How many times do you exercise per week, on average?
How many nonfiction books do you read per month, on average?
How knowledgeable would you consider yourself in the following fields? (on a scale of 0 to 5, where 3 is about “studied it at university” and 5 “I’m a publically recognized expert”)
For the first one, it might be better to ask how many hours / minutes rather than how many times. Otherwise somebody’s 10-minute cycle to work is counted with as much weight as somebody else’s 2 hours in the gym.
I prefer asking for the times of exercise per week and a question for when the person last exercised to check whether certain people overestimate the amount they exercise. It would be interesting to see whether people who are better calibrated on the calibration question do better at this task then people who aren’t calibrated.
I also don’t think that minutes are very meaningful. Intensity matters as well. It’s easier to stay with the simple question for the amount of exercise. I don’t think there a strong systematic bias at play.
I like the calibration check idea, and it’s a fair point about intensity. The last survey I took that included this kind of question asked about “moderate exercise (eg brisk walking)” and “intense exercise”, or some similar wording, which I thought was a reasonable split. These might all be details we don’t care about though.
Could be a good addition! I don’t really know what the purpose of these questions is other than vague general interest… is there some hypothesis like “people who think there will be a Singularity soon are more active/healthier than people who think it will be less soon / never”??
I think it would depend on the probabilities and payoffs: if surviving to the Singularity is sufficiently worthless, or taking care of your health is sufficiently expensive, or the Singularity is near with extreme confidence, then you might conclude that you can neglect your health, stop brushing your teeth, etc. But very few people expect any singularity to be near or sooner than a decade or two, or with extreme confidence, so I think for any plausible values you’d wind up wanting to pay attention to your health. Cancer can strike at any time, among other threats.
What does it mean “studied it at university”? Do you mean something like “Took econ 101 and 102 as part of gen ed requirements” or “majored in economics”?
The goal is to give reference points for the jumerical scale so the numbers can be more meaningfully compared, not necessarily to have a detailed reference that will annoy some people (too much to read) and confuse others (don’t fit in).
I was thinking of something intermediate, like “took specialized classes, not 101”, but I’m afraid being too specific about education means people will not take into account other things like how much they forgot or how much they learnt in the meantime. Someone who took econ 101 but works in a bank and argues about economic policy on the internet everyday and read a few good books is probably more knowledgeale than someone who majored in economics and then said “screw it all” and became an actor.
A couple (more) questions I’d find interesting:
How many times do you exercise per week, on average?
How many nonfiction books do you read per month, on average?
How knowledgeable would you consider yourself in the following fields? (on a scale of 0 to 5, where 3 is about “studied it at university” and 5 “I’m a publically recognized expert”)
Psychology
Economics
Artificial Intelligence
Statistics
For the first one, it might be better to ask how many hours / minutes rather than how many times. Otherwise somebody’s 10-minute cycle to work is counted with as much weight as somebody else’s 2 hours in the gym.
(agreed, and the question should probably be formulated to distinguish deliberate exercise from things like cycling to work)
I prefer asking for the times of exercise per week and a question for when the person last exercised to check whether certain people overestimate the amount they exercise. It would be interesting to see whether people who are better calibrated on the calibration question do better at this task then people who aren’t calibrated.
I also don’t think that minutes are very meaningful. Intensity matters as well. It’s easier to stay with the simple question for the amount of exercise. I don’t think there a strong systematic bias at play.
I like the calibration check idea, and it’s a fair point about intensity. The last survey I took that included this kind of question asked about “moderate exercise (eg brisk walking)” and “intense exercise”, or some similar wording, which I thought was a reasonable split. These might all be details we don’t care about though.
Do you think the survey should also take into account BMI + bodyfat % if it includes fitness questions?
Could be a good addition! I don’t really know what the purpose of these questions is other than vague general interest… is there some hypothesis like “people who think there will be a Singularity soon are more active/healthier than people who think it will be less soon / never”??
I would think it would be the other way around—no sense preserving your health if you’ll be uploaded in a few years anyway, right?
I think it would depend on the probabilities and payoffs: if surviving to the Singularity is sufficiently worthless, or taking care of your health is sufficiently expensive, or the Singularity is near with extreme confidence, then you might conclude that you can neglect your health, stop brushing your teeth, etc. But very few people expect any singularity to be near or sooner than a decade or two, or with extreme confidence, so I think for any plausible values you’d wind up wanting to pay attention to your health. Cancer can strike at any time, among other threats.
What does it mean “studied it at university”? Do you mean something like “Took econ 101 and 102 as part of gen ed requirements” or “majored in economics”?
The goal is to give reference points for the jumerical scale so the numbers can be more meaningfully compared, not necessarily to have a detailed reference that will annoy some people (too much to read) and confuse others (don’t fit in).
I was thinking of something intermediate, like “took specialized classes, not 101”, but I’m afraid being too specific about education means people will not take into account other things like how much they forgot or how much they learnt in the meantime. Someone who took econ 101 but works in a bank and argues about economic policy on the internet everyday and read a few good books is probably more knowledgeale than someone who majored in economics and then said “screw it all” and became an actor.
Then make this clear in the prompt.
Good questions. Especially about excercize. Studies allways seem to show big correlations with that so its worth asking about.