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The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

washingtonpost.com

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Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#41

Post by dmckeon »

bad_alloc wrote: post #2

How did they ask people to locate Ukraine? Some of these points look like somebody accidentally clicked on a random spot of a map. For example, the dot below New Zealand is in the middle of the ocean (approx. -55.000000,176.000000). Some even located it within the US (Florida seems to be a popular guess). Have they found really misinformed people or is this noise in the data?

There seems to be a sharp drop-off line running north/south just west of Mongolia & east of Novosibirsk.

I wonder if that is from a side-scrolling artifact or drag/drop interface in the sampling (wild speculation there) or from an unconscious pruning algorithm, among people who are unaware of Ukraine's proximity to the Black Sea, roughly: "hmmh, Ukraine, medium-to-small country, former Soviet, I'll look further east, oops, there's China, better stop here.

Some more informative maps include languages and hydrocarbon pipelines:

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/73094000/gif/_73094671...

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-02-20/ukraine-situation-e...

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#42

Post by azinman2 »

bad_alloc wrote: post #2

How did they ask people to locate Ukraine? Some of these points look like somebody accidentally clicked on a random spot of a map. For example, the dot below New Zealand is in the middle of the ocean (approx. -55.000000,176.000000). Some even located it within the US (Florida seems to be a popular guess). Have they found really misinformed people or is this noise in the data?

Not surprising to me. Many Americans can't find America on a global map, including those in the military (confirmed by my shocked army friends).

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#43

Post by huherto »

AJ007 wrote: post #29
Nacraile wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would bet that the noise comes from people who have no idea just closing their eyes and clicking at random. Clearly the map wasn't coloured to differentiate bodies of water, considering the clusters in the Black and Caspian seas. (But you'd think people could at least identify the major oceans...)

This would correlate with 'I have no idea what I'm doing' "In general, younger Americans tended to provide more accurate responses than their older counterparts: 27 percent of 18-24 year olds correctly identified Ukraine, compared with 14 percent of 65+ year-olds." 65+ year olds spent a big chunk of their lives in the cold war. Presumably they would know more about the geographical breakup of the Soviet Union than 18…

Perhaps younger Americans took geography in school after the break out of the Soviet Union. I only know where Ukraine is because I recently looked at the map when this crisis came up.

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#45

Post by pvnick »

bad_alloc wrote: post #2

How did they ask people to locate Ukraine? Some of these points look like somebody accidentally clicked on a random spot of a map. For example, the dot below New Zealand is in the middle of the ocean (approx. -55.000000,176.000000). Some even located it within the US (Florida seems to be a popular guess). Have they found really misinformed people or is this noise in the data?

I imagine people think "crimean peninsula," look at Florida and go "well there's a peninsula"

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#46

Post by rcthompson »

AJ007 wrote: post #29
Nacraile wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would bet that the noise comes from people who have no idea just closing their eyes and clicking at random. Clearly the map wasn't coloured to differentiate bodies of water, considering the clusters in the Black and Caspian seas. (But you'd think people could at least identify the major oceans...)

This would correlate with 'I have no idea what I'm doing' "In general, younger Americans tended to provide more accurate responses than their older counterparts: 27 percent of 18-24 year olds correctly identified Ukraine, compared with 14 percent of 65+ year-olds." 65+ year olds spent a big chunk of their lives in the cold war. Presumably they would know more about the geographical breakup of the Soviet Union than 18…

No, people who were in primary school before the breakup of the Soviet Union would probably have never seen the Ukraine on a map, since all they would see is a big red area labeled "Soviet Union". I doubt Soviet internal geography & politics were taught regularly. Younger people may not even know that the Soviet Union ever existed, but they have a much better chance of seeing Ukraine on a map in school.

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#47

Post by antsar »

nswanberg wrote: post #27

The map would have been more interesting if the color represented preference for intervention.

This. Color is an entire dimension they had available, and they used it to reiterate what we can already see (distance from actual Ukraine) instead of the actual point they are trying to make (clueless about location => wants to intervene)

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#48

Post by Terr_ »

insuffi wrote: post #14
Nacraile wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What I always find interesting about "look at how ignorant Americans are" type articles is that they never bother to compare against any other nationality and see if the ignorance is in any way abnormal in a broader context. Is a "look at how ignorant non-Europeans are about world geography?" going to have a different result? (And I would be quite curious to know how many, say, British or Spaniards can accurately pla…

Coming from a non-American as well: Assuming ignorance would fall in the same spectrum compared to other nationalities, you don't hear other nationalities confidently stating their opinions about things they know nothing about. To be fair, I don't have data to back that up, but I can tell you from my personal observations that people usually refrain from commenting or are reasonably educated about the topic. Why this…

> you don't hear other nationalities confidently stating their opinions about things they know nothing about [...] I can tell you from my personal observations

What nationality are you, again? :P

Re: The less Americans know about Ukraine’s location, the more they want ...

#50

Post by _ea1k »

azinman2 wrote: post #42
bad_alloc wrote: post #2

How did they ask people to locate Ukraine? Some of these points look like somebody accidentally clicked on a random spot of a map. For example, the dot below New Zealand is in the middle of the ocean (approx. -55.000000,176.000000). Some even located it within the US (Florida seems to be a popular guess). Have they found really misinformed people or is this noise in the data?

Not surprising to me. Many Americans can't find America on a global map, including those in the military (confirmed by my shocked army friends).

Since you said "Many" (even 1% could be many by some definitions) it is hard to dispute your assertion.

Nevertheless, I think the # of Americans that can point out the US on a world map is well over 90%. I don't see any definitive data to the contrary.

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