MUST READ- Bizarre survey questions from Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife

[ganghis]

I agree that those questions were poorly worded and of dubious merit, but I'm not getting the paranoia here especially given the explanation.  These human dimensions people in academic wildlife and fisheries departments are always trying to study people (esp hunters, fishers) to determine trends in attitudes and behavior, presumably with the goal to assist with setting management objectives. 

The grad student who made those questions obviously wanted to categorize people as extremely liberal, moderate (large swath here), or extremely conservative and didn't feel that people would be honest with their self assessment.  Not exactly sure why there was interest in relating political spectrum to attitudes about marine protected areas - sounds kind of dumb to me, but not something that is indicative of a massive OSU/ODFW conspiracy.

[idaho guy]

I agree that those questions were poorly worded and of dubious merit, but I'm not getting the paranoia here especially given the explanation.  These human dimensions people in academic wildlife and fisheries departments are always trying to study people (esp hunters, fishers) to determine trends in attitudes and behavior, presumably with the goal to assist with setting management objectives. 

The grad student who made those questions obviously wanted to categorize people as extremely liberal, moderate (large swath here), or extremely conservative and didn't feel that people would be honest with their self assessment.  Not exactly sure why there was interest in relating political spectrum to attitudes about marine protected areas - sounds kind of dumb to me, but not something that is indicative of a massive OSU/ODFW conspiracy.

.

Well said but I still respectfully and totally disagree. Having those questions on a fish and wildlife survey is absurd. It’s definitely to further a political agenda. I’m thinking republicans want to destroy nature and favor dirty air and water for profit. These questions have no place on these types of surveys ever. Also politics shouldn’t be intertwined with any wildlife management. No matter what explanation they have these questions are ridiculous and scary they would go to this level.

[KopperBuck]

Well I posted it up over on iFish (an OR fishing board) and the thread was removed because it was too "inflammatory". In the post, I attached the survey, attached screenshots from the survey, and asked why is it necessary.

LOL, got censored by iFish.... That's exactly how this crap continues.

[Special T]

FOR THE RECORD - I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE LOGIC BELOW, NOR TO I THINK THIS IS A VALUABLE EXERCISE.  I FEEL IT IS A TOTAL WASTE OF TAXPAYER/TUITION PAYER MONEY.  SO DON'T FLAME ME!!!

I have seen may questions about "why are they asking these inflammatory questions?"  After reading the survey and FAQ's I see their "logic" or at least the cover story, they are using for their questions.


OSU is trying to prove a hypothesis around political orientation, and favor for or against the Marine Conservation effort the survey is asking about.

To accomplish this they need to know the political orientation of the responders.  Rather than use a self-assessment question, they decided to ask the most flaming, polarizing (and liberal I might add) questions possible to get people to react and put themselves firmly into a camp (conservative, Liberal, or moderate).  So they are not interested in the answers to the questions directly, they want to see the reaction so they can classify the responder as conservative, liberal or moderate.

OSU will then take the responses, and segregate them by political group and look for trends to prove/disprove their hypothesis. 

Personally I think this is pure garbage and would boycott the survey.  I am sure OSU will use the results to further a political agenda which is something I think they have no business doing. It is disappointing that a government agency would allow such garbage to ride on the coattails of a study, but I suppose I am not surprised.  Very little surprises me these days.

 

[ucwarden]

Well I posted it up over on iFish (an OR fishing board) and the thread was removed because it was too "inflammatory". In the post, I attached the survey, attached screenshots from the survey, and asked why is it necessary.

LOL, got censored by iFish.... That's exactly how this crap continues.

I wonder which part of the thread they felt was too inflammatory; the questions on the survey form, or your posting it?

[OutHouse]

 

To me it's clear they want to be able to make extrapolations as to what type of person thinks a certain way about the marine environment topic or whatever it's about. I agree though it seems pretty out of place