> > shempmcgurk wrote: > >In light of the fact that only 19 of 100 contacted had seen the > >movie, do you think it was fair of the AP to lead with: "The > >nation's top climate scientists are giving 'An Inconvenient Truth,' > >Al Gore's documentary on global warming, five stars for accuracy." ?
I am not sure I yet understand what occurred. There are clearly more than 100 climate scientists in the US / world. I have heard the figure 10,000 used. Though perhaps not explicitly stated in the article, its strongly implied that these 100 scientists contacted were a sample of the 10,000 (or so) qualified scientists. Probably a reasonable sample size. Hopefully the list was drawn in a random fashion. At a minumum, I presume no one has pointed to any extreme biases in the sample. That 19 of the 100 in the sample responded is pretty typical. Most research, marketing and political samples have high non-respondent rates. Its an issue, but not an unsurmountable problem. Particllary if the sample size was targeted at being larger than necessary, to account for non-respondents. Did all 19 that did respond support Gore's main points? If so, thats phenomenal. To have 100% of a sample (respondents) supporting the same view, indicates a high degree of concensus among the larger population of 10,000 (or so). Very little divergence (low sigman, low standard deviation from the population mean.) ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Yahoo! Groups gets a make over. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/XISQkA/lOaOAA/yQLSAA/UlWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/