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i_wish
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| 07/09/2008 5:52 PM |
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In any form of research, you need a control group. If you're researching the way that men's behavior differs from women's, you need to ask women the same survey questions. The reason that the answers to this survey are surprising to its readers is that the survey respondants included young men from all different backgrounds and religions, but the survey's readers are most likely Christian conservatives. A control group would help readers understand that many of the discrepancies between their way of thinking and the survey respondants' ways of thinking is religious, not gender-based. (I know that for some survey questions, seperate statistics were provided for what Christian guys said, but a control group is still superior to this method, because moral standards still vary within Christianity.)
Also, the conclusions drawn are disconnected from the questions asked. For example, one of the survey questions is "If you were in a heavy make out situation with a willing partner who is not a long-term girlfriend, what would you primarily be feeling?" 64% said how good this feels over 36% who said how much I love her. Then the book draws the conclusion, "Almost all the guys we talked to admitted that having sex was not primarily about showing love." If that was the conclusion they were hoping to draw, they should have asked the survey question, "Is sex primarily about showing love?" The survey question they chose to ask only shows that sexual activities with an unloved partner does not illicit love. Duh.
I am a young woman of 17 years. I have not yet been to college and I am not a book reviewer or a reasearcher in gender topics, but I am a very analytical thinker interested in the topics addressed in this book and I was disappointed by the shoddy research techniques and poor reasoning used. |
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Julie Fidler
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| 07/10/2008 6:11 PM |
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I understand your point.
However, Shaunti is herself, by Harvard training, an analyst. And the survey itself was conducted by a professional survey company. Therefore, I have a great deal of confidence that both Shaunti and the survey company were well aware of the need for a control group, as well as the other things you mentioned.
You are incorrect in assuming that the majority of those surveyed were conservative Christians. That is simply untrue. Each and every survey for each and every book represented all kinds of people - Christians, non-Christians, liberals, conservatives, black, white, Asian, etc., etc. So that was an incorrect assumption on your part.
Thanks for sharing your views, we always want to hear them. But you might want to get a little more information instead of assuming. 
-Julie
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Forum Moderator
Project Specialist for Shaunti Feldhahn |
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i_wish
Posts:3
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| 07/11/2008 10:23 AM |
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I didn't say that those surveyed were Conservative Christians. I said that the majority of the book's readers probably were Conservative Christians. I mean, the publishing company's slogan is "Keeping your trust...one book at a time," so I'm guessing it's a Christian publishing company and that the book was marketed to Christians. I know that the people who filled out the survey came from a variety of backgrounds. Here's the thing: because the results of a control group were not published in the book, it's impossible for a Christian conservative reader to tell whether the differences in the respondants' views and her own were due to religious differences or gender differences. If she could see what women from a variety of backgrounds thought, she might find that the gap between men and women's ideas aren't quite as huge as she would have assumed on her own. This is what I tried to say in my first comment, but it sounds as though my complaint wasn't quite understood.
Anyway, thanks for your response. |
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i_wish
Posts:3
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| 07/11/2008 10:28 AM |
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| And yes, the fact that it includes statistics for Christian guys does help with the above problem, but it isn't used for all the relevant questions, and whether or not the guy is a Christian is still hard to define. |
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FYMO Writer
Posts:3
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| 01/14/2009 8:44 PM |
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| The book was aimed at teen guys. Christian or not...to become a godly young man that knows how to understand all women is the goal. |
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