Reality check: 95 percent of Americans had premarital sex

[Fonceai]

They are probably assuming that since 95% of those surveyed answered yes, it means 95% of America.

I'd love to see the survey results if done in North Country New York... primarily Omish-type religions up there.

[Chancellor]

Quote by: Fonceai They are probably assuming that since 95% of those surveyed answered yes, it means 95% of America. I'd love to see the survey results if done in North Country New York... primarily Omish-type religions up there.

Well of course they're assuming. That's part of what all this nonsense of polls and statistics is about.

I agree with Mark Twain (who supposedly attributed this to Voltaire or someone like that): "There are lies, damned lies and statistics."

[ByaKya]

Quote by: Chancellor Would someone please explain to me how 36,100 people constitutes 95 percent of Americans.

Opinion polls are surveys of opinion using sampling. They are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by asking a small number of people a series of questions and then extrapolating the answers to the larger group.

Polls of 1000 people are accurate within 3 %
so 35,000 people in this study is actually very very accurate.
The study is not questioned

[Fonceai]

But the study should be questioned.

If they did a sampling of X number of people from many diverse regions I would consider it valid.

I seriously doubt the results would be the same given the many different cultural attitudes in this country.

[Chancellor]

Quote by: ByaKya Opinion polls are surveys of opinion using sampling. They are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by asking a small number of people a series of questions and then extrapolating the answers to the larger group.

Yes, I know what opinion polls are. I know about sampling. But there's no way you're going to convince me that 31,600 is 95 percent of the American population.

Polls of 1000 people are accurate within 3 % so 35,000 people in this study is actually very very accurate. The study is not questioned

There's no such thing as an "accurate" poll. The results can be made to say whatever you want just by changing the way you ask the question and the manner of selecting your sample.

[ByaKya]

Quote by: Chancellor Well of course they're assuming. That's part of what all this nonsense of polls and statistics is about. I agree with Mark Twain (who supposedly attributed this to Voltaire or someone like that): "There are lies, damned lies and statistics."

You are taking this quote to the extreme, and youve repeated this statement in response to scientifically conducted studies and polls.

When they are conducted scientifically they are accurate to within their margins of error. Look up any Polls conducted about the presidential elections and youll see they are very very accurate.

Now this may not jive with the "book of twain" you carry around, but it most certainly is true

[Chancellor]

Quote by: Fonceai But the study should be questioned. If they did a sampling of X number of people from many diverse regions I would consider it valid. I seriously doubt the results would be the same given the many different cultural attitudes in this country.

I question it simply because it's a statistic. I absolutely reject this whole notion of asking questions to a "sampling" (usually a small percentage) of people and then using the results to say this is what is true for ALL or MOST of the whole population. Then, of course, there's the fact that results of such statistics can generally be changed just by asking the questions differently.

We don't know who these people are, where they came from, what their background is or anything else other than they're supposedly "Americans."

[ByaKya]

Quote by: Chancellor Yes, I know what opinion polls are. I know about sampling. But there's no way you're going to convince me that 31,600 is 95 percent of the American population. There's no such thing as an "accurate" poll. The results can be made to say whatever you want just by changing the way you ask the question and the manner of selecting your sample.

in what way could having pre-marital sex give different answers depending on the way you ask it?
Also this was a study in which interview were conducted, so there is no way the questions werent understood clearly, and no way the people giving the answers gave answers they didnt mean. or whatever else it is you think these people did wrong.

[Chancellor]

Quote by: ByaKya You are taking this quote to the extreme, and youve repeated this statement in response to scientifically conducted studies and polls. When they are conducted scientifically they are accurate to within their margins of error. Look up any Polls conducted about the presidential elections and youll see they are very very accurate. Now this may not jive with the "book of twain" you carry around, but it most certainly is true

There is absolutely no truth whatsoever in polls or similar "studies." There is nothing scientific about asking someone a bunch of questions to a group of people and drawing conclusions about a larger group of people based on the subjective answers given.

[ByaKya]

Quote by: Chancellor Yes, I know what opinion polls are. I know about sampling. But there's no way you're going to convince me that 31,600 is 95 percent of the American population.

Show me where the study claimed 30,000 people is 95 % of america?

It said according to the extropolated data that they got from these 31,000 people, 95 % of americans had pre-marital sex.

Quote by: Chancellor There's no such thing as an "accurate" poll.

Accurate within 3 % if 1000 random people are polled, yes.
Its true, Its true

[Captain Chaos]

Quote by: kubedawg 21, and still a virgin. Not proud nor ashamed. Just haven't found 'the one.' It has nothing to due with family values.

When you do find the one, will you marry her before you perform the dirty deed of darkness with her?

[Chancellor]

Quote by: ByaKya in what way could having pre-marital sex give different answers depending on the way you ask it?

Is it sex occurring before you get married for the first time? Does it include oral sex (which many people in the 1990s were insisting wasn't sex)? What about those who have been married and then got divorced? If they have sex before marrying again, is it pre-marital sex since it is occuring before entering into a marriage? Does being molested as a three year-old count as pre-marital sex? Does homosexual experimentation as a teenager count as pre-marital sex?

[Captain Chaos]

Quote by: ByaKya Unless they are official and scientifically published like this one

Those take longer to make up?

[Captain Chaos]

Quote by: Chancellor Would someone please explain to me how 36,100 people constitutes 95 percent of Americans.

Statistical sampling. There is quite an enormous science behind it.

[Chancellor]

Quote by: ByaKya Show me where the study claimed 30,000 people is 95 % of america?

The article said "More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex." Since only 38,000 people were interviewed, that means there were 36,100 people who had pre-marital sex. Since the article claims that 95 percent of Americans had pre-marital sex, they're saying that 36,100 people is 95 percent of Americans.

It said according to the extropolated data that they got from these 31,000 people, 95 % of americans had pre-marital sex.

So, they lied. They didn't really mean 95 percent of Americans (and they knew they didn't mean that), they only meant 95 percent of the people they interviewed. Then they extrapolated and just ASSUMED that this result was true of the entire American population.

Accurate within 3 % if 1000 random people are polled, yes. Its true, Its true

Nonsense!

[Chancellor]

Quote by: Captain Chaos Statistical sampling.

I knew that. I just don't accept the validity of statistical sampling.

There is quite an enormous science behind it.

I don't consider asking people a bunch of questions and then drawing conclusions about a larger group of people based on the answers "science."

[Epistemologist]

Quote by: Praxius Yeah but do you want to spend the rest of your life with someone who's crappy in bed and isn't willing to do things you are? Sex isn't the only thing to look in a relationship for.... but it is also a good chunk of the factor to consider. Down to the core of it all, relationships are geared towards reproduction, so just to marry someone for the sake of getting along with them is also just as bad as those who marry for the sake of sex. It's a balance.

Yes, balance is necessary, but if you can't wait or respect cultural taboos, then you're pretty selfish. It's also pretty bad if you do it before in the sense that it becomes a monotonous activity and perhaps less enjoyable later. The significance of the act will be less along the lines of bonding between a fixed couple i.e. married people and more along the lines of just satisfaction for both parties involved. That's bad.

[ByaKya]

Chancellor
Yes, no, no, no, no, yes

[Captain Chaos]

Quote by: Chancellor The article said "More than nine out of 10 Americans, men and women alike, have had premarital sex." Since only 38,000 people were interviewed, that means there were 36,100 people who had pre-marital sex. Since the article claims that 95 percent of Americans had pre-marital sex, they're saying that 36,100 people is 95 percent of Americans.

That is not true, and you know it.

[ByaKya]

Quote by: Chancellor I knew that. I just don't accept the validity of statistical sampling. I don't consider asking people a bunch of questions and then drawing conclusions about a larger group of people based on the answers "science."

oh sweet jesus, i know where this is going