Having Daughters Increases Parents’ Identification with the Republican Party

[antigone382]

49. They are not saying it is true for all people.

Based on analysis of the 1994 General Social Survey--which is one of our most rigorous and credible nationally conducted surveys--the researchers found an 11% higher likelihood of Republican identification for parents of daughters over parents of sons. That obviously doesn't mean everyone with a daughter is going to be a Republican. It obviously doesn't mean the results are definitive or conclusive, or that research on the topic is all finished up now. It is just one study, admittedly based on 20-year-old data (because that was the only year data on gender and birth order of respondents' children was available), with one finding that is interesting to discuss and to try to understand if it is replicated by further study from other researchers.

The only assumptions I see in this thread is that social researchers from reputable academic institutions just pull findings out of their hats based on secret agendas to force all parents of daughters to turn Republican. There are principles of scientific methodology, and there are standard statistical and mathematical analytical tools that are used by researchers to understand society better. If the study has flawed methods that needs to be corrected; if the researchers are found to have some kind of hidden bias they should be condemned. But no one so far has uncovered any problems in their methods or any questionable motives on the part of these researchers. Attacking them without really understanding what they are doing and why they are doing it is anti-scientific and destructive to intellectual debate.