Press Outlets should should beware the Ozanne Foundation Faith & Sexuality Survey

Mar 6, 2019 by Jill

from Christian Concern:

After the recent release of results from the Ozanne Foundation Faith and Sexuality Survey, members of the press were quick to report on the ‘shocking’ statistics, which allegedly showed that a fifth of homosexual people who try to change their sexuality attempt suicide. Carys Moseley explains why that, and other findings, are hugely inaccurate and concludes that the press must be careful to report the truth.

Last week the Ozanne Foundation published its Faith & Sexuality Survey which it had launched at the end of 2018. The publicity said this:

“The 2018 Faith & Sexuality Survey was designed to examine the role religious belief has on people’s understanding and acceptance of their sexual orientation in the UK.

It was promoted through a range of social media platforms and national newspapers, and ran from 9th – 31st December 2018. The survey was open to all individuals over 16 currently resident in the UK.”

The results and Executive Report make for interesting reading. Numerous prestigious press outlets reported on the survey with sensational headlines. These included Reuters, the Guardian, Channel 4 and the Daily Mail. Unfortunately, those press outlets that have reported on the results have misreported them, especially by failing to note that the survey sample was not representative of the UK population; not one single one of them bothered scrutinising the survey’s methods. In this article I shall look critically at the most relevant aspects of the questionnaire and survey results.

The following analysis reveals how the survey cannot be relied upon to provide accurate or comprehensive information on the topic under consideration. Accordingly, those press outlets should take the trouble in future to subject surveys on the topic of sexual orientation change to much greater scrutiny. Otherwise they will be guilty of peddling disinformation as ‘news’.

Read here