MediaCurves news graphs are compiled by the market-research firm HCD Research. HCD surveys people over the Internet by allowing participants to rate a video as they watch it on their computers; HCD then displays the results on a graph as the video plays. In this case, HCD played an edited version of Kevorkian's interview for a group of 560 physicians. Participants were asked to rate how much they agreed with the speaker at any given moment on a sliding scale that ranges from 100 percent (totally agree) to -100 percent (totally disagree). Each colored graph represents the average of the responses from everyone of that religious affiliation.

The respondents were also asked a series of questions before and after viewing the videos. Their responses are detailed here.

Here is a description from HCD Research about how its surveys are conducted:

HCD samples from a large national database of consumers. The database is built through direct mail and e-mail solicitations inviting people to participate in online communication-research studies.

Panelists are screened to determine their voter-registration status, party affiliation, and pertinent demographic information.

As participants watch excerpts from speeches on their computer, they use their mouse to indicate levels of agreement or believability by moving it from left to right on a continuum. Their responses are recorded in quarter-second intervals, and the mean of all responses is reported in the form of curves, which indicate levels of believability for different segments of voters.

During the testing process, respondents are also asked a battery of pre- and post-viewing questions, which are compared to determine if their attitudes have changed as a result of watching the talk show segment or speech.