Media Hype and Same-Sex Parenting Studies
Recently, a study was released from Australia claiming children with same-sex parents fair better than children with heterosexual parents.
The study, however, suffers from a number of fatal flaws which John Stonestreet pointed out in a radio commentary earlier this month.
“The first problem is the study’s sketchy methodology which significantly biased its results. … The authors themselves admitted that they used a small non-representative sample. It is what’s known as a “convenience sample,” derived by recruiting self-motivated families in gay-themed publications. They even allowed the parents to know they were participating in a major study on the well-being of same-sex families which biases the results, and they relied on these motivated parents’ self-reports about their own children’s well-being.
“These methodological flaws are no small matter. As Stanton notes, the authors of this study (as well as in all the other studies to date) fail to appreciate that the same-sex parents being studied are fully aware that they’re participating in a study that could influence social stigma and public policy.
“This obviously creates a conflict of interest, because some of the participants will have a strong reason to be more positive in their self-reporting.”
This is a flaw very similar to one we pointed out about a recent “survey” of homosexuals in Arkansas commissioned by the Human Rights Campaign.
Listen to Stonestreet’s full radio commentary below.
[audio:http://bit.ly/1k93b5E|titles=Media Hype and Same-Sex Parenting Studies]