Dr Kion Hoffman
duluthnewstribune.com/event/article/id/246725/group/homepage
I asked you specifically name or give a link to a study which has a mix of respondents totalling 3000?
There is only one other study that I have heard of that is as nearly as large and representative as the Regnerus study’ and that is in the
Journal of marriage and family and that has simialr results showing increased instability in same sex parent families
baylorisr.org/wp-content/uploads/Potter.pdf
I question if those social scientists and therapists would be complaining about Regnerus’ study if it had found children raised in same sex parenting families had just as good outcomes as children raised in hetrosexual parent families. I have heard of some studies on same sex parenting being done on a combination of 12 people from same sex parenting families and hetrosexual families combined? Are the names in the link you provided complaining about the methodology in those studies?
University of Texas led an inquiry into Regnerus’ study and it did not lead to a formal investigation. Regnerus was found not guilty of scientific misconduct, so to speak
utexas.edu/news/2012/08/29/regnerus_scientific_misconduct_inquiry_completed
I would like to express the opinion, that these studies really have far less value individually, than looking at the totality of research. Many, in fact most, studies are imperfect, and subject to critique. That is the point of peer review, and also other researchers repeating experiments and studies, either improving the method, or to confirm or deny another researcher’s results. It is really about the entire body of known research.
Having said that, there are some obviously better, and some obviously worse studies. For example, one which was mentioned in these threads was financed by a conservative religious “think tank” which promotes a particular non-scientific point of view. To support that view, they paid for a university researcher to conduct a study. But then, the study results were turned over to the religious groups for the mathematics and analysis. When those same raw data were turned over to an academic researcher, with no particular propaganda interest, then the results turned out to be entirely different.
I would suggest caution, in giving too much credence or importance to any one, or any few of these studies. Rather, look at the opinion of the people who are professional in the field, who have the training behind them after many years of study, who often have the experience of a clinical practice, who are teaching the subject at a graduate level, and who are continually reading the literature on the topic.
This is why there are professional organizations. For example in electronics, the professional engineering organizations set up expert panels and committees, who poll the highly educated and practicing professionals, to come up with the best known engineering standards. These standards are submitted for consideration and review, and then adopted. Medicine is much the same way. Diagnostic and treatment standards come from a rich and complex interaction between academics, practitioners, and government regulators and agencies. They can take years to develop.
So, when the APA and the AMA and other professional organizations, each with thousands of members who devote their lives to the topic, publishes a position, it is really rather prideful and actually a display of ignorance more than anything, to take exception to it based on one study, or a particular religious or philosophical point of view.
I hope this makes sense. Those organizations don’t just send a committee into a room for the afternoon, and then publish these papers. They usually take years of research and experience. The best people for the task are chosen, based on experience and research. A very broad range of papers are reviewed. People meet at conventions, discuss in emails and published papers. Clinical findings are reviewed. Thousands of members typically vote, based on their own education, research and experience.
If you go to a surgeon for a hip replacement, do you instruct him or her on the procedure, or do you rely on that practitioner’s education, experience and skill to do the right thing? There is a substantial knowledge base to be mastered in all of these fields. But there is also art and judgement to the application of that knowledge. I can sit you down, and run you through a power point presentation. Take you into an operating room to observe the procedure. Make sure that you know the anatomy and procedure. But even when you have that knowledge, I won’t hand you a set of orthopedic tools and ask to you replace my knee. Nor, would I expect you to be able to interpret an Xray or CT scan image and be able to say much about it diagnostically. This analogy also applies to these psychological studies. You really need to be more informed than most laymen to really understand them.
I think it is counter productive to throw individual study results at each other, and then pretend to be an expert in a topic, because you found someone who agrees with you.