Survey in Psychology class

[Étoile]

In my Psychology class, we had get into groups of 4 and do a survey on a topic of our choice. Nobody else in my group had anything in mind, so I just suggested we do the difference between male and females' opinions on gay marriage and surprisinly they liked it. We used 15 males and 15 females (me and the other guy in my group did the guys since the two girls thought it'd make the guys more comfortable to admit their true feelings on the topic if it was guys asking them questions). We asked the guys and girls two questions:

"Are you a junior or senior?" (grade 11 or grade 12 for our international buddies)
"Are you for, against, or undecided about gay marriage?"

We gathered our info and here were the results:

10 out of the 15 guys were against gay marriage; 5 out of 10 guys were for gay marriage
None of the girls were against it. 7 out of 15 girls were for it. 8 out of 15 girls were undecided.

When we did our presentation 2 days ago, my class really got into it and voiced their true feelings about the issue. Only 1 girl was for it; she said that two girls kissing disturbed her but it's not her place to tell others how to live. Many people were against it though. This one guy stated in a very well-thought out and polite way that homosexuality goes against his religion and after talking to a lot of gay people, he realized that they all had bad upbringings, so their sexuality must have stemed from a bad childhood and that a man and woman are like a lock and key, so marriage should be kept between a man and a woman. He did say that if he had a gay friend, he wouldn't agree with their sexuality but would look past that and support them as a friend.

Another guy said that marriage is for procreation but my teacher argued that a gay man could have a surrogate mother, so technically they could biologically have a child. One girl said that God made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve () but she said that she has a gay friend and she still loves him.

All in all, everyone agreed, except a couple of people, that gays should be allowed to marry. The three people in my group said 'It's their life, so they should be able to do anything they want.' I didn't really like how that sounded since it sounded like they were secretely against it, but at least they weren't totally against it. Sorry for the super long post.

[Mind Freak]

Wow. Interesting.
I wonder if the guys were just saying that to keep people from thinking they were gay.

*strokes chin in wonder*

[Martin]

It's a shame something like that can't be done in more depth. If it was an actual investigation then it would have allowed you to look at factors that could have affected their answers. The most obvious them giving what they consider to be a socially desirable answer by saying they were againsy gay marriage, as high school gives off the whole macho vibe and people will conform with that.

Another thing you could have been able to do was to get somebody who fits the gay stereotype to ask them and make sure they are aware that the person fits the gay stereotype. As they are alone it should remove peer pressure playing a role in it, and in the presence of a gay person should remove that discrimination element to it. The advantage of it is that it would stop people lying about their answers because of wanting social approval from their peeps, but it may also make those who are against homosexuality agree with it due to the presence of a gay person.

Hmm, my brain has gone into psychology overload.

The point I am getting at is that answers like these (and I am sure you will agree) will never work in such a setting. Natural experiments are useful, but in a school setting it's very common to get one-sided result that are caused from social attitudes. I am actually lucky in the sense that my psychology class are very independant thinkers and are open minded. As they are not on compulsory education and have had to meet strict entry requirements to get on that course it means that they are people who are willing to accept others and learn, and that thankfully removes the ignorant people who don't want to learn and just want to piss about. In a way it sort of shows just how much social attitudes can affect people as people in my class who are academic would mostly support gay marriage, whereas (I am assuming) your class is still in compulsory education and will most likely have a higher percentage not supporting gay marriage, but yours still gives answers from a wider group of people and may not be limited to people who have proven to have a strong academic mind.

Hmmm, so many approaches to take in studies. I could ramble on for hours.

[Wander]

I will choke the next person I hear say the words "Adam and Steve".

Also, gay guy with normal and loving upbringing here.

[beckyg]

What a great topic and interesting results.