Do Global Warmers damage their credibility when they distort data and manipulate statistics?

Question

A number of articles (and questions on YA) have appeared touting a 2009 "study" which purports to show that 97% of climate scientists agree that global warming is caused by man. An example of one such article is here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/200…

These articles claim that thousands of scientists surveyed from around the world overwhelmingly agree that global warming is caused by man. A closer look at the study itself however, shows that out of 10,257 scientists who were surveyed the responses from just 77 scientists were used. 75 of those 77 agreed that man's activities were a "significant contributing factor" in causing global warming, resulting in the 97% figure. The authors of that study claim that they winnowed down the responses to those scientists who were "most relevant."

The articles typically don't mention that, but mention instead that thousands of scientists were surveyed and the results show that they overwhelmingly agree. That's profoundly dishonest.

Regardless of your position on global warming, wouldn't you agree that this shameless manipulation of data and distortion of statistics tends to discredit the entire field when it's exposed?

http://sppiblog.org/news/that-97-solution

Answer 1

The referenced survey by the University of Illinois sent their web-based survey to 10,257 earth scientists, yes. However, only 3,146 replied, only 5% of whom were climate scientists.



From the report: They were asked:

1. When compared with pre-1800s levels, do you think that mean global temperatures have generally risen, fallen, or remained relatively constant?

2. Do you think human activity is a significant contributing factor in changing mean global temperatures?



Results show that overall, 90% of participants answered “risen” to question 1 and 82% answered yes to question 2.



The survey THEN separated the climate scientists from the other respondents, 79 in total, and showed that as ONE conclusion.



From the summary of the report:



It seems that the debate on the authenticity of global warming and the role played by human activity is largely nonexistent among those who understand the nuances and scientific basis of long-term climate processes. The challenge, rather, appears to be how to effectively communicate this fact to policy makers and to a public that continues to mistakenly perceive debate among scientists.

Answer 2

"In our survey, the most specialized and knowledgeable respondents (with regard to climate change) are those who listed climate science as their area of expertise and who also have published more than 50% of their recent peer-reviewed papers on the subject of climate change (79 individuals in total). Of these specialists, 96.2% (76 of 79) answered “risen” to question 1 and 97.4% (75 of 77) answered yes to question 2."



It would appear that people who actually understand what's going on overwhelmingly believe that temps have risen and we're major contributers.

Answer 3

they were honest in saying all they had was an opinion poll and not data.