Give Chickens More Rights!

First, my apologies for dropping out of the blog for the past few weeks. We are in that typically crazy fall crunch that is common for marketing research.

Besides being busy with research, a lot has happened in the last few weeks. Most notably the elections. As a researcher, it is always exciting to watch the elections. After all, the returns are like the results of another survey. A very important one that impacts our lives, but it is still a survey or poll. I say this because we do not have a 100% census vote. Therefore results are subject to the same sampling issues as surveys. Except in this case, the citizens self-select on whether they will vote. Therefore, biases are introduced. Much has been written about the impact on results based on who votes. For example, older voters will still show up on a rainy day, while younger voters are less likely to show up when it rains. So it’s not perfect, but unless we force a census vote, it is the best we can do. And the more people who do vote, the less bias.

Now on to California. By now you probably know that Proposition 8, which eliminates the rights of a group of citizens, passed. This proposition writes discrimination into the California state constitution. On the same day, the citizens of California voted to expand the rights of chickens and other livestock. What’s wrong with this picture? I for one am ashamed of my fellow Californians.