Issues of national security and the privacy of American citizens

1Attitude SurveyAttitude SurveyStudentJune 17, 2013PSY/475Maggie Boone-Tribout2Attitude SurveyIssues of national security and the privacy of American citizens have been at the forefrontof the news recently due to a large-scale intelligence leak by Edward Snowden, the former CIAemployee and whistleblower who published information on NSA surveillance practices. Thisattitude survey was designed to investigate opinions regarding the intent and Constitutionality ofthe right to privacy and whether the intelligence community has violated such rights under theguise of national security. The purpose of the survey, methods of design, and scoring andreporting are reviewed in detail.Purpose of the SurveyThe purpose of the survey is to investigate attitudes toward privacy and national securityand whether the Constitutional rights of American citizens have been violated by the intelligencecommunity with respect to policies of surveillance. The survey was designed to assess differingopinions on privacy and national security by gender and age in an online university communitysetting. Covel (2003) states that, “support for government interception of cell phone and e-mailcommunication, for instance, increases with age. Only 34 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds are infavor of expanded communication monitoring, while 54 percent of those over 65 support theidea” (p. 14). While the issue of national security is quite broad and has been discussed in depthover the past decade, particularly after the events of September 11th, the survey itself pertains toattitudes associated with the recent events of Verizon, the NSA and whistleblower, EdwardSnowden. The survey items, therefore, are designed with the intention of determining attitudes ofprivacy as it relates specifically to the most recent coverage of the issue in the news.3Attitude SurveyPreliminary Design IssuesHogan (2007) states even in first phase of defining the purpose of a survey, anypreliminary design issues that could possibly arise must be considered in the construction of themeasure. In this case, there were three main design issues confronted in the creation of thesurvey. The first issue concerned the scoring scale, which was a Likert system of 1-5 pointsinstead of a 3-7 scale. This design difference could possibly affect the outcome. As Hogan (2007)discusses, creating a survey that scores for a negatively skewed distribution will allow formaximum discrimination to be shown in the lower part of the distribution. Due to the fact thatthis survey was designed with a 1-5 point Likert scale, the scores will demonstrate a range ofpositive, neutral, or negative opinion regarding privacy, with a positive opinion being that ofapproval of the government involvement and no fault seen. The second preliminary design issueis that two of the eight items are worded as such that a “Strongly Agree” answer would support anegative opinion of the government’s involvement in the privacy realm. However, as Hogan(2007) discusses, it is important for attitude surveys to contain positively and negatively wordeditems to enhance the discrimination of the distribution and ensure that the test measure isreliable. The final preliminary design issue was that the survey was conducted in an onlineclassroom format on an open thread. As this issue could be considered somewhat controversial, itis possible that due to the open format and other class members being able to read surveyresponses, participants may have adjusted their answers to skew more toward the normaldistribution. As Sterngold (2005) writes, “one source of inaccuracy is affirmation bias, whichoccurs when survey participants try to give answers that are socially desirable or self-confirming,or when they mold their answers to sound positive and agreeable” (p. 42).4As the survey must be completed in electronic format in the online university classroom,there were no special accommodations for persons with disabilities. The survey was written andadministered in English and was not-translated into any other languages as the target group wasan online university classroom setting conducted in English.Administering, Scoring, and Interpreting the SurveyThe survey is an informal design created for the sole purpose of administration in theonline university classroom setting. The reliability of the survey could be tested byadministering the survey to different classes in the online university setting to ensure thereefficacy of the measures.The survey is self administered in an online classroom format. The survey was posted inthe main forum and also in the administrator’s “Team D” thread. Based on biographiescompleted at the beginning of the class, it was ensured that each participant was age 18 or older.A Likert-scale from 1-5 was used with 1-scale point increments for the responses, rangingfrom “Strongly Disagree (1)” to “Strongly Agree (5)”. The lower response score correspondswith the opinion that the government has overstepped boundaries associated with the privacy ofits citizens and a higher response score corresponds to the opinion that the government has actedjustly regarding privacy as threats to national security are paramount to the rights of individualcitizens. As discussed previously, items 4 and 8 are worded directionally opposite to the otheritems and participants who feel government has acted justly regarding privacy concerns shouldscore “Strongly Disagree” on these two items. Therefore, a participant who approves of thegovernment’s actions should score a total of 32 points on the survey with “1” circled on item 4and 8. Similarly, a participant who disagrees with the government’s approach should score a “1”5Attitude Surveyon every item except for scores of “5” on items 4 and 8 for a total score of 16 points for thesurvey.The survey should provide insights as to whether age is still a predictor of generalopinion regarding right to privacy, with more advanced age groups demonstrating greaterapproval of surveillance and the government’s involvement. However, due to the fact that thesurvey was administered to a small sample of an online university classroom, it is important toweigh the results accordingly as there was significant potential for affirmation bias.ConclusionThe attitude survey was designed for the purpose of providing new information on theattitudes of American citizens regarding privacy and the influence of the government, withparticular attention to recent news events. The information is useful as discussions of concerns ofprivacy versus national security have been at the forefront of the national agenda sinceSeptember 11th, as Hardin (2003) notes. This survey was created to assess the most recentprivacy debate but could be interpreted in conjunction with surveys conducted over the pastdecade to see if attitudes surrounding privacy are changing as more time passes since the tragedythat struck our nation almost twelve years ago.6ReferencesCovel, S. (2003). Getting pragmatic about privacy. American Demographics, 25(5), 14-15.Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/200581053?accountid=458Hardin, S. (2003). Openness, privacy and national security post 9/11: A debate. Bulletin of theAmerican Society for Information Science and Technology, 29(3), 10-11. Retrieved fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/195318348?accountid=458Hogan, T.P. (2003). Psychological Testing: A Practical Introduction. [University ofPhoenix Custom Edition e-text]. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons,Inc. Retrieved March 11, 2009, from University of Phoenix, Resource, PSY475 Course Website.7Attitude SurveySterngold, A. (2005). Battling bias. Planning, 71(7), 42-44. Retrieved fromhttp://search.proquest.com/docview/206698568?accountid=458In the survey below,please indicate your age, gender and today’s date in the first row. Please read thequestions marked 1-8 and circle or highlight the answer you feel is most fitting to yourbeliefs.SURVEY FORMAge:1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.Sex:MF(Circle Gender)For the following statements, pleaseindicate whether you:Strongly Agree (1), Agree (2), HaveNo Opinion (3), Disagree (4) orStrongly Disagree (5)It is just for our government to haveaccess to our private data for thepurposes of national security.Private companies, such as Verizon,should comply with the government’srequests for our personalinformation.Whistleblowers that leak classifiedinformation, regardless of how thegovernment obtained thatinformation (legally or illegally),should be tried for treason.The government is equally asaccountable to the Constitution asindividual citizens.If the NSA is using personalinformation to stop terrorists’ plots,how they obtain that information isirrelevant.E-mail or phone conversations arenot actually private at this point intime.The President should be heldpersonally accountable for illegalactions taken by the NSA.Personal information obtainedillegally regarding individual citizensshould be destroyed as it violates ourConstitutional right to privacy.Today’s Date:StronglyDisagreeDisagreeHave NoOpinion=2=1AgreeStronglyAgree=4=3=51234512345123451234512345123451234512345