You should use this section to outline briefly the main findings of the study, making reference to a limited sample of the research data to illustrate particular points. (The sample may be attached to the report as an appendix and may take the form of a graph, table, text quotations etc. It will not be counted in the word count) You should also identify parts of the research that appear to have worked well and those that have not. You will need to show that you are aware of ways in which the methods selected have affected the quality of the data collected and produced, using the concepts of reliability, validity, representative ness and/or generalisability.
One of the main things that the survey has found is that there has been a considerable drop in the age of first sexual intercourse. The changes seem to coincide with a period in which the traditional constraints n early sexual activity- social disapproval of sex before marriage and the fear of pregnancy have gradually lifted. From the research those that have early sexual intercourse were still associated with the lower classes but these effects are weakening. Those that have sex at an early age are more likely to have more sexual partners in their life and were more likely to have had other partners outside of marriage, thus making the chances of contracting a STD higher than those of 1 partner.
The attempts to obtain quantitative data on sexual behaviour relied on self-reports, as the objective verification of such intimate is virtually impossible. This has a lot to with the fact that males’ would be more likely to exaggerate the truth and to boost there egos, women on the other hand would be more likely to be reluctant to tell the truth because it promotes socially disapproving attitudes.
Some of the questions that were asked were not only socially disapproved but also legally, this was a problem that the researchers had to be careful about. The researchers couldn’t include people under the age of 16 as they would have been under the legal age for sex; the main problem with this was that although the legal age for sex was 16, people under that age were still having sex. 1 in 3 women aged between 16 and 24 had had sex under the age of 16. This shows that a high proportion of those sexually active people were not included in the survey. Also the survey didn’t include those over the age f 59. The main reason was that the researchers only wanted to include the sexually active, but with things like Viagra the age could be much higher.
One of the main objectives at the start of the research before any data could be extracted from the research was to obtain a 65% response rate, they achieved this and the response rate was over 80%, this showed a public willingness. The survey was to assist the workers in sexual health and education. As the government refused to fund the survey, the Wellcome Trust came to the rescue and funded the research. The Wellcome Trust specialised in treatment of those with STD. This concerned some ethical issues, as although the general public would obviously benefit from the research, the Wellcome Trust would also benefit hugely as they gained millions of pounds from the research at the cost of those with STD’s.
One criticism of the study was that it explored people’s personal lives and their sexual lifestyles. That was one of the main reasons the piece of research lacked government funding. Also it didn’t involve the whole of the sexually active persons in Britain. This is not really a fault of the survey as its aims were to explore people’s sexual lifestyles and habits; it was also to the gain of the population in the long run as it has given more awareness of STD’s.
The study contains valid findings and it fulfils its aim to give insight into people’s sexual activity and had helped to provide sound data on links with sexual behaviour and STD’s. It has helped those that work in sexual health, sex education and those that work in fertility, without this piece of research many lives would have been lost due to the lack of data and awareness in the field of sexual activity and its link to the world-wide epidemics of AIDS and HIV.