Hi Craig Easily answered:
Blurb that accompanies the programmes area of the website says: (snip)"the winner of the In Our Time Greatest Philosopher Vote, chosen from 20 philosophers nominated by listeners and carried through on an electoral tidal wave of 28% of our 'first-past-the-post' vote is the communist theoretician, Karl Marx" (www.bbc.co.uk) Sampling group is thus shown by the overlap between the groups [radio 4 listeners] and [people disposed to vote in polls], I think the knowledge rating is moderate to high as compared to the general populus. As to representative - probably not in the least, the above group are quite distinct from the general doltish-media-frenzy-cult-of-celebrity-obsessed-populus who ubiquitously beleive "Philosophy" to be a cut price hair product range available from the shopping channel. Might as well give a hundred typewriters to a hundred monkeys(/neoconservatives). Jos > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: 05 July 2007 06:51 > To: [email protected] > Subject: Re: [MD] Quality decline > > > [ian]> Marx was voted the greatest philosopher by a BBC "In > Our Time" survey last year > Unless one knows exactly how the survey was conducted, this > kind of data isworthless. Leave aside how representative or > how knowledgeable the sampling was.Generally how these > surveys work is that either (a) there is a list to choose > fromor (b) the respondent can respond with any name they > choose. [Case (a) is just asubset of case (b).] Assume case > (a) with a list of 19 philosophers.18 philosophers can get 5% > of the vote each & Marx can get 10%,if so Marx wins the > survey. But what if the same people are asked "Who is > theworst philosopher of our time?" Marx gets 90% & 10% is > distributed among the18. So the result of the survey is: 18 > philosophers get 5% vote for best &1/2 % for worst, while > Marx gets 10% for best & 90% for worst. There's nolonger any > reason to think Marx is the best philosopher.Craig > > > > > This email was received from the INTERNET and scanned by the > Government Secure Intranet Anti-Virus service supplied by > Cable&Wireless in partnership with MessageLabs. (CCTM > Certificate Number 2006/04/0007.) In case of problems, please > call your organisations IT Helpdesk. > Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, > monitored and/or recorded for legal purposes. > > This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the > attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, > disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are > not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and > inform the sender by return e-mail. > > This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the > attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, > disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are > not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and > inform the sender by return e-mail. > > This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may > be monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of > Justice. E-mail monitoring / blocking software may be used, > and e-mail content may be read at any time. You have a > responsibility to ensure laws are not broken when composing > or forwarding e-mails and their contents. > This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. This e-mail (and any attachment) is intended only for the attention of the addressee(s). Its unauthorised use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted. If you are not the intended recipient, please destroy all copies and inform the sender by return e-mail. This e-mail (whether you are the sender or the recipient) may be monitored, recorded and retained by the Ministry of Justice. E-mail monitoring / blocking software may be used, and e-mail content may be read at any time. You have a responsibility to ensure laws are not broken when composing or forwarding e-mails and their contents. The original of this email was scanned for viruses by the Government Secure Intranet Anti-Virus service supplied by Cable&Wireless in partnership with MessageLabs. (CCTM Certificate Number 2006/04/0007.) On leaving the GSi this email was certified virus free. Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for legal purposes. moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
