Positive or negative for education?
With the growing numbers of e-readers, tablets, iPads, smartphones and other electronic devices we wondered what impact they would have on education. In a Poll Position national scientific telephone survey we asked, do you think the growing number of electronic devices will have a positive or negative effect in educational development for youth in America? A positive effect was the response for 47% of Americans, 33% said the growing number of devices would have a negative effect, 21% did not have an opinion.
A majority of Americans between the ages of 18-44 see these devices having a positive effect on educational development. Among those in the 18-29 year old age group, 50% see a positive effect, 26% think they will have a negative effect, 24% offered no opinion. In the 30-44 year old age group, 54% think electronic devices will have a positive effect on educational development, 31% see a negative effect, 15% did not have an opinion.
Men and women differed slightly on the question. Among men, 49% see the devices as having a positive effect, 31% see a negative effect, 21% offered no opinion. Women saw the devices as having a positive effect by a 47% to 35% margin
Poll Position’s scientific telephone survey of 1,145 registered voters nationwide was conducted January 17, 2012 and has a margin of error of ±3%. Poll results are weighted to be a representative sampling of all American adults.
What do you think? Vote in our online companion poll and comment below.
The online companion poll in which you can vote provides unscientific results, meaning it’s a tally of participating Poll Position users, not a nationally representative sampling.
Poll Position is committed to transparency and upholding the highest professional standards in its polling, explaining why we provide you with the crosstabs of our scientific polls. Crosstabs provide a breakdown of survey participants by age, race, gender, and political affiliation. Here are the crosstabs for this poll: Poll Position Crosstabs-Electronic devices
You can learn more about our polling methodology here.
