yichusdik – it was not and is not my intentions to lambaste Mr. Cohen. I do not know him at all, nor have I researched him either. So I have no rights to comment on him directly. I merely quoted his testimonial on the Nishma Research website. I could be wrong, but I am assuming that he did not hire or pay for the survey from his own pocket. I’m assuming he’s merely a representative of the Hebrew Union (who are the real clients of this survey).
Furthermore, I don’t mean to imply that Nishma intentionally construed the results to satisfy their client. Rather, I’m stating that the client base can at times subconsciously affect the outcome. That is why in scientific research it is common to do “double-blind experiments”, so that the researcher and their subjects are not subconsciously affected by bias. (By the way, if you search for “double-blind experiments” you’ll see that on one website the very first example of double-blind experiments given is to prevent surveys from being unintentionally distorted.)
There is another problem with this survey and that is lack of insight. The people who are hired to make these cold calls are often (if not always) not professionals such as psychologists who would naturally probe the answers given. These surveyors merely ask the questions that are on their list to ask and record the answers given. I can just about guarantee you that NONE of the 885 people surveyed were asked why the “perceived” lack of women’s rights in Orthodoxy would cause them to “drop everything” (especially since there are factions among the MO that they could join that profess the need for women’s rights and have even “ordained” female Rabbis). To the probing mind this question CAN NOT be overlooked! Thus, we can only assume that their “dropping everything” must be deeper than the shallow answers given.
I could possibly understand how a perceived chauvinism could start girls on a path of falling away from a Torah life, but how many guys TRULY would be SO bothered by a lack of equality that the would drop everything?! I highly doubt that the majority of guys that are OTD are that idealistic.
Also, if I don’t know a single soul who’s a Homosexual why would I be so bothered by the Torah’s condemnation of homosexuality that I’d throw everything away?! Not only my faith, but even my family and community, not to mention placing myself in a position of being excommunicated! And for what? For some homosexual I’ve never met?! IT JUST DOES NOT ADD UP!
In short, I don’t believe the survey was intentionally distorted, nor do I believe that those surveyed intentionally lied. Rather, I believe that for the OTD the answers given give them a sense of justification and yet deep down they know that these are not the true reasons, but rather excuses. It’s liken to the employee who states that he’s late due to “traffic” when deep down he really knows their are other factors that he’s hiding which are the real reasons he’s late, but it’s easier to get away with saying “traffic”.
As for the surveyors… I don’t believe that they are informed enough of the intricacies of our community and it psyche that they can properly prepare a survey that flawless. By default, it is guaranteed to be full of holes.
In my opinion the only way to get true results here is to hire a group of professionals psychologists who are keenly aware of our Orthodox communities and our mindset that they know how to look beyond safe answers and stubbornly probe for the true reasons. Only when their combined data is collected and analyzed can we truly get to the bottom of this.