[nabs-l] Of Things that Matter

[Mary Fernandez]

Hello All,
At the risk of repeating some of what Arielle said, I tend to agree
with her whole-heartedly. When preparing research, we as researchers
need to take into consideration what benefits our research will have
on the targetted population. For example, in 1984,  Rosenblum decided
to survey mothers of relinquished children. She wanted to know their
experiences and how that had affected their later life. However, she
was ethically bound to make her study worth while. In other words,
what is the reasoning behind having mothers talk about stories that
might be painful, of things that might have happened when they were
very young. Rosenblum was highly pursuasive, in accurately predicting
that their stories and their experiences, might reveal patterns in
their later lives. Still, to some this seemed like a morbid study, but
most of the women she sent the survey too did answer, mainly because
she made this beautiful insentive which in a way commomerated the
sacrifice they had made.
I could go on and on about studies that observe and survey targetted
populations. We do studies on prisoners and minorities. If we are not
careful in our recruiting however, the research question can seem
cruel and highly offensive, which I think is the case here. My
suggestion to everyone is to not get so up in arms because someone is
trying to research a question about blind individuals that is so
obvious to us. Many questions in the social sciences seem almost
intuitive. But we need the scientific data. The researchers are
ethically bound to answer the question of how this is going to affect
the targetted population, in this case blind young adults. I think
that if you want to help our community and the scientific community,
and if you want to change perceptions about blindness, you should very
politely contact the researcher and ask relevant questions. Ask him,
how how he came to do  this study? What benefits his findings might
have for the blind ccommunity. And even to refer you to some of the
literature, if any, that exists which helps back up his hypothesis.
At the same time, i have to warn you that if you are within the age
range, he might share this only after you take the survey because you
will be biased by the previous literature etc. Which might  not be the
best ideal for data collection. In addition, in psychological research
we are permitted to use deception so that our participants are not
biased by  knowing the real hypothesis. So this might all be a rousse
to cover up the real hyhpothesis. Please, please, if you decide to
take the survey, do not be so biased. Because that will only do more
harm than good. If you truly feel you cannot do this with an open
mind, don't go and try to mess up the man's research, let someone else
do it.
Sincerely,

On 2/3/11, Jamie Principato <blackbyrdfly at gmail.com> wrote:
> Joe,
>
> While I do not share in your skepticism, I am glad you are not swayed in
> your stance merely by the fact that the researcher is blind and affiliated
> with the NFB. I respect that. I also can't believe anyone would have
> actually sent this person rude messages, especially considering how many of
> us are students in scientific fields ourselves. I surely hope it was no
> worse than some of the comments about the researchers that have been tossed
> around on this list.
>
> Anyway, thanks for looking at this rationally, even if we disagree.
>
> On Thu, Feb 3, 2011 at 11:30 PM, Joe Orozco <jsorozco at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Humberto,
>>
>> The fact he's blind means very little.  I am just as skeptical, and he
>> knows
>> this.  I'll speak to him tomorrow and bring back a report.  He did say
>> he'd
>> received a lot of rude messages, to which I hope none of my fellow NFB
>> members are responsible.  In my opinion, we're free to oppose the
>> research,
>> but we should and ought to do it with some organized points as opposed to
>> inappropriate phone calls.
>>
>> Best,
>>
>> Joe
>>
>> "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some turn up their sleeves,
>> some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at all."--Sam Ewing
>>
>>
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-- 
Mary Fernandez
Emory University 2012
P.O. Box 123056
Atlanta Ga.
30322
Phone: 732-857-7004
"Books are the quietest and most constant of friends; they are the
most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of
teachers."
Charles W. Eliot