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Thread: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

  1. #1
    Papa Smurf
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    more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    Another silly statistic article, this time stats were produced and misinterpreted by the National Trust.

    It was "discovered that youngsters aged ten to 12 were far more knowledgeable about TV characters than nature". Sherlock Holmes would merely raise a brow at this point.

    The results sparked concerns(among DMRs*) that children spend too much time hunched over screens in darkened rooms, instead of enjoying the great outdoors."

    why? because they got some nature questions wrong. Stats show that
    47 per cent of children surveyed could identify an oak leaf, half could tell the difference between a bee and a wasp, 2/3rds of the 1,651 could identify a magpie and a massive 53 per cent correctly named a barn owl on being shown its picture. 2/3rds easily recognised a red admiral, Britain's best-known butterfly. (a stat im sure would be exactly the same in my office, if not worse)

    And apparantly thats not nearly enough. Clearly young peoples topic of conversation should be nature related. It always was when i grew up - we never had computers then and TV was limited. Our school conversations were always focused on the merits of the Barn Owl vs the Snowy Owl and how to identify various flora and fauna..er ..no hang on...thats b0llox.

    What these statistics don't do of course is compare knowledge now to knowledge 50 years ago - what is the drop in that time ? and why is it, if it exists, partly attributed to watching Doctor Who ? (interestingly an identical made up survey, i cant cite, of 50 years ago blamed films and comic books...probably)

    But its been decided that the virtual world is winning, and, because a massive 90% knew who cultural icon and Jedi Master Yoda was, compared to only 47% that could identify the Oak leaf, television naturalist Nick Baker spouted : "With more kids better able to identify a fictitious alien than our national tree, the oak, something needs to be done.".

    I suggest the Oak tree has a series of films made about it over a period of 30 years where it comes alive, a la lord of the rings, and wields a light saber.





    *DMRs= Daily Mail Readers or Dizzy Mental Ranters if you prefer

  2. #2
    Registered User timbp's Avatar
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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    Cheap shot: "discovered that youngsters aged ten to 12 were far more knowledgeable about TV characters than nature"
    -- so how knowledgeable was nature about TV characters?
    (did you mean "discovered that youngsters aged ten to 12 were far more knowledgeable about TV characters than they were about nature".)

    When I was 10-12 I was probably more knowledgable about TV characters than I was about nature. Now, I'm probably more knowledgeable about TV characters than I am about nature.

    I grew up mostly outdoors. I enjoy camping and bushwalking. I have a science degree, majored in biochemistry, but with a lot of time in the biology department.
    I can tell the difference between birds and trees.

    But I'd probably fail the test used in that study.


    I'm pretty sure I can identify a bird as an owl without anyone around me contradicting me.
    But I know if I dare to comment on Dr Who, people around will quickly tell me how wrong I am.
    So clearly my knowledge of nature is greater than my knowledge of TV.

    Nevertheless, I accept there are important reasons for developing a good understanding of nature: xkcd - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe

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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    I think this has been discussed before
    But surveys are a standard way to obtain free publicity

    One leading expert said a "sad modern phenomenon" had left youngsters "disconnected from the natural world".
    Note they do not say what he is an expert on

    So suggestions for an on line survey to publicise Ceroc Scotland

    Shock Horror **% of Scottish males do not wear a Kilt when dancing

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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    Quote Originally Posted by timbp View Post
    (did you mean "discovered that youngsters aged ten to 12 were far more knowledgeable about TV characters than they were about nature".)
    I don't know if she did, email her and ask

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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    half could tell the difference between a bee and a wasp
    Assuming that 50% got hte answer right, this really means none could tell the difference!

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    Registered User ~*~Saligal~*~'s Avatar
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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    It would surprise me. When I was growing up parents would tell us all to get out of the house and play outside... and we knew we had to be home when the street lights went on. These days it's too scary to let your kid just roam the streets (I think it was scary back when I was growing up too, just now we know a lot more about what "can" happen to kids), and so they end up hanging around the house (usually indoors and playing video games or watching telly!).

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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    Quote Originally Posted by ~*~Saligal~*~ View Post
    (I think it was scary back when I was growing up too, just now we know a lot more about what "can" happen to kids)

    So we believe the hype

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    The Dashing Moderator
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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    I was curious so I went looking for the survey - I wanted to know if they were asking if children knew the difference between an oak leaf and, for instance, a pigeon; or if they were being asked to know about lots of different types of leaf.

    Turns out it's the latter:
    Here's the actual survey

    It's not a comparable set of questions between the wildlife ones and the television ones. For instance there's a picture of an Ood from Dr Who, with 4 choices:
    Quote Originally Posted by Ood question from the survey
    What is this?
    • An Odd
    • An Ood
    • An Oob
    • An Oog
    But next to the picture of an Oak leaf they ask:
    Quote Originally Posted by Leaf question from the survey
    Which tree can you find these leaves on?
    • Sycamore
    • Oak
    • Chestnut
    • Fir
    But if they were trying to be even vaguely comparable with the TV questions, they should have asked something like this
    Quote Originally Posted by Question that wasn't in the survey
    Which tree can you find these leaves on?
    • Oak
    • Oat
    • Ook
    • Orc
    ... or something.

    It's a poor survey, even before they started making daft statistics out of the results.
    Love dance, will travel

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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    Quote Originally Posted by DavidY View Post
    I was curious so I went looking for the survey -...

    It's a poor survey, even before they started making daft statistics out of the results.
    Oh well researched Sir. This is especially annoying now that Ive see the quiz...

    Quote Originally Posted by me
    because a massive 90% knew who cultural icon and Jedi Master Yoda was, compared to only 47% that could identify the Oak leaf, television naturalist Nick Baker spouted : "With more kids better able to identify a fictitious alien than our national tree, the oak, something needs to be done.".
    Lets compare those questions, to see if Nick "Genius" baker has a point or not.

    Picture of an Oak Leaf.

    Which tree can you find these leaves on?

    Sycamore
    Oak
    Chestnut
    Fir

    and...


    Picture of Yoda

    Who is this?

    Yoda
    Goda
    Yoga
    Ewok

    It's worse than we thought - goda and yoga are not real words or real fictional creatures. Fairly likely kids will have an inkling that Ewoks are bears.
    Compared to real honest to goodness green leaves. (i think i would have went with sycamore to be honest). Although to give Nick Baker the benefit of the doubt here we could assume he was not shown the quiz but only told about the results.

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    Formerly known as DavidJames David Bailey's Avatar
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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    Stats show that
    47 per cent of children surveyed could identify an oak leaf,
    Hell, I wouldn't have a clue about that.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    half could tell the difference between a bee and a wasp,
    Ahh, well Doctor Who helps with this one

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    2/3rds of the 1,651 could identify a magpie
    Ummm.... that's the black one, yes? Hold on, that's a raven. Or a crow. Or. Er...

    Actually, even using that dumbo survey, those stats are quite good, I'm fairly sure they'd be doing better than me, and I'm not uneducated. So I'm quite happy with that level of knowledge in our kids.

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    Registered User Twirly's Avatar
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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    It's worse than we thought - goda and yoga are not real words or real fictional creatures.
    I think you'll find that yoga is indeed a real word, and amongst other things a useful form of excercise that keeps you supple!

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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    Quote Originally Posted by Twirly View Post
    I think you'll find that yoga is indeed a real word, and amongst other things a useful form of excercise that keeps you supple!
    not real words in that context i meant to say

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    Registered User Twirly's Avatar
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    Re: more daft statistics that are "worrying"

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    not real words in that context i meant to say
    wriggle wriggle

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