We put forth the statements below to Malaysians and recorded their reply only as TRUE, FALSE or DON’T KNOW:
1. Human has never been to the moon
2. You can get AIDS by hugging someone with AIDS
3. Vaccination causes autism
4. Science brings more harm than benefit to humanity
5. *Shark's fin has the same nutrition as your fingernails
This survey was carried via 2 methods; on the streets where we approach them personally and online.
Information for the street survey
Time : 10am to 4pm
Date : 25 January 2015
Location : KL Sentral, Central Market and Masjid Jamek
Method : Be nice, smile and approach random people and ask for their reply on selected statements.
Total respondents : 166
Information for the online survey
Date : 24 to 31 January 2015
Method : 3 sets of Google Forms in 3 languages namely; English, Malay and Chinese, were shared out online. The downside for this method is that we can’t really be sure if the respondents are Malaysians
Total respondents breakdown by language:
English - 67 Respondents
Malay - 118 Respondents
Chinese - 8 Respondents
Total - 193 online respondents
Total samples collected is 359
Sample size, Margin of Error and Confidence Level
a. http://www.robertniles.com/stats/marg...
b. https://www.checkmarket.com/market-re...
c. https://www.surveymonkey.com/blog/en/...
In reference to the websites above and the sample size of 359, the margin of error is 5.3% at the confidence level of 95%
I acknowledged the above calculation is very simplistic and that there are proper methods and mathematics involved that only professional statisticians are able to do.
*Typo error
Mistakes were made during language translation that resulted into 2 versions of statement number 5 as such:
In the English and Malay online survey, the statement is as such:
“Shark's fin has THE SAME nutrition as your fingernails”
It has 185 respondents, making the margin of error 7.35% for a confidence level of 95%
In the Chinese online and Street Survey, the statement reads:
“Shark's fin has MORE nutrition as your fingernails” (174 respondents)
It has 174 respondents, making the margin of error 7.58% for a confidence level of 95%
Both the above statements are different and we shall treat the results as separate.
Demographics
For each of the respondents, we also recorded their age group as such:
a. 13-20
b. 21-30
c. 31-40
d. 41 and above
We also recorded their ethnicity as such:
a. Malay
b. Chinese
c. Indian
d. Others
We admit the ethnic category might create discontentment from the public who might see us as being racist. We understood the risk of being labelled as such. However, after much deliberation on the objectives some of the statements are trying to achieve, we went ahead. We have a hunch the results will show an interesting gap. Do bear in mind that not all the results will necessarily show the ethnic breakdowns, only the selected few which we want the relevant authorities to take note.
At the time of writing, we have yet to tabulate the results, hence we could be dead wrong.
Why are we doing this survey?
Curiosity.
Are we funded?
Nope. Not a single cent.
Are we professional statisticians?
Nope. We wouldn’t even dare refer ourselves as amateur. Think of us as motley crews trying to find out what’s up with Malaysians in terms of basic scientific knowledge
Survey 3.0 detailed breakdowns will be out soon
