As our country is in the midst of an economic crisis, a devastating earthquake in Haiti and caused massive catastrophe in an already struggling country. As pollsters, we were curious as to how students here at BC felt about our role in foreign aide as we dealt with our own domestic issues. We asked three questions that pertained to various national and global devastation and what the interviewee believed our obligation was. Our questions are as follows:
1) Q - Do you believe it is an obligation of the U.S. to help other countries when they are in need?
A. Yes, it is an obligation because we have the resources
B. It is not an obligation at all; "domestic" issues are always more important
C. No idea
2) Q - Which do you believe the U.S. has supported most?
A. Chinese earthquake relief
B. Hurricane Katrina relief
C. Haiti relief
3) Q - Do you believe that the U.S. should send more doctors and medical supplies to Haiti?
A. Yes
B. No
C. Don't know
To retrieve our data, we polled a total of 104 students here at Boulder Creek. We polled random students at random times throughout the day, but still attempted to keep grade level and gender random in order to grasp a better understanding of the public opinion on this topic.
Data received from this poll:
When analyzing the results from the first question, we find that there is a divisive opinion for both males and females. This question dealt with our own obligation of helping other countries when facing difficult times. Because this was a black or white question, the results were expected to be divisive rather than a consensus. As we compare males and females on this topic, it is seen that more males believe that it is an obligation of the U.S. because we have the proper resources to assist. Slight differences can be seen in the data between males and females, but not a considerable difference. When we asked if they believe that the U.S. should send more doctors and medical supplies, this question served as a tester to see if those who answered the poll had a good understanding of what was happening in Haiti. Haiti requested that no more doctors were sent, yet many people believe that the U.S. should send more supplies and doctors. Females especially exemplified this, almost reaching a consensus that sending more help is necessary. It's interesting to see how split the opinion is on whether or not our nation has a strong obligation to meet foreign needs, or an even stronger obligation to stay in our homeland.
As seen on the graphs, considerable gaps can be seen through comparing the four grade levels. Freshman seem to have very divisive opinions, almost completely splitting the data into thirds. Many opted out with the "I have no idea" option, showing that this age group may not be as well informed or interested in the topic. As the years progress, people seem to have a more clear-cut opinion on this matter. For example, Seniors polled almost to consensus for the first question. More than half answered that it is a strong obligation of our nation to assist foreign countries rather than simply help ourselves. Looking at the data as a whole, it's shown that the public opinion here at Boulder Creek is that the United States has responsibility to help countries in need because we are a powerful nation and have many resources to assist.
There was not much correlation seen between the employed, and if any are involved with sports are clubs. We did notice an interesting trend in those who take honors classes. Of the small percentage that answered either "No idea" or "Don't know," a very small minority of those were students who take honors classes. Another trend we noticed in these honors students is that a high majority of these students believe that our nation has a high responsibility to help other countries when they are in need.
As in all polls, there are problems with these results, mainly due to bias. These questions were asked while a major crisis was happening in Haiti, possibly causing people to become more sympathetic toward the matter than they usually are. This bias could have skewed our data. Also, many people are unaware of these matters that we polled, causing them to simply mark what everyone else was marking. Thus, the data we retrieved could have possibly been different if people were well educated on foreign relief.
