Geographic location poll

[sqbr]

I've been pondering how to do polls about various things in a way which minimises people feeling excluded or otherwise misrepresented. And I think the easiest way to test those ideas out is make polls and see what people don't like about them!

First off, nationality. As was pointed out to me the last time I tried doing a poll on this topic, just because I've lived in the same country my whole life and fit comfortably into it's majority culture doesn't mean other people's identities are so simple. It struck me that asking where people are currently located is a much less ambiguous question though of course you have to be careful not to then make the jump from "geographic location" to "national identity" in the analysis etc (especially since people might be on a three day business trip or something :)).

So! Please do this poll and then tell me anything about it that bugs you.

Poll #3915

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: Just the Poll Creator, participants: 39

In which geographic region are you currently located?

Africa
0 (0.0%)

North America
12 (30.8%)

South America
1 (2.6%)

Asia
1 (2.6%)

Europe
9 (23.1%)

Oceania
17 (43.6%)

Polar regions
1 (2.6%)

Somewhere at sea
0 (0.0%)

The sky/Space/parallel universe etc
0 (0.0%)

Other
0 (0.0%)

Using Wikipedia's Regions of the World. I divided North and South America since they are two different continents.

Another different question I could ask is "in which geographic location is the place or places that you consider "home" in some significant way?" but that's a bit vague, maybe.

Any alternatives, extra questions or extra answers etc you think would be better?

Comments

[ex_peasant441]

Perhaps 'in which region do you live?' would be a phrase that gave you a better idea of what I think you are trying to find out, since it eliminates the problem of short term travelling. Most people I think have a mental concept of where their residence is.

[twtd]

Though even this could be complicated by people who live in multiple places. When I was very young, we'd spend (very) roughly half of the year in the US and half of the year in Saudi Arabia, both of which were "home," which would make answering that question difficult. It wasn't short term traveling, we'd spend months in either location, but neither was more of a permanent location than the other.

It is amazing how complicated a seeming simple question can get.

[sqbr]

It is amazing how complicated a seeming simple question can get.

It is! I started thinking about this all about two years ago after blithely making a poll asking people "where they were from" and having the gaping holes in that question pointed out. And the more I thought about it, the more complicated the question got, and more unstated assumptions I started poking at.

[ex_peasant441]

Of course. This is why serious statistical studies relying on poll questions always have to begin with a small scale test run to try to iron out such problems.

You will still always get the unexpected of course. The last UK census produced 'Jedi Knight' as the fourth largest religion because enough people were sufficiently annoyed by the question they decided to take the piss.

[ajnabi]

i don't really think "most people" have a mental concept of where their residence is. i mean, i don't know, and anyway, majority definitions bug me a LOT.

also, yeah, i agree with twtd. things can be much more complicated.

i'm currently going to college in the u.s., but my permanent residences are in india. i'm not really sure where i "live". i guess most of the time i live in the u.s. these days, various places, but that question is far too limiting.

[ajnabi]

and okay, checkboxes, but still.

[ajnabi]

ahh! i wish i still had a paid account so i could edit. (i'm sorry for the comment spammage).

the problem is the assumptions of home and identity that go along with the question, yes, and about what length of time makes a place somewhere you "live", what's a "regular basis" and what's not, etc.

[sqbr]

Those are really good points, thankyou.

[ex_peasant441]

It seems to me you have a perfectly good concept of where you live, you just happen to practice inter-continental scholastic transhumance. I think an additional option of 'two or more regions' would more than adequately cover your case.

i don't really think "most people" have a mental concept of where their residence is.
Oh they most certainly do. I'm out of the field these days so can't quote you proper references but a lot of work has been done on just this subject. People form mental maps of their world and their residence in relation to other places, developing a concept of 'home' to fit their personal needs. There will of course always be exceptions or variations on the theme but I think the phrase 'most people' is perfectly fair.

majority definitions bug me a LOT

Almost any statistical survey will produce a clustered result set, that is just a fact of life. It only becomes a problem if people attach moral judgements to the clusters.

[sqbr]

There's a difference between acknowledging that a majority exists and letting that majority dictate what definitions and categories we use too much. I imagine she was objecting to the latter.

I think this is especially relevant for an inherently unscientific poll like this where there's no Deep and Important Inquiry going on, so that there's no strong reason not to place a higher priority on making the people taking the poll feel more included even if it's slightly at the expense of accuracy (and I don't think that more inclusiveness does necessarily lead to poorer results. But I'm not too fussed either way)

[sqbr]

As has been pointed out, it covers more people but I think would be much more annoyingly ambiguous for the people it didn't cover. I'm pondering another poll not about where people live but about how people relate to where they live and have lived etc, I'm wondering just how many people have these complicated identities. Quite a few, I think.

[moonbug]

From my personal experience, I know living in different places and where those places were (both physically/culturally) has affected my perception of issues and my own identity.