Sex!

Faith

Great, got your attention * Now I need your help!

Firstly, thanks a million to the moderators for agreeing to let me post this here (and in other forums). If you don’t know me, I’m in my final year of a psychology degree. For my thesis, I’m studying sexual behaviours in Ireland – specifically “abnormal” behaviour, or what are known as paraphilias. To this end, I’ve put together a questionnaire that I need people to fill out. It asks fairly specific questions about sexual behaviours and interests, and I’m trying to get as many respondents as possible. It won’t take more than 10 minutes, so if you have a bit of spare time, I’d really really appreciate you filling it out. It is absolutely anonymous – your IP address won’t even be logged by surveymonkey.com. I will have absolutely no way of ever identifying respondents. The results will be completely confidential.

If you do take the time to do it, you should be aware that the questions are sexually explicit in parts. You do not have to answer any question you’re not comfortable answering, and you may quit the survey at any time without repercussion by clicking “Exit The Survey”. If you’ve read this far and are still interested, then here’s the link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RK6LC5N

I'm looking specifically for Irish participants, so there's no need to do it if you're not Irish (but thanks anyway!).

By answering the questions, you're obviously consenting to take part

If you have any questions, you can PM me or ask them below if you like. If people are interested in the findings, then let me know and I’ll endeavour to update you. Thank you so much!!


Just to add - many have asked for clarification on one issue. Question 10 refers to "full sexual relations" - this is however you define full sex yourself.

*Yes, I used the exact same post in tLL, I'm not creative enough to compose a different one

TouchingVirus

Jesus Faith, you should get to know people well before asking those questions :P

Just a few things I noticed:

1) The Position in Family: I have two siblings and I'm the middle. But were I to say I have four or more siblings the options I would have are still "First, Middle, Last" which isn't quite right. It could be that you don't need to know where exactly, but I thought I'd point it out anyways

2) I could be wide of the mark and I suspect I am since you're the one doing the psychology degree but I would have thought being tied up/restrained is a form of sexual domination. Is it that you'd like to differentiate between this and other domaination (can't name any others off the top of my head) or...?

3) Last page - The question "It's worse for a woman to sleep around than it is for a man" appears twice, 2nd from top and 3rd from bottom.

minidazzler

TouchingVirus wrote: »

2) I could be wide of the mark and I suspect I am since you're the one doing the psychology degree but I would have thought being tied up/restrained is a form of sexual domination. Is it that you'd like to differentiate between this and other domaination (can't name any others off the top of my head) or...?

I'd find Bondage to be more to do with physical control, and domination generally has to do more with mental control for me at least. And for the person submitting, and being tied up, it's about being in someones control, or with a friend I had, it was about the rope itself...I won't pretend to understand why this is what I have found to be the case, but in my experience the types of control involved are very different.

Faith

TouchingVirus wrote: »

Jesus Faith, you should get to know people well before asking those questions :P

Just a few things I noticed:

1) The Position in Family: I have two siblings and I'm the middle. But were I to say I have four or more siblings the options I would have are still "First, Middle, Last" which isn't quite right. It could be that you don't need to know where exactly, but I thought I'd point it out anyways

2) I could be wide of the mark and I suspect I am since you're the one doing the psychology degree but I would have thought being tied up/restrained is a form of sexual domination. Is it that you'd like to differentiate between this and other domaination (can't name any others off the top of my head) or...?

3) Last page - The question "It's worse for a woman to sleep around than it is for a man" appears twice, 2nd from top and 3rd from bottom.

1) That's something I thought of myself and I'm not sure there's a definite answer. Personally I'd think that unless you're the oldest or youngest, you're in the middle. But everyone will have their own opinions on what their position is. And the exact answer isn't important

2) Several of the questions refer to different types of sexual domination (and submission). The specific acts are not as important as the broad genre, let's say.

3) Psychologists like to try and catch you out . Questions are often included more than once, or appear in reverse forms. It helps weed out people who aren't really paying attention to their answers

TouchingVirus

What's funny is as I was filling it in I was thinking maybe you're trying to catch us out - Cheers for the response, twas an interesting survey to say the least.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to find some silk, rubber, cable ties and have a right old session :P

TouchingVirus

minidazzler wrote: »

I'd find Bondage to be more to do with physical control, and domination generally has to do more with mental control for me at least. And for the person submitting, and being tied up, it's about being in someones control, or with a friend I had, it was about the rope itself...I won't pretend to understand why this is what I have found to be the case, but in my experience the types of control involved are very different.

A little tying up or restraint is grand in my opinion, but bondage has always meant to me the rigs and jigs you'd see in some horror house Similarly, domination has always been the dominatrix type "beg for me" thing, and I wouldn't be into that. I think I answered as honestly as I could with my own interpretation.

I guess I would have preferred a little more clarification though, so as not to spoil the survey or anything. But if vagueness or room for interpretation was deliberately left in, as it seems to have been, then so be it. It's done now

Mrmoe

Completed, would you be able to link to your results/findings when you are finished or is it embargoed?

Faith

Mrmoe wrote: »

Completed, would you be able to link to your results/findings when you are finished or is it embargoed?

Nope, I'll be more than happy to give an update in a couple of months when I have everything put together

nisior

I had a bit of a laugh filling that out :P

zuroph

What did everyone get for the safe distance to expose yourself from??? :pac:

TouchingVirus

I'll tell you, if you tell me if you masturbate to the thoughts of exposing yourself to yourself from a distance.

Nothing like fantasising about me flashing myself 30m away to give me a rager :P

Connie_c28

Mrmoe wrote: »

Completed, would you be able to link to your results/findings when you are finished or is it embargoed?

Same statement

Sid_Justice

I'd love to read your thesis when its down. That was a really good survey, I could hardly fault it.

Sid_Justice

It's worse for a woman to sleep around than it is for a man

I agreed with this statement, but not necessarily for moral reasons. It's more dangerous for a woman to sleep around than a man (pregnancy, assault, STIs). For a man that sleeps with women, yes there is a STI risk and a pregnancy risk but less so.

Mackman

Well that was, eh, interesting, glad its anonymous

SilverFox261

I second the motion to see what the results are like when you are finished your Thesis.

nozzferrahhtoo

Faith wrote: »

I’m studying sexual behaviours in Ireland

I'm looking specifically for Irish participants, so there's no need to do it if you're not Irish (but thanks anyway!).

I happily did the survey, but I hope you realise that any statistician will tell you your results are entirely inadmissible given your intentions. You want to make a study about Ireland, but you have put it on a forum used by international users and you have no way to check they did not fill it in.

So if you are intending to limit your study to Ireland, you have just made your own results inadmissible. Fine if you are just doing a project for college but if you intend this study to ever be used it is worth noting it is null and void from the outset.

Otis Driftwood

Done.

Interesting survey Faith,defo want to see the results when you are done.:)

Tabnabs

Done, best of luck with it and I'd also like to see the results if possible.

BigDuffman

Ha ha thank fook its anonymous! :P Will we be seeing the general result. Some interesting points brought up there. Want to see what % of boards are pantie wearing S&M asphyxsex fiend!

enda1

Faith wrote: »

snip
I'm looking specifically for Irish participants, so there's no need to do it if you're not Irish (but thanks anyway!).
snip

So do you have to live in Ireland then, or just be Irish?
What if you are not Irish, but live in Ireland?
What if your partner is not Irish?

Bottle_of_Smoke

Sid_Justice wrote: »

I agreed with this statement, but not necessarily for moral reasons. It's more dangerous for a woman to sleep around than a man (pregnancy, assault, STIs). For a man that sleeps with women, yes there is a STI risk and a pregnancy risk but less so.

Yeah I didn't do the survey because of that question. Very bad wording and its the type of thing that could be used to call men sexist when they are anything but.

BigDuffman

BigDuffman wrote: »

Ha ha thank fook its anonymous! :P

Heheh we can probably guess some of your answers so judging by your relief. I for one did not answer a single question there the answer to which I am ashamed of or would not want anyone to know. :P

28064212

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

I happily did the survey, but I hope you realise that any statistician will tell you your results are entirely inadmissible given your intentions. You want to make a study about Ireland, but you have put it on a forum used by international users and you have no way to check they did not fill it in.

So if you are intending to limit your study to Ireland, you have just made your own results inadmissible. Fine if you are just doing a project for college but if you intend this study to ever be used it is worth noting it is null and void from the outset.

3rd question: "What is your nationality?". Since all surveys are based on people telling the truth, putting it here doesn't make any difference.

trebor28

done.
i actually laughed at the "important for a man to teach a woman" question.

the one also about being taken forcefully with prior consent is a little bit confusing, for a straight man i doubt many women would be able to take me forcefully and then whose pitching and whose catching if you know what i mean?

Faith

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

I happily did the survey, but I hope you realise that any statistician will tell you your results are entirely inadmissible given your intentions. You want to make a study about Ireland, but you have put it on a forum used by international users and you have no way to check they did not fill it in.

So if you are intending to limit your study to Ireland, you have just made your own results inadmissible. Fine if you are just doing a project for college but if you intend this study to ever be used it is worth noting it is null and void from the outset.

One of the very first questions asks people to identify their nationality. I'll be excluding the (very few) results where people have answered a nationality other than Irish. I have to trust that people will correctly identify their nationality, in the same way I trust that they honestly answered the rest of the questions. Boards.ie might be used by international users, but the vast, vast majority are Irish.

Thanks everyone for taking part. I've far exceeded my required number of responses, so I'll be closing the survey now .

minidazzler

Faith wrote: »

Thanks everyone for taking part. I've far exceeded my required number of responses, so I'll be closing the survey now .

The power of boards, especially for a known poster! I'd feel kinda bad for the people in your class who will have to spend a few weeks begging on facebook! A guy I know who did his thesis last year spent 3 weeks trying to get the data and still came up a little short! Well done, hope the Thesis goes well for you.

PK2008

Faith wrote: »

Thanks everyone for taking part. I've far exceeded my required number of responses, so I'll be closing the survey now .

Survey link is an accurate reflection of my sex life: ACCESS DENIED

parker kent

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

Yeah I didn't do the survey because of that question. Very bad wording and its the type of thing that could be used to call men sexist when they are anything but.

Is the directly opposite question not asked as well? As far as I remember, the survey was completely balanced. Every question was asked from both sides.

Also, remember this is a psychologist's survey, so there is often more than meets the eye to the questions asked.

nozzferrahhtoo

28064212 wrote: »

3rd question: "What is your nationality?". Since all surveys are based on people telling the truth, putting it here doesn't make any difference.

This is too reliant on the honesty of the surveyee. Yes all surveys are indeed based on assuming the honesty of the targets but as you will be told by professional statistician you need to work to minimise that reliance in every way possible. The most common and well known method of this is to ask the same question but in many different ways and see if the user modifies his answers to a small, medium or large degree when answering the same thing just phrased differently. But there are a multitude of ways to do it.

The more important the variable is to your result, the more work you have to put into minimising the reliance on honesty for your results to be valid.

Given the user wants to poll Irish people, them being Irish is the most important honesty related variable in the survey. This means the most effort has to be put into minimising reliance on honesty in regards this variable.

Sticking in a Microsoft Windows Style “Are you Irish” or even “Are you sure yes/no” simply does not cut it. However if he just wants this survey for a course not related to statistics then it likely is not a problem. The course lecturer most likely just intends to grade him on his application of what he has learned in his course (for example a course on human psychology) to a set of results… even if he entirely made up the results himself for example.

If he is doing a course on statistics however I imagine the lecturer would be tempted to fail him from the outset and god forbid he intends to use this study in the real world outside college, it would be ripped apart. As you correctly say you have to alway rely on honesty to a certain degree, but this does not mean you can just throw together any survey and justify doing no work on it by saying "Well if i have to rely on honesty a bit, I may as well rely on it completly".

Faith wrote: »

One of the very first questions asks people to identify their nationality. I'll be excluding the (very few) results where people have answered a nationality other than Irish.

See above. Simply asking is not enough. It is, due to the title of your intentions, the most important variable and simply asking people is not enough. If the results of your survey were to be admissible then you would have to verify that people saying they are Irish actually are.

However as I said, if your course is nothing to do with stats and you are just engaged in this to get a set of results to apply other skills to, it likely is not an issue you need be concerned about. Just do not present your results in a real world scenario or to a statistician as they would likely point out your flaws pretty quickly. There are people who dedicate whole parts of their career to pointing out massive flaws in the methodology of studies like this (You should read Ben Goldacre for a more popular example of this type of person) and they would not be long in ripping yours apart.

Faith

Thanks for your thorough reply ripping apart my entire thesis :rolleyes:

Your input is appreciated, but I'm not a bored housewife conducting a bit of research in my spare time. I'm working an extremely well-known and respected clinical psychologist with a list of publications spanning decades. I did discuss the issue with him and that was his recommended solution. Unless you're a professional psychologist, then I'll stick with my supervisor's input, thanks.

nozzferrahhtoo

Being a professional psychologist does not magically give people related qualifications in statistics.... though your response does serve to highlight what actually is a massive issue in the world of psychological research and sort of makes my point for me which is useful so I thank you for it.

People with genuine and useful skills, possibly like yourself and your alleged supervisor (all unverifiable by us of course) engage in fields of expertise they know nothing about (such as statistics) and make massive and glaring errors that would make people with actual skills in those areas squirm.

This is why people can actually spend so much time engaged in ripping apart the methodology of "studies" that psychologists and experts in other fields engage in.... because their methodology is untrained and often poor and there is a wealth of material for them to actually spend that time on. They spend time doing it, because so many people give them the material to work with.

When you say "Unless you're a professional psychologist, then I'll stick with my supervisor's input" you demonstrate exactly what I mean by this. Being a trained psychologist literally has nothing to do with it whatsoever and nothing to do with what I am saying either. Being trained in statistics does. What you should be saying is "Unless you're a professional statistician, then I'll stick with my supervisor's input which is the next best thing I have available"

The attitude demonstrated by what you did say however is exactly the attitude that is the root of the problem in so many papers out there... real papers not just students engaged in a thesis.

What happens in realms of discourse that actually are important, is that people cite these papers and their conclusions, completely oblivious to the methodological issues that they contain. Join any of the threads on this forum about homosexuality for example, and gay parenting, gay sex, etc and you will see people citing studies willy nilly.... and when you go look at these studies the methodological errors in them are glaring and the conclusions of those papers massively invalid.

The cause of such errors is because people, as demonstrated by yourself, think to themselves „This is a statistical study about X… the person engaged in that study has qualifications in X…. therefore the study must be sound” and they think this while completely missing the fact that at least SOME grounding in how to engage in statistics is also required.

You would be depressed to find how many "papers" and "studies" in the world are actually bunk because of bad methodology. There are many people, and I already mentioned Ben Goldacre, who fear that that number is in fact the vast majority of them.

What I personally would love to see is the introduction of a strong grounding in statistics in every course in a realm that relies on them often. Psychology, medicine, course related to ethics and more. Knowing how to read a science paper, a statistical study, and how to engage in producing them is a skill people do not realise the importance of and that ignorance has, in some cases, actually been quite damaging (the MMR Vaccinne scare would be a prime example as the methodology of the person who first suggested a link to Autism was.... horrific... and that is being kind).

nozzferrahhtoo

Faith wrote: »

Thanks for your thorough reply ripping apart my entire thesis

I should quickly add that this was not my intention. My thinking was merely that it is better that someone like me point out a failure in your methodology now while you have time to fix it, than you to come out with a result you are massively disappointed in and be told the reason why much too late to make reparation.

I do not know you, your supervisors or how your thesis will be graded, so I feel it is better to point out an error than not, and you can simply take it or leave it. However I do recognize that constructive criticism is often taken more personally than it is intended... a sad fact of reality we have to live with.

28064212

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

This is too reliant on the honesty of the surveyee.

You can stop there. Anything after that is an irrelevance. How is it possible to distinguish between an Irish person if you're not relying on honesty of the participant? Post it on an Irish-only website? No different to posting it on Boards. Face-to-face interviews? And then what? Get them to produce their birth cert? A passport? Do a genetic analysis? None of which are definitive. All studies involving surveys are contingent on the honesty of the participants. They all come with that implied caveat

Your examples of 'bad' science are invariably caused by bad reporting, which ignore the fact that very few scientific papers based on surveys ever categorically state anything. It's "these results suggest..." or "there appears to be a correlation with..."

Bottle_of_Smoke

parker kent wrote: »

Is the directly opposite question not asked as well? As far as I remember, the survey was completely balanced. Every question was asked from both sides.

Also, remember this is a psychologist's survey, so there is often more than meets the eye to the questions asked.

That's missing the point. It doesn't matter if it were asked the other way around.

If I answered the question honestly I would say 'I agree' to ''is it worse for women to sleep around''

Now it is not because I think women should have a more restricted sex life. Just when you consider the increased risks for STIs and assault and the like it is more hazardous. I would also say it is worse for men to sleep around with other men.

However I feel if I said ''I agree'' without an explanation it would come across as if I'm a prat who thinks men are more entitled to promiscuity than women- which is retarded

nozzferrahhtoo

28064212 wrote: »

How is it possible to distinguish between an Irish person if you're not relying on honesty of the participant?

I do not claim that one can be 100% certain. I am merely saying that any statistician will tell you that when engaged in such a study you should do your best to minimise reliance on honesty, and the effort you put into minimising it should be proportional the the importance of each variable to your thesis.

It is not for me to suggest how someone should go about doing it in their study, that is up to them, but I can certainly comment on the relative usefulness of the solutions used and simply asking “Are you Irish” and hoping for the best is one of the worst I can think of. People do not want to think that their input will be ignored so given the OP said they would be if they are not Irish, they not only can... but are now motivated.... to claim they are if they are not.

If you find that it is impossible to be sure enough… then maybe the study itself needs to be restructured to ask a question you actually do have the capability to answer. Not all studies are doable and if the main variable of your main question is one you can not account for with even a modicum of accuracy then serious questions need to be asked about the study itself and its usefulness.

28064212 wrote: »

Your examples of 'bad' science are invariably caused by bad reporting

No, not invariably at all. Many papers and studies really do suffer for awful methodology, even before anyone gets as far as "reporting" on them. Bad reporting clearly compounds the problem yes, that is a given, but that bad methodology is also an issue is also pretty clear.

28064212

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

I do not claim that one can be 100% certain. I am merely saying that any statistician will tell you that when engaged in such a study you should do your best to minimise reliance on honesty, and the effort you put into minimising it should be proportional the the importance of each variable to your thesis.

It is not for me to suggest how someone should go about doing it in their study, that is up to them, but I can certainly comment on the relative usefulness of the solutions used and simply asking “Are you Irish” and hoping for the best is one of the worst I can think of.

It also appears to be the only one you can think of.

What's the error margin on asking "What's your nationality?" so? And even if you could show it to be high, you're making the assumption that it is the main variable. It's not. The main variable is people who claim to be Irish. The same as every single result in the survey implicitly has the prefix "people who claim..."

nozzferrahhtoo

28064212 wrote: »

It also appears to be the only one you can think of.

There is nothing to be gained in engaging in a conversation if it is going to descend into petty personal digs like this. My point is made and clear. If you are going to act like this because of it then I have nothing further to add.

28064212

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

There is nothing to be gained in engaging in a conversation if it is going to descend into petty personal digs like this. My point is made and clear. If you are going to act like this because of it then I have nothing further to add.

It was not a 'dig'. You said it was one of the worst ways you could think of. 'Worst' in a field of one is irrelevant

parker kent

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

That's missing the point. It doesn't matter if it were asked the other way around.

If I answered the question honestly I would say 'I agree' to ''is it worse for women to sleep around''

Now it is not because I think women should have a more restricted sex life. Just when you consider the increased risks for STIs and assault and the like it is more hazardous. I would also say it is worse for men to sleep around with other men.

However I feel if I said ''I agree'' without an explanation it would come across as if I'm a prat who thinks men are more entitled to promiscuity than women- which is retarded

Your answer has numerous inconsistencies. Are you saying it is worse to sleep around if you have sex with a man?

Also, you clearly do not agree with either statement (as you see sleeping around as bad for both men and women, so neither is worse in your view), so the obvious option to select is that you disagree.

parker kent

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

IIt is not for me to suggest how someone should go about doing it in their study, that is up to them, but I can certainly comment on the relative usefulness of the solutions used and simply asking “Are you Irish” and hoping for the best is one of the worst I can think of. People do not want to think that their input will be ignored so given the OP said they would be if they are not Irish, they not only can... but are now motivated.... to claim they are if they are not.

How exactly do you expect somebody doing a Bachelors Thesis to gather more reliable information? Get the questions attached to the back of the Census? Asking the nationality of the respondent is a perfectly valid form of ensuring that the sample is representative of who you wish to study.

By the way, I am a librarian/professional researcher, so I do know what I am talking about.

nozzferrahhtoo

parker kent wrote: »

Asking the nationality of the respondent is a perfectly valid form of ensuring that the sample is representative of who you wish to study.

That is really dependant entirely on how important the variable in question is to you, which is the point I am trying to get across.

If it is not all that important that people be Irish then simply asking are they Irish is clearly enough. If the entire thesis in question is that the people MUST be Irish then clearly it is not.

I do not know what the guys thesis actually is, so I am not saying it IS a problem. I merely wanted to highlight to him that if the variable is key, then more effort is required and he possible negated his results by not ensuring to the best of his ability that people in question are Irish.

Obviously some sacrifices must be made and that is the balance one has to strike. If it was KEY for me to ensure all participants are Irish then clearly I would have to consider sacrificing something else… such as the anonymity of the study.

What I am trying to strike home is that there is no “right” way to do it per se, but that the “best” way to do it is entirely dependant on what your thesis and target actually is…. That said it should not be read that I am saying what the OP did is wrong for sure… but that I saw it as useful to make him aware that a point of concern for him is to decide for himself how important the variable is and realise that the more important it is, the less effective his approach was proportionally.

I simply can not comment any more precisely than that without actually knowing what his thesis topic is and how important it is to the results that the participants really be Irish. As for you asking me how he SHOULD go about finding that information... again I need to know the exact thesis and how important the variable is.

parker kent wrote: »

By the way, I am a librarian/professional researcher, so I do know what I am talking about.

Not really. It might mean you SHOULD know what you are talking about, but it is by no means a given. People claim on here to have relevant qualifications all the time, and that this means they must be right. Better is to listen to WHAT people are saying not WHO they claim is saying it. It is also worth reading this.

The funniest anecdote I have for this is that someone claiming to have all kinds of knowledge and qualifications in science once told me that the reason we have gravity on earth is because the earth is spinning and that this must be right because they have all the qualifications and so they know best.

Yet a 12 year old who has been doing Junior Cert science for only a few months will know this is wrong.

The problem with claiming you are qualified is a) that does not mean you are right and b) no one here can verify your claim and as you can see in my anecdote quite often people claim to be what they are not. There is a guy here on boards.ie who keeps claiming he is a lawyer yet everything he says calls that claim into question and he has never once offered any tangible evidence he is who he claims.

parker kent

^ I know that is not the 100% "best" method. But as is said in the OP it is for a final year psychology degree. Almost all other options would not be feasible for numerous reasons (time, cost, access etc).

If you just read the thread, the purpose of the thesis would be clear.

nozzferrahhtoo

parker kent wrote: »

If you just read the thread, the purpose of the thesis would be clear.

Not really, all the OP has said is he is studying “abnormal sexual behaviour in Ireland”. That is a huge area of study so we know pretty much nothing about his Thesis or what his hopes for the study are.

For example if I said I was “Studying Cars In Ireland” you still have no idea what my actual target of study is. Maybe I am looking into color preference… maybe engine size preference… or maybe nothing to do with preference and maybe breakdown statistics or how well they survive crashes. There are 1000s more possibilities but you get the idea.

What the OP did say was he was looking “specifically” (his word) for Irish participants which gives the impression that this is his most important fixed factor. In statistics you often have to fix a parameter to study how other parameters vary around it. If this is what he is doing THEN the issues I have raised are important and I hope he takes them into account for his own sake... as clearly it does not bother me what he does. If this is not important then my issues are not important and can be disregarded as unimportant to the OP.

For example if you wanted to do a study on single parenting to show the crime rates of their children independent of the fact that family income for singles is often lower than for couples… the family income is clearly your fixed variable. Anyone reading your study would focus instantly on your methodology for controlling for that variable and/or normalising your results to account for it in relation to the other family types you are comparing against. If your methodology there fails, your entire result is void.

At the end of the day however I am not saying the OP is wrong, but simply offering friendly help which he can take or leave as to something it appeared he might not have considered. I simply prefer he hear it from a random person now, rather than from someone else after he gets his grade.

This is, as you can see, what happens when you simply try and be helpful though and if you offer critical advice people think you are ripping the OP apart. I simply wanted to ensure the OP was aware of these facts. If he was already, then it is not important. If he was not then he now is. If it is not important then no one is affected by my words either way... though if even one person has learned something about how to treat and read statistics then my work here is done... It is too often underestimated the damage caused by people who are unable to read studies and statistics, especially those who work in the media.

28064212

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

If it is not all that important that people be Irish then simply asking are they Irish is clearly enough. If the entire thesis in question is that the people MUST be Irish then clearly it is not.

The entire thesis is not based on the postulate that all the participants must be Irish. No paper anywhere has ever been based on any such point. They are based on the assumption that participants are answering honestly

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

Obviously some sacrifices must be made and that is the balance one has to strike. If it was KEY for me to ensure all participants are Irish then clearly I would have to consider sacrificing something else… such as the anonymity of the study.

Which would in no way ensure it was any more accurate

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

I simply can not comment any more precisely than that without actually knowing what his thesis topic is and how important it is to the results that the participants really be Irish. As for you asking me how he SHOULD go about finding that information... again I need to know the exact thesis and how important the variable is.

If it is vital to the thesis that every participant must be Irish it's obviously doomed to fail. However, like every thesis, it is based on certain assumptions and with an implicit error allowance. Unless Faith's thesis says "Based on these survey results, all Irish people...", they're in the clear

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

For example if you wanted to do a study on single parenting to show the crime rates of their children independent of the fact that family income for singles is often lower than for couples… the family income is clearly your fixed variable. Anyone reading your study would focus instantly on your methodology for controlling for that variable and/or normalising your results to account for it in relation to the other family types you are comparing against. If your methodology there fails, your entire result is void.

And it is impossiblt to get accurate data on family income. Everything is based on what the participants tell you. Even if you go to their employer or their tax returns, they could be drug dealers. You can not account for that with any measure of confidence through any method

parker kent

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

Not really, all the OP has said is he is studying “abnormal sexual behaviour in Ireland”. That is a huge area of study so we know pretty much nothing about his Thesis or what his hopes for the study are.

My point is that it is clear that it is for a bachelors thesis. Hence, the methods are suitable. As long as it is mentioned in the limitations of the study that the data is reliant on an assumption of good faith in the respondents replies. There is also massive amounts of literature of the strengths and weaknesses of survey based research which can be used to demonstrate the strengths and weaknesses of the methodology. I'm assuming from the other posts here that Faith is well aware of these issues.

The poster above me has written the post that I would like to, but couldn't be bothered to actually type out! Whenever a thread like this appears on Boards, there is always somebody who feels the need to interrogate the poster on their methods. Much of what you are writing is either obvious (and therefore redundant as the OP is already aware) or irrelevant. Of course there are examples of research with shoddy methodology. But this is a bachelors thesis and the OP has gone to more than enough effort.

I'm coming across as some sort of White Knight for Faith now...or obsessed fan :pac:

Bottle_of_Smoke

parker kent wrote: »

Your answer has numerous inconsistencies. Are you saying it is worse to sleep around if you have sex with a man?

Yes. In fact the least risky sex is between two women. However 90% of women only have sex with men.

Also, you clearly do not agree with either statement (as you see sleeping around as bad for both men and women, so neither is worse in your view), so the obvious option to select is that you disagree.

No it is worse for women because due to their physiology they are more likely to pick up infections. However if I chose Yes on that form it would be assumed I'm part of the sexist prick demographic who think men have more of a divine entitlement to sleep around and women should be good little virgins.

I don't think sleeping around is inherantly bad, it is just generally more risky if you're sleeping with men.

nozzferrahhtoo

parker kent wrote: »

Much of what you are writing is either obvious....

You have no idea how much I wish it was. There are "professional" papers out there by "professional" people that are actually being academically used and cited and/or reported on the media, and it takes a relatively lay person like me less than 5 minutes to spot the most glaring of methodological errors in some of them.

It was not Ben Goldacre but someone like him who's name slips my mind now who once said if he could make one change in this world, it would be to pass a law that people in the media reporting on Scientific and Statistical papers MUST have some academic training on how to actually read them.

I am forced to agree. It would be a small but incredibly effective change.

It does give SOME consolation knowing this is "just" a bachelors thesis, but do not underestimate just how many such thesis are cited by people, especially on forums.

nozzferrahhtoo

28064212 wrote: »

The entire thesis is not based on the postulate that all the participants must be Irish.

This is not information I have and certainly not that I had when I first posted on the thread. Look back, the OP said he was doing a study on behaviors "in ireland" and was looking "Specifically" for irish people. I can be forgiven I feel for concluding from that that there is some likelihood this is the key factor, no?

28064212 wrote: »

If it is vital to the thesis that every participant must be Irish it's obviously doomed to fail.

Exactly and that was all my point is, was and likely will remain to be so I think there is little remaining to even discuss at this point. You clearly understand the point I am trying to get across, regardless of whether you feel that point applies in THIS case, and so there is little more I can add.

28064212

nozzferrahhtoo wrote: »

This is not information I have and certainly not that I had when I first posted on the thread. Look back, the OP said he was doing a study on behaviors "in ireland" and was looking "Specifically" for irish people. I can be forgiven I feel for concluding from that that there is some likelihood this is the key factor, no?

Exactly and that was all my point is, was and likely will remain to be so I think there is little remaining to even discuss at this point. You clearly understand the point I am trying to get across, regardless of whether you feel that point applies in THIS case, and so there is little more I can add.

You have missed the point. No thesis anywhere (outside of the flawless world of pure mathematics) asserts that a hypothesis must be true. Everything is built on assumptions. They are built on the theory that something is true, and all conclusions hinge on that theory being true

nozzferrahhtoo

I think we have somewhere started talking past each other indeed as nothing I have said has anything to do with suggesting the hypothesis of a thesis must be true. I merely said that if your thesis is built around a specific fixed point, some effort should be put into ensuring to the best of your ability that this point is accurate and you said the same thing in your own words in post #45.

At this point as I said there is little to add. We are apparently saying much the same thing but think we are not due to our different ways of saying it. The beaten horse of this conversation is truly dead.