What’s wrong with this question?
I usually don’t bother with bogus polls on news stories, but this one (via @danyl) is especially egregious. It’s not just the way the question is framed, or the glaring lack of a “How the fsck would I know?” option. There are some questions that are just not a matter of opinion. After a bit of informed public debate, and collected in a meaningful way, the national opinion on “This is the impact on farming: is it worth it?” would be relevant. But not this.
While we’re on this story, the map illustrating it is also notable. The map shows ‘Predicted median DIN’. Nowhere in the story is there any mention of DIN, let alone a definition. I suppose they figured it was a well-known abbreviation, and it’s true that if you ask Google, it immediately tells you. DIN is short for Deutsches Institut für Normung.
PS: yes, I know, Dissolved Inorganic Nitrogen
Thomas Lumley (@tslumley) is Professor of Biostatistics at the University of Auckland. His research interests include semiparametric models, survey sampling, statistical computing, foundations of statistics, and whatever methodological problems his medical collaborators come up with. He also blogs at Biased and Inefficient See all posts by Thomas Lumley »