On Fri, 4 Aug 2000, dennis roberts wrote:
> At 09:59 AM 8/4/00 -0400, Bob Hayden wrote, replying to Peter Lewycky:
> >
> >I've yet to meet an (adult) respondent who did not know his mother's
> >maiden name and her birthdate. :)
> >
> >We must meet sometime!-)
>
> can i come too? i remember her maiden name .... but not her birth date
> in fact, this is an interesting question ... take a random sample of
> adults ... say age 40 to 50 ...
Why so restricted a range of ages? See below...
> and ask these two questions ... wonder which answer has the higher p
> value of being correct? i predict the name does ...
Quite likely. But add to your survey questions at least one
dealing with the celebration of birthdays in the family.
I conjecture that offspring of families where birthdays are
routinely celebrated (for the adults as well as for the
children) will more often -- nearly always, actually -- recall
parental birthdays. Interesting to compare father's and mother's
birthdays, as well...
Your age restriction would eliminate me, thus supplying a small
bias in favor of your expectation (since I happen to know both
parents' birthdays, and mother's (and both grandmothers') maiden
names). Perhaps your survey should also inquire how long the
FAMILY has resided in the present town, state, and nation ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Donald F. Burrill [EMAIL PROTECTED]
348 Hyde Hall, Plymouth State College, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
MSC #29, Plymouth, NH 03264 603-535-2597
184 Nashua Road, Bedford, NH 03110 603-471-7128
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