Researched Article- Dinner Table

The primary purpose of my paper is to decide whether or not weather forecasts are actually as inaccurate as many people claim.  In order to help me present arguments effectively, I will need to bring in outside support.  At my “dinner table,” I will need to include statistics and opinions from various different sources.  One of the primary sources of information will be from meteorologists.  Meteorologists will be very important sources of information since they deal with the complaints regarding “wrong” forecasts day in and day out.  If at all possible, I will ask a local meteorologist and professor (Robin Reed) about the specific details of these threats and complaints which he received.  Aside from possible input from Robin Reed, I also plan on using information which is published online by meteorologists.  For example, outspoken meteorologist Brad Panovich (of North Carolina) has posted a blog related to this hot topic. 

For information not related directly to meteorology, I may need to bring in sources in the field of psychology.  This way, I will be able to get information related closer to the perception side of the argument.  Hopefully, I will learn more about how people perceive weather forecasts.  Even though I hope to find some of this information through the psychology side, I also believe that I will learn about perception from the complaints that meteorologists receive.    

In addition to people’s perception and the meteorologists’ personal feelings related to this topic, actual statistics will also need to be introduced to the reader.  This way, the reader will not feel like he or she is being forced to believe anything in particular.  That being said, the data and statistics will still hopefully help me to come to a clear conclusion.  Some of this data may come from meteorologists who analyze this type of information or weather services (such as the National Weather Service or The Weather Channel).  Even still, some of the data may come from areas outside of the meteorology field, which may be better since there would be little to no question of bias. 

I firmly believe that the combination of meteorologists, outside data, and psychology related works will lead to a firm argument and presentation which will help better educate the reader.