Relying on Research: Do you know what you're relying on?

Here's what I learned in class this week: Just because something says it is backed by research doesn't mean it is true or correct!

This week we analyzed Loren Marks' article, Same-sex parenting and children’s outcomes: A closer examination of the American psychological association’s brief on lesbian and gay parenting. 

It was FASCINATING as well as TERRIFYING. It was fascinating to analyze the material and find out the truth behind what was being compared and sampled in the 59 research accounts that supposedly proved children of same-sex parents are at no disadvantage from those raised by a married mother and father. It was terrifying to think that we allowed something so blatantly false to manipulate and influence so many of us, including members of the US Supreme Court. I won't give you all the details of what I learned was wrong with the APA's brief. We talked about it for an hour and a half in my class and probably could have analyzed and talked about it even longer. 

If you're up for it, I highly encourage you to do your own research on the subject. Read the article. Compare the APA's research findings to those of Dr. Regnerus' New Family Structure Study. Make your opinions after you make yourself informed with correct information. Don't just take my word for it. 

Here's an article that explains what I learned about the APA brief today from analyzing Marks' article. It's helpful since reading formal publications can be kind of tricky. 

Here's another one that discusses both the work of Loren Marks and Dr. Regnerus.

How often do we let wrong information 

become the basis for our opinions and beliefs? 

I can think of other subjects where we've done the same thing, can you?

When you read articles or claims on Facebook, the internet, the newspaper, etc, do you automatically accept everything that is said without a knowledge that it's correct? I know I've been guilty of that in the past and that's what my eyes have been opened to this week. I hope yours will be too so that together, we can start making better decisions, forming better opinions, sharing better ideas-ones that are informed, on purpose, and good.

I have a favorite quote from Elder Ballard that has brought me comfort and confidence many times. “We often state the couplet, ‘Be in the world but not of the world.’ As we observe television shows that make profanity, violence, and infidelity commonplace and even glamorous, we often wish we could lock out the world in some way and isolate our families from it all. … Perhaps we should state the couplet previously mentioned as two separate admonitions. First, ‘Be in the world.’ Be involved; be informed. Try to be understanding and tolerant and to appreciate diversity. Make meaningful contributions to society through service and involvement. Second, ‘Be not of the world.’ Do not follow wrong paths or bend to accommodate or accept what is not right. … [We] need to influence more than we are influenced. We should work to stem the tide of sin and evil instead of passively being swept along by it. We each need to help solve the problem rather than avoid or ignore it” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1989, 100–101; or Ensign, May 1989, 80).