Comments on: What kind of women are having abortions? http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/01/18/what-kind-of-women-are-having-abortions/ Human Animals at the Crossroads of Culture, Science, Religion and Media Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:39:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Erich Vieth http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/01/18/what-kind-of-women-are-having-abortions/#comment-15788 Erich Vieth Sat, 19 Jan 2008 17:53:00 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=2057#comment-15788 Mark: I haven't read the full report (I haven't invested the $15 necessary to obtain a copy), but Guttmacher also states this: <blockquote>This study was based on in-depth interviews with 38 women who obtained abortions in the United States in 2004. These women were a subsample of larger study focused around the reasons for and context in which women are making decisions about abortion.</blockquote> I don't know how much larger that larger study was. I do know that Guttmacher is well-respected for doing its research properly.   See <a href="http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2008/01/07/index.html">http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2008/01/07/index.html</a> Mark: I haven’t read the full report (I haven’t invested the $15 necessary to obtain a copy), but Guttmacher also states this:

This study was based on in-depth interviews with 38 women who obtained abortions in the United States in 2004. These women were a subsample of larger study focused around the reasons for and context in which women are making decisions about abortion.

I don’t know how much larger that larger study was. I do know that Guttmacher is well-respected for doing its research properly.  

See http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2008/01/07/index.html

]]> By: Mark Tiedemann http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/01/18/what-kind-of-women-are-having-abortions/#comment-15786 Mark Tiedemann Sat, 19 Jan 2008 16:13:24 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=2057#comment-15786 Not to dispute the findings of the Gutmacher Institute--I tend to agree with most of their conclusions--but I have trouble with claims that seek to extrapolate to the population at large based on sucdh a small sample. They interview 38 women. Part of my skepticism of such stats comes from the nagging suspicious that the kinds of people who answer to polls like this are largely self-selected. The sort of person who would agree to this study are precisely the sort of people who would fall into the category thus determined. It's like studies about the consequences of bad childhoods---by and large, the only people who answer the studies are those whose lives have been wrecked as a result of abuse or neglect on the part of the parents. The surveyors even seek them out. We rarely hear from the "survivors" who actually manage to live good lives despite the rotten childhood. I tend to see these studies as subsequently lopsided and somewhat unreliable, even when they confirm something I strongly suspect it true. 38 test cases just doesn't seem suffieient to make such a broad claim. 3800 would be a lot more convincing. Not to dispute the findings of the Gutmacher Institute–I tend to agree with most of their conclusions–but I have trouble with claims that seek to extrapolate to the population at large based on sucdh a small sample. They interview 38 women.

Part of my skepticism of such stats comes from the nagging suspicious that the kinds of people who answer to polls like this are largely self-selected. The sort of person who would agree to this study are precisely the sort of people who would fall into the category thus determined.

It’s like studies about the consequences of bad childhoods—by and large, the only people who answer the studies are those whose lives have been wrecked as a result of abuse or neglect on the part of the parents. The surveyors even seek them out. We rarely hear from the “survivors” who actually manage to live good lives despite the rotten childhood.

I tend to see these studies as subsequently lopsided and somewhat unreliable, even when they confirm something I strongly suspect it true. 38 test cases just doesn’t seem suffieient to make such a broad claim. 3800 would be a lot more convincing.

]]>