Introduction
Public opinion will be a huge factor when advancing to humanity's colonization of other planets and the future of manned space flight. Disasters like the space shuttle Columbia have the possibility of reducing public support. However, “A poll taken yesterday [,a few days after the Columbia accident,] suggests that Americans still support the shuttle program, with 82 per cent in a CNN-USA Today-Gallup poll saying manned flights should continue. That's about the same percentage who said it should continue after the 1986 Challenger disaster. The poll of 462 adults had a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points”(The Globe and Mail 1). In a poll more recent poll with a larger sample size, the Coalition for Space Exploration found that 43% of American adults placed a very, very high value on the space program, compared to 12% placing very little to no value, and the rest ranging in between those extremes. This report found that the highest source of value American adults what in technological innovation and development that came with the field, at 77%, and consumer goods developed from the space program, at 73%. A interesting part of the Coalition for Space Exploration's report pointed out a problem the space community faces, before giving examples of spin-off technology, only 38% said that they where completely sure they interacted with technology developed from space. After being show examples of spin-offs, 93% said they where completely sure they interacted with technology developed from space. Further education in the survey increased respondents opinions of the space program, 76% and 79% strongly affected positively by learning that the aerospace industry contributes 2% to the gross domestic produce and adds 500,000 jobs to the Unites States, respectively. The survey gave more information and education throughout, resulting in a gain of 30 percentage points in those who placed a huge value on the space program, up from 43% to 73%. This survey had a large sample of American adults (n = 1,018), so these results can be generalized to the whole population of American adults. (Coalition for Space Exploration 2)
Aim
This study is geared to find the opinions of those who visited my blog. The results should be of use to those blogging about manned spaceflight so they may gear their articles to better serve their readers.
Methods
Design
This study used the blogger.com poll widget to ask the question “Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?”. The poll had the following options: “No, it is too risky.”, “No, there is no will to do so.”, “Yes, there is a big enough of a reason to go.”, “Yes, we need to move off earth to survive.”, “Maybe, only if we get out if this bad economy”, “Other”, “Maybe, only if the public is motivated enough to support it”. The subjects where then invited to leave their blog's URL and post a explanation of their vote and voice their opinions on the subject using the blog's comment system. A dedicated post was “sticked” for this purpose. The participants where offered a free backlink for participating in the survey, this was a voluntary sample, yielding 17 responses.
Because of the high bounce rate and the low time amount of time visitors spend on my blog, this survey had to be quick. I also did not have a large enough subject poll to take an SRS (simple random sample) from. This survey took place over a week, but comments where left open to allow non-subjects to voice their opinions.
Subjects
We do not know much about the subjects because we did not ask for any demographical information. We can assume they all have Internet access and that they vast majority are bloggers because many subjects left URLs.
Results and Discussion
Technicalities
Because of the low sample size, I can not generalize these results to the population of Americans, I may be able to generalize to my readers, but it is a stretch at best. It is also possible for a person to enter their opinion twice, over the course of 2 days. Also, bias may be formed because of the voluntary nature of the survey because only interested people will take the survey.
Outcomes
The answer choices were: “No, it is too risky.”(5%), “No, there is no will to do so.”(29%), “Yes, there is a big enough of a reason to go.”(11%), “Yes, we need to move off earth to survive.”(17%), “Maybe, only if we get out if this bad economy”(0%), “Other”(17%), “Maybe, only if the public is motivated enough to support it”(17%). They are numbered in this order on the above chart.
Conclusions
Though I got opposite results when compared to current research, this is not surprising. Because of the huge increases in opinion of manned space flight when subjects where provided literature on the subject, I think may sample did not know the benefits of space or I got extremes of opinions because of the low sample size and voluntary nature of this survey. These results show a failing of the space community to educate the public on space. These results could also show my selection of a voluntary survey type which is prone to error and underrepresentation.
Another anomaly is the general pro-space stance of the comments, verses the less positive survey results. Because of the errors in my method I have to label this as inconclusive. However, I have learned enough to modify my methods and try again, building a survey that will reduce the number of people who answer “Other” is crucial as well. Further exploration into what other opinion exist is necessary, as well as a more in depth survey. Maybe I can offer entrecard credits to increase my sample size.
Acknowledgments
The participants who chose to identify themselves are:
chato of Mental Health Humor and Cartoons,
sarah of PC Game Trek,
Bob of Black holes and astrostuff,
Spicybugz of Spicybugz World,
Metallman of Metallman's Reverie,
Ravyn of Exchange of Realities,
bstone of planet earth looks blue,
nipsy of its completely nipplelicious,
Jude of Mature Not Senile,
April of The Crazy Green Cheapskate,
RevOxley,
Stephanie of Rocket Scientist,
webbielady of Webloglearner,
Lubasa of Lubasa sketchlog.
Thank you to all the other poll takers who did not identify themselves and to those who did id themselves.
Sources
(1) Ha, Tu Thanh. “NASA woes put space future on hold” The Global and Mail. 3 Feb. 2003. 28 Feb. 2009 <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/20030203/UNASAN/International/international/internationalAmericasHeadline_temp/9/9/18/>
(2) CSE_Gen Pop National TOPLINE_090203. No publication date given. Coalition for Space Exploration. 28 Feb. 2009 <http://www.spacecoalition.com/banners/09_88percent/CSE_Gen%20Pop_National_TOPLINE_090203_adjusted.pdf>
4. chota. “No humanity” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 16 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15277006> 28 Feb. 2009
sarah. “I think” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 16 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15277185> 28 Feb. 2009
Bob. “We have to” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 16 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15282426> 28 Feb. 2009
Spicybugz. “And where” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 16 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15284076> 28 Feb. 2009
Metallman. “Hey there” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 23 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15293712> 28 Feb. 2009
Ravyn. “It's all dependent” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 23 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15373370> 28 Feb. 2009
bstone. “well, we've always” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 23 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15379180> 28 Feb. 2009
nipsy. “Unfortunately” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 23 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15403953> 28 Feb. 2009
Jude. “I think many” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 23 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15423662> 28 Feb. 2009
April. “I think the” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 23 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15480089> 28 Feb. 2009
RevOxley. “I think eventually” [Weblog comment.] Approximately 23 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15646321> 28 Feb. 2009
Stephanie. “No. I hope we do” [Weblog comment.] 24 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15716415> 28 Feb. 2009
webbielady. “Unless the earth” [Weblog comment.] 25 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15750241> 28 Feb. 2009
Lebasa. “Probably” [Weblog comment.] 27 Feb. 2009. Poll: Do you think humanity will move off earth in the near future?. Daniel Sims. Habitation Intention. <http://habitationintention.blogspot.com/2009/02/poll-do-you-think-humanity-will-move.html#IDComment15828434> 28 Feb. 2009
