Terrorist Attack
Introduction
The scenario is based on a terrorist attack that has taken place in America and as a result, many politicians are clamoring for power while others are urging restraint. Lack of knowledge of the public opinion is the key factor that is holding back politicians. It is evident that public opinion is part of the legislative and political process in the United States. This research paper is about a survey poll conducted and it will particularly examine the process involved and the poll results.
Discussion
Process and Results
The survey process was conducted by a public opinion pollster and various steps were involved. The first step involves designing an actual public opinion poll or survey. This step is essential since it enables one to determine the willingness of the public to allow new or more intrusive measures into their privacy by the government. A public opinion may either support or oppose a given legislative bill or policy. The next step is administering the survey to approximately twenty members of the public (Weisberg, 2005).
The Survey consisted of some questions that the general public was to answer and give their opinion. To enhance the representation of the sample, the surveys were given to public members from different regions. We had to make sure that each and every region was presented. The main reason for conducting a public opinion is to enhance democracy, which is defined as the rule by the people. Hence, the opinion of majority of citizens matters a lot. The will of people is appropriately represented by public opinions. The answer given by the public regarding some questions is the key determinant of the various policies and legislative bills that should be implemented or removed (Albig, 2007).
The sample size was twenty individuals from the public. Out of the twenty individuals, one was between 18-25 years, seven were between 26-40 years and twelve were aged 21 years and above. Five questions were given and the results were based on those who strongly disagreed, those who disagreed, neutral, those who agreed and finally those who strongly agreed. These aspects were represented of by the numbers one to five respectively.
During question formulation, we had to make sure that sufficient and relevant information was provided. Moreover, the questions had to be easily comprehensible and most importantly contain all the essential information necessary to the respondents. In order to avoid confusing the respondents, we ensured that the questions were short and simple. It is essential for respondents to have knowledge of a particular subject in order to get a true representative sample in public opinions. The other factor was considered was the specificity of the questions. The words used for formulating questions had to ensure that we got truthful opinions from the respondents without the influence of the opinion pollster (Donsbach and Traugott, 2007).
According to the poll results, 65% of the public felt that the government had a right to develop more intrusive privacy laws. 15% of the polls indicated that the government was not justified to develop more intrusive privacy laws while 5% had a neutral stand. Most of the people prioritized their safety. Many believed that safety was of the essence since as the United States citizens, they had a right to feel safe and have freedom. They also believed that intrusive laws were appropriate so long as one has nothing to hide.
The other question was to determine the public’s stand on sacrificing civil liberties for terrorist prevention strategies. 70% of the polls indicated that citizens had sacrificed civil liberties to some extent in order to develop strategies for preventing terrorists attack. 20% of the individuals disagreed while 10% had a neutral stand. Majority of individual felt that their privacies had been intruded in the cause of implementing strategies for terrorist prevention.
The other question was to determine if the public was willing to give up personal freedoms in order to reduce the risk of terrorism in the United States. More than half of the polls indicated that individuals were willing to give up additional freedoms. This means that majority of the people valued their safety and considered it more important compared to personal liberties. 30% of the polls indicated a contrary opinion while 15% of the public had a neutral stand. Individuals against the idea giving up additional freedoms were not sure if that was going to make a difference. They believed it will inconvenience them in one way or another.
The other opinion indicated that majority of individuals felt that the current government had violated their privacy right. The most probable reason for this is that the government has to ensure public safety at the expense of violating privacy rights. Finally, majority of individuals felt that their attitude regarding the importance of maintaining personal privacy had changed after the attempted terrorist attacks. Most of the people had a positive attitude towards giving up civil rights since they believed public safety was of supreme importance.
References
Albig, W. (2007) Public Opinion. READ BOOKS Publishers.
Donsbach, W., & Traugott, M. W. (2007) The SAGE handbook of public opinion
research. SAGE Publishers.
Weisberg, H. F. (2005) The total survey error approach: a guide to the new science of
survey research. University of Chicago Press.
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