This week in Economics for Business we spent quite some time thinking about whether one course of action was preferable to another, specifically in the case of the fire brigade watching a chap's house burn down. Here's a nice lecture by Harvard Prof. Michael Sandel (ht Geary chappies) on this exact topic: what's the right thing to do? If I remember correctly, I took 2 straw polls this week, the first class was 80:20 for allowing the guy's house burn down, the second class was 66:33 for allowing it to burn.
I'm hoping the total number of students you polled in each class were 5 and 3 respectively.
@Hugh Yes. Yes they were.
Thank Satan for that. I had visions of an auditorium the size of the Hollywood Bowl, packed to the hilt.
@Hugh, in fairness, there were around 400 the first time, around 300 the second. Economics for Business is one of the largest classes in the University!
Then I'm glad it was only a straw poll!