UFOs and Witches .. and America

Market Research, opinion polls and consumer preference surveys have become part and parcel of our lives. Twenty years ago, when I first designed a survey questionnaire to understand the tea drinking behaviour of Gujaratis in Anand, I did not realise that life is going to be full of such stuff in future.

But, the interesting aspect is the kind of things that people choose to study. That is the key and makes the entire exercise novel. Take this survey about the belief systems in America about hell and heaven and witches and UFOs for instance.

For all its world leader status and excellence in scientific research, far more people in America believe in the Devil than in Darwin, as one late 2007 poll put it. Belief in (literal) hell and the devil was firm amongst 62 percent of those surveyed. Darwin, complete with evolution, natural selection and the rest of it, clocked in with a poor 42 percent.

79 percent believed in miracles, 75 percent in a (literal) heaven. Witches and UFOs drew roughly the same score, with about a third of Americans believing in them. The UFOs have it by a short head among the general population - 35 percent against 31 percent for witches. But witches outclass UFOs amongst born-again Christians - with whom Darwin fares worse than both, logging a mere 16 percent.

The findings themselves are quite amusing to read; but when I try to imagine the numerous discussions they would have had while designing the questionnaire and later actually adminstering the questionnaire to different people, I am quite tickled. Imagine, how the conversation would have been :

"Excuse me, can you stop for a minute ?"
"Yes ..?"
"We are doing a survey on heaven and hell ..."
"Beg your pardon .."
"Want to know your views about heaven, for instance ..."
"Go to hell ! I am in a hurry ..."

I think, it will be good fun to design such a survey form. Any ideas ?