Afghanistan

No offense intended, but I think if you asked these questions to the citizens in Afghanistan, it would make more sense because if you think logically, Canadians are not really going to care about what happens in Afghanistan or is happening to Afghanistan - though I could be wrong. For example, to ask a question like, “If Canadian forces remain in Afghanistan, they can help build a vibrant democracy" is simply not going to work - Afghanistan has been in political turmoil throughout their entire history from the times of Alexander the Great, during the Soviet invasion, etc. Thus, to suggest that they will become a democracy or become more stable as a result of the Canadian forces being stationed there is something that is not going to happen overnight or even in 5 years, it will take a long time before it is materialized. Thus, I think asking questions that will have an impact on Canadians because it concerns them directly will be better.

There are two principle reasons we're told that our forces need to be in Afghanistan, both of which are in my questions. First, it will help build democracy in Afghanistan. Second, it will make the world a safer place. As for the validity of these claims, I too doubt them. That's the point of asking the questions. If the rest of Canadians give the same answers as you did, I think that tells us something very important.

I think I agree with Balamurugan...however, I also think Gordon is correct in gauging the effect of Canadians on Afghani lives. I think we should have at least 1 question pertaining to the effect of the Canadian effort and its impact on the lives of those in Afghanistan. It would help indicate how strongly Canadians support the overall effort. The question would probably have to be quite broad. What about something along the lines of

"The Canadian effort in Afghanistan has had a positive effect on Afghani lives"

1. Strongly Agree 2. Agree 3. Somewhat Agree 4. Disagree 5. Strongly Disagree

I know this question has a lot of flaws, but what do you think of this approach?

I like the approach, I get where Bala is coming from, but Bala your a political science student at the University of British Columbia, yes democracy is a long ways away, and may not even be the appropriate option, but I think when we ask people it will like Gordon said give a good gauge at weather they feel these extremely optimistic ideals are even possible or not. I think it would be interesting to see the results. The funny thing is it really is absolutely irrelevant weather or not it is possible to have democracy there or not, what were wondering is if the average person thinks it could, and thus what they think about the point of us being in Afghanistan.

I like the questions. I don't think everyone feels as if Afghanistan is completely hopeless and not worth it, and if they do well then we'll have data to show that. If we reject questions based on what we think (democracy will never work there and everyone knows that) then it's a sign of bias, we need to be more open and transparent in our questions so we don't include our own feelings into the formation of the survey. Jacqueline is right, we're poli students from UBC who have spent the past 3 years discussing these topics, however we're not going to be asking people like us these questions.