[net.abortion] Statistics

friesen@psivax.UUCP (Stanley Friesen) (01/28/85)

In article <4636@cbscc.UUCP> pmd@cbscc.UUCP (Paul Dubuc) writes:
>..  Polls show that most people (over 70%, I think)
>would favor a law prohibiting abortion except in cases of rape, incest,
>danger to the mother's life and severe birth defects (e.g. a condition
>where the infant is born with no brain.).

	Where did you get this statistic?? I have heard almost the
opposite, in fact a recent newspaper article here stated a majority
of those surveyed are *against* such a law!
-- 

				Sarima (Stanley Friesen)

{trwrb|allegra|cbosgd|hplabs|ihnp4|aero!uscvax!akgua}!sdcrdcf!psivax!friesen
 or
quad1!psivax!friesen

daf@ccice6.UUCP (David Fader) (02/03/85)

> >..  Polls show that most people (over 70%, I think)
> >would favor a law prohibiting abortion except in cases of rape, incest,
> >danger to the mother's life and severe birth defects (e.g. a condition
> >where the infant is born with no brain.).

>       Where did you get this statistic?? I have heard almost the
> opposite, in fact a recent newspaper article here stated a majority
> of those surveyed are *against* such a law!

I think I can clarify this matter.The truth is this:

My polls show that most people (over 70%,) I asked
would favor a law prohibiting abortion except in cases of rape, incest,
danger to the mother's life and severe birth defects (e.g. a condition
where the infant is born with no brain.).

-- 
The Watcher
seismo!rochester!ccice5!ccice6!daf

cjk@ccice2.UUCP (Chris Kreilick) (02/03/85)

> > >..  Polls show that most people (over 70%, I think)
> > >would favor a law prohibiting abortion except in cases of rape, incest,
> > >danger to the mother's life and severe birth defects (e.g. a condition
> > >where the infant is born with no brain.).
> 
> >       Where did you get this statistic?? I have heard almost the
> > opposite, in fact a recent newspaper article here stated a majority
> > of those surveyed are *against* such a law!
> 
> I think I can clarify this matter.The truth is this:
> 
> My polls show that most people (over 70%,) I asked
> would favor a law prohibiting abortion except in cases of rape, incest,
> danger to the mother's life and severe birth defects (e.g. a condition
> where the infant is born with no brain.).
> 
> -- 
> The Watcher
> seismo!rochester!ccice5!ccice6!daf


      Where did you get this statistic?? My poles show the opposite,
in fact a recent newspaper article here stated a majority of those 
surveyed are *against* such a law!

-- 
Sol Idarity

daf@ccice6.UUCP (David Fader) (02/04/85)

> > > >..  Polls show that most people (over 70%, I think)
> > > >would favor a law prohibiting abortion except in cases of rape, incest,
> > > >danger to the mother's life and severe birth defects (e.g. a condition
> > > >where the infant is born with no brain.).

> > >       Where did you get this statistic?? I have heard almost the
> > > opposite, in fact a recent newspaper article here stated a majority
> > > of those surveyed are *against* such a law!

> > My polls show that most people (over 70%,) I asked
> > would favor a law prohibiting abortion except in cases of rape, incest,
> > danger to the mother's life and severe birth defects (e.g. a condition
> > where the infant is born with no brain.).

>       Where did you get this statistic?? My poles show the opposite,
> in fact a recent newspaper article here stated a majority of those 
> surveyed are *against* such a law!

I tried to be as clear as possible. Let me say it another way.
My polls show that most people that were asked by me (over 70%)
would favor an abortion prohibiting law except in cases of severe
birth defects (e.g. a condition where the infant is born with no brain),
danger to the mother's life,incest and rape.
-- 
The Watcher
seismo!rochester!ccice5!ccice6!daf

mjc@cmu-cs-cad.ARPA (Monica Cellio) (02/04/85)

[ 43% of all statistics are meaningless. ]

From: rlgvax!ccice5!ccice6!daf@seismo (David Fader)
>My polls show that most people that were asked by me (over 70%)
>would favor an abortion prohibiting law except in cases of severe
>birth defects (e.g. a condition where the infant is born with no brain),
>danger to the mother's life,incest and rape.

But there's one little problem you seem to be overlooking.  What did you do,
go out and ask your friends?  Do you find it hard to believe that you and
your friends might share similar political views? What *method* did you use
to make this a valid poll?  If you want to say that 70% of your friends
oppose abortion, fine, but if you're going to try to generalize from that to
the general public, back it up with a valid method.

						-Dragon
-- 
UUCP: ...ucbvax!dual!lll-crg!dragon
ARPA: monica.cellio@cmu-cs-cad or dragon@lll-crg

daf@ccice6.UUCP (David Fader) (02/06/85)

> >My polls show that most people that were asked by me (over 70%)
> >would favor an abortion prohibiting law except in cases of severe
> >birth defects (e.g. a condition where the infant is born with no brain),
> >danger to the mother's life,incest and rape.

> But there's one little problem you seem to be overlooking.  What did you do,
> go out and ask your friends?  Do you find it hard to believe that you and
> your friends might share similar political views? What *method* did you use
> to make this a valid poll?

Dear Dragon.
No, I asked people who I thought would be opposed to abortion.
My mehod was to ask people. Do you have another method?

> If you want to say that 70% of your friends oppose abortion, fine,

Maybe you express yourself incorrectly, I usually don't.
If I wanted to or meant to refer to my friends I would have.
Perhaps you should respond to what I said rather than reading
between the lines and putting words in my mouth.

> but if you're going to try to generalize from that to
> the general public, back it up with a valid method.

More stupid assumptions. I never mentioned general public.
I suggest you read my article again, preferably with
the help of a person who understands English.

-- 
The Watcher
seismo!rochester!ccice5!ccice6!daf

mjc@cmu-cs-cad.ARPA (Monica Cellio) (02/07/85)

[ No quotes here; we all know the exchange by now... ]

I am generally skeptical of polls because it is very hard to get a
representative sample of the public (where "public" can sometimes be defined
by the issue, e.g. only computer users for a programming language preference
poll, etc).  Any poll that does not have a representative sample is pretty
much by definition invalid.  If I see reference to a poll that does not
mention that an effort was made to get a representative sample (how this was
done always makes interesting reading, but is not essential), I usually don't
give it a second look.  The few exceptions are pollsters who reputedly always
make this effort (pros such as Gallup).  No offense meant, but you aren't one
of those pollsters whose results I will consider semi-valid on the basis of
your name alone.

						-Dragon
-- 
UUCP: ...ucbvax!dual!lll-crg!dragon
ARPA: monica.cellio@cmu-cs-cad or dragon@lll-crg

js2j@mhuxt.UUCP (sonntag) (02/12/85)

> > > >..  Polls show that most people (over 70%, I think)
> > > >would favor a law prohibiting abortion except in cases of rape, incest,
> > > >danger to the mother's life and severe birth defects (e.g. a condition
> > > >where the infant is born with no brain.).
> > 
> > >       Where did you get this statistic?? I have heard almost the
> > > opposite, in fact a recent newspaper article here stated a majority
> > > of those surveyed are *against* such a law!
> > 
> > I think I can clarify this matter.The truth is this:
> > 
> > My polls show that most people (over 70%,) I asked
> > would favor a law prohibiting abortion except in cases of rape, incest,
> > danger to the mother's life and severe birth defects (e.g. a condition
> > where the infant is born with no brain.).
> > -- 
> > The Watcher
> > seismo!rochester!ccice5!ccice6!daf
> 
>       Where did you get this statistic?? My poles show the opposite,
> in fact a recent newspaper article here stated a majority of those 
> surveyed are *against* such a law!
> -- 
> Sol Idarity

Will you two idiots take this repititious discussion off the net?  The rest
of us have figured out that the poll referenced was conducted by Fader (the
watcher) and that he probably asked a few of his friends.  Suprise!  Most
of them agreed with him!
    Meanwhile, *I* am getting pretty sick of seeing this arguement which is
apparently stuck in an infinite loop.
-- 
Jeff Sonntag
ihnp4!mhuxt!js2j
    "Is everybody happy?" -- M. de Sade