26% of Americans unaware that the Earth goes around the Sun!

Originally posted by RJHinds
It is always funny when Jay Leno does it. You are just an angry old man with very little sense of humor.

So you think it's FUNNY 26% of Americans don't know the Earth goes round the sun.

You have a sick sense of humor.

Originally posted by sonhouse
So you think it's FUNNY 26% of Americans don't know the Earth goes round the sun.

You have a sick sense of humor.

I said it is a bogus number. Get your head out.

Originally posted by RJHinds
I said it is a bogus number. Get your head out.

And you know that how?

Originally posted by sonhouse
And you know that how?

By common sense.

Originally posted by RJHinds
By common sense.

So you went around asking that question and are satisfied by your own research that number is bogus?

Originally posted by joe shmo
http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm

because according to this site, with a confidence interval/levels of 95% they should have sampled around 11,000

Maybe they had trouble finding enough people who could read🙂

Originally posted by sonhouse
Maybe they had trouble finding enough people who could read🙂

Maybe they sampled a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds.

Originally posted by RJHinds
Maybe they sampled a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds.

So anything shown by the national science foundation is bogus because next thing you know they will endorse evolution?

Originally posted by sonhouse
Maybe they had trouble finding enough people who could read🙂

I believe it was a phone in survey.
I am however not convinced that the result represents an accurate estimate of what peoples understanding of the solar system is. I think much more detailed interviews would be required to get an accurate picture. One question on a fairly long phone survey just isn't good enough to come to any conclusions.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I believe it was a phone in survey.
I am however not convinced that the result represents an accurate estimate of what peoples understanding of the solar system is. I think much more detailed interviews would be required to get an accurate picture. One question on a fairly long phone survey just isn't good enough to come to any conclusions.

Maybe each conversation should take place in public in person and recorded. That way you could evaluate the person's reaction to the questions as well as the answers.

Originally posted by humy
At first I thought this must be a joke but this doesn't look like a joke! :

http://phys.org/news/2014-02-americans-unaware-earth-circles-sun.html

"...Americans are enthusiastic about the promise of science but lack basic knowledge of it, with one in four unaware that the Earth revolves around the Sun, said a poll out Friday.

The survey included more th ...[text shortened]... ers, and about the same number expressed interest in learning about medical discoveries.

..."

Probably even 15% don't know who the president is?

Originally posted by RBHILL
Probably even 15% don't know who the president is?

If you asked who is the Commander in Chief even more would not know who it is.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Maybe each conversation should take place in public in person and recorded. That way you could evaluate the person's reaction to the questions as well as the answers.

I don't know why it has to be public, or recorded. What it does require, is the questioner to make his decision about the scientific knowledge of the interviewee, on more than a single rather confusing question over the phone.
Also, if we are going to rely on surveys conducted in this manner, then we should also have controls so we know what the error margin is. I believe the error margin for this particular question would be very high and strongly biased.

Originally posted by wolfgang59
Agreed. Most likely never.

It depends on where Rush Limbaugh decides to take a holiday.