SOC212: Chapter 13 – Survey of Sexual behavior of Americans

-When careful probability sampling is used, survey research holds the greatest potential for
generalizability from the sample population back to the larger population of interest.
-Yet surveys have problems of internal validity, or accuracy. Answers are not accurate because
sometimes people don't understand the question, because they misremember their past
attitudes/behavior, or they do so intentionally.
-Initial thoughts on distributing a survey about sexual behavior, was that it could not be done, no one
would want to answer such questions. People don't know enough about sexual practices as they relate
to disease transmission or even to pleasure or physical and emotional satisfaction to be able to answer
questions effectively.
-The society we live in treats sex as ambiguous and ambivalent. It is at once highly fascinating,
attractive, possibly preoccupying, but it can also be frightening, disturbing, and guilt inducing.
-For many, sex is considered a private matter only to be discussed with few people if at all.
-There is a major discontinuity between the sensibilities of politicians and other self-appointed
guardians of moral order and those of the public at large, who display few hang-ups in discussing
sexual issues in appropriately structured circumstances.
-The fact remains that, up until quite recently, scientific research on sexuality has been taboo and
therefore to be avoided or at best marginalized.
-Most research tends to be focused towards sexual behaviors that are believed to be abnormal, deviant,
criminal, perverted, rare, or unusual, towards sexual pathology, dysfunction, and STD's.
-Research design is never just a theoretical exercise, it is a set of practical solutions to a multitude of
problems and considerations that are chosen under the constraints of limited resources of money, time,
and prior knowledge.

Sample Design:
-Probability Sampling: Sampling where every member of a specified population has a known
probability of selection. In order to determine how large a sample size needs to be, one must first
decide how precise the estimates to be derived need to be.
-You should also account for parameters in subpopulations (gender, race etc) as well as the whole
sample.

Gaining Cooperation: The Response Rate:

-No survey of any size and complexity is going to get every sampling-designated respondent to
complete an interview.
-While face to face interviews are more costly to conduct than other methods, they usually get the
highest response rate.
-Still, for respondents that can not be reached, there is a possibility that a systematic process is at work
for the reasons why they may not want to answer (embarrassment etc.)
-A problem that interviewers had was that potential respondents did no think that the topic had an effect
on them, thus believed their responses would be of little use.
-Phone surveys: Low cost, but problems in the length and complexity of a survey that can be
administered through the phone, and difficult to reach people at home, or respond even if they are.
-No one is sure whether or not respondents are more likely to answer honestly through face-to-face
surveys, or through the phone.
-The authors of this chapter opted to use face-to-face communication, but the main unresolved question
is whether or not there is another mode that has more advantages over face-to-face surveying when
highly sensitive questions are asked.
Recruiting and Training Interviewers:
-Gaining a respondents' cooperation requires mastery of a broad spectrum of techniques that successful
interviewers develop with experience, guidance from the research team, and careful field supervision,
especially when discussing sensitive topics, like sex.
-Interviewers needed to be fully persuaded about the legitimacy and importance of the research.
-Concerns that the respondents had for the interviews include: the legitimacy of the survey (most
fearing that it was a commercial ploy to sell them something, or to rob them), the anonymity between
the interviewers and respondents ironically led to suspicion, and the confidentiality of the interview.

The Questionnaire:
-The questionnaire is probably the most important element of the study design.
-It determines the content and quality of information gathered for analysis.
-The attributes measured by the questionnaire become the variables used for data analysis, they range
from demographics, sexual experience measures, measures of mental states etc.
-Certain definitions presented in a survey may exclude certain behaviors (in this case, the term
“intercourse” may not include a sexual act between two women).
-Another major issue is what type of language is appropriate in asking questions about sex, since highly
technical language is unlikely to be understood by many people.
-Using colloquial language or even slang is tempting, however it produces problems because: 1) using
slang can produce a tone in an interview that downplays the distinctiveness of the interviewing
situation itself (it is important to present sensitive subjects with a neutral, non-judgmental tone, and to
maintain a professional distance between the two parties). 2) slang is highly variable across class and
education levels, ages, regions, and other social groupings (thus the solution was to use the simplest
possible language-standard English-that was neither colloquial or highly technical).
-Whenever possible, the surveyors provided definitions when terms were first introduced in a
questionnaire.

On Privacy, Confidentiality, and Security:

-The willingness of respondents to report their views and experiences fully and honestly depends on the
rationale offered for why the study is important and on the assurance that the information provided will
be treated as confidential.