Abstract
This chapter introduces the main methodologies and theories that must be employed to extract valid meaning from questionnaire data about spaceflight, using a few specific polls as illustrations. Two very different questionnaire methods must be combined: (1) administration of a few simple questions to random samples of the general population, to extrapolate with some confidence the balance of opinions in the society as a whole, and (2) administration of much more complex questionnaires to specialized populations, placing the methodological emphasis on statistical analysis of how ideas fit together, using formal theory and empirical replication as validity checks. Two specific social-scientific theories are introduced that will feature throughout the book: (1) that some individuals serve as opinion leaders, shaping the beliefs and attitudes of the general public, and (2) technological determinism that analyzes any particular kind of technology in the context of the more general status of science and engineering of the particular historical period.
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Bainbridge, W.S. (2015). Background. In: The Meaning and Value of Spaceflight. Space and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07878-6_1
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