He shows large sections of the survey are so bias they are worthless - the data collected will no be reliable.
http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/07/pentagon-spends-44-million-to-test.htmlWhat further seems likely is that the distribution of false positives will be biased. In particular, it seems likely to be biased in two ways:
-- Soldiers in units with low morale are probably more likely to accuse one another of being gay based on hearsay evidence, i.e. rumors or innuendo. Although this might be changing some, there's usually no better way for one young man to undermine another than to allege that he is gay. And these (usually spurious and false) accusations would presumably be more common in units where the troops weren't getting along with one another. Thus, the survey will probably attribute lower morale to the presence of homosexuality within the unit, when in fact it's low morale that triggers the suspicion (but not the actual fact) of homosexuality.
-- Homophobic soldiers are probably more likely to accuse one another of being gay based on stereotypes. Our troops range from relatively worldly young men and women to others who are teenagers and who have barely seen the world outside of their hometowns. They might mistake behaviors (one's choice of music, for instance) that in fact reflect socioeconomic or cultural differences for instead being indicators of sexual orientation. Or their homophobia might be less benign: they see gays lurking around every corner. If they don't get along with their commander, for instance, they might put one or two facts together (he isn't married and likes watching Sex and the City!) and conclude that must be gay.
In contrast, the survey (at least from what we've seen of it so far) goes out of its way to avoid asking the troops about something which is arguably more relevant and which is certainly more measurable: their opinions about DADT. At no point, for instance does it pose the simple question of whether or not the solider thinks that DADT should be repealed. I'd have no huge problem if we asked our troops that; it would be up to our policymakers to weigh those findings against other factors. But the survey does not solicit the soldiers' opinions; instead, it solicits their speculation on the sexual preferences of their peers. In so doing, it insults their intelligence -- and ours.
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
