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Old 02-15-17, 08:18 PM   #2
AndyJWest
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A fairly meaningless survey. What does 'fight for your country mean'?* Actively participate in any military action whatsoever, regardless of what the reason for it was? Take part in military action where your country was under immediate threat? Or take part in a civil war to ensure your country followed a specific course, or was led by specific individuals (I see Afghanistan is near the top of the list)? And then there is a question as to what 'your country' means - as far as the UK is concerned for example, it isn't always clear cut.

And then there is the issue of who you are asking: I think it highly unlikely at my age that circumstances would arise where I'd be asked to participate in a war. I can't seem to find the original survey results online, but according to Huff Post UK, "The survey, conducted across 64 countries, found that 18-24 year-olds were most likely to say they would take up arms, while men were 15% more likely to do so than women" ()http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015...n_6940594.html). Which rather suggests that people are most likely to answer 'yes' if they are among the demographic most likely to be asked to fight. Furthermore, such international surveys are always prone to inaccuracy simply because questions have to be translated: even minor changes in wording in a single-language survey can often result in significantly different results. Taking all this into consideration, I'd suggest that the survey is good for little beyond generating headlines on an off day.

*Note the wording of the survey question (at least as reported by Reddit and the Huff Post) isn't the same as Skybirds topic title.

Last edited by AndyJWest; 02-15-17 at 08:40 PM.
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