Need help with research

[Pasadenacpl2]

Hey folks,

I'm doing a research paper for a really fantastic class I'm taking. I plan to publish the paper with the Texas monthly teacher rag. The title (tentatively) is: LGBT: The Lost Sub-Population. (Don't take offense to sub-population, it's a professional term, we use it to describe any grouping of students).

So, what I need:

% of population that is queer
% of that population that is out

I already have the info I need on LGBT Teen suicides.

I'm seeing a lot of guessing, but not much data. Any help would be appreciated.

Pasa

[citystyleguy]

here's a starting point for you; i find wiki a good place to begin an intial start to stat research; just be careful in making generalized decisions based on their immediate points and/or information.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_sexual_orientation


good luck with the research; let us know what you find!

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

We're not sociologists here and you should find the research yourself if it's out there.

Well dont you think thats the whole point of his asking for our help? And he was asking for "Guestimations" not just actual facts. And who says there arent any Sociologists here..? lol
Cat

[citystyleguy]

'...We're not sociologists here and you should find the research yourself if it's out there...';

huh! i am one, sociology being the understudy of two of my degrees! ...and my company is based in large part on sociological research. as pasa asked for a jumping off point, i gave her a rudimentary research tool. she was after all, asking for assistance from us!

[DuckiesDarling]

I don't have any information for you, hon, but I can tell you that whatever information you find you just need to take it with a grain of salt. Too many people are forced to hide their sexuality for a lot of reasons. Location wise you'll find people less forthcoming in small towns rather than large cities where it's easy to be a number lost in the crowd.

The place you might want to start looking is on some of the psychiatric web pages as a lot of LGBT wind up going there for a variety of reasons as they try to come to terms with knowing themselves versus what they were raised to believe about themselves.

Good luck.

Did find one link not sure if it's helpful...

http://www.adherents.com/adh_dem.html

[AsianDream]

% of population that is queer
% of that population that is out


Do you mean % of the population in Texas. the USA or the World?

If you want to know about Hong Kong - very few are out there. In Iran - even less are "out" as they tend to get executed.

[Cherokee_Mountaincat]

In Iran they tend to get executed for being bi or gay, but isnt it odd that in Afgahanstan/Pakistan they have male child prostitution in the form of their "Dancing Boys" ?......Sad
Cat

[kcatthegreat]

Here is a research study in a scholarly journal that attempts to answer the first question:

Sell, R.L., Wells, J.A., & Wypij, D. (1995). The prevalence of homosexual behavior and attraction in the United States, the United Kingdom and France: Results of national population-based samples. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 24(3). Retrieved from http://www.springerlink.com/content/qq42716198161858/

Wikipedia also has an excellent summary of research addressing this question: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_sexual_orientation

The problem with measuring what percentage is "out" is that it's hard to define what "out" means, just as it is hard to define what "gay" means. If you are predominantly attracted to the other sex, but had one sexual experience with the same sex, are you bisexual or heterosexual? There are many men who seek oral sex with other men, but still identify as heterosexual. So those men aren't even "out" to themselves. Are they closeted? Well not exactly. They genuinely believe they are heterosexual.

And even people who are completely homosexual might be "out" to some people but not to others. If you live in the Castro district, freely have sex with a lot of men and tell everyone at work that you're gay, but your parents don't know about it, then are you out or not? What if you don't tell your employer, but your family and friends know?

Regardless, here are some studies about homosexuals coming out of the closet: http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&q=homosexual+out+of+the+closet&as_sdt=800000000000&as_ylo=&as_vis=0

[tenni]

I wondered about the definition of "queer" and "out" as well that may be used in a research paper. It would seem to me that self definition would be the only way to go.

Good fortune with the paper Pasa. It might be interesting to read your conclusion section of your paper on this site?

[jem_is_bi]

You posted a wikipedia link.

That is not a rudimentary research tool and it's not factual at all.

If you were really a sociologist or even slightly educated you'd know this about wikipedia.

I have found it a good source of mostly factual, but rudimentary information. It is an OK place to start but definitely not more than that. PubMed, Google Scholar or Speciallized Scientific Journal Sites should be consulted for links to the real stuff.

[Realist]

Pasa,

Can you develop your own survey, then compare it with other, "scientific" surveys? At least, you could ask questions and get answers that are most interesting to you.

Maybe you could develop your own set of questions and graph it, afterwards.

Just a thought.

[kcatthegreat]

Oh and one other thing -- Wikipedia is actually about as reliable as Encyclopedia Brittanica if you look at the number of errors compared to the number of words in a particular article.

Several scholarly journals have conducted blind studies comparing Wikipedia to other encyclopedias and have concluded that it is about as reliable as other encyclopedias.

Here is a good article about that: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reliability_of_Wikipedia

[just4mefc]

Just a quick note about wiki, Yes it can be full of errors and often guided by the opinion of the author. However if you check the references you can get a good handle on the validity of the information rather quickly.

I would suggest, if you want to publish this paper, be very clear in your writing as to your references. Make sure you read very ref in any article you mention, regardless of the source. Of course look for national and internationally recognized organizations as well. Good luck and have fun with it!