Lies, Damned Lies, And Statistics
January 12, 2008 | Filed under Online, Relationships/Men
Proportion of American women surveyed who, after having met someone on the net, had sex on the first date: 1 in 3; proportion of these who did not use a condom: 75 per cent.
“Number Crunch” segment in The Age‘s Good Weekend Magazine, 12th January 2008
I’m curious: who did they interview – Internet ‘geeks’ and enthusiasts, or sporadic users? What age demographic – free and liberated young’uns, or middle-aged conservatives? When was this survey done – recently or at the beginning of home-based Internet? Which parts of America did they go to – the socially progressive coasts, or the conservative midlands?
After all as we all know – there are lies, damned lies, then there’s statistics. Even with that in mind though…’Fess up readers. I’m sure at least one of you fits into this statistic!
14 Responses to Lies, Damned Lies, And Statistics
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I heard never to trust surveys if they were mailed in or called in, because only the really opinionated, shameless people would answer.
I would not have sex with someone I met off the internet until I was completely sure they weren’t a psychopath.
Reply: Haha, I hope I’m not the only one who fills out and sends in the “Annual Sex Survey” in Cosmopolitan magazine!
Noemi on January 12, 2008 #
Bloody hell. I’d be worried if I fitted that statistic, as I have no recollection of doing anything of that nature. ;)
75% is a lot though. Did they interview 12 people or something?
Amber on January 12, 2008 #
I don’t fit in that category, so whatever. 75% of our statistics are made up, as they say.
Julie on January 12, 2008 #
I’ve never had sex with anyone from the Internet! The two girls I’ve met are both *happily* straight.
Rachael on January 12, 2008 #
I have never met anyone from the internet, so I don’t fit into this at all :P
Emsz on January 12, 2008 #
o_O nope…
Skye on January 12, 2008 #
Well I have yet to meet anyone from the internet so it doesn’t quite fit me either… :)
Alexandra on January 12, 2008 #
Erm.
Seth and I really couldn’t do the bang-bang in front of the parents at the museum, so we’re that 2/3 majority.
–BUT we would have been in the 1/4 minority if we had went at it!
Leila on January 13, 2008 #
Er, no. Don’t fit into that category. I don’t even fit into any type of sans-condom category!
Aisling on January 13, 2008 #
omg my stat teacher just said that like 2 days ago! I dunno though those stats look kinda iffy. I wonder how big their sample was because a lot of people use the webs or if it was a self selecting sample? Did it say?
Natali on January 13, 2008 #
I do.
Sam and I did it on our “first date” and we didn’t use a condom.
I’m not even going to justify it because I know some people are gonna be like ‘OMGZ! Nellie’s a WHORE!’ but I have my (very good) reasons.
But I very much doubt those stats are correct though.
Nellie on January 13, 2008 #
Did they interview a handful people and thought those were enough to take these statistics from?
I really do not think that those stats are close to reality at all… I can’t imagine that a third of people in singles.com or something like that actually have sex in the category… And I can’t imagine (and certainly hope that it’s not true) that 75% of them engage in sex without using condoms!
Felisa on January 13, 2008 #
well, it would only be a true representation of the population if it was a random sample. So any voluntary surveys would be biased. Like…if it was a mail-in survey from a magazine, you would have to be interested in the subject of the survey and want to submit your answer. If you were embarrassed or had thought the survey was stupid, you would just not participate. Then the survey wouldn’t have a very representative sample.
but still 75% is crazy. it’s like..did no one learn anything from sex ed?! STD’s, pregnancies, etc. c’mon people.
marilyn on January 13, 2008 #
but still 75% is crazy. it’s like..did no one learn anything from sex ed?! STD’s, pregnancies, etc. c’mon people.
I was going to argue that they could all be on birth control of some sort and aware that their partners were virgins or clean, but 75% is too high a percentage for that to happen.
Nellie on January 13, 2008 #