Paid study about doll ownership (all welcome!)

[RevJack]

@carbobydrates, this is almost too nieve to really address. Surveys and studies are all designed to prove a point, the key to success is masking that point to the participants. Then you load the data into SPSS and manipulate it untill your point is proven. I did it for 4 years with criminal data, "proving" assumptions that were rubbish. It made me feel so dirty I quit.

@Louiskjr, you are right on target sir.

Participation in this biased study can not help anyone but the purveyor of the study. It certainly is not designed to liberate doll owners, but to confirm their defects.

Reverend Jack

[Rock13]

I participated in the 2019 study, including the phone conference with Dr. Harper and his assistant Rebecca, and the final publication did contain a few interpretations that I hadn't expected. Then again, I always say that if you've met one doll owner, then you've met one doll owner. The variety of preferences and practices among our global community is mind boggling. Beyond all of the individual tastes and motivations behind our doll lifestyles, we can't seem to even agree on how often one should oil their TPE dolls (I know, it's complicated).

I myself found the battery of questions pertaining to SA/DV, objectification of women, male privilege, etc., to be quite off-putting simply because there were so many of them and a few brought up subject matter that never would've occurred to me. I think that even if some of the survey questions appeared to be booby-traps, it didn't seem like many of the participants misunderstand what was being asked or marked their answers erroneously. I don't recall many questions designed to reveal whether the doll owner was a person of good character, i.e., do they conduct themselves and treat their fellow human beings according to bradly accepted social norms? The only way I recall that sort of thing being covered was during the general discussion in the telephone interview.

Am I surprised that the researchers found some small yet measureable incidence of traits suggesting some individuals' fantasies or even lack of understanding about SA/DV and such? No, but it's not like they asked us whether we've ever rescued an animal in dire straits, helped an elderly person cross a busy street, held the door open for a woman entering a business, bought flowers, or the zillions of other things we may routinely do to make the world a better place. So, while I think it was an important study I also believe that the conclusions only addressed a few aspects of doll ownership. We must keep in mind, however, that a smart scientist seldom covers everything in a single study because they'd be putting themselves out of business.

[carbohvdrates]

@Rev
What some might paint in me as naivety I prefer to think of as admiration for the raw scientific method and optimism, but alright. Fair enough about the realities of what is done to data after the fact.

[Sian_E]

This survey was prepared by Doctor Craig H, the same that appears in another thread from 2023 saying in media Doll owners have low self esteem (which is not totally incorrect)

but... the whole survey seems to aim at
detecting sociopaths, levels of danger based on the doll owners feelings, anxiety, depression...

basically its a survey that assumes we are danger to society by becoming doll owners. Skip this survey.

Thank you for replying. I can understand why this is a perception about this work, but to respond directly we make no assumptions about dangers. In fact, the work we have already conducted suggests this is not the case, and this is a result that we have been very vocal about. What the research is doing is providing additional data in response to this social belief about doll owners to address stereotypes and stigma - not to perpetuate it.

[Sian_E]

Hello everyone,

We are recruiting all doll owners for a new study https://www.soscisurvey.de/doll-ownership/. If you have any questions, please do feel free to reply to this thread, send me a message via the forum, or email at craig.harper@ntu.ac.uk.

Thank you very much in advance of your assistance.

Mr Sian,
Hi, thanks
Is this the Same Dr Craig Harper that did a survey in 2023, and results were out on the press. Whats the deal with this one?

https://www.psypost.org/2023/03/owners- ... teem-70034

Yes, I have a question

I took it half way but interrupted concerned on the bias purpose of questions posed. No difficulty in answering, a bit repetitive perhaps, but we all know where things don't relate at all and which are typical of a doll owner.

2) The survey tries hard to detect personality red flags in doll owners (depression, anxiety, anti-social patterns) so how can it be so poorly prepared if it aims at understanding the Doll hobby community?

A few things missing from the survey:

a) Did you know many doll owners have dolls to socialize here in this TDF forum? Not all but many

They rarely use them for sex. There are thousands of threads dedicated to show selfies of their dolls and get positive remarks (social feedback) from other users. The remarks give owners emotional gratification. Works similar as personal profiles on Instagram.

b) Other users use AI apps to play imaginary friends with their dolls by chatting and exploring the AI possibilities. This benefit is similar to any game app people use for entertainment

c) The process of caring, dressing, maintaining and posing dolls is a hobby in itself not different by others such as Lego building or electric miniature trains, porcelain doll collection or even Pets

Would you ask a Cat owner if he got a cat because he thinks the world is dangerous? or afraid of people? And who doesnt think the world is dangerous anyway? of course it is

d) The bottom line is people buy Dolls to have fun and reduce loneliness, even be able to show them and share. Within a safe environment. Share in this forum, with intimate contacts, through youtube, some even drive their dolls outdoors. They use dolls to socialize in their own way.

Why are these and other aspects of Doll ownership not included in your survey?

I would suggest Dr Craig Harper if he is a professional that cares for his work, before attempting to make or analyze a survey he should become a member of this forum and spend 3 months browsing posting and commenting.

Yes, surveys take time and hard work, he should know. Its not just asking an assistant post a link in the forum and fish results...
I mean not as anonymous reader, but interacting as yourself, a Doctor
just a suggestion

Yes, I am the same researcher (using the account as myself, after it was set up by a research student). The news article you shared leads with two results from a broader paper, and I was not interviewed for this piece (all quotes are lifted from various points of our final research paper). I have shared interviews that I have conducted elsewhere in this thread, and completely acknowlege the variety of reasons that people own dolls (indeed, we talk about this at great length in all of our work).

Thank you for your feedback - I'm happy to share any of our outputs to demonstrate how we (As a research team) have no negative agenda against doll ownership, and in fact have argued in various places for the benefits of dolls.

[GatoPardo]

Can I still answer the survey? Thank you.

[Sew]

ya idk about this survey. seems to have the lens of connecting love doll ownership with mental illness or tendency of rape. like, dial it back. especially with those last scenarios. felt like the fed was spying on me answering those scenarios “if she said no but you kept going would it turn you on?”

but whatever. got my deal, i was actually about to buy something from them a few weeks back

[Luiskjr]

The fact they include a question related to rape is because the researcher has a pre-judgement that there are great chances that doll owners can be psychos.

Its a proof he already made some
conclusions he expects them to be true

Even though if he researches the vast history of crime he wont find a single rapist that owned dolls