I think it's time to introduce a serious note to all this seasonal jocularity. Sue Franz linked to the Kinsey Institute: http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/research/ak-hhscale.html
I have no knowledge of the current activities of the Kinsey Institute, but I think it is unfortunate that the name Kinsey remains a byword in the field of sexual research. I have the impression that there has been a reluctance to take a critical stance towards the famous Kinsey claims by some people because at the time (and later) much of the criticism has come from conservative groups concerned about the influence of the Kinsey Report on social attitudes in the States. But, as NPR has noted, "the most damaging critiques focused on his sampling method, questioning whether the enormous number of people he interviewed -- his pride and joy -- were representative of the American population. Indeed this was not an idle question, given Kinsey's predilection for recruiting college students, prostitutes, and prison inmates to participate in the study." http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/kinsey/peopleevents/e_male.html Again: "In 1948, the same year as the original publication, a committee of the American Statistical Association, including notable statisticians such as John Tukey, condemned the sampling procedure. Tukey was perhaps the most vocal critic, saying, "A random selection of three people would have been better than a group of 300 chosen by Mr. Kinsey." [Refs] Criticism principally revolved around the over-representation of some groups in the sample: 25% were, or had been, prison inmates, and 5% were male prostitutes. [Ref.] "A related criticism, by some of the leading psychologists of the day, notably Abraham Maslow, was that Kinsey did not consider 'volunteer bias'. The data represented only those volunteering to participate in discussion of taboo topics. Most Americans were reluctant to discuss the intimate details of their sex lives even with their spouses or close friends. Before the publication of Kinsey's reports, Dr. Maslow tested Kinsey's volunteers for bias. He concluded that Kinsey's sample was unrepresentative of the general population. [Ref] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinsey_Reports#Objections_to_methodology Not to mention ethical considerations. Kinsey's reporting of masturbation of children as young as two months was described in a letter to the "Archives of Sexual Behavior" as "the only example in Western scientific literature where egregious abuse of human subjects has been accepted as a valid data source by scientists wishing to be taken seriously." http://www.springerlink.com/content/ut266g0v73hg6006/ Allen Esterson Former lecturer, Science Department Southwark College, London http://www.esterson.org ------------------------------------------------------------- RE: [tips] nifty psych gift Frantz, Sue Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:27:59 -0800 Guess where your friends and family fall on the Kinsey Scale, and get them a t-shirt. http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/services/scale_tshirt.html That couldn't possibly go wrong. -- Sue Frantz Highline Community College Psychology, Coordinator Des Moines, WA 206.878.3710 x3404 [email protected] Office of Teaching Resources in Psychology, Associate Director Project Syllabus APA Division 2: Society for the Teaching of Psychology APA's p...@cc Committee --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([email protected])
