Space Survey
Why did we do this study?
Our members were debating about some fine points about space exploration. We decided to ask other kids’ opinions about the questions. The team agreed to hand out the surveys to 3rd and 4th graders. We decided to hand them out to these grades because we thought they would have interesting answers. We decided to publish our results on our Thinkquest website.
How did we do this study?
First, we thought of questions that our group was debating about and decided to ask others about them. Next we thought of some questions to test the survey takers’ knowledge. Here are the questions we came up with:
- At this point, the government is spending 16.25 billion dollars in NASA. Do you think the government is spending too much money in NASA?
- Do you think that space tourism is a good idea?
- Do you think that space should be continued to be explored?
- Do you know who won the space race?
We wrote our questions down and printed lots and lots of copies out. Then we handed them out to 3rd and 4th graders in our school. Finally, we got the surveys back from the classes and tallied and graphed the answers.
What did we find?
We took a survey on space tourism. We gave this survey to a total of 101 people, 61 of them were 3rd graders and 40 were 4th graders.
Our first question was: "At this point, the government is spending 16.25 billion dollars in NASA. Do you think the government is spending too much money on NASA?" 55 people said that they thought yes, the government was spending too much on NASA, and 46 people said no, they thought the government wasn’t spending too much money on NASA.
Our second question was: "Do you think space tourism is a good idea?" 63 people said that yes, they thought space tourism was good idea, and 38 people said that they thought space tourism isn’t a good idea.
Our third question was: "Do you think space should continue to be explored?" 87 people said that they thought yes, space should continue to be explored; 14 people said that space shouldn’t be explored any further.
Our fourth question was: "Do you know who won the space race, and who won it if you do know?" 19 people said that they knew who won the space race, 82 people said they didn’t know who won the space race. Out of the people who said they knew who won the space race 2 people said Russia, 1 person said Jeff Gordon won, 2 people said Neil Armstrong , and 14 people said the USA won.
Survey Responses
We also got many survey comments for each of our questions. Here they are:
Question 1: At this point, the government is spending $16.25 billion in NASA. Do you think the government is spending too much money in NASA?
No:
Because they still need money for prototypes and machines.
Because the government can use as much money as they need.
Because there could be another planet out there and if we don’t have the money for equipment we can’t discover it.
We need to develop a way to send humans to Mars, stars, and the sun.
If NASA needs the money we should give it to them because NASA is an important thing.
Because they can discover if there’s another planet with life.
Because someone might find something worth a lot of money.
Because they need to explore space.
NASA is trying to help with photographs of other planets and making discoveries about them.
Yes:
Because they need more money.
We don’t have the technology to get people very far out so we should wait until we invent something so we could go as far out as we want.
Because I think $20 billion dollars is too much for me.
We could spend it on other things.
Because to spend billions of dollars it will raise taxes.
Because that is too much money.
I say yes because it’s spending way too much money on one thing.
Because if you’re spending money in the billions, you’re probably spending too much money.
Because it costs too much money to buy all the equipment. They shouldn’t be spending all of it on NASA.
Question 2: Do you think space tourism is a good idea?
No:
Because some people may not come back.
It risks people’s lives.
They can get hit by a comet.
Because hardly anyone goes to outer space.
Because $200,000 a ticket is way too much.
Because somebody could die.
Because NASA is already getting pictures of other planets.
Because some people really don’t want to be in space, but people are forcing them to go with money.
Because we can see if there is life on other planets.
Yes:
Because it looks fun and cool.
Because a lot of people could pay for it.
Because you can’t get up to space with a real vehicle.
Because you will find new things in space.
Because it gives you a chance to explore unknown things.
It is good to know what kind of universe we live in.
It’s a chance for people to learn about space and its planets.
Because it could inspire someone to be an astronaut.
Because space tourism teaches kids about space.
Because we can explore more in space.
So not just astronauts can go into space.
Because space has BILLIONS of new things to discover.
Question 3: Do you think space should continue to be explored?
No:
Because people might die if their air runs out.
Because it is very dangerous.
Bad things can happen in space, and we already know enough.
Yes:
Because there could be life in space.
Because people can find cool things.
Because you might be able to see something nobody on Earth has ever seen.
We need to figure out more about space and what could be out there.
Because there are unknown places.
So we can learn more about our universe.
Because space is awesome.
We are polluting the Earth and when Earth can’t take it anymore, we need to go somewhere (another planet).
There are still things undiscovered.
Because if it is such a great race, you should want a winner.
Because space is a place full of questions. I still have some questions about it.
Because there could be new discoveries in space. They should just try not to spend that much money.
We might find some interesting things on the moon.