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Self-reporting surveys are of questionable value in general, and especially now, when everyone understands that pretty much everything you ever do and say in pu

by cubano 11y ago

Self-reporting surveys are of questionable value in general, and especially now, when everyone understands that pretty much everything you ever do and say in public becomes part of your Google persona. My point? It is at least possible that these teens are now wise enough to know admitting to any sort of nefarious behavior, no matter the setting, is just a dumb thing to do.

IkmoIkmo 11y ago
Could be but this study correlates with many other studies, some of which have factual data. e.g. things like teenage pregnancies are well-studied and can be observed without relying on self-reported data, and they indeed have gotten much better. Smoking is another one which has gotten much better. On the whole it seems quite reliable, although some stats are not very meaningfuk. e.g. watching TV is a bit of a silly stat if you ask me, kids have just moved from traditional TV but they're probably 'wasting' as much time on media entertainment as before through other channels.
wallacoloo 11y ago
I recall taking these high school self-report questionaires about 5 years ago. These were always done on paper and "anonymously" (the self-reporter never explicitly identified themselves on the form, and you'd just insert your completed form into any random location on the stack of completed forms). I certainly didn't have any thought that the information might somehow be tagged to me. Also, people in my high school were very open about their illicit behaviors. One guy even claimed he was part of a gang in the middle of our class. Further, before the surveys, there would always be at least one person who said something like, "hey guys, lets just answer 'every day' to every 'how often have you <x>' question. LOL". Obviously, those submissions get thrown out as outliers, but the point is I don't think teens are any wiser to know not to admit to any nefarious behaviors. Heck, just ask them if they know what the first (or second, or third...) amendment is - many teens (and citizens in general) are totally unaware of their rights and of the law. Yes, self-report metrics are always subject to loads of biases, but I just disagree with the bias being towards under-reporting in this case - I can't tell whether the metrics would be boosted or lowered as a result of these biases.

by cubano 11y ago

IkmoIkmo 11y ago

Could be but this study correlates with many other studies, some of which have factual data. e.g. things like teenage pregnancies are well-studied and can be observed without relying on self-reported data, and they indeed have gotten much better. Smoking is another one which has gotten much better. On the whole it seems quite reliable, although some stats are not very meaningfuk. e.g. watching TV is a bit of a silly stat if you ask me, kids have just moved from traditional TV but they're probably 'wasting' as much time on media entertainment as before through other channels.

wallacoloo 11y ago

I recall taking these high school self-report questionaires about 5 years ago. These were always done on paper and "anonymously" (the self-reporter never explicitly identified themselves on the form, and you'd just insert your completed form into any random location on the stack of completed forms). I certainly didn't have any thought that the information might somehow be tagged to me. Also, people in my high school were very open about their illicit behaviors. One guy even claimed he was part of a gang in the middle of our class. Further, before the surveys, there would always be at least one person who said something like, "hey guys, lets just answer 'every day' to every 'how often have you <x>' question. LOL". Obviously, those submissions get thrown out as outliers, but the point is I don't think teens are any wiser to know not to admit to any nefarious behaviors. Heck, just ask them if they know what the first (or second, or third...) amendment is - many teens (and citizens in general) are totally unaware of their rights and of the law. Yes, self-report metrics are always subject to loads of biases, but I just disagree with the bias being towards under-reporting in this case - I can't tell whether the metrics would be boosted or lowered as a result of these biases.