Opinion Poll

Our polling project concerned gun control. We asked a series of preliminary questions to ascertain demographic information and then had three questions focused on the subject itself:

Grade: 9-12

Taking Honors/Dual/AP classes: Yes/No

Sports Involvement: Yes/No

Involved in Clubs: Yes/No

Gender: Male/Female

Employed: Yes/No

And the subject questions-

1. Is there a gun in your household?      
1. Yes     
2. No
3. Not sure
2. How do believe the government should handle gun control?
1. Some government regulation
2. No regulation
3. No opinion
3. If the government were to regulate gun access, which of the following should be used: 
1. Gun permit
2. Safety training course
3. Complete ban
4.  Both a and b
5. This does not apply to me because I said no regulation.

The general answers (with no demographics accounted for) were like so:

For Question 1, a slight majority (56) favored option A, which stated that there was a gun in the household, with the minority (at 40) answering that there was none and only 4 students stating that they were unsure. Question 2, which asked how the government should handle gun control, had a majority opinion of 52 students that answered that there should be some level of government regulation on guns, while 24 students stated that there should be no control and another 24 saying they had no opinion on the subject. For the final question relating to how gun control should be executed, there was a greater degree of divergent opinions, as 18 students favored only mandatory gun permits, 11 supported only a safety training course, 4 wanted a complete ban, 47 preferred a combination of gun permits and a safety training course, and 20 stated that the question did not apply as they didn't support any kind of control.

Demographic Breakdowns:

Class:

Question One:

Both Freshman and Seniors had a majority of students reporting to have a gun in their household. Sophomores and Juniors, on the other hand, had a majority of students report to not have a gun, with Freshman having the greatest amount of students reporting not knowing whether or not their family owned one. As a whole, it appeared that seniors were most informed as to the presence of a firearm in their household.

Question 2:

The majority of individuals in every class indicated that they would prefer some government regulation in regards to gun control. Going from freshman to senior, the graphs indicate that an increasing number of people responded with some regulation, while the number responding with no opinion decreased after a spike in the sophomore percentage from freshman. This indicates that as students progress through high school, the number that have an opinion on the issue increases, which could be a result of the development of their own political ideologies.

Question 3:

 

After freshman, the majority of the other three classes prefers that the method for gun regulation should be both permit and a training class. The number responding with this answer increases from freshman to senior, indicating a possible increase in maturity level towards the issue of guns and the precaution that should be taken when handling one. The number responding with no opinion decreases greatly after freshman, indicating that their education or maturing has caused a more solid formation of their political stance on a specific issue.

Gender:

Question One:

 

The graphs of the males and females that were polled are almost identical for Question 1, indicating that there is little difference in the knowledge of a gun in the household when looking specifically at gender.

Question 2:

The graphs based on gender for Question 2 indicate that more females want at least some regulation of guns. The males were more likely to answer no regulation or no opinion. This is indicative of the general trend that women are usually opposed to potential violence-inducing sources compared to males.

Question 3:

Interestingly enough, the only indication that females want more gun control on this question is a slightly greater number answered that a complete ban should be place on gun use. These graphs do not completely correlate with the prior graphs regarding the divisive trend between males and females.

Honors Courses

Question 1:

There seems to be no difference between honors and non-honors students regarding their knowledge of the presence of a firearm in their household.

Question 2:

The responses to Question 2 indicate a somewhat divisive opinion between honors and non-honors students on the course of action the government should take in regards to gun regulation. Both groups have a majority consensus that guns should regulated to some degree; however, honors kids answered some regulation or no opinion more often than non-honors kids, who had a much higher percentage state that guns should not be regulated. This indicates that the level of education one receives in high school affects one's stance on gun control.

Question 3:

This graph perfectly coincides with the graphs pertaining to Question 2. Honors kids showed a much greater preference for the maximum amount of regulation without a complete ban being instituted. The difference in percentage for letter D was 37%, an indicator that honors and non-honors kids are very divided concerning their opinion regarding gun control.

Sports Involvement

Question 1:

Sports involvement did not have an effect on a student's knowledge of a firearm's presence in their household. However, individuals who play sports seem to have a higher possibility of their family's owning of a firearm, indicating that they may possibly partake in recreational shooting.

Question 2:

The Question 2 responses indicate a consensus between sports and non-sports playing individuals on the regulation of guns, indicating that the specific demographic question, sports involvement, may not affect an individual's responses to whether or not regulation should be utilized.

Question 3:

This question indicates a divisive opinion between sports and non-sports playing individuals in regards to the proper course of action the government should take. Individuals who do not play sports greatly favored the answer d, which indicates stricter government regulation in regards to gun control compared to the majority of the other choices. Individuals who play sports wanted less government regulation, but still preferred that individuals be required to obtain a gun permit/license to be able to own and wield a firearm.

Employment

Question 1:

The graphs above indicate that a greater number of people that are employed state that there is a firearm in their home. This may be coincidence, as there does not seem to be a reason for gun presence to rise in employed teenagers' homes.

Question 2:

The graphs concering employed versus unemployed individuals and their responses to Question 2 indicate that unemployed individuals tend to be more opinionated regarding government regulation of firearms. A significantly greater amount of individuals responded with no opinion than unemployed individuals.

Question 3:

Based on the statistics above, employed people tend to prefer at least some regulation of firearms by the government. This may be due to their feeling that the workplace should be protected from possible accidental and intentional shootings; however, the opinions between unemployed and employed individuals were not very divisive.

Club Involvement

Question 1:

The charts indicate that there is no significant correlation between club involvement and one's family owning a gun.

Question 2:

More individuals involved in clubs indicated that they had no opinion regarding if firearms should be regulated. This question had a decent consensus when considering club involvement.

Question 3:

A very divided response was received for this question. A much greater amount of individuals involved in clubs indicated a desire for stronger government regulation of firearms by 68% picking letter d. This may be because of their involvement with a process that is somewhat related to the government.

How We Achieved Randomness: Our group achieved randomness through the random polling of individuals at the entrance gate to the school in the morning. Then, the rest of our responses were gathered at lunch and during passing periods. This achieved the ideal amount of randomness due to our pulling of individuals at lunch and not entire groups since many friends have similar ideals and stances regarding certain issues. The people polled in the hallways during passing period were polled as randomly as possible since we all had classes in different buildings and were not biased in who we chose to poll. We kept to the unbiased selection process throughout the course of the polling.

Possible Issues With Our Polling Methods: Our polling method could have had error due to our inability to poll during both lunches to achieve an ideal amount of randomness. We also did not poll individuals entering both gates in the morning, possibly slightly skewing the poll results. This may have actually been a positive decision because the primary individuals entering throught the student gate are juniors and seniors, which may have biased the results. Also, not all buildings were randomly polled due to some of us not having time to give the poll to someone in every building. Another possible issue with our results is the specificity of the demographic questions posed to individuals. We did not poll the number of honors courses taken by, clubs involved in by, sports involved in by, and the level of employment of the individuals. This could have affected the results of these demographic differences.