Positive Public Survey Results

[Cullin Kin]

Hiiiiii Everyone!

This semester, I'm required to take a Social Psychology class as a liberal arts requirement. Our first assignment was to conduct a survey of 50 people on campus and to report our results. Naturally, I chose e-cigarettes as my topic and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I will only report the exact answers of 10 participants, five smokers, and five non-smokers, as reporting all 50 would be a PITA. I will tell you that 45 of the 50 thought e-cigarettes were a good thing. That's 90% approval, which is awesome, but of course it was a college campus and a very small random sample.

Smoker Questions
1) How many cigarettes do you smoke in a day?
2) Have you heard of e-cigarettes?
3) Do you know how they work?
4) Do you think they are a good thing or a bad thing? And why?
5) Have you tried e-cigarettes?
6) Would you be interested in switching over from smoking?
7) How many times a day do you see them on campus?

Male Smoker #1
1) 12/Day 2) Yes 3) Yes 4) 'I'm indifferent but they seem to work.' 5) No 6) Yes, I would like to quit smoking completely. 7) 10 Times

Male Smoker #2
1) 6/Day 2) Yes 3) Yes 4) 'They're good because there is no burning and less chemicals.' 5) Yes (Only cigalikes) 6) Yes, if I could find better ones. 7) 10+ Times

Male Smoker #3
1) 2-3/Day 2) Yes 3) Yes 4) 'They're good because they are much cleaner and healthier.' 5) No 6) Yes. 7) 5-6 Times

Female Smoker #1
1) 5-8/Day 2) Yes 3) Yes 4) 'They're bad because the level of nicotine isn't regulated and everyone who uses them, uses much more nicotine than they would with regular cigarettes.' 5) No 6) No 7) 1 Time

Female Smoker #2
1) 2-3/Day 2) Yes 3) Vaguely 4) 'They're good because there's less chemicals but bad because a lot of people that use them are disrespectful.' (Upon further exploration she meant a lot of e-cog users blow their clouds in others faces, and use them inside and in tight spaces like classrooms) 5) No 6) Yes 7) 5 Times

I found it interesting how few cigarettes per day these smokers were smoking. The most I found was 12/day. Call it denial, call it self consciousness, it's just what they told me.

Non-Smoker Questions
1) Have you ever smoked?
2) Have you heard of e-cigarettes?
3) Do you know how they work?
4) Do you think they are a good thing or a bad thing? And why?
5) Have you tried e-cigarettes?
6) How many times a day do you see them on campus?

Male Non-Smoker #1
1) No 2) Yes 3) No 4) 'I think they're a good thing, I mean, honestly... There's no fire, plus they don't have 6000 chemicals or whatever.' 5) No
6) 1-2 Times

Male Non-Smoker #2
1) Yes (Twice) 2) Yes 3) No 4) 'I think they're great man. From what I know, they are much better for you. The only problem is, they smell so good it makes me hungry.' 5) No 6) 1-2 Times

Female Non-Smoker #1
1) No 2) Yes 3) No 4) 'I think they're a good thing for people trying to quit smoking but not for completely nixing the nicotine habit.' 5) No
6) 1 Time

Female Non-Smoker #2
1) No 2) Yes 3) Yes 4) 'They're good because they help people quit!' 5) No 6) 2-3 Times

Female Non-Smoker #3
1) No 2) Yes 3) Kind Of 4) 'They're good because a couple of my friends dramatically cut down on smoking and a couple others completely quit!' 5) No 6) 0 Times

Obviously, it was tough with a couple to refrain from educating them but the questions and the study had to be unbiased. Overall, I was really happy with the general public at my campus.

I know you guys are just going to have to take my word for this but I promise I did not edit these results in any sort of way.

I hope this brought a little hope to you all with how at least a small portion of the public views what we do.

Thanks for taking the time to read.

~ Cullin Kin

 

[FlamingoTutu]

Nice! Surprised me a little with the results, to be honest. Who says young people are dumb, lol. Good job and thank you for posting.

 

[James Wilson]

Very interesting. I would love to have actually seen what all 50 people had to say. One thing I find interesting is Female Smoker #1 . She claims she knows how E-cigs work but it seems apparent she probably doesn't know everything. Especially since she thinks it is bad for you. I am guessing she is the type that listens to the propaganda. If that is the case it is possible she doesn't really know how they work at all. I thought I knew a lot but when i first came here I realized there was a lot I didn't know. I have learned much and I love vaping. lol.

Male Smoker #2 also might not really know how they work like he claims. He might know some of the basics but the knowledge you get from them is limited. Especially since he doesn't seem to know there are much better options out there. He thinks he knows but he doesn't know it all. lol. Even hearing the terms isn't the same as holding one in your hands yourself and doing it all yourself. BTW I wouldn't consider the 2-3 cigs a day smokers. I am 30. I smoked for 14 years and just quit. I started at 16. But I didn't really get hooked until I was 17. I went from 1-2 a day to 6-7. Sometimes a lot higher. i didn't consider myself a smoker during that first year. The first year I was just relieving stress. lol. I have known other people who barely smoked any and tried to claim to be smokers. I would always give them an odd look and be like "No your not" If you have been doing it more then a year and aren't smoking more then that amount then your likely not even inhaling it in the first place. lol. My sister's ex husband used to do that. We would be hanging out. He wants one. I stopped giving them to him when I found out he didn't actually inhale them. lol. Still really well done man. I am not criticizing your report. I am more or less trying to psycho analyze the subjects of the report. A bad habit of mine. lol

 

[Cullin Kin]

Nice! Surprised me a little with the results, to be honest. Who says young people are dumb, lol. Good job and thank you for posting.

Ha ha it is a surprising result! The ages ranged from 18 to 52 although the bulk were between 18 and 24. My pleasure.

Very interesting. I would love to have actually seen what all 50 people had to say. One thing I find interesting is Female Smoker #1 . She claims she knows how E-cigs work but it seems apparent she probably doesn't know everything. Especially since she thinks it is bad for you. I am guessing she is the type that listens to the propaganda. If that is the case it is possible she doesn't really know how they work at all. I thought I knew a lot but when i first came here I realized there was a lot I didn't know. I have learned much and I love vaping. lol.

Male Smoker #2 also might not really know how they work like he claims. He might know some of the basics but the knowledge you get from them is limited. Especially since he doesn't seem to know there are much better options out there. He thinks he knows but he doesn't know it all. lol. Even hearing the terms isn't the same as holding one in your hands yourself and doing it all yourself. BTW I wouldn't consider the 2-3 cigs a day smokers. I am 30. I smoked for 14 years and just quit. I started at 16. But I didn't really get hooked until I was 17. I went from 1-2 a day to 6-7. Sometimes a lot higher. i didn't consider myself a smoker during that first year. The first year I was just relieving stress. lol. I have known other people who barely smoked any and tried to claim to be smokers. I would always give them an odd look and be like "No your not" If you have been doing it more then a year and aren't smoking more then that amount then your likely not even inhaling it in the first place. lol. My sister's ex husband used to do that. We would be hanging out. He wants one. I stopped giving them to him when I found out he didn't actually inhale them. lol. Still really well done man. I am not criticizing your report. I am more or less trying to psycho analyze the subjects of the report. A bad habit of mine. lol

I tried to pick 10 people on here that would represent the overall distribution. Most of the people that said they were a bad thing were completely uneducated and influenced by the negative sermonizing mainstream media. I was pleasantly surprised at how few of those there actually were. As for the smokers, I just picked anyone who was smoking. I still find it odd that everyone was smoking so little. Sure, maybe half would be an expected result for under a pack a day but the entire sample? Seems a little fishy to me lol.

No no I got cha, I know you weren't criticizing. I'm glad you both liked it and thank you for taking the time to read it!

I hope others see it and like it as well.

 

[bluecat]

Thanks for sharing. Interesting how the younger crowd feels. I had my daughter (high school) about them when I first started vaping. She said that she had seen kids at school with them but after a week or so she never saw them again.

Personally I think it is more indicative of a government that isn't representing the people but rather their own agendas. Basically we are told how we should think because we aren't smart enough to think for ourselves.

As far as how little people are smoking, one could garner that from the facts that smoking is on a decline. All the demonization of it has worked. Sad, but true.

 

[zoiDman]

What I found Interesting were the Results of Question #6 by the Non-Smokers even though the Sampling Size was Very Small.

I wonder if Non-Smokers see people using an e-Cigarette and perceive them as Smoking?

Especially when compared to the Answers given by Smokers to the Same Question.

 

[Cullin Kin]

Thanks for sharing. Interesting how the younger crowd feels. I had my daughter (high school) about them when I first started vaping. She said that she had seen kids at school with them but after a week or so she never saw them again.

Personally I think it is more indicative of a government that isn't representing the people but rather their own agendas. Basically we are told how we should think because we aren't smart enough to think for ourselves.

As far as how little people are smoking, one could garner that from the facts that smoking is on a decline. All the demonization of it has worked. Sad, but true.

Very true! It seems to be generally more accepted by youth, however, some of the most accepting answers came from the baby-boomer population of the school.

What I found Interesting were the Results of Question #6 by the Non-Smokers even though the Sampling Size was Very Small.

I wonder if Non-Smokers see people using an e-Cigarette and perceive them as Smoking?

Especially when compared to the Answers given by Smokers to the Same Question.

Yeah, it is interesting. It definitely seems like smokers are more aware. I know when I'm vaping on campus and someone who obviously doesn't smoke walks buy and smells fresh baked cookies and not cigarette smoke, some interesting looks arise.

 

[Cullin Kin]

So I spoke with my professor and she specifically made a point of telling me that she wouldn't be able to accept this as my project after initially approving it. Why do you think that is?

 

[zoiDman]

So I spoke with my professor and she specifically made a point of telling me that she wouldn't be able to accept this as my project after initially approving it. Why do you think that is?

What Exactly is your Campus's e-Cigarette Policy?

 

[Cullin Kin]

What Exactly is your Campus's e-Cigarette Policy?

They're banned for use indoors, but nothing for the rest of the campus. Smoking is banned indoors (obviously) and within 25 feet of doors. What makes less sense is she will be the only one to read it, I won't be presenting it in class or anything...

 

[DrMA]

Very cool project. And thanks for posting the results.

As for your prof, I'd pursue the project and submit as is irrespective of her opinion. Believe it or not, I too took a similar class in college and did a survey on campus, which, among other things, revealed that smokers had a higher GPA than non-smokers. My prof was not happy about it, but had to accept it anyway in the end.

 

[Cullin Kin]

Very cool project. And thanks for posting the results.

As for your prof, I'd pursue the project and submit as is irrespective of her opinion. Believe it or not, I too took a similar class in college and did a survey on campus, which, among other things, revealed that smokers had a higher GPA than non-smokers. My prof was not happy about it, but had to accept it anyway in the end.

I'm glad you liked it and thanks for reading.

I was thinking about doing that. I mean, I spent two days collecting data and several hours composing the report. There's no way that's going to waste. At least I could post it here and bring a little positivity to the war on vaping.

I was just in Seattle, Bellevue actually last week!

 

[Pinot]

When you decide to write it up (even if you decide not to submit it for this paper) think very carefully about your use of a random sample. I very much doubt you actually have a random sample if you approached people on campus (even not targeting people smoking it would not satisfy the science for a random sample). And I say WHEN you write it up because it's a really interesting piece and I'm sure someone, somewhere would be interested in publishing it in some way. That is if you can give it enough rigour and specify the limitations. Also, I'm sure you can find some published research somewhere which states that smokers under report the amount they smoke.

 

[FlamingoTutu]

Did she tell you why she wouldn't accept it or was "Why do you think that is?" the big clue? If it's because of the subject matter, I'd take it to her superior. If she doesn't want it because you didn't do the assignment correctly that's a different matter. Good luck.

 

[Cullin Kin]

When you decide to write it up (even if you decide not to submit it for this paper) think very carefully about your use of a random sample. I very much doubt you actually have a random sample if you approached people on campus (even not targeting people smoking it would not satisfy the science for a random sample). And I say WHEN you write it up because it's a really interesting piece and I'm sure someone, somewhere would be interested in publishing it in some way. That is if you can give it enough rigour and specify the limitations. Also, I'm sure you can find some published research somewhere which states that smokers under report the amount they smoke.

Yeah, random wasn't technically correct but this is as close to a random sample as I could get without the investment of more time and possibly money, both of which I am very short on lol. It was a subset of a larger population, but not everyone on campus had equal chances of getting chosen. It was more of a systematic sampling though.

Maybe I should post the final write up as a blog on this site? Whadoyathink?

I'm just happy to see that, of the small sample I surveyed, the general consensus was very positive towards e-cigarettes. I mean they shouldn't have any reason not to be besides the lies they're told and being subjected to it in confined areas.

Did she tell you why she wouldn't accept it or was "Why do you think that is?" the big clue? If it's because of the subject matter, I'd take it to her superior. If she doesn't want it because you didn't do the assignment correctly that's a different matter. Good luck.

The guidelines of the project were to conduct a survey of 50 people on a topic of your choice, and you must ask at least five questions. I haven't turned anything in yet either, all we did was preliminarily register our topics with her.

She never gave me a clear answer as to why, and I had to get to work so I couldn't push the matter any more. I just asked, 'Why do you think this is?' to see what you all thought. I mean, why would someone flip-flop like that? An why couldn't she have told me before spending all this time on it? lol

 

[faile]

I'd definitely bring it up with her the next time you have a chance, or send her an email (my professors were big on questions via email, not sure how common that is), and just let her know that you are confused since she did initially approve the topic. If you didn't already, do also let her know how much work you've already put into it. Hopefully it's just a methodological problem that you can fix without switching topics! I know some professors where I went to college had a list of off-limits topics they would include with the assignment (mainly because they were tired of reading about them)-- I'm assuming she didn't have one of these/ if she did, e-cigs weren't on it?

 

[zoiDman]

They're banned for use indoors, but nothing for the rest of the campus. Smoking is banned indoors (obviously) and within 25 feet of doors. What makes less sense is she will be the only one to read it, I won't be presenting it in class or anything...

I would Suggest that you speak to your Professor during Her Office Hours and Politely ask why your project is unacceptable.

It could be that She is Wary of having a Student doing a Project that involves a Non-Academic Campus Policy?

 

[James Wilson]

If it was me writing up this report I would have used the term vaporizer instead of E-Cig. She probably doesn't even know that term for it. It is how I answer people when they ask about mine. As for the randomness, I am guessing you aren't 21 yet. If you were I'd suggest going into bars and asking a few smokers about it. That tends to be wear the heavier smokers are many times. It can be tough though when your limited on money and options of places you can go to ask about it though. I think the report is great. It sucks that your professor is suddenly trying to shut you down on this when she initially approved it.

 

[Cullin Kin]

If it was me writing up this report I would have used the term vaporizer instead of E-Cig. She probably doesn't even know that term for it. It is how I answer people when they ask about mine. As for the randomness, I am guessing you aren't 21 yet. If you were I'd suggest going into bars and asking a few smokers about it. That tends to be wear the heavier smokers are many times. It can be tough though when your limited on money and options of places you can go to ask about it though. I think the report is great. It sucks that your professor is suddenly trying to shut you down on this when she initially approved it.

Ironically, I initially was doing the survey asking about Personal Vaporizers and all the responses were, 'Ooh! Is that what you use to smoke ~insert illicit substance here~,' because you know, it's Colorado lol. So I had to switch it over to e-cigarettes. I hate the term 'e-cigs' as much as the next vaper, but to be honest, that's what the public knows them by.

I am 20, no bars for me yet! I had to keep it on campus anyways.

I'm glad you liked it and thanks for taking the time to read it! I'm just going to type it up as is and hope she just deals with it. I don't want to have to bring it up with the dean, ya know?

 

[James Wilson]

Ironically, I initially was doing the survey asking about Personal Vaporizers and all the responses were, 'Ooh! Is that what you use to smoke ~insert illicit substance here~,' because you know, it's Colorado lol. So I had to switch it over to e-cigarettes. I hate the term 'e-cigs' as much as the next vaper, but to be honest, that's what the public knows them by.

I am 20, no bars for me yet! I had to keep it on campus anyways.

I'm glad you liked it and thanks for taking the time to read it! I'm just going to type it up as is and hope she just deals with it. I don't want to have to bring it up with the dean, ya know?

I hate that so many people mix it up. I personally wouldn't want to even use it for that. Just cause the other thing I enjoy that is legal there in colorado, has good medicinal qualities to it as well and I would rather get all of them in me rather then just what messes you up. lol Now lets can the talk on this cause I know they frown apon it on here. lol. Sorry mods.

For me it is a vaporizer and it is important people understand the difference. Lots of things ment for one thing can be used for other stuff. I have gotten similar responses from people though. Had one women at the food pantry I got to sometimes ask me if it was to help me breath. lol. I explained what it is and how it works. She didn't like the sound that I was still vaping nicotine but she was glad I was off cigarettes and am doing better. A lot of people unfortunately just only know the false rumors that go around and it takes a while before they accept that vaping isn't really that bad for you and that the rumors are false. In the short term at least this is a lot better for us. No idea on the long term already but i get the feeling it is better as well. lol