'Mischievous Responders' Confound Research On Teens

[MechAg94]

https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/05/22/313166161/mischievous-responders-confound-research-on-teens

In a 2003 study, 19 percent of teens who claimed to be adopted actually weren't, according to follow-up interviews with their parents. When you excluded these kids (who also gave extreme responses on other items), the study no longer found a significant difference between adopted children and those who weren't on behaviors like drug use, drinking and skipping school. The paper had to be retracted. In yet another survey, fully 99 percent of 253 students who claimed to use an artificial limb were just kidding.

I had to laugh at this when I saw it earlier.  My reaction to seeing this story is I can't believe someone did an anonymous survey of teenagers and didn't have some way of weeding out this sort of answer. 

[K Frame]

That ranks right up there with Boaty McBoatface in the funny levels...

Or, even better, Trainy McTrainface, which is actually happening.

https://www.thelocal.se/20171017/its-official-sweden-names-new-train-trainy-mctrainface

[T.O.M.]

Years back, when I first got involved with the juvenile justice system, there was a "major study" of youth done in the area, by some college professor trying to help design a program to address unruly and delinquent behavior.  He went to all the local schools with surveys, promised complete anonymity as well as immunity for any criminal behaviors admitted to in the survey (which really got him in trouble with the prosecutor's office, which was not consulted before the professor made the promise of immunity).  The survey results showed that 40% of males had committed sex offenses, almost 70% of youth were using drugs on a regular basis, and there were confessions to around 25 murders.  Yeah, surveys for teens aren't real accurate...

[Jamisjockey]

https://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2014/05/22/313166161/mischievous-responders-confound-research-on-teens

I had to laugh at this when I saw it earlier.  My reaction to seeing this story is I can't believe someone did an anonymous survey of teenagers and didn't have some way of weeding out this sort of answer. 

I remember taking such surveys in high school.  Basically if my survey was to be believed, I was smoking pot and cigarettes while drinking booze and having sex every day.

[makattak]

I remember taking such surveys in high school.  Basically if my survey was to be believed, I was smoking pot and cigarettes while drinking booze and having sex every day.

Alternatively, the locker room talk of every teenage boy.

[HankB]

Teenagers aren't the only ones who give false answers.

How many Harris/Gallup/Whatever phone polls about gun ownership have been seriously skewed by people who understandably WILL NOT truthfully answer questions about their ownership of guns (or any other valuable item) to some voice on a phone?

[Pb]

When I was in high school, we had a very long, sex, violence and drugs survey we were forced to fill out.

One of the questions was "What age were you when you first had sex?"

Virginity was not an allowed option on the answers.

[RoadKingLarry]

When I was in high school, we had a very long, sex, violence and drugs survey we were forced to fill out.

One of the questions was "What age were you when you first had sex?"

Virginity was not an allowed option on the answers.

They didn't nessecarily mean with someone else.....

[230RN]

Heh.  Due to this thread, I browsed around on fakery in general. I discovered this, a fake identity generator:

https://www.fakenamegenerator.com/gen-random-us-us.php

Holy crap, can you believe anything on the net at all?