Hi guys! I'm not really sure where to put this, I was going to do it in the UK Politics thread but I know we need a meaningful post to bump up old threads and this wouldn't really be classed as one!

As my title says, I'm doing my undergraduate dissertation in university on both UK Politics and Harry Potter. If you were born between 1980 - 1999 and either have lived in the UK, or know enough about UK politics to pretend that you have, I'm really desperately needing participants for my survey who are from outwith Scotland? It takes about 10 minutes to complete and you'd be helping me to get my degree, I know I'm not a regular poster on here, but I lurk a lot and I know a lot of you guys opinion would help fill gaps in responses I've received so far. If this is against the rules, or considered a shitpost, I'm sorry and feel free to Hall of Shame me, or lock this. I'm just a bit desperate to bulk up my numbers of respondents!

Thanks.

https://hass.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_ba8TxVmBKBfA3yJ

 

Pretended that I was Brittish! Done.

 

Done, but I agree with a lot of what Sorrows said - as a site, we're gonna skew your data.

Spoiler

Also, I find you generally need an "I don't mind/think about it" option on questions with "Very yes/yes/no/very no" answers, and the same with "depends" on a "yes/no". Otherwise I have to force myself to pick an answer that isn't completely true.

Maybe a clarification on "many" and "some" for fictional books and the "how well off are you"? I don't read as much as I used to, but I know I read lots. Would 1 book a month count as lots? 1 a week?

 

Question assumes that killing them is not justice.

One imagines that the questions in surveys such as this should not express opinions as to the correct answer.

The context of the quote is killing them in combat in Syria, not about executing them on their return to the UK. Indeed the statement was made as an explicit contrast - we should kill them in combat in Syria before they can return to the UK.

Other stuff:

Your sympathetic/unsympathetic question does not have a category for "I am completely indifferent to this characteristic, it neither makes more or less sympathetic to a person or group".

The questions on books with good guys/bad guys are very vague. You ask if they have influenced us but then define influence as including "being a fan of". But it's entirely possible to love something fictional without it influencing you at all in terms of your outlook or mindset. I feel like the questions have been phrased to guide the study to a particular result.

Also, if the books have influenced you, there's no way of qualifying that influence. For example a book with a strong good/evil divide could strongly influence you away from viewing the world as divided in that way, if when reading the story you dislike those elements of it.

 

Sorry, when I said context I meant the context in which the statement was originally made, not the context in which the OP chose to present it. My point is that the OP has misrepresented the statement by implying that it was intended to apply within the UK. Rory Stewart's comments were clearly about fighters in Syria and in fact he explicitly stated that ISIS fighters within the UK should go through the normal criminal justice process: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-41717394

On an unrelated note: the "should they be able to vote?" question doesn't really factor British citizenship into the equation, which is odd as citizenship is probably the most common criterion people would propose for voting rights. For example, you ask if immigrants should be allowed to vote but it's entirely possible for immigrants to have acquired citizenship. For many people the answer to that question would depend on whether or not said immigrant had done so.

 

I presumed that the refugees did not have citizenship, and that immigrants did. I also presumed that Rory Stewart's comments were referring to IS fighters outside the UK, and that there would be difficulty in returning them to face trial, so they would most likely be killed on the battlefield.