Homework #53, Click Em And Think About It

Part 1:
It took a while to actually get to the end, but I finished answering the survey.

Part 2:
The survey looked really long, so I tried answering it a couple times, and would run out of time before I could actually submit it. I feel like every time I look at a survey it seems really inhuman and uncaring -on paper or on the computer-, so I wanted to get it done as fast as possible. There were some questions that I didn't have to think about much, because I already knew how I felt about them, yet there were a couple of questions that were like speed bumps to me getting the survey done quickly. I also was using a mouse that would unclick some things, so I'd have to go back and reclick them before going on to the next question. Overall, it didn't feel like anything to take this survey. It felt the same as sitting in an office, filling out forms for the dentist, or doctor.Yet there were other questions that I had to stop and think about, either because I wasn't sure of the phrasing of the question or because I wasn't really sure which circle to click on. I was thinking "do I do this? Do I feel this way" and "if I clicked this, I can't click the other one because these two things would contradict each other while they should go together." Some of the questions seemed to be closely linked with others, so I would realize after I clicked on one answer that the next question would be like a "if yes to a, click this for b" question. Some of the questions were really raw and personal (like they were supposed to be) while others didn't really seem to matter. It makes me think of the therapists in movies who ask their patients how things are at home, and in their lives.

Part 3:
I wrote down a couple questions and scores that I had found interesting:
-Your family would/ do accept you if you were/are gay: 28.8% (15 people) said yes, generally, mostly.
-You wish you were in a different family: 55.8% (18 people) said no, not at all, which felt like a large percentage compared to it being only 18 people out of the 52 who completed the survey. I guess I expected more people to say yes, especially with all of the seniors who are excited to go to college next year.
I really liked the question "You've shared romantic love with someone", which 25% (13 people) said "exactly-always-very much so". While the second largest percentage for this question picked "neutral-maybe-sometimes" (11 people). These answers are in two separate groups: one group which seems sweet and glad to be understood, and the other which is more withdrawn.

A connection that I made is that 35.5% (18 people) said "yes exactly" to the statement "You feel good about getting older and maybe wiser", while 28.8% (15 people) said "yes, quite a lot" to the statement "you feel afraid of death." I think everyone that answered the surveys are different. Some questions may have been more personal to one person than the other, because of their own experiences. Some of the questions I felt similar to the students sitting next to me, while others I felt really different from the other people. It depends on the question and the individuals who answered them.

Part 4:
Oh my. While our informal survey was overall easy to get through and thought provoking, I hardly wanted to look at the other surveys. The formal surveys were focused specifically on "teen health", and teens having sex. While the survey we had to take focused on a couple of different categories: friends, family, the world, short answers, and vital relationships ("partnering"). The two surveys were from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and The national Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS). These are more like facts, and look more harsh than the survey we had to do in school. The one in school seemed more personal, while those surveys seemed more factual.

Researching can be really impersonal. We all know this, we have to write exhibitions! And sometimes different places have different answers to the same question. It depends where the information is coming from, and who putting out that information. Everyone has a different perspective, so nothing is completely the same.