RA 2

Fabiola Figueroa

 Ms. Andrews

Media, Politics and society

October 26, 2010

Introduction:

I am conducting a survey on my peers to see if we as a younger generation are truly informed. My main purpose is to see if the form of technology that we use has any correlation with how informed we are specifically on the California Governors race.

Hypothesis:  

I believe that while conducting this survey amongst my peers that I will find that all of the ones that use their cell phone or the internet to find out about the current events will be more informed. I also believe that in my survey it will show that the most used forms of technology are cell phones and the internet.

Method:

I conducted my survey through the internet, I sent several people the survey questions through a message on Facebook. This allowed me to send it to several people at once and receive several responses quickly. This made it faster to conduct my survey than if I were to have tried to do it in person.

Description: 

The survey was made up of six simple questions, all were multiple choice. The survey questions were broken down into three questions on technology and the last three on the governor’s race

1) How many hours a day do you use technology?

            A. 0-3 hours

            B. 4-6 hours

            C. 7-9 hours

2) What form of technology do you use the most?

            A. Computer

            B. Cell phone

            C. IPod

            D. Radio

3) What form of communication do you use to get information on current events?

            A. Newspaper

            B. Television

            C. Internet

            D. Radio

4) Pick one person running for the California Governor’s race?

            A. Jerry Brown

            B. Meghan McCain

            C. Meg Whitman

            D. George Clooney

5) Pick one way you can vote?

            A. Over the internet

            B. Over the phone

            C. by mail

            D. in person

6) Do you know when to vote?

            A. December 3^rd

            B. November 2^nd

            C. November 15^th

            D. October 31st

Result summary: 

After conducting my survey I noticed that most of the people that I surveyed were very informed. The ones that were informed were those that used their cell phones, internet or watched TV. I noticed that the higher percentage of people that knew when the election date was and at least one person running has said that they use the internet or phone with capability for the internet. The few that had no clue who were running or when the election was seemed more to have said they use their IPods more than any other form.

Conclusion: 

My hypothesis is correct, I was certain going into this survey that the majority of the people would get the answers right. I also assumed that those that said they used their cell phones or the internet would be the most informed, however that was never a guarantee. I was surprised to see how low some people were in their awareness and noted that the majority of those people had used their IPods. It is never absolute, yet it would seem now that the form of media more so then the time spent on using that media is the real factor on how informed someone is.