What do you believe?
What we found out...
In order to conduct a more informed study, research had to be done on past studies on the subject. This research was readily available via the internet. We began by heading to Google and searching for “global warming”. This search brought us two different articles. The first one was from the New York Times,
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/science/topics/
globalwarming/index.html, explaining the history of global warming and how it has developed. This is important because knowing the history of the event you are researching can give you an idea when it first came into the public’s eye. The other site the search yielded was from the EPA, or the Environmental Protection Agency. Their site,
http://www.epa.gov/climate
change/ , provided proof that global warming is a problem to society, but it was centered around the political debate involving the truth of global warming.
Next, we decided to search studies involving “global warming and gender”. This directed us to a pdf file,
http://environment.
yale.edu/climate/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/paper-krosnick-the-origins-and-consequences-of-democratic-citizens-policy-agenda.pdf , that analyzed global warming through the views of many professors from around the US, but it did not touch on gender. It compared politics’ and society’s affect on people views about global warming, but the society aspect focused more on mass media like television and the newspaper.
With still no data on the effects of gender on belief, we went back to Google and searched for “global warming polls”. The first poll we found was from
http://people-press.org/report/584
/policy-priorities-2010 , and it prioritized the problems facing our nation today, putting global warming at the bottom of the list. However, we were unable to find out from the website how they had conducted the poll, where it was from, what question was asked, or how many people were involved. It claimed to list percentages but they added up to over 100%, so it is unclear how correct this poll was.
The next poll was more professional, being a number of Gallup polls that are conducted nationally by telephone. The rest of the information about how the polls were conducted can be found on the website,
http://www.gallup.com/poll/126560/
americans-global-warming-concerns-continue-drop.aspx , with them. One poll had the question “Do you think that global warming will pose a serious threat to you or your way of life in your lifetime?” and it spanned from 1998-2010. For 2010, 32% answered yes and 67% answered no. Another poll asked “Which of the following reflects your views of when the effects of global warming will begin to happen?” and it spanned from 1998-2010. For 2010, 53% said that it already began/will happen within a few years, 35% said not within lifetime/will never happen, and 10% said it will happen within their lifetime.
To narrow our search of the polls, we searched for “global warming views gender” on Google. This brought us to another Gallup poll at
http://www.gallup.com/poll/126563
/conservatives-doubts-global-warming-grow.aspx , but this on compared males and females. The first poll was the “percentage who say effects of global warming are already occurring, by gender” and for 2010, 42% of males and 56% of females agreed with the statement. The second poll was the “percentage who say seriousness of global warming is exaggerated by the news, by gender” and for 2010, 57% of males and 40% of females said agreed with the statement.
To finish our research, we went back to the same results page as before and found a poll from
http://www.statcrunch.com
/5.0/viewresult.php?resid=904975 , who took a poll comparing belief in global warming and gender. Their data for their study was found between July 23rd and August 25th in 2009, and they had a sample of 367 people were surveyed, but the proportion of males to females surveyed is not directly stated. According to their findings, about 10-15 females and 5-10 males said they did not know, about 25 females and 55 males said no, and about 99 females and 160 males said yes. These numbers are approximations because their scale for the frequency did not have many markings on it.