Lesbian Health Survey- Can you help this PhD Student?? PLEASE!!

[Toughy]

Originally Posted by Melissa

I didn't really pay much attention to this survey when it first went up. But since Toughy has decided to be so nasty about it I'm going to go take it. This from a female bodied woman who ids as lesbian and has for nearly 20 years (even though some people don't seem to think I'm entitled to that id any more because I now partner with an FTM). You know we could go round and round on this survey all we want but my guess is if you id as lesbian and female bodied you can go take it if you want to.

Melissa

I was not being nasty. I simply put on the hat I would wear if I was sitting on the Institutional (Ethics) Review Board that is required by law to approve this KABB survey.

Asking simple and hard questions about using us as guinea pigs for public health surveys that affect what health care services are available to 'lesbians' is not nasty. It is a requirement.

I find any and all researchers who will not answer simple questions, much less hard questions to be suspect regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

edited to add: Melissa.......I was not asking for your definition of lesbian (as far as I am concerned you are a lesbian if you say you are). The researchers definition of lesbian is what is important. KABB surveys are delicate instruments given to huge amounts of false data if the definitions of the researcher are different than that of the participants.

additional edit...........and please don't get me started on what you valid information you can find with an n of 250. What statistical evaluation are you doing for this survey. It's not a study. It's a dissertation survey.

[Melissa]

Originally Posted by Toughy

I was not being nasty. I simply put on the hat I would wear if I was sitting on the Institutional (Ethics) Review Board that is required by law to approve this KABB survey.

Asking simple and hard questions about using us as guinea pigs for public health surveys that affect what health care services are available to 'lesbians' is not nasty. It is a requirement.

I find any and all researchers who will not answer simple questions, much less hard questions to be suspect regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.

edited to add: Melissa.......I was not asking for your definition of lesbian (as far as I am concerned you are a lesbian if you say you are). The researchers definition of lesbian is what is important. KABB surveys are delicate instruments given to huge amounts of false data if the definitions of the researcher are different than that of the participants.

additional edit...........and please don't get me started on what you valid information you can find with an n of 250. What statistical evaluation are you doing for this survey. It's not a study. It's a dissertation survey.

But you are not on the IRB board for this survey. The survey writer gave a link directly to her Univ, her program and her own bio with a picture. Her name and diss advisor name is on the survey. She needs this to complete her diss so she can graduate. I think that your attitude toward this creates a bad image of this site. If you have personal/professional problems with this survey you should contact the Univ and her advisor or the admin of this site and ask for the thread to be closed.

Melissa

[Toughy]

Originally Posted by Melissa

But you are not on the IRB board for this survey. The survey writer gave a link directly to her Univ, her program and her own bio with a picture. Her name and diss advisor name is on the survey. She needs this to complete her diss so she can graduate. I think that your attitude toward this creates a bad image of this site. If you have personal/professional problems with this survey you should contact the Univ and her advisor or the admin of this site and ask for the thread to be closed.

Melissa

So I am, as a potential participant/volunteer in this survey (it IS NOT a study), supposed to just not ask questions about the survey? I, as a potential participant/volunteer am just supposed to shut my pretty little mouth and not ask questions of clarification about a survey for an academic dissertation.....be someone's guinea pig so they can call themselves Doctor......that has the potential to affect my ability to access appropriate health care?

As a potential participant, I cannot and will not put aside my years of experience in this field. Trust me........nobody wants me in their clinical trials or KABB surveys. They hate me. I ask the hard questions. I demand referenced information. I demand access to all information the researchers have. It is my right, if I am to volunteer my body or my experiences about my health to some academic in some institution of higher learner.

Her credentials and bio and those of her advisors are nice to have, but have really no relevance to Informed Consent documents. The Informed Consent document she provided did not answer my questions, nor has she answered my questions. As a potential volunteer/participant this is not acceptable and I have no choice but to not participate and suggest that anyone who asks me about this not participate.

Questions are never wrong. Avoiding questions or not fully answering questions is cause for stepping back and reconsidering.

A survey of 250 'lesbians' (without a definition) that the researcher proposes might affect the quality and kinds of health care I receive definitely requires close scrutiny. 250 self defined lesbians hardly provides any statistical significance in future health care for lesbians. It might however justify her dissertation conclusions in the minds of her advisory board. 250 lesbians answers to a poorly prepared questions and IFC documents should never affect my health care. The grade her advisors give her for this is entirely on them.

By asking me to take off the IRB hat is like asking me to cut off my head. IRB is about ethics. Ethics are who I am personally in the world. The totality of my experience drives my questions.

[Admin]

All,

I don't want to see this discussion devolve into a thing where the site is now responsible for the behavior of one or two members.

The person who posted the survey did email me and ask for permission to post it. I was bombed with work stuff that day and did not answer the email.

Allowing people access to the site who want to use this community as part of a case study, surveys, or Doctoral studies is a very gray area for us. On one hand, I think it's important for the voices of our community to be heard. On another hand, we simply to not have time to validate every single survey request that comes across my desk (and there have been about 30 since we started this site).

Since this survey was posted before I had a chance to look it over, I left it up to the members to decide if they want to participate in it or not since we're all adults and capable of making our own decisions. If you feel that this survey is something that you want to participate in, then do it. If you think it's bunk, then don't.

Bottom line for me is that anyone posting a survey where they ask this community for input needs to be aware that we are a very smart bunch and will probably be asking questions. I think it's responsible of Hokie to hang around and answer those questions.

What I am asking of all of you at this time is to cut the personal swipes and nastiness out. Ask questions, have the discussion, or provide info but don't stoop to ugly behavior with one another.

Thanks,
Admin

[Nina]

I wonder if it makes sense for there to be a vetting committee for surveys?...
since there have been 30 requests since you started the site, it seems that it's an ongoing and active aspect of the planet...maybe there could be some members to whom the requests can be sent...these members can have decided upon the criteria to be used when deciding if the surveys are legit, and seem to fit the planet population...

if this survey request had been submitted to the admin, and the student didn't hear anything back, I wonder how she made the decision to go ahead and post the survey?...it just seems that if someone believes it's correct to ask permission/approval not getting a response doesn't (in my view) read as an okay to go ahead and post the survey...

I wouldn't participate in the survey for a number of reasons, so maybe I shouldn't say anything...there might be surveys in which I would consider participating, but not until (or if) I could be assured of their veracity...I have learned a great deal about the survey development process from reading comments made here, and I appreciate what I've read...

[SuperFemme]

adele learned new acronyms today. IRB and KABB.

neither have anything to do with public transit or irritable bowel.

it's been a productive day and now i can rest.

[Lynn]

Took the survey. Hope it's helpful. I also found that some of the questions lacked appropriate answers, and leaving them blank wasn't an option. I'm wondering how the data can be interpreted with any reliability when the information isn't valid (by which I mean the truth). Also wonder how helpful it is to base conclusions on how a person "appears" rather than on how a person identifies. Some of the cultural biases of the writer seem to be reflected in the way questions were worded. But. I'm no expert. I like taking surveys and I sincerely hope that this endeavor provides useful information.