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There is basically never a perfect survey, but there is a lot of value in taking pains to not bias your sample (it allows you to tentitiviely draw certain types of conclusions that you otherwise absolutely cannot). Biased sampling happens constantly, it's a matter of degrees and often opinion whether a study should be considered able to draw a certain conclusion.

IDK, it sounds like the author has taken quite a few steps beyond what your average social scientist does.. the vast majority of social science (and a fair bit from other categories) is insanely biased because its participants are 100% students at a specific college or region. Yet this is treated as perfectly acceptable because it's part of the norms of academic research.



Like I said she acknowledges them but I don’t feel she really addresses them sufficiently to make different claims. It’s just not possible in a group this niche.

Frankly I don’t believe that fetishes are anything but learned associations so it’s kind of silly to imagine the findings will generalize.

She gets close to this idea in her survey design but I feel like she doesn’t acknowledge this overall. Like, cake sitting. Dumb as hell. But sure I can see how it would lead people to shame or sensory triggers that they have learned on a second order to be arousing. And that after this they’ve become dependent on that specific thing even.

But it’s definitely not an intrinsic association.




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