Meta: A View of the Weir Portion of the Poll as of Today, 8:30-ish AM My Time
Well, I posted the analysis of the Beckett section of the poll yesterday after I completed it. So, this morning, I decided to crunch the numbers on Weir.
A few things to keep in mind:
I'm not a statistician and only took one statistics course in college. I don't do this for a living.
There were probably people who, upon seeing my analysis of the Beckett portion went and checked out the poll and voted on it, thus possibly affecting the general ratio of respondents compared to those analysed for the Beckett portion.
Because the situations are different, the answers here don't necessarily correspond to the answers on the Beckett poll-- you can't draw any conclusions as to relative popularity of the characters based on this poll. For instance, saying Carson should stay dead is considerably different than saying that Elizabeth should die from her injuries.
Because of this, a comparative analysis would probably be fruitless. I am kind of curious on how many of the same people voted "Rest in peace. Please," on Carson's section as voted "Should die. RIP," on Elizabeth's section, but I haven't looked yet to see.
As with the Beckett poll, I'm crunching the numbers based on number of respondents, not number of answers as LJ does. So, on to the analysis!
First, the question of whether Elizabeth should return/remain as a character on SGA:
There were a total of 263 respondents to the poll at the time I grabbed the answers. Of those, 243 selected an option indicating their preference for Elizabeth returning or remaining as a character on SGA. These options were "Should fully recover quickly... in most of the S4... full-time after..."; "Should recover, but be significantly changed" (I took these two answers as "In favour of Weir returning soonish or remaining"); "...need significant treatment ... gone a long time"; "[Didn't write] her well... But maybe if they got a female writer?" (I took these two as "Open to Weir returning/remaining, but with reservations"); "Should be in such dire straits she's likely to never return."; and "Should die. RIP. Please." (which would be those "Against Weir returning/remaining"). Please, note, while 2 people selected "They should hire Torri for another role" both also selected another option I deemed more significant to my analysis.
So, of those 243:
- 116 (47.7%) respondents selected "Should fully recover quickly and be in most of the S4 eps and go back to full-time after that."
- 50 (20.6%) respondents selected "Should recover, but be significantly changed," who did not also select the option above.
This results in 166 (68.3%) respondents total indicating a preference for Elizabeth returning soonish or remaining on SGA.
- 12 (4.9%) respondents chose "Should need significant treatment and be gone a long time" (who did not also select one of the above answers).
- 41 (16.9%) respondents chose "It's not like they wrote her well anyway. But maybe if they got a female writer?" without selecting any of the above options.
This results in 53 (21.8%) respondents being open to Weir returning or remaining, but with reservations.
- 10 (4.1%) respondents selected "Should be in such dire straits she's likely to never return."
- 14 (5.8%) respondents selected "Should die. RIP. Please."
Which results in 24 (9.9%) respondents who do not wish her to remain/return.
Alternatively, the 12 who chose "Should need significant treatment and be gone a long time" could also be regarded as wishing her not to return/remain, upping the total to 36 (14.8%)
Either way, the preference for her remaining or returning is significant.
Now, in the Beckett analysis, I looked at the other respondents who hadn't selected a "return to the series" option to see the percentage of "pro-Beckett", "Beckett-neutral" and "not pro-Beckett" respondents (I chose to treat the last category not as anti-Beckett since some of the commenters stated that they liked Beckett but had chosen answers in the latter category for other reasons). I'm going to do the same here, but the significance of the answers are, to me, a tad murkier. Is the "She should be gone a long time" Weir-neutral or anti/not-pro-Weir? How about "It's not like they wrote her well"? While it gives great insight into some fans' disaffection with Weir, it's difficult to categorise. For now, I'm leaving those two answers as well as "Did we really need to get rid of one of the two female leads?" as Weir-neutral.
So, the other answers which didn't expressly include an implication of opinion on Weir remaining or leaving:
14 respondents chose "Did we really need to get rid of one of the two female leads?!" as their only option.
4 chose "Yes, please. In my bed. Right there," as their only option.
1 chose "I don't believe in First Strikes. Lalala! I'm not listening!" as their only option.
1 chose "Dude! Elizabeth Weir? What have you been smoking?" as their only option.
Sorting these into categories (always tricky) and considering all 263 total respondents, we get:
171 (65.0%) respondents got categorised as "pro-Weir" ("Should fully recover"; "Should recover, but... changed"; "Yes, please. In my bed. Right there"; and "I don't believe in First Strikes.")
67 (25.5%) respondents were "Weir-neutral" ("...Gone a long time"; "[Didn't write] her well... Female writer?"; and "Did we really need to get rid of one of the two female leads?!")
25 (9.5%) respondents were "Not pro-Weir" ("...Likely to never return"; "Should die..."; and "Dude! Elizabeth Weir? What have you been smoking?")
This would be a significant indication that fan sentiment is with Weir.
Also significant, however, is the disenchantment of the fan-base with the way Weir has been written. 86 (32.7% of the full 263) respondents chose "It's not like they wrote her well anyway. But maybe if they got a female writer?" as one of their options. That's basically 1/3 of all respondents.
A large number of people who were not unhappy to see Carson Beckett go or who didn't want to see him return, even if they were upset he'd been killed, expressed similar sentiments-- he wasn't written well, plots involving him were often far-fetched, and the writers just plain didn't seem to know what to do with him.
A lot of this comm to this point has focused on our outrage at how TPTB have treated Carson Beckett and his actor, Paul McGillion. But has Elizabeth Weir/Torri Higginson truly fared any better?
What do the results of this poll tell you?
Discuss. Be good to each other.
A few things to keep in mind:
I'm not a statistician and only took one statistics course in college. I don't do this for a living.
There were probably people who, upon seeing my analysis of the Beckett portion went and checked out the poll and voted on it, thus possibly affecting the general ratio of respondents compared to those analysed for the Beckett portion.
Because the situations are different, the answers here don't necessarily correspond to the answers on the Beckett poll-- you can't draw any conclusions as to relative popularity of the characters based on this poll. For instance, saying Carson should stay dead is considerably different than saying that Elizabeth should die from her injuries.
Because of this, a comparative analysis would probably be fruitless. I am kind of curious on how many of the same people voted "Rest in peace. Please," on Carson's section as voted "Should die. RIP," on Elizabeth's section, but I haven't looked yet to see.
As with the Beckett poll, I'm crunching the numbers based on number of respondents, not number of answers as LJ does. So, on to the analysis!
First, the question of whether Elizabeth should return/remain as a character on SGA:
There were a total of 263 respondents to the poll at the time I grabbed the answers. Of those, 243 selected an option indicating their preference for Elizabeth returning or remaining as a character on SGA. These options were "Should fully recover quickly... in most of the S4... full-time after..."; "Should recover, but be significantly changed" (I took these two answers as "In favour of Weir returning soonish or remaining"); "...need significant treatment ... gone a long time"; "[Didn't write] her well... But maybe if they got a female writer?" (I took these two as "Open to Weir returning/remaining, but with reservations"); "Should be in such dire straits she's likely to never return."; and "Should die. RIP. Please." (which would be those "Against Weir returning/remaining"). Please, note, while 2 people selected "They should hire Torri for another role" both also selected another option I deemed more significant to my analysis.
So, of those 243:
- 116 (47.7%) respondents selected "Should fully recover quickly and be in most of the S4 eps and go back to full-time after that."
- 50 (20.6%) respondents selected "Should recover, but be significantly changed," who did not also select the option above.
This results in 166 (68.3%) respondents total indicating a preference for Elizabeth returning soonish or remaining on SGA.
- 12 (4.9%) respondents chose "Should need significant treatment and be gone a long time" (who did not also select one of the above answers).
- 41 (16.9%) respondents chose "It's not like they wrote her well anyway. But maybe if they got a female writer?" without selecting any of the above options.
This results in 53 (21.8%) respondents being open to Weir returning or remaining, but with reservations.
- 10 (4.1%) respondents selected "Should be in such dire straits she's likely to never return."
- 14 (5.8%) respondents selected "Should die. RIP. Please."
Which results in 24 (9.9%) respondents who do not wish her to remain/return.
Alternatively, the 12 who chose "Should need significant treatment and be gone a long time" could also be regarded as wishing her not to return/remain, upping the total to 36 (14.8%)
Either way, the preference for her remaining or returning is significant.
Now, in the Beckett analysis, I looked at the other respondents who hadn't selected a "return to the series" option to see the percentage of "pro-Beckett", "Beckett-neutral" and "not pro-Beckett" respondents (I chose to treat the last category not as anti-Beckett since some of the commenters stated that they liked Beckett but had chosen answers in the latter category for other reasons). I'm going to do the same here, but the significance of the answers are, to me, a tad murkier. Is the "She should be gone a long time" Weir-neutral or anti/not-pro-Weir? How about "It's not like they wrote her well"? While it gives great insight into some fans' disaffection with Weir, it's difficult to categorise. For now, I'm leaving those two answers as well as "Did we really need to get rid of one of the two female leads?" as Weir-neutral.
So, the other answers which didn't expressly include an implication of opinion on Weir remaining or leaving:
14 respondents chose "Did we really need to get rid of one of the two female leads?!" as their only option.
4 chose "Yes, please. In my bed. Right there," as their only option.
1 chose "I don't believe in First Strikes. Lalala! I'm not listening!" as their only option.
1 chose "Dude! Elizabeth Weir? What have you been smoking?" as their only option.
Sorting these into categories (always tricky) and considering all 263 total respondents, we get:
171 (65.0%) respondents got categorised as "pro-Weir" ("Should fully recover"; "Should recover, but... changed"; "Yes, please. In my bed. Right there"; and "I don't believe in First Strikes.")
67 (25.5%) respondents were "Weir-neutral" ("...Gone a long time"; "[Didn't write] her well... Female writer?"; and "Did we really need to get rid of one of the two female leads?!")
25 (9.5%) respondents were "Not pro-Weir" ("...Likely to never return"; "Should die..."; and "Dude! Elizabeth Weir? What have you been smoking?")
This would be a significant indication that fan sentiment is with Weir.
Also significant, however, is the disenchantment of the fan-base with the way Weir has been written. 86 (32.7% of the full 263) respondents chose "It's not like they wrote her well anyway. But maybe if they got a female writer?" as one of their options. That's basically 1/3 of all respondents.
A large number of people who were not unhappy to see Carson Beckett go or who didn't want to see him return, even if they were upset he'd been killed, expressed similar sentiments-- he wasn't written well, plots involving him were often far-fetched, and the writers just plain didn't seem to know what to do with him.
A lot of this comm to this point has focused on our outrage at how TPTB have treated Carson Beckett and his actor, Paul McGillion. But has Elizabeth Weir/Torri Higginson truly fared any better?
What do the results of this poll tell you?
Discuss. Be good to each other.