Do Americans Believe In Extraterrestrials?
Abstract
In this report, my hypothesis will be to ask Americans if they believe in extraterrestrial or as they are commonly referred to as aliens. Following the record-breaking opening of the final Star Wars film, what do Americans really believe about the possibility of life in outer space? Does intelligent life exist anywhere beyond Earth? And if alien life makes contact what should we do?
I will be conducting a national phone survey of a 1,000 Americans, age 18 and up. The survey group will be made of 500 women and 500 men. The survey will include the following five questions:
1. Does life exist on other planets?
2. What role does religion play in the belief in ET's?
3. What role does your education play in your belief in ET's?
4. For those who believe in life outside of the Earth, what would an ET be like?
5. Should we respond if ET's make contact with us?
With these questions, I hope to prove my hypothesis that Americans do believe in extraterrestrials.
First in my phone survey, I asked the question does life exist on other planets and I received the following results. Sixty percent of Americans surveyed said that they believe that life exists on other planets. Men were more likely to believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life than women. The difference was sixty-nine percent versus fifty-one percent. Of those surveyed, seventy-two percent who believe life exists on other planets said that they would be excited and hopeful upon learning that life had been found on other planets. Women were twice as likely to feel nervous and afraid if we learn about life outside of Earth. The percentage was twenty-seven percent versus thirteen percent. I also found that men were more likely to feel excited and hopeful if we life on other planets as opposed to women. These results were seventy-eight percent versus sixty-five percent.
Second in my survey, I...
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