Polls are without a doubt one of the most dubious means of ascertaining public opinion. Especially when small, selectively or self-sampled, and biased through weasel-wording. Basically, the smaller the number of respondents, the easier it is for numbers to be blown out of proportion, and effectively make a tiny number of people represent a huge populace. Internet polls are particularly dubious, since polls are often posted on sites that are specifically geared to a certain response, thus being self-skewed in favor of a specific answer. Add to that some carefully worded questions or choices for answers, and a poll can be a great tool for driving public opinion, rather that reflecting it. Hell, politicians have been doing that for ages.

THEY LIVE!

All this builds up to my skepticism in viewing this article in the Telegraph, which basically states that a poll showed that 20% of respondents believed that aliens existed and were walking among us right here on our very own planet Earth. I mean, come on! One in FIVE?!?! The first thing I checked was the sample size…it might be tiny.  Turns out it’s 23,000. That’s a pretty robust poll. But there the data on this poll ends. The article gives no information about who conducted the poll, or the methodology.

Google reveals a scant few articles about this poll, with most simply dropping the 20% number in a quick blurb along with a sensationalist headline and moving on to other things. I finally discovered that it was Reuters which commissioned the poll, and found their initial article about it. They also don’t reveal the methodology. The polling firm, Ipsos, has a little blurb about it but says nothing about the nature of the poll or how data was gathered.

So, bottom line? The information is interesting. If the responses correlate with the actual public opinion, then the findings are downright scary. Frankly, I don’t find them that hard to believe. People believe weird stuff. If accurate, then nearly 45% of Indians and Chinese think aliens are among us! They Live!! Additionally it says something interesting about relatively secular and socialist countries like Belgium, Sweden, and The Netherlands. Only about 8% of them put any stock in the idea. But all this is pointless if the poll was biased or flawed. Where is the careful reporting on this subject?

Now that I’ve blathered on about how silly polls can be, here’s one for you. Have at it….what’s your take?