February 19th, 2010 at 2:43PM
michelleosaurus: ohhleary: Things were going so well today, but then this destroyed my faith in humanity. Ok, let me put on my Defender of Texas hat aaaahhh-gain. When you only survey .00347% of a population, sometimes you get wacky results. Tisk, tisk. When are folks (lookin’ at you Professor at UT) going to stop considering a population as large as Texas as a singular, smaller entity?   Hate to break it to you, but scientific polls don’t just call 800 people in the phone book from one place in Texas. Painstaking processes are in place to make it as random as possible, and respondents are tracked so the survey is as geographically and demographically diverse as Texas as a whole (see: the last three pages of the survey results). It’s not perfect… that’s why the margin of error of the poll is +/- 3.46%. But it’s not like these numbers are based on plucking a few hundred people off the street in Tyler. But thanks for at least trying to make me feel better about this.

michelleosaurus:

ohhleary:

Things were going so well today, but then this destroyed my faith in humanity.

Ok, let me put on my Defender of Texas hat aaaahhh-gain.

When you only survey .00347% of a population, sometimes you get wacky results. Tisk, tisk. When are folks (lookin’ at you Professor at UT) going to stop considering a population as large as Texas as a singular, smaller entity?  

Hate to break it to you, but scientific polls don’t just call 800 people in the phone book from one place in Texas. Painstaking processes are in place to make it as random as possible, and respondents are tracked so the survey is as geographically and demographically diverse as Texas as a whole (see: the last three pages of the survey results). It’s not perfect… that’s why the margin of error of the poll is +/- 3.46%. But it’s not like these numbers are based on plucking a few hundred people off the street in Tyler.

But thanks for at least trying to make me feel better about this.

  1. wufool reblogged this from newsweek and added:
    Those crazy Texan opinions are in those horrible textbooks I was forced to read years ago for AP HIstory.
  2. woodlandcreature reblogged this from newsweek
  3. invincybil reblogged this from newsweek and added:
    This post is really interesting. To be honest, I didn’t really see this as a major problem, how Texan of me.
  4. gregleding reblogged this from newsweek
  5. puntolino reblogged this from newsweek
  6. trust-me-im-a-doctor reblogged this from brooklynmutt and added:
    to-go cups, I’m not sure why we all haven’t moved there yet.
  7. colinster reblogged this from clairevo
  8. stillastar reblogged this from newsweek and added:
    Texans, don’t get offended, you know know I deeply love about 92 of you, but seriously? I mean, come on. There’s a...
  9. wickymendoza reblogged this from adikdikisasmallantelope and added:
    A large number of Texans polled said they still don’t believe in evolution and are convinced that humans and dinosaurs...
  10. indosapien reblogged this from newsweek
  11. inthoughtswetrust reblogged this from newsweek
  12. clairevo reblogged this from newsweek
  13. pinsight reblogged this from newsweek and added:
    I wonder how many people believe in one out the three things at school? I mean I heard people say things about this in...
  14. tistinamimosa reblogged this from newsweek
  15. captaincadiwack reblogged this from pantslessprogressive and added:
    OMG I’M TEXAN AND I’M NOT THIS BIG OF A FUCKING IDIOT. PLEASE BELIEVE ME, WE AREN’T ALL UNEDUCATED MORONS D: OMG NOW...
  16. pantslessprogressive reblogged this from newsweek
  17. indininajones reblogged this from newsweek
  18. wambamsam reblogged this from travismaybe and added:
    Ah! My Politics of Hollywood professor conducted this survey! I had no idea it was featured so prominently. He asked...
  19. forkandspoon reblogged this from twoseconds and added:
    Ow, my sensibilities…
  20. beachjustice reblogged this from newsweek
  21. jennul reblogged this from twoseconds and added:
    I don’t understand why people still think science is so crazy and fantastic when really it has researched evidence and...
  22. dbreunig reblogged this from bbook and added:
    All those angry letters to Gary Larson were actually right!
  23. andrewmcintyre reblogged this from newsweek and added:
    newsweek shows us why Texas is doomed.
  24. mercurypdx reblogged this from bbook and added:
    Back in my day, we rode them.
  25. hxcschizo reblogged this from bbook and added:
    i enjoyed this whole post array
  26. bbook reblogged this from newsweek and added:
    When I was a young girl the dinosaurs had to walk uphill both ways, in the snow, to get to school.
  27. jou reblogged this from newsweek and added:
    Sadly, that pie chart not from The Onion, it’s
  28. life-enthusiast reblogged this from newsweek and added:
    … This is both sad and pathetic.
  29. benita reblogged this from newsweek
  30. michelleomatic reblogged this from ohhleary and added:
    While I certainly appreciate the survey conducting lesson, I was indeed looking at the demographic breakdown of the...
  31. shaynenuesca reblogged this from newsweek
  32. ohhleary reblogged this from michelleomatic and added:
    Hate to break it to you, but scientific polls don’t just call 800 people in the phone book from one place in Texas....
  33. tobiaslane reblogged this from newsweek
  34. travismaybe reblogged this from newsweek and added:
    Hey now, I think I speak for all Texans when I say that Jurassic Park was an awesome docudrama and it’s a shame that...
109 notes Source: brooklynmutt
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