers being recorded in google sheets. The answers to be used from each classroom will be chosen by placing all the survey answers in a hat and then pulling out fifteen slips. The corresponding answers will be recorded in pie graphs. We will be asking Mrs. Terrill’s 6th and 8th hour classes along with Mr. Beighton’s and Mrs. Parker’s 8th hour classes. These classes are a mix of both juniors and seniors who are in classes of multiple levels to allow for the greatest amount of student variation.

Yes

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-28 21:09:16 UTC

No

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-28 21:09:55 UTC

Yes

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-28 21:10:09 UTC

No

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-28 21:10:44 UTC

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-30 15:43:53 UTC

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-30 15:54:25 UTC

What Are We Doing?

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-30 15:55:35 UTC

The topic we chose for this project is deforestation. We were trying to discover if the wording of a question creates a response bias within the upperclassmen at DDHS, and believe that the students will respond more positively to the second question. By having one question weighted towards a more positive response by providing information regarding the negative destruction of rainforests, we hoped to create a controlled word bias. The questions to be asked to the subjects are:

Do you believe that deforestation is a problem?

Considering the estimation that says that within a hundred years there will be no rainforests, do you believe that deforestation in an existing problem?

Raw Data

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-30 16:02:22 UTC

Unbiased: 25 yes, 8 no

Biased: 29 yes, 6 no

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-30 18:09:33 UTC

Conclusion

fluffyshadows — 2015-11-30 20:00:39 UTC

We expected the results to be much more weighted to answering positively when presented with the biased question, however, that was not the case. There was barely any change seen (although it did increase). Despite the bias within the question, we did not have a significant change while comparing results. The upperclassmen did not seem to be affected by the bias, which is shown in the mere 2% increase in answering "yes". Now, considering some of the reactions to the survey written on the slips of paper, the survey was not necessarily being taken seriously or being thought of as a joke. Unfortuantely, our hypothesis was proven wrong.