Whether or not it’s a problem, a survey is not a good place to address it. You have to ask questions people will be able to easily answer if you want to get useful data.
You have to ask questions people will be able to easily answer if you want to get useful data.
That’s true, but it is also an inherently problematic approach if (as will almost certainly be the case when it comes to issues of ethics, politics, etc.) the things you really want to know are not easily elicited by questions that people will be able to easily answer, and vice versa — the questions that people can easily answer don’t actually tell you what you really want to know about those people’s views, attitudes, etc.
In any case, what I meant wasn’t that “EAs are not well-versed enough in moral philosophy” is a problem for the survey — what I meant was that it’s a problem for the EA movement.
Whether or not it’s a problem, a survey is not a good place to address it. You have to ask questions people will be able to easily answer if you want to get useful data.
That’s true, but it is also an inherently problematic approach if (as will almost certainly be the case when it comes to issues of ethics, politics, etc.) the things you really want to know are not easily elicited by questions that people will be able to easily answer, and vice versa — the questions that people can easily answer don’t actually tell you what you really want to know about those people’s views, attitudes, etc.
In any case, what I meant wasn’t that “EAs are not well-versed enough in moral philosophy” is a problem for the survey — what I meant was that it’s a problem for the EA movement.