Who is the Submissive Man?

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Update and Status of Charter Survey

Thanks to all who have taken the time to fill out the charter survey. We are more than half way through with our data collection, and my initial reviews of the data have already proved fascinating. I am hopeful that we can start posting some very basic data as early as late March or early April. However, I expect to continue analyzing data and posting results for many months following the initial post.

Some of you have written to ask questions about how many survey responses we plan to collect, and how many we truly need to get a good read on the community. Please understand that sampling is a combination of science and art, and I am taking great pains to get a reliable sample for the charter study. Let me just take a minute to explain some of the thinking behind my sampling methodology and goals.

If you have ever taken an introductory statistics class, you may recall that a truly random sample can yield very reliable results with as few as thirty respondents. Unfortunately, random samples are almost impossible to achieve in the social sciences. Add in the fact that our subject matter is of a deeply personal and highly confidential nature, and sampling becomes even more challenging. Furthermore, I do not just intend to post the aggregate results of the study. In other words, I plan on running crosstabs and segmenting respondents into groups based on their answers so I can then report the statistics from just these groups. To do this I need a quality sample not only in terms of numbers, but also in terms of inclusiveness of key groups.

With my sampling methodology I am purposely seeking out groups of respondents that represent a mix of, initially, geographic and demographic groups. I then compare these different groups to the broader sample to determine if these groups have a tendancy to respond differently to the survey than do other groups. If they do, I go back and assure that I have an adequate number of respondents for each group, and balance or "stratify" the sample so that they are adequately represented relative to appropriate mix in the population. Also, if I find that key geographic or demographic categories are under-represented, I can go back and recruit respondents from these categories. In the end, I expect that the sample will include submissive men from every state and every major ethnic/demographic category, with enough respondents in each to at least assure a confidential and directionally accurate sample

I also do this on other key variables that come from the data itself. For example, because I am posting for survey respondents on Around Her Finger, I want to make sure that those who heard about my survey on that site, if they are significantly different than the total sample, are not over-represented in the results. I am doing the same thing with other sites where either I have mentioned the study, or others have mentioned the study on my behalf.

All this takes a great deal of work, and I believe this effort will make my results unique and far more valuable than the "poll and post" approach to survey research that dominates the web today.

Thank you again for your participation and patience while I work through the results.

Introducing the FSG Charter Study

One of the Femdom Study Group's key objectives is to conduct primary research aimed at better understanding the nature, origins and habits of submissive men. A better understanding of these topics will afford both submissive men and the women who love them a greater context with which to nurture positive behavior and interpersonal relationships stemming from this phenomena. The data will also be leveraged to develop benchmarking statistics that will be useful in creating the FSG Self-Assesment tool currently in development.

Anyone wishing to participate in the FSG charter study should send an email to femdomstudygroup (-at-) gmail.com. Within one week, you will receive instructions on how to complete the on-line survey. The study takes about twenty minutes to complete, and we ask that anyone taking the survey please take great care to complete the entire survey and to be as open and candid as possible. Your email address and all of your input will be held in complete confidence, and all reasonable efforts will be made to assure the privacy of those completing the study and the confidentiallity of individual results. Only aggregate level results will be published so that respondents can be certain that their answers will only be released when they are combined with those of others to represent a group statistic. Only groups large enough to ensure confidentiallity will have statistics reported in any published results.

It is our intention to publish summary results of the FSG Charter Study on the pages of this blog beginning in the Spring of 2008. A more comprehensive analysis may be compiled and published in book format at some later date. Also, summary level results (but no individual data) will be made available to selected members of the FSG's all female Board of Advisors. They may opt to publish key summary statistics from the Charter Study on the pages of their own website, blogs and newsletters.

Please not that the FSG Charter Study is just that, a charter study. It does not cover all aspects of femdom; it is not intended to do so. Future studies will be initiated which will either represent a broadening of the topics covered or greater depth of detail on those already touched upon this initial survey.

FSG Board of Advisors

The Femdom Study Group will be soliciting an all female Board of Advisors to help guide content and direction for the FSG. Guy Stark will be the administrator of the group and maintain all web content, but he will seek and respond to the advice and counsel of the FSG BOA. While invitations to the BOA are currently being assembled, the goal will be to have no less than six, but no more than twelve members at any time.

Members operate in an altruistic, volunteer capacity, and have no liability or responsibility for any of the content, or practices stemming from the operation of the Femdom Study Group. Members may be listed in future updates to this blog, but some members may choose to keep their participation confidential.

Key Objectives of the Femdom Study Group

Key goals of the group include:

• Conduct primary research to better understand the nature of men’s submissive impulses,
• Develop a self-assessment tool to determine if a man’s femdom-related behavior represents a pattern of abuse and addiction,
• Develop coping strategies and action plans for men who seek a path to peacefully co-exist with their submission and work towards expressing it in the context of a healthy, female-led relationship,
• Provide a forum for intelligent dialogue and thought leadership on this topic,
• Build a network of like-minded stakeholders to drive outreach and gain acceptability and understanding of male submission,