Refer to the AAES survey of the American public’s knowledge of and interest in engineering, Exercise 9.7. Another survey question asked, “What media sources do you use to follow stories about engineering and engineers?” Responses were categorized as either “Follow on the internet” or “Do not follow on the internet”. These responses were also classified according to age of the respondent, gender, education, and familiarity with an engineer. The results are shown in the accompanying tables above. In their final report, the AAES concluded that “men, more educated and younger adults, and those familiar with an engineer are more likely to mention the Internet as a way in which they followed engineering news”. Do you agree?

Data from Exercise 9.7

The American Association of Engineering Societies (AAES) hired Harris Interactive to conduct a survey of the American public’s knowledge of and interest in engineering. (AAES/Harris Poll “American Perspectives on Engineers and Engineering: Final Report.” 13 Feb. 2004.) The primary objective was to determine if the American public understands what engineers do and what sources of information they use to learn about engineering. Stratified random sampling was used to obtain a representative sample of 1,000 adults. In addition to answers to the survey questions, demographic information such as gender, age, education and number of engineers known was collected for each respondent. One survey item asked for responses to the statement, “ Engineers are responsible for creating things that are harmful to society”. Response categories were agree strongly, agree somewhat, disagree somewhat, or disagree strongly. An overall summary of the 965 responses is shown in the accompanying table.

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Age (n=849 responses) 18-29 years 30-44 years 45-59 years 60 years or older Follow on Internet 33 55 23 11 Do not follow on Internet 121 190 221 195 Gender (n=873 responses) Male Female Follow on Internet 77 44 Do not follow on Internet 310 442 Education (n=870 responses) Less than College Grad College Grad or Higher Follow on Internet 53 80 Do not follow on Internet 452 265 Familiarity with Engineers (n=871 responses) Know O Engineers Know at least 1 Engineer Follow on Internet 5 123 Do not follow on Internet 153 590