Research on the Family: Why it is Dangerous


There have been bountiful amounts of research done regarding the definition of family. Questions such as “Does having same gender parents affect the outcome of a child?” or “Does having the mother work out of the home affect a child’s development?” And while these are among the many important questions that should be looked at, none of them are being researched in the correct way. They are lacking in a variety of very important categories when testing these questions. These would include, but certainly not limited to, sample size, a controlled group to compare data to, and types of samples.
The statistics often can be so misleading that it causes the public to believe one thing when in fact, something entirely different is the case.  For instance, people tend to believe that half of all marriages end in divorce. This of course is completely false and was never the case. It is just another myth that that has been floating around for ages. But some of the most influence studies that have been done incorrectly in order to prove its point would be regarding to the question “Sam Sex Parenting and Children’s Outcomes.” The evidence provided in this APA brief, which actually helped to sway the law of marriage to be forever changed, was completely ignorant of the actual steps to the scientific method and how to conduct a survey properly.
They had numerous studies in order to prove their point and help change the definition of marriage for good. And though they had many studies being conducted, many lacked in a heterosexual compare group or a heterosexual normal group. The reason these two groups are so vital for their research is because, this would then show whether or not same sex couples really did have a different effect on their children. But most of the compared groups to the same sex couples were groups composing of single mothers. Their findings were that these same sex couples had no significant different in raising their children and that there was no significant difference in the outcome of the children. The study claims there is no significant difference compared to heterosexual parents but in reality, there is no significant difference compared to single mother homes which was already proven to be a major disadvantage as opposed to heterosexual parents. Sometimes there were not even any heterosexual compared group provided. The fact that a controlled group, the group that they are comparing to, the group that this whole study is being based off of, is not even being sampled, shows the lack in factuality and creditability in this particular study.
Now the problems do not stop there. Another aspect that this particular brief failed to realize is the idea of variety. When compiling a sample, it is important to do a Simple Random Sample in order to show an accurate representation of the population. The more people you sample and the more diverse and the more random they are, the strong your evidence and statistics get. Often times, samples will be chosen for convince. For example, if you were searching for the answer to the most liked dog food, and your neighbor has a dog, then for your sample, you would just go to your neighbor’s house and ask them your questions. Rather than making your sample completely random in order to find the answer to your questions, you chose to go to your neighbor’s house and ask them about the type of food they feed their dog because it was easy and convenient for you. This is a common action that was taken place when trying to find gay or lesbian parents with children to sample.
There are so many other problems with the studies done for family research. Many studies only involve white families which only help to deride the creditability of the evidence because it cannot be applied to everyone but just white families in a given area. If we are ever going to conduct reliable surveys, studies, and experiments in order to gain a better understanding of families, we need to do it the right way. We need to have proper boundaries and use comparative groups and focus on the population as a whole. We will never be able to test each individual planet on the earth. But, if we are able to perform studies and surveys, using the proper guidelines, then we will be one step closer to understanding the value of family.


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