--- Mac4781@aol.com wrote: > Una wrote:
I would be *gutted* to think that people on this
list have felt like lab rats.
Everyone who took part in the Q study took part,
I *truly* hope, because
they wanted to, and knew that they were free to pull
their responses if they didn'
t want them analyzed.
Which is totally as it should be. I've said before, Una, that I have the utmost respect for your political abilities in this regard. Because it is also very possible for someone to carry out a study with full disclosure to participants, and still have people, volunteers even, grousing that they were misrepresented/not asked their opinions/whatever (again, I've personally been both lucky and paranoid about disclosure, but I've heard of it happening).
The fact that you can do this in a group of which you are a member is even more respectworthy, too. One reason I feel could never study a group of which I was a member (and especially not fans) is cos I can foresee myself siding with one faction over another, or being accused of bias (probably with reason, too :) )...
And IMO, to accuse a social scientist of treating people like lab rats is probably the single worst insult you can give them-- I don't know if Carol quite realized that when she accused me of doing this (and on my downtime, too).
BTW, Una, you've met him-- is Jenkins really this horrible demon bloke who came in and didn't tell anyone bar a few what he was really doing? I read "Textual Poachers" years ago, and while I haven't read it lately, I was shocked to hear Annie say his work was ethically suspect...
Fiona
The Posthumous Memoirs of Secretary Rontane Available for public perusal at http://nyder.r67.net
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