John Cook, creator of the pathologically credulous Skeptical Science website sent invitation letters to about 50 climate bloggers, including myself (Alec Rawls, author of the Error Theory blog and occasional co-blogger at the genuinely skeptical Watts Up With That climate blog), asking us to help him solicit participants for a crowd-sourced survey of the peer reviewed climate literature, designed to assess how consistently the literature conforms to the "consensus" view that "most global warming is being caused by human activity." All of use were sent survey links to post on our blogs. The invitation failed to mention that the links include identifier tags, so that Cook will know which survey responses were referred by which blogs, an odd omission, and given Cook's history of shenanigans, there is reason to be concerned that something underhanded may be planned. So with a clear CAVEAT EMPTOR, here is the skeptic-tagged link that Cook sent to me, if anyone wants to submit a skeptic tagged survey response.

http://survey.gci.uq.edu.au/survey.php?c=6IF5285JF294

Surveys are said to include a randomly generated selection of 10 abstracts to rate according to a set of rating rules that Cook describes. Pasted below is one of these random surveys, downloaded fom the link above, including survey description and instructions. I have disabled the "submit" button. If you want to fill out a survey, use the link above.

University of Queensland, Global Change Institute Survey

Survey of Peer-Reviewed Scientific Research

Below are listed the titles and abstracts (summary) of 10 randomly selected scientific papers; mouseover each title to read the abstract (summary). Please read each title and abstract then select from the drop down to categorize each abstract. Your rating should be based on the abstract text. Your submission will be anonymous. The drop down indicates indicates the level of endorsement within the abstract for the proposition that human activity (i.e., anthropogenic greenhouse gases) is causing global warming (e.g., the increase in temperature).

Note: AGW is Anthropogenic Global Warming or human-caused global warming.

Options are:

  1. Explicit Endorsement with Quantification: abstract explicitly states that humans are causing more than half of global warming.
  2. Explicit Endorsement without Quantification: abstract explicitly states humans are causing global warming or refers to anthropogenic global warming/climate change as a given fact.
  3. Implicit Endorsement: abstract implies humans are causing global warming. E.g., research assumes greenhouse gases cause warming without explicitly stating humans are the cause.
  4. Neutral: abstract doesn't address or mention issue of what's causing global warming.
  5. Implicit Rejection: abstract implies humans have had a minimal impact on global warming without saying so explicitly. E.g., proposing a natural mechanism is the main cause of global warming.
  6. Explicit Rejection without Quantification: abstract explicitly minimizes or rejects that humans are causing global warming.
  7. Explicit Rejection with Quantification: abstract explicitly states that humans are causing less than half of global warming.

Survey Form (mouseover the paper title to display the abstract [not working on this sample page])


Changes In Tropical Cyclone Number, Duration, And Intensity In A Warming Environment Endorsement Level:

Possible Impact Of Global Warming On Cabbage Root Fly (delia-radicum) Activity In The Uk Endorsement Level:

Solar Forcing Of The Northern Hemisphere Land Air Temperature: New Data Endorsement Level:

Intensified Asian Summer Monsoon And Its Variability In A Coupled Model Forced By Increasing Greenhouse Gas Concentrations Endorsement Level:

Scaling In The Atmosphere: On Global Laws Of Persistence And Tests Of Climate Models Endorsement Level:

Projection Of Future Sea Level And Its Variability In A High-resolution Climate Model: Ocean Processes And Greenland And Antarctic Ice-melt Contributions Endorsement Level:

Predicting Extinctions As A Result Of Climate Change Endorsement Level:

Dynamic And Thermodynamic Influences On Intensified Daily Rainfall During The Asian Summer Monsoon Under Doubled Atmospheric Co2 Conditions Endorsement Level:

Changes In Water Vapor Transport And The Production Of Precipitation In The Eastern Fertile Crescent As A Result Of Global Warming Endorsement Level:

Effect Of The Solid Content On Biogas Production From Jatropha Curcas Seed Cake Endorsement Level:

If you would like to be sent the results of this survey and an analysis of the 12,000 climate papers, enter your email below (your details will be kept private and your survey results anonymised):
Email:

Comments on this survey:
"Submit results" button removed from this sample page

This study adheres to the Guidelines of the ethical review process of The University of Queensland. Whilst you are free to discuss your participation in this study with project staff (contactable on +61 7 3365 3553 or j.cook3@uq.edu.au), if you would like to speak to an officer of the University not involved in the study, you may contact the Ethics Officer on +61 7 3365 3924 or humanethics@research.uq.edu.au.

If you have any questions about the survey or encounter any technical problems, you can contact John Cook at j.cook3@uq.edu.au