Final Summary/Reaction

My survey got an overwhelming response of 71 people.  I also received a large range of people as I had hoped from ages 15-65 and of all the religions I put on my survey.  Because of the large age range I did not expect my results to be so close to unanimity on the subject of gay marriage with 92% being for it.  Only 89% of participants were for civil unions, but I believe this question may have been confusing because some people might say that since gay marriage should be legal there is no need for civil unions.  If I were to do this survey again I would edit this question and possibly make it so only those who disapprove of gay marriage could answer the question.  I also thought it was interesting that while only 8% disapproved of gay marriage, 10% admitted to treating openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people worse than straight people.  Of course, people all have biases so I did not think this was very surprising.  There were also people on the other side of the spectrum with 3% saying they treat openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender people slightly better and 1% saying they treat them better.  However, the vast majority (86%) said they treated them equally.  28% of the participants believe sexual orientation is a choice and in future surveys I would try to correlate levels of education with this question.  Overall, I found the participants in this survey to be very sympathetic towards LGBT people, but in spite of this, 46% of people still use the word "gay" in a way not meaning homosexual or happy.  Based on my experience, I was not surprised by this large percentage, but I think it is important because using "gay" incorrectly does not always mean the user of this word believes a gay person is stupid, although that is often how the word is used.  I believe the overall pro-gay sentiment I received may also have to do with 79% of people having gay or lesbian family members and 67% having a good amount of exposure to people of different sexual orientations on a daily basis.

Revised Plan for Research

For my research, I am still doing an online survey using google drive.  So far my results correlate with my hypothesis.  Most of the results so far have been from younger people and the majority have been accepting of homosexuality.  In relation to religion, I have not found as clear a correlation as age, but hopefully I will get more diversity as more results come in.

Strategy for Research

For my research on homosexuality, I will be using an online survey through google drive.  I would like to find a large range of participants, so I will post my survey on Facebook.  This way I will hopefully obtain data from different age groups, genders, and religions.  My hypothesis is that younger people and members of generally lower class religions, such as Baptist, will be more accepting of homosexuality and the legalization of gay marriage.  On the other hand, I believe older, wealthier people will be more conservative in their views and will be more opposed to gay rights.