Only be sure always to call it, please, research
Oh look, a poll.
Graham Linehan has threatened to sue me for calling him a bigot. It is a view many would agree with. I am going to do a poll, if I lose I will retract my tweets & apologise. Is @Glinner a bigot for his transphobic views YES or NO?
— Anthony Watson CBE (@AnthonyWatson) February 23, 2019
Hahaha I’m kidding, of course; a question on Twitter is not a real poll because the respondents are not randomized. It’s a poll-within-a-set, if you like, but it doesn’t demonstrate anything.
And yet…
Please help @AnthonyWatson with his research poll … it’s important. https://t.co/JpIqYtjYRs
— Jan Gooding (@Jan_Gooding) February 24, 2019
His research poll. His research poll. Come on. It’s Twitter. The people who see your tweets are not a random sample of the population. You can’t do a research poll on Twitter!
There is also of course the highly tendentious, loaded wording of the question.
Who is Jan Gooding? The chair of Stonewall UK.
What is the answer for someone that thinks he is not only not a bigot, but is also not transphobic? Also, I should conduct a TOTALLY OBJECTIVE poll in this thread and call it research.
From the following options, how would you describe Anthony Watson’s question:
a) loaded
b) complex
c) question assumes facts not evidenced
d) all of the above
5) none of the above.
Answers involving numerals are invalid.
From the following options, how would you describe Jan Gooding’s phrasing of this poll as ‘research’:
a) holy shit, it’s a twitter poll, dude
b) disappointing
c) groan-worthy
d) eyeroll-worthy
ε) accurate
Answers involving non-english alphabet characters are invalid.
I’m not saying the dice are loaded, but in what way is the double negative ‘NO HE’S NOT A NOT A BIGOT’ any different to ‘YES HE IS A BIGOT’? Well, except for the wording, of course.