Geography quiz answers!

The America versus the World Casual Fridays study was our most popular test yet: The 500 survey slots filled in less than 24 hours. I promised to provide the quiz answers, and you'll find them below.

Some of our readers have asked why we don't allow everyone to respond, and the reason is simple: we have to pay for the survey software, and it costs us 5 cents per response. If one of our studies was linked by a major site such as Digg or Slashdot, that could amount to hundreds of dollars. If anyone knows of a survey site that doesn't have this requirement, please let us know!

That said, I have figured out a way that readers can continue to play, albeit in a pared-down way. I picked four of the most difficult questions: two states and two countries, and instead of giving the answers, I've turned them into polls. You can make your guess, then see how others have responded. If the results here match the survey results, eventually the correct responses will be clear, but you won't see them until you've made your guess. Make sure you answer the polls before you look at the rest of the answers, though -- the answers will give you some hints.

We'll offer a full analysis of the original study results on Friday.

i-9e94097332fbfc8683cf7102c7cbb720-country10.jpg

i-8cee969118e29fb1f722e4033701e326-country8.jpg

i-37c7ea954aa7bffb24fc0c1d59313cf8-state6.jpg

i-427703ffd4db32bb3a128462e9e59ffb-state9.jpg

i-2e68460bf019e0af02b167a5adb26e7c-country1.jpg
Serbia

i-f3c2a9dbdaf1ea454b3c5536c2560491-country2.jpg
Malaysia

i-7a6448cfbdd63e6c72c70b66100f064c-country3.jpg
Yemen

i-bed0eeeb801a54853deed1257926b3fc-country4.jpg
Vietnam

i-a619901ed60d4938a512aa23ef558fa2-country5.jpg
Sudan

i-ae97924fdac65fe061c47991e27a135d-country6.jpg
Venezuela

i-d6f7ca754a06ae9cde7c81422269af90-country7.jpg
Denmark

i-84e51c85a3b9dd0d19d7b33e97c370ad-country9.jpg
Nepal

i-cf68988c4db2f5ae0f31113ac30ca56c-state1.jpg
Mississippi

i-d57daa14ce60ed53fbe5eb8a2251a66b-state2.jpg
West Virginia

i-0b5c6af374b1daae6a6023eaeb775a04-state3.jpg
Kentucky

i-cc3a1f539119a71b2aba8a42248decd9-state4.jpg
Maine

i-3d2c5175ed2105c7aaa4f7f68ec30439-state5.jpg
Rhode Island

i-a0d5587cba23afb7a329591d9552f8b8-state7.jpg
Arkansas

i-338ba42b7b9cce944678cb4cbc3664fb-state8.jpg
Utah

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Nebraska

More like this

When people raise questions about the mysterious 1997 survey, Lott's standard line of defence is:
[Note: This was an attachement to a Nov 17 posting to firearmsregprof on Nov 17. My comments are in italics like this. TL]
In a report on a climate change seminar, Bernd Ströher and Benny Peiser write:

There is a mistake. What you are calling Alabama is actually Mississippi.

I did quite well on both, but did world a bit better (only one wrong) than the USA (a couple wrong). I need to travel around the US more....

Okay, it's looking like the collective wisdom of the group still isn't revealing the answer to number 2, so I'll reveal it here: Indonesia.

One commenter on the other thread felt this question was a bit unfair, since the island of Borneo is divided between Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei, and the capital is actually on the island of Java (south of Borneo).

I still think that comparing knowledge of the US States to knowledge of world countries is slightly US-centric.

I still think that comparing knowledge of the US States to knowledge of world countries is slightly US-centric.

Yes, I agree. But being from the U.S., I still want to know!

That said, it might have been better to test U.S. cities versus world cities. We could have even controlled for population.

my problem was that the US map sometimes was not clear enough, and since I could no see the state limits, I didn't which state it was.

Is knowing the name of a state/country on a map deemed some measure of a person's intelligence? I don't think so.

Every time I hear "59% of America's 8th graders couldn't find Chicago on a map!" I wonder what is supposed to be the big point. I don't know where you all shop but, except for the blank ones that I had to fill out in school, every map that I've ever used actually has the names of all states and countries on them already. I've always felt that that was what made them useful.

It's not clear to me that the ability to name the states has any value other than entertainment.

You know. I live in the US, but I *always* mess up when it comes to Colorado and Wyoming.

Really, states east of the Mississippi are so much easier to remember. Those square states bother me.

And this reminded me of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

I wouldn't have gotten any of the country ones, though I did get the 2 sample ones. But I got all the state ones except for Nebraska. :)

I noticed an interesting trend in the polls above, and I may try to analyze the survey for this as well: it seems to me that responses were less accurate early on, then got more accurate with time, as if those who thought longer about whether to try were better at geography.

Ask where is Portugal!
I am curious to see the American answers to that!!

And by the way, ask them about the History!
They just know U.S. history, U.K., colonies, and something about XX century like the war in Vietnam! And maybe not even that! hehehe!

i missed all of them
i guess that i am really stupid

By poopypants (not verified) on 01 Feb 2008 #permalink