X-Message-Number: 30124
From: Kennita Watson <>
Subject: 1998-2007 Survey Comparison 
Date: Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:58:47 -0800

This is an informal comparison of responses from a 1998 survey by  
Scott Badger (summary and analysis at http://www.jetpress.org/volume3/ 
badger.htm) and responses to a similar survey (a subset of the first)  
conducted in 2007 (analysis/comparison below).  The results are not  
directly comparable for a number of reasons:

* 1998 survey -- conducted online
   2007 survey -- conducted on paper, face-to-face

* 1998 survey -- 517 responses over one month
   2007 survey -- 91 responses over two days

* 1998 survey -- no incentive offered for response
   2007 survey -- entry in drawing offered for response

* 1998 survey -- no "Don't Know" responses allowed
   2007 survey -- "Don't Know" responses allowed

* 1998 survey -- extensive questions re demographics; familiarity and
                  motivation sections
   2007 survey -- removed most demographics questions; removed  
familiarity
                  and motivation sections; added FDGD section

With that in mind, following are the results for the identically- 
worded questions on the 1998 and 2007 surveys, for whatever value/ 
interest they may hold.

Gender
        Male   Female
1998   57.1   42.9
2007   38.5   61.5

Religion
        Agnostic  Atheist  Buddhist  Christian  Hindu  Jewish  Moslem
1998   16.4      6.6      2.5       57.1       1.5    4.4     1.2
2007   11.0      12.1     1.1       40.7       0.0    2.2     0.0

Religion, cont.
        Pagan/Wiccan  Taoist  No Affiliation  Other
1998   N/A           10.3    N/A             N/A
2007   2.2           1.1     23.1            6.6
comment:  I think Taoist was overrepresented in the 1998 survey  
because there was no Other choice.

Q18. I love being alive and I want to remain alive and healthy for as  
long as I can. 	
1998  1.46   0.78
2007  1.68   1.09

Q19. Being frozen is no guarantee that I will be revived someday, but  
I know my chances are zero if I am buried or cremated. 	
1998  1.57   0.88
2007  1.90   1.20

Q20. I could accomplish much more with my life if it were  
significantly extended. 	
1998  2.49   1.03
2007  2.44   1.29

Q21. I'm very optimistic about humankind's future and want to be  
there to see and participate in the amazing advances that will be  
made. 	
1998  2.40   1.09
2007  2.47   1.31

Q22. I look forward to a time when we won't have to suffer the loss  
of our friends and family because of aging and disease. 	
1998  2.50   1.20
2007  2.40   1.35

Q23. I'm excited about the prospect of waking up in a body made young  
again through bio-technological advances. 	
1998  2.77   1.25
2007  2.76   1.43

Q24. Cryonics doesn't interest me because I just don't think it will  
work. 1998  3.11   1.12
2007  3.18   1.14

Q25. The cost of having my body frozen is far too expensive for me. 	
1998  2.21   0.95
2007  2.50   1.20

Q26. Dealing with wills, insurance policies, and other legal matters  
is too much trouble to make Cryonics worthwhile. 	
1998  3.22   1.00
2007  3.15   1.14

Q27. Extending one's life span through Cryonics is unnatural,  
selfish, and immoral. 	
1998  3.20   1.16
2007  3.37   1.15

Q28. Cryonics is a bad idea because it would lead to an  
overpopulation problem. 	
1998  2.90   1.11
2007  3.08   1.26

Q29. I don't think about Cryonics because I don't like thinking about  
death.1998  3.69   1.02
2007  3.65   0.97

Q30. Cryonically preserving me would be too hard/weird for my family/ 
friends to handle. 	
1998  2.83   1.06
2007  2.78   1.28

Q31. I'm too young and healthy to even care about it at this point. 	
1998  3.52   1.03
2007  3.23   1.07

Q32. I would not want to wake up in a future time without my family  
or friends around. 	
1998  2.73   1.19
2007  2.55   1.27

Q33. I don't think that people in the future will have any interest  
in reviving frozen bodies. 	
1998  3.36   1.09
2007  3.41   1.32

Q44. I believe that Cryonics is an exciting idea an intend on looking  
into it further.
1998  2.09   N/A
2007  3.10   1.23
I'm not sure why the 1998 survey didn't include a standard deviation  
for this one.

I only worked with OpenOffice Calc and my scanty statistics  
knowledge, so I wasn't able to get p-values for differences between  
males and females; I made do with deciding that a difference in  
values of 0.3 or more might be interesting, if not statistically  
significant.  Values with slashes are AVERAGE/STDEV.

Number of respondents:
F: 55
M: 35

I could accomplish much more with my life if it were significantly  
extended.
F: 2.65/1.31
M: 2.12/1.2
(corroborates 1998 diff)

Dealing with wills, insurance policies, and other legal matters is  
too much trouble to make Cryonics worthwhile.
F: 2.9/1.17
M: 3.53/0.98

Cryonics is a bad idea because it would lead to an overpopulation  
problem.
F: 2.96/1.29
M: 3.26/1.22

Cryonically preserving me would be too hard/weird for my family/ 
friends to handle.
F: 2.65/1.32
M: 2.97/1.22

I would not want to wake up in a future time without my family or  
friends around.
F: 2.28/1.25
M: 2.97/1.21
(corroborates 1998 diff)

I believe that Cryonics is an exciting idea an intend on looking into  
it further.
F: 3.16/1.30
M: 2.69/1.28
(corroborates 1998 diff)

In the 2007 survey, women again perceived cryonics as less affordable  
than men, but this time not by much (2.51 to 2.48).

Men again were more excited about a young, healthy body, but only by  
a 2.65 to 2.84 margin.

This time, women and men had almost identical attitudes about  
cryonics being immoral, 3.35 to 3.39.

Unlike on the previous survey, women seemed slightly more inclined to  
disagree that people in the future will have no interest in reviving  
frozen bodies (3.47 to 3.33).

While respondents in age ranges 25-34 and >64 did tend to have  
favorable attitudes towards cryonics (to agree more with more of the  
negative statements, and disagree more with more of the positive  
statements), in my analysis those in the 45-54 age range expressed  
those sentiments more strongly, and those under 24 less so.

These are the only statistics I've had time to extract.  Raw data  
from the 2007 survey are available for those who wish to peruse them  
and/or to perform their own statistical analysis.

Suggestions for changes to make to the survey (keeping it short) and/ 
or discussion of whether the current survey should be replicated as  
is to gather more data are welcome.

Thanks for your attention,
Kennita Watson
Go Cryo!


Live long and prosper,
Kennita
--
Vote Ron Paul for President in 2008 -- Save Our Constitution!
Go to RonPaul2008.com, and search "Ron Paul" on YouTube

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