taking the pulse

Hey all,

Sometimes after a debate, the audience is polled to
find out which side of the argumet they found most
compelling, or if it was pretty much a draw.

Since the purpose of debate is supposedly to sway the
thinking of others, taking such a survey is a good
scientific* way of determining what the audiences
gestalt reaction to the debate was -- both the issues
and the ways in which they were presented and any other
factors that might influence one's receptivity to an
attempt to persuade.

Anyway, these poll questions are set to be completely
anonymous -- no one will ever know how anyone else
voted, not me or anybody. But yahoo does keep track
internally of how you voted and so you can always go
back and change your vote if you change your mind.

- J

* in the sense it is objective and repeatible --
sociometric polls are not the same as formulating a
hypothesis (whether from observation, insight, or
revelation) and proving or disproving it by
constructing a repeatible, relevant experiment which
includes observation and measurement. I consider the
latter to be 'hard science' & the basis of the 'real'
scientific method. But soft science like polls can be
interesting and helpful in some cases. Or at least fun,
so stop complaining.