You asked: Were the survey participants self-selected (rather than being a true sampling of the demographic)? Was participation strongly solicited among footsteps members (who represented a large percent of the survey responses)? Have the authors of the survey addressed the issue of respondents providing self-serving responses to the questions?
Thease are good questions. The full report has a detailed description of the sample process and I encourage you to read it.
24% of respondents were Footsteps members, so they are not overly represented.
The question of the extent to which their responses were self-serving versus honest is of course one that is unanswerable. To not believe them and say they are spinning a positive story that is untrue would be to nullify what 885 people said. There are 12 pages of extensive verbatim comments towards the end of the full report, and I encourage you to read them. And let me know what you think; does it sound honest or not? I would love to get your thoughts on this.
I want to say again that we should not nullify these people. I think Rabbi Fischer’s unsubstantiated charge that he just threw out there gave a lot of people an excuse to shut their minds to the responses and thus is harmful. Listen to these people. That is why we devoted eight months and a lot of money to the study. Because it is important that we hear what they’re saying so that we can understand what is going on. Thank you.