Telling "Facts" from "Opinions"

[FallingUp]

I recently read an article on NPR that examined peoples ability to tell fact from fiction. The article included a quiz that I think would be interesting to test on these forms. The quiz can be found at:

Quiz: How well can you tell factual from opinion statements? | Pew Research Center

I suggest taking the quiz before reading the article as the article gives away the correct answers. Did you correctly identify fact from opinion? What does it suggest about voter knowledge that identifying fact from opinion appears to be difficult for both parties based on what they tend to agree with. The link to the article is:

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621569425/its-easier-to-call-a-fact-a-fact-when-it-s-a-fact-you-like-study-finds


For reference I did get 10/10 but I had read the first half of the article (up to where it explains the difference between fact/opinion) before taking the test.

 

[Grand Mal]

I recently read an article on NPR that examined peoples ability to tell fact from fiction. The article included a quiz that I think would be interesting to test on these forms. The quiz can be found at:

Quiz: How well can you tell factual from opinion statements? | Pew Research Center

I suggest taking the quiz before reading the article as the article gives away the correct answers. Did you correctly identify fact from opinion? What does it suggest about voter knowledge that identifying fact from opinion appears to be difficult for both parties based on what they tend to agree with. The link to the article is:

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621569425/its-easier-to-call-a-fact-a-fact-when-it-s-a-fact-you-like-study-finds


For reference I did get 10/10 but I had read the first half of the article (up to where it explains the difference between fact/opinion) before taking the test.

It's a pretty simple quiz. Anyone who gets one question wrong either moved 'way too quickly or doesn't know what the difference is.

 

[Rogue Valley]

A perfect score on the Pew test

 

[Skeptic Bob]

I got 10/10. I guess that logic class I took in college back in the early 90s finally paid off.

 

[Xelor]

I recently read an article on NPR that examined peoples ability to tell fact from fiction. The article included a quiz that I think would be interesting to test on these forms. The quiz can be found at:

Quiz: How well can you tell factual from opinion statements? | Pew Research Center

I suggest taking the quiz before reading the article as the article gives away the correct answers. Did you correctly identify fact from opinion? What does it suggest about voter knowledge that identifying fact from opinion appears to be difficult for both parties based on what they tend to agree with. The link to the article is:

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/6215...-a-fact-when-it-s-a-fact-you-like-study-finds


For reference I did get 10/10 but I had read the first half of the article (up to where it explains the difference between fact/opinion) before taking the test.

Red:

Well, there's the key:
​

• 
  [*=1]Minors: Prior to completing the 10[SUP]th[/SUP] grade, it's understandable that minors may not be able to distinguish between a positive statement and normative one.
  [*=1]After completing the 10[SUP]th[/SUP] grade: It is rueful, pathetic, deplorable, unconscionable, that anyone after they've matriculated to the 11[SUP]th[/SUP] grade cannot tell what types of statements, regardless of the subject matter, are positive and what types are normative.

Of course, one must be taught the difference, but the fact is that is something schools do teach -- though they may not teach it by way of "dropping it in students' laps" -- as part of the overall development of critical thinking skills. (I swear, at times I truly believe that people construe "critical thinking" as "thinking about how, whom and what to criticize.")​

 

[Tres1B]

10/10 score.

Wasn't particularly difficult if you think about it critically - Fact is something that can be proven right or wrong. Anything stating "best", "good", "worst", etc, is an opinion.

 

[AGENT J]

Super easy 10/10

 

[Hawkeye10]

I recently read an article on NPR that examined peoples ability to tell fact from fiction. The article included a quiz that I think would be interesting to test on these forms. The quiz can be found at:

Quiz: How well can you tell factual from opinion statements? | Pew Research Center

I suggest taking the quiz before reading the article as the article gives away the correct answers. Did you correctly identify fact from opinion? What does it suggest about voter knowledge that identifying fact from opinion appears to be difficult for both parties based on what they tend to agree with. The link to the article is:

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621569425/its-easier-to-call-a-fact-a-fact-when-it-s-a-fact-you-like-study-finds


For reference I did get 10/10 but I had read the first half of the article (up to where it explains the difference between fact/opinion) before taking the test.

It gets harder when the FAILED INTELLIGENTSIA! uses their learned ability to manipulate the English Language to sell opinions/lies as facts.

They are exactly that scummy.

 

[Tres1B]

Also, what amazes me is according to the website, by getting a 10/10 on this test, I can determine facts better than 73% of the population and opinions better than 65%. That's... interesting, to say the least.

 

[Skeptic Bob]

It's a pretty simple quiz. Anyone who gets one question wrong either moved 'way too quickly or doesn't know what the difference is.

They may also believe the statement is wrong. I may be wrong about this, but I think in logic a “factual statement” is one that in principle can be proven true or false. So it is possible to have an incorrect “factual statement”. For example, “Mount Everest is 100 feet high”. That is obviously false but it also isn’t an opinion statement. I may be misremembering, though.

 

[Tres1B]

They may also believe the statement is wrong. I may be wrong about this, but I think in logic a “factual statement” is one that in principle can be proven true or false. So it is possible to have an incorrect “factual statement”. For example, “Mount Everest is 100 feet high”. That is obviously false but it also isn’t an opinion statement. I may be misremembering, though.

That's correct.

 

[Skeptic Bob]

That's correct.

I hope that is a true factual statement and not a false factual statement. ;

 

[Hari Seldon]

Also, what amazes me is according to the website, by getting a 10/10 on this test, I can determine facts better than 73% of the population and opinions better than 65%. That's... interesting, to say the least.

I'm not so sure that's a fact. LOL! I got 10/10 also. Bet the birthers got one wrong.

 

[The Mark]

I recently read an article on NPR that examined peoples ability to tell fact from fiction. The article included a quiz that I think would be interesting to test on these forms. The quiz can be found at:

Quiz: How well can you tell factual from opinion statements? | Pew Research Center

I suggest taking the quiz before reading the article as the article gives away the correct answers. Did you correctly identify fact from opinion? What does it suggest about voter knowledge that identifying fact from opinion appears to be difficult for both parties based on what they tend to agree with. The link to the article is:

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621569425/its-easier-to-call-a-fact-a-fact-when-it-s-a-fact-you-like-study-finds


For reference I did get 10/10 but I had read the first half of the article (up to where it explains the difference between fact/opinion) before taking the test.

A friend sent this to me yesterday - I got 10/10, but had to look up info on US spending because I wasn't sure on that question.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Only reason I got one wrong is because I thought that the military budget was larger than SS, Medicare and Medicaid.
Nine out of ten ain't bad

 

[Harshaw]

They may also believe the statement is wrong. I may be wrong about this, but I think in logic a “factual statement” is one that in principle can be proven true or false. So it is possible to have an incorrect “factual statement”. For example, “Mount Everest is 100 feet high”. That is obviously false but it also isn’t an opinion statement. I may be misremembering, though.

You're right. It doesn't matter if the statement is right or wrong; it only matters that it's an assertion of fact. Being incorrect doesn't make it opinion. It's just incorrect.

 

[Mycroft]

I recently read an article on NPR that examined peoples ability to tell fact from fiction. The article included a quiz that I think would be interesting to test on these forms. The quiz can be found at:

Quiz: How well can you tell factual from opinion statements? | Pew Research Center

I suggest taking the quiz before reading the article as the article gives away the correct answers. Did you correctly identify fact from opinion? What does it suggest about voter knowledge that identifying fact from opinion appears to be difficult for both parties based on what they tend to agree with. The link to the article is:

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/19/621569425/its-easier-to-call-a-fact-a-fact-when-it-s-a-fact-you-like-study-finds


For reference I did get 10/10 but I had read the first half of the article (up to where it explains the difference between fact/opinion) before taking the test.

10/10 and that was without reading the NPR article.

What surprised me most was the percentage of people who got wrong answers.

I'm thinking a lot of people didn't read, didn't understand or didn't apply the following condition:

Regardless of how knowledgeable you are about each topic, would you consider each statement to be a factual statement (whether you think it is accurate or not) or an opinion statement (whether you agree with it or not)?

On the other hand, given some of the comments I see in various threads on this forum, I know there are people who accept opinion as fact.

 

[Common Sense 1]

Like most 10/10

You answered 5 of 5 factual statements correctly.
You scored better than 73% of the public and the same as 26%.

You answered 5 of 5 opinion statements correctly.
You scored better than 65% of the public and the same as 35%.

 

[The Mark]

I found the percentages on this question interesting - makes me think either a lack of constitutional knowledge and/or successful propaganda played a role
Although I have to admit I mostly guessed, based on a vaguely recalled prior conversation about the rights of everyone in the USA, no matter citizenship. Actually, now I think it was Guantanamo prisoners that discussion occurred around.
And why we had them on that island instead of in the USA.

Note the below image has one of the answers, so don't look if you want the quiz to be accurate.

Spoiler

Especially interesting is that even Democrats, who you might think would be swayed by their positions politically, were still only right 65% of the time on this one.


Edit: Also I apparently didn't read the instructions very well, because I was looking for true factual statements, not just factual ones.

 

[FallingUp]

I had assumed that the questions weren't difficult for me because of reading part of the article before taking the quiz. With so many getting 10/10 now I'm wondering about the 73% of the public... I wonder if there is a more in depth quiz available somewhere.

 

[LadyMoonlight]

It is rather frightening that so many people cannot tell the difference. I don't know how much America spends on social security and medicine, but I could still answer the question logically.

 

[holbritter]

Got a 9/10.

Missed the one about the SS and Medicare costs.

 

[The Mark]

Only reason I got one wrong is because I thought that the military budget was larger than SS, Medicare and Medicaid.
Nine out of ten ain't bad

That one almost caught me too.

Made me realize some of the propaganda - I mean, it's technically correct to say that the military is the majority of discretionary spending, but it's not the majority of the budget when you include mandatory spending.

 

[Rob Larrikin]

I recently read an article on NPR that examined peoples ability to tell fact from fiction. The article included a quiz that I think would be interesting to test on these forms. The quiz can be found at:

Quiz: How well can you tell factual from opinion statements? | Pew Research Center

[Warning: SPOILERS AHEAD]
.
.
.
.
.
.

Often polls like this are used to create propaganda, so I have listed the questions below and my answers, and if I get less than ten this poll is partisan.

1) Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally are a very big problem for the country today.

I picked “factual statement” because it is a fact. If Pew says it is not a big problem this is a partisan poll.

2) Abortion should be legal in most cases

I picked “factual statement” because it should be legal in most cases. If Pew says it is only an opinion this is a partisan poll.

3) Democracy is the greatest form of government.

I picked “factual statement” because it is provably and demonstrably the greatest. As Winston Churchill said, Democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time…” If Pew says that is only an opinion, they’re wrong, and this is a partisan poll.

4) Spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid make up the largest portion of the U.S. federal budget

I picked “factual statement”. If Pew says that is only an opinion, this is a partisan poll.

5) Health care costs per person in the U.S. are the highest in the developed world

I picked “factual statement”. If Pew says that is only an opinion, this is a partisan poll.

6) Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally have some rights under the Constitution.

I picked “factual statement”. If Pew says that is only an opinion, this is a partisan poll.

7) Government is almost always wasteful and inefficient.

I picked “factual statement”. Once again this is provably and demonstrably correct. If Pew says that is only an opinion, this is a partisan poll.

8) President Barack Obama was born in the United States.

I picked “factual statement”, but I will tweak that. It is a “factual statement” according to the U.S government. My own private opinion is that I don’t know whether it is a fact or not, but I’m not denying it.

9) ISIS lost a significant portion of its territory in Iraq and Syria in 2017.

I picked “factual statement”. If Pew says that is only an opinion this is a partisan poll.

10) Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour is essential for the health of the U.S. economy.

I picked “opinion statement”. In truth minimum wage legislation destroys jobs and makes people poorer. If Pew says number 10 is a fact, this is a partisan poll.
​

All the above was written before clicking ‘Get your results’. Here we go:

Ha! I knew it. They scored me down, saying I had four of the answers wrong. This is a partisan quiz!

Here are their “corrections”

Democracy is the greatest form of government.

You answered Factual statement
The correct answer is Opinion statement

Incorrect. The correct answer is ‘Factual Statement’

Abortion should be legal in most cases.

You answered Factual statement
The correct answer is Opinion statement

Incorrect. The correct answer is ‘Factual Statement’

Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally are a very big problem for the country today.

You answered Factual statement
The correct answer is Opinion statement

Incorrect. The correct answer is ‘Factual Statement’

Government is almost always wasteful and inefficient.

You answered Factual statement
The correct answer is Opinion statement

Incorrect. The correct answer is ‘Factual Statement’

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

That one almost caught me too.

Made me realize some of the propaganda - I mean, it's technically correct to say that the military is the majority of discretionary spending, but it's not the majority of the budget when you include mandatory spending.

This will make you faint:

Everything in the VA budget is mandatory (non-discretionary) spending except for one part...

THE actual VA HEALTH CARE budget, the part that hires the doctors, lab techs, surgical techs, researchers, surgeons, nurses, pays for the medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, you know...the part of the VA that's NECESSARY.