Blog 11 "A Survey ~ Are Citizens Better Informed in the Information Society?~"

Travis Conte

Patricia Andrews

Media, Politics & Society 

October 26, 2010

Knowledge of 2010 

Governor Race Amongst NDNu Students

Introduction

After reading the book called Taking Sides, author Alexander Hanson asks the reader this question, Are people better informed in the information society? Hanson goes on to say there are only to sides to this question yes or no. Hanson writes about Linda Jackson who conducted an interview and Mark Bauerlein who also conducted an interview. Linda Jackson, "conducted a 16-month survey of Internet use by youth age 10 to 18 in low-income homes" (page 364).  She found that the youth who had internet had higher test scores and GPA's compared to students that did not have internet. Linda Jackson thinks yes, people are better informed in the information society. Hanson also wrote about the no point of view. Mark Bauerlein did a survey as well he thinks, "Youth spend much of their leisure time in front of computer and television screens, but the information age has failed to produce a well-informed, thoughtful public. Instead we have a nation of know-nothings who don't read, follow politics, or vote-and who cant compete internationally" (page 364). Bauerlein's view is no people are not better informed in the information society. After reading this chapter I was asked to conduct a survey which would encompass NDNU students and their knowledge of the 2010 California Governors State Election.  So I did just that. I asked the roughly 5% of the students 4 simple questions. 

Hypothesis 

I believe that NDNU students will feel fairly confident with themselves that they are knowledgeable about California's 2010 Governor Election.  

Survey Description 

When writing the survey questions I thought it would be best that the names of the students were left out to protect the students. When conducting the survey I used the good old fashioned method of walking. I walked around the campus and asked students 4 simple questions and personally recorded the results: 

1.How well informed do you think you are of CA State Politics?(1Low~10 Highly Informed), 

2.Can you name two candidates running for California State Governors race? Yes or No, 

1. When is Election Day? (Answer either YES, November 2, or No)
2. What are the different ways you can submit your vote in California? (Mail or Booths)

Question 1 Results:

Question 2 Results  **BLUE=NO and GREEN= YES**

Can you name two candidates running for California State Governors race? Yes or No, 

Question 3 Results 

Question 4 Results 

Conclusion 

After compiling all of the evidence together, I came to the conclusion that out of the 40 NDNU students interviewed most of them have some knowledge of the up and coming California Election. After averaging some figures I came to the result that the students feel more informed then less informed for question one of the survey, the mean was 6 out of 10 (10 being highly informed). As for the other three questions that were  Yes or No based,  most of the results were very similar. Question 2 had 24 yes’ and 16 no’s  (for naming two candidates running for the state race). Question 3 asks When is election day and if they knew the date they got a Yes, 19 students got a yes, and 21 got a no. Finally question 4 had 25 yes’ and 15 no’s, this question asked to name the two different ways one can vote for California’s state election.  

If I could do this survey over again, I would only ask students who are actual residents of California. I would also interview more students however also do the survey by grade level of student, 20 from freshmen, 20 from sophomore, 20 from junior and 20 from the senior class. Overall I thought this survey was fairly accurate for the amount of people surveyed and I am proud of the results.