Thank you JFem and yichusdik for everything you’ve posted so far.
For various reasons, I know several people who filled out this survey. First of all, it was not only people who went off the derech- it was also people who left a charedi/chassidish lifestyle for Modern Orthodoxy. Two organizations to which the survey was sent (to be propagated among others qualified to answer who may or may not be part of one of these groups) were Footsteps (helping people become secular) and Project Makom (helping people stay frum after leaving a charedi community). They were both given the opportunity to answer the survey, and Project Makom is using survey results to try to help people who want to leave due to some of these factors to change their minds and stay in some form of religious lifestyle. So this data could actually be very key in helping people stay frum.
Also, listen to yourselves- you’re saying that the data on this “why did people go OTD” survey is flawed because it only surveyed people who went OTD. That’s what it was for. If it had surveyed frum people, there would have been no point- that, in fact, would have skewed the data. And, like I said, while the survey was passed around on Footsteps, which is anti-frum by its raison d’etre, it was also passed around in other contexts for people not involved in that organization.
Also- and this is important- this isn’t an empirical survey. This is more aggregating the experiences of many people to try to find common ground. Just because someone is no longer religious does not mean that you can suddenly suspend being dan them lekaf zechus that they are being truthful in their answers.
I am starting to feel like people just don’t want to believe the survey, because it doesn’t fit into people’s neat boxes of wild, partying, hedonistic OTD people. There are definitely people who leave beshittah and are chozrim be’she’eilah, and their voices should be heard without being immediately disbelieved.