Autism survey for AP Statistics project, responses needed

[TheKillerDuck]

I think you simply need to remember that we, meaning most of us on the autism spectrum, think very literally, so we don't cope well with questions that are not totally specific and direct.

That said, I responded to your survey, and however much I noted minor flaws with a few questions, I think what you are trying to do deserves support. Good luck!

Thank you for your support. I, myself, am on the spectrum, and I tried to be as specific as possible, but there were a few answers I never realized people would have.

 

[55853]

Good point, I'll change the survey.

It still requires a response for that question.

 

[TheKillerDuck]

It still requires a response for that question.

I was worried people wouldn't realize it wasn't required and answer it anyway, but I added a "don't know" response to that question.

 

[MrSpock]

It seems to me that you may well have chosen any topic so far as your grade is concerned, the primary point is to have statistics to play with. If you're going to extract useful meaning from your statistics you should be aware that the way in which you phrase your questions and the questions you choose to ask or not ask will affect the outcome, possibly more than the way in which you interpret the data. I guess as a secondary objective you've decided to educate yourself and your classmates about autism, and I appreciate this. I would however caution you to be very wary of what you may think you've 'learned' from this survey. You've made many questions required* without allowing for appropriate responses, for example one question has already had 'I don't know' added as a possible response, it might serve well in other places. It can be difficult to ask questions that are not loaded, for example one person's terrorist is another's freedom fighter, if you wish to ask a question about such a person you've put political spin on the question by using either term, it's sort of the same question either way yet by using one term rather than the other you will get very different answers from many people.

In the section 'Knowledge of ASD' you seem to be testing what we know, as opposed to using us as a way of finding something out. Whether ASD is hereditary or not is a factual question which doesn't require interpretation, you can treat that data as a test of our knowledge quite straightforwardly, however 'ASD is more prevelant in males as opposed to females' is a different matter. ASD tends to present differently in young males and young females (who I'm assuming are more likely to be diagnosed than adults) and young males are more likely to be diagnosed, however it does not necessarily follow that it is actually more likely to be present in males. Are you trying to test our ability to interpret data or our knowledge of pop culture with this question?

"If I could cure everyone with ASD, I would do so." That's pretty offensive. I'm so sure that you didn't mean it as I read it. Would you ask a group of black people if they would cure everyone of being black if they could? It seems that in many places it's disadvantageous to be black, but I expect you'd get a negative reaction.

Accommodations for People with ASD - It is important that all children diagnosed with autism receive a form of special education at school. - Schools don't successfully or properly accommodate students with ASD. - What should autism therapies work on? Select all that apply. ASD is such a very wide range of things that you cannot ask such questions and expect to get meaningful replies. Should people who speak English be allowed to drive? Obviously some should and some shouldn't. I don't use this character as a typical example of anything, but Sheldon on The Big Bang Theory will be familiar to most people, and he is certainly one possible interpretation of a person on the spectrum. Yes, his education should be different than that of other students, but probably not in the way you may have been thinking... we certainly don't all need to be taught to put our shirts on. Any specific 'autism therapy' will not be needed by everyone on the spectrum, probably not useful to most.

This image is important for the next question... there follows an 's' made of 'h's. We're taking this test online, and the questions scroll up. As the image scrolls up a line of 'h's is clearly visible before the 's' has a chance of being seen. This question might get different results if it flashed on the screen as a whole rather than scrolling up. Possibly you have that right, I'm not sure what you're testing for. If you've taken that idea from another test in which the image was presented as a whole instantly then you may get unexpected results from this format.

 

[TheKillerDuck]

"If I could cure everyone with ASD, I would do so." That's pretty offensive. I'm so sure that you didn't mean it as I read it. Would you ask a group of black people if they would cure everyone of being black if they could? It seems that in many places it's disadvantageous to be black, but I expect you'd get a negative reaction.

I actually think all of your points are valid, except this one. I agree that it's offensive to want to cure autism, but asking that question isn't. The purpose of that question was to find out how many people wanted to cure it, and also if autistic people were less likely to want a cure. If I offended you by asking that question, I apologize, but I just wanted to say that I am with you about the cure, and I had no intention of offending anyone. Obviously, curing black people is racist, but asking a person if they want to because you think they may be racist isn't a bad thing. It doesn't mean that you want to do so yourself.

one question has already had 'I don't know' added as a possible response, it might serve well in other places.

While that is true, I figured that most people would already have some thoughts on this topic, even if they don't know much about the subject and they don't have much of a reason to think what they think. I do think that you have a point, though. Unfortunately, it's way too late to change the survey now (we already have over 200 responses, and adding "I don't know" responses would mess up the results since people have already taken the survey. This is true for all of your other criticisms. While I agree with them and very much appreciate that you pointed them out, there's not really anything I can do about it at this point. Thank you however, for voicing your concerns about the survey.

 

[MrSpock]

I don't see that discrimination based on ASD is essentially different from discrimination based on race. There are black people who would rather have been born white, but I doubt that they'd ever wish to make all black people white against their will. I accept the individual's choice to wish they were whatever they like, but being black affects each individual differently. Some people on the spectrum wish they weren't, but I would consider any thinking reasonably intelligent adult who answered that they would forcibly change the mental functioning of millions of healthy individuals to be without ethics to an inexcusable extent.

I can understand that you may wish to see how many people are that morally stunted, and that you posing the question is not the same as having the opinion that things should be so. It seems a very extreme thing to be asking, as extreme as my other example. If you had asked if the individual would like to become neurotypical themselves I would expect positive answers without necessarily assuming that those who answered positively were depraved or inattentive.

While that is true, I figured that most people would already have some thoughts on this topic, even if they don't know much about the subject and they don't have much of a reason to think what they think.

I can't speak for everyone on the spectrum, but I think that many would agree with the following sentiment - if you don't know much about something it's better to say nothing than to give an uninformed, possibly misleading opinion. If I have no experience of some aspect of autism but have heard of it you will be getting rumour rather than informed opinion based on experience, in some cases your results could reflect poor media coverage. Also you have asked general questions which in practice require specific answers tailored to individual needs, where we might have given useful answers where policies would pertain to ourselves having the same policy applied to every person on the spectrum would be problematic, as may excluding every person on the spectrum from that policy.

I appreciate that it's very difficult to set up a multiple choice questionnaire which deals with this sort of subject matter effectively. You seem keen to learn, and you seem to have taken my first post as constructive criticism, as it was intended.

 

[TheKillerDuck]

I don't see that discrimination based on ASD is essentially different from discrimination based on race. There are black people who would rather have been born white, but I doubt that they'd ever wish to make all black people white against their will. I accept the individual's choice to wish they were whatever they like, but being black affects each individual differently. Some people on the spectrum wish they weren't, but I would consider any thinking reasonably intelligent adult who answered that they would forcibly change the mental functioning of millions of healthy individuals to be without ethics to an inexcusable extent.

I can understand that you may wish to see how many people are that morally stunted, and that you posing the question is not the same as having the opinion that things should be so. It seems a very extreme thing to be asking, as extreme as my other example. If you had asked if the individual would like to become neurotypical themselves I would expect positive answers without necessarily assuming that those who answered positively were depraved or inattentive.

First of all, I want to say that I never said that discrimination based on ASD is different from discrimination based on race. Second, I think you really underestimate the number of people who want a cure for autism. I can't get into specifics or give away exact results because of the disclaimer, but based on the current data (although the survey is incomplete), most people, aside from some autistics and relatives of autistics, are in favor of a cure. Which makes sense. Anyone raised in a racist society would be brainwashed into discriminating against certain races from a young age, and this is no different with autism. Pretty much every modern society discriminates against autistics to some extent, so except for autistic people, people close to them, and a few others, most people want a cure. It's certainly not a good thing that people are like this, but it's true, at least for now.

 

[AO1501]

First of all, I want to say that I never said that discrimination based on ASD is different from discrimination based on race. Second, I think you really underestimate the number of people who want a cure for autism. I can't get into specifics or give away exact results because of the disclaimer, but based on the current data (although the survey is incomplete), most people, aside from some autistics and relatives of autistics, are in favor of a cure. Which makes sense. Anyone raised in a racist society would be brainwashed into discriminating against certain races from a young age, and this is no different with autism. Pretty much every modern society discriminates against autistics to some extent, so except for autistic people, people close to them, and a few others, most people want a cure. It's certainly not a good thing that people are like this, but it's true, at least for now.

It is hardly surprising that most want a cure, or think they do. Few people really understand autism all that well, and what they do know of it makes it appear to be significantly debilitating and seriously limiting.

When you add to that, the weight of campaigning done over the years, the bulk of which has historically been on finding a cure or therapeutic strategies for remediating the impacts - and behaviors - that define autism for the majority, and clearly the sense is that a cure would be a desirable thing.

In reality, society doesn't listen to us at the best of times, so our voice from the inside, that we (meaning many, though not all of us) don't want a cure, and indeed that what we want all that money to be spent on is support, outreach, training instead, has largely been ignored.

One has to hope that is changing, and in Europe it seems to be to some degree. In the US, not so much.

 

[TheKillerDuck]

It is hardly surprising that most want a cure, or think they do. Few people really understand autism all that well, and what they do know of it makes it appear to be significantly debilitating and seriously limiting.

When you add to that, the weight of campaigning done over the years, the bulk of which has historically been on finding a cure or therapeutic strategies for remediating the impacts - and behaviors - that define autism for the majority, and clearly the sense is that a cure would be a desirable thing.

In reality, society doesn't listen to us at the best of times, so our voice from the inside, that we (meaning many, though not all of us) don't want a cure, and indeed that what we want all that money to be spent on is support, outreach, training instead, has largely been ignored.

One has to hope that is changing, and in Europe it seems to be to some degree. In the US, not so much.

I don't think simply educating people on autism will change their view on a cure. A few people with open minds and more rational judgement will change, but for the most part, I think people are too set in their ways. It's like politics: most people will dismiss anything you say if they disagree, no matter how strong your arguments are.

Anyway, I'd say we've got really off topic from the survey itself.