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Friday 9 July 2021

We have a wider problem

 


Via Lockdown Sceptics. It makes grim reading, but this kind of survey does suggest that government is politically justified in its prevarication over going back to pre-coronavirus normal. If more than half of the adult population cannot take heart from the data and move on with confidence then we have a wider problem.

6 comments:

Sam Vega said...

I'm really surprised there are so few "don't know"s. Lots of people have probably just given up caring, bewildered by the government's bluster.

If I go to an amber list country with someone who has only had one jab, do we both need to track and trace when we get back if we've maintained social distancing abroad?Do we still have to sing to ourselves when washing our hands? Who's that funny bald bloke who got mobbed by those two nutters?

DiscoveredJoys said...

Many years ago I learned in a lecture that the phrasing of the question in surveys could considerably change the response.

In this survey the question itself and 4 out of the 5 questions mentioned nervousness. It made me wonder if the survey had been designed with the answer in mind. Maybe yes, maybe no. But I wonder what the response would have been to this:

How do you feel about the Covid-19 restrictions being lifted?
a) Very happy
b) Pleased
c) Concerned
d) Very nervous
e) Don't know

Chromatistes said...

https://youtu.be/G0ZZJXw4MTA

Sir Humphrey explains how to rig a questionnaire.

Scrobs. said...

Good point, DJ.

They've got their answer before they even asked the question!

James Higham said...

At our place, AKH, we have been grumbling about LDS for some time, esp. Toby Young, as Tory controlled "opposition". They seem happy to use govt stats without question when it is those stats in particular which are under fire. Therefore any argument based on them is bilge. Lies, damned lies and stats. Evidence? It involves all the blog sections stretching back weeks.

A K Haart said...

Sam - I'm sure you are right, lots of people have probably given up caring. It's all too complex and too fluid and people don't appear to do their own checking.

DJ, Chromatistes and Scrobs - yes, survey integrity is a problem, but although we have to be cautious about the wording of them and the uncertainty may be wide, to my mind it still suggests we are far from where we ought to be in terms of public opinion.

James - I'm okay with LDS and some government stats, mostly with caveats but to my mind there is some value in some of them. They tell enough of the story, but most people don't appear to go even that far.