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Research Participation Request: Validity of the Asexual Identification Scale


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Hello,

You are being asked to participate in a survey research project entitled “Validation of the Asexuality Identification Scale” that is being conducted by Jacob Highsmith and supervised by Mark Whatley from the Department of Psychology, Counseling and Family Therapy at Valdosta State University.  The purpose of this survey is to validate an existing scale. The time required to complete the study is 4-8 minutes.

 

Individuals participating in this survey through Valdosta State University must be current students or have the intention to re-enroll as a student within six months of the completion of the survey.

 

This survey is anonymous.  No one, including the researchers, will be able to associate your responses with your identity.  Your participation is voluntary.  You may choose not to take the survey, to stop responding at any time, or to skip any questions that you do not want to answer.  You must be at least 18 years of age to participate in this study.  Your completion of the survey serves as your voluntary agreement to participate in this research project and your certification that you are 18 or older. 

 

Questions regarding the purpose or procedures of the research should be directed to Jacob Highsmith at jwhighsmith@valdosta.edu.  This study has been exempted from Institutional Review Board (IRB) review in accordance with Federal regulations.  The IRB, a university committee established by Federal law, is responsible for protecting the rights and welfare of research participants.  If you have concerns or questions about your rights as a research participant, you may contact the IRB Administrator at 229-259-5045 or irb@valdosta.edu. The IRB number for this research is IRB-03503-2017.

 

The link to the online Qualtrics survey is: 

https://valdosta.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9ytQA0p2irPp8EJ

 

This research request has been approved by the Research Approval Board for advertising on AVEN.

 

~ Ciri

Dedicated Research Contact

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Diamond Ace of Hearts

I'm not sure if this question exactly pertains to the purpose or procedure of the research, so if you don't mind I'll just ask here because you may know, Ciri. If not, don't sweat it, it's an idle wondering rather than a burning need to know: Why does the survey call for students/those who intend to become students only?

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12 minutes ago, Diamond Ace of Hearts said:

I'm not sure if this question exactly pertains to the purpose or procedure of the research, so if you don't mind I'll just ask here because you may know, Ciri. If not, don't sweat it, it's an idle wondering rather than a burning need to know: Why does the survey call for students/those who intend to become students only?

It's a comparison study. That paragraph only related to another group being gathered from the researchers university. Anybody over the age of 18 on AVEN can participate :) 

 

 

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Rubyballoon

Always happy to help with research.

 

Seems slightly limited though... You're bound to get a weird-ass set of answers when you ask an asexual with a sexual partner whether sex has any place in their life without querying relationship status at some point. "Well, ya know, that's complicated... So here's the sitch!" isn't an option on the survey... <_< :lol:

 

You'd be quite content if you never had sex again... Yep, strongly agree! 

Sex has no place in your life... Strongly disagree.

 

I already feel sorry for the poor grad student that has to code these...

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My issue with this scale is how they throw two sets of different activities into the definition of sex or sexual activity in these surveys. I'm constantly having to ask, do I answer this one with intercourse in mind or with the caressing/foreplay etc. side more in mind? Depending on which one, my answer would be completely opposite on some of these questions. :mellow:

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What do they mean by 'asexual indication scale'?

And dunno if you can relay to them that (in regard to the previous comment) asexuals can desire to make out/other actions as long as it's not desired for sexual pleasure for themselves or the partner; because then that would be desiring sexual activity and thus not ace.

 

@Cimmerian They ask about sexual activity, which wouldn't be caressing/foreplay unless it was desired for sexual pleasure of one person or the other, which then as said wouldn't make the person asexual.

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30 minutes ago, Star Bit said:

What do they mean by 'asexual indication scale'?

And dunno if you can relay to them that (in regard to the previous comment) asexuals can desire to make out/other actions as long as it's not desired for sexual pleasure for themselves or the partner; because then that would be desiring sexual activity and thus not ace.

 

@Cimmerian They ask about sexual activity, which wouldn't be caressing/foreplay unless it was desired for sexual pleasure of one person or the other, which then as said wouldn't make the person asexual.

I'd agree if they didn't say to consider sex or sexual activity to include such things before the first question.

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4 hours ago, Cimmerian said:

My issue with this scale is how they throw two sets of different activities into the definition of sex or sexual activity in these surveys. I'm constantly having to ask, do I answer this one with intercourse in mind or with the caressing/foreplay etc. side more in mind? Depending on which one, my answer would be completely opposite on some of these questions. :mellow:

 

3 hours ago, Star Bit said:

What do they mean by 'asexual indication scale'?

 

The Asexual Identification Scale (AIS) is a set of 12 questions that were identified by Yule et al. to be strong statistical indicators for distinguishing between asexual and sexual persons. Based on the replies, the respondent gets a score, and there seems to be a typical range of scores for asexuals and a typical range for sexuals. However, this is very, very empirical, so the purpose of this study here is to independently check the validity. Which also means the questions have to be exactly the same as in the original work.

 

The paper where the AIS was published is the following:

Yule, Morag A., Lori A. Brotto, and Boris B. Gorzalka. "A validated measure of no sexual attraction: The Asexuality Identification Scale." Psychological assessment 27.1 (2015): 148.

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I don't think the creator gets that Asexuality is one thing; not desiring sex/sexual activity with anyone. There only needs to be one question not 12, just like the other orientations.

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On ‎7‎/‎14‎/‎2017 at 1:16 PM, Star Bit said:

I don't think the creator gets that Asexuality is one thing; not desiring sex/sexual activity with anyone. There only needs to be one question not 12, just like the other orientations.

Yes, they do.

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On ‎7‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 7:39 PM, Rubyballoon said:

Always happy to help with research.

 

Seems slightly limited though... You're bound to get a weird-ass set of answers when you ask an asexual with a sexual partner whether sex has any place in their life without querying relationship status at some point. "Well, ya know, that's complicated... So here's the sitch!" isn't an option on the survey... <_< :lol:

 

You'd be quite content if you never had sex again... Yep, strongly agree! 

Sex has no place in your life... Strongly disagree.

 

I already feel sorry for the poor grad student that has to code these...

I don't think anyone was asking for opinions on the scale. I think we were asked to participate if we wanted.

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Diamond Ace of Hearts
10 hours ago, Just like Jughead said:

Yes, they do.

 

10 hours ago, Just like Jughead said:

I don't think anyone was asking for opinions on the scale. I think we were asked to participate if we wanted.

Hi Jacob :P

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  • 2 weeks later...

I was surprised that the questionnaire was short; it doesn't seem like it'll be a very thorough study because it doesn't differentiate or give asexual participants the option to explain their answers (e.g. It seems to assume there's only one definition of "sexual feelings" or "sexual activity" and doesn't recognize the fact that some asexuals occasionally have a libido that gives them the urge to masturbate, where they might also watch porn or read erotica and fantasize about sexual activity during that moment, but they're still considered to be asexual (because AVEN and other studies indicate that asexuals who masturbate or have sexual fantasies are still asexual) because they don't actually participate in sexual activities in real life.

 

So, for those asexuals, they might feel that that's their own "sexual activity," whereas, perhaps the researchers might've had a completely different idea or definition of what "sexual" and "sexual activity/feelings" entails. (i.e. actually participating in sexual activities with another person or people in real life.) 

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On 7/14/2017 at 2:21 AM, timewarp said:

 

 

The Asexual Identification Scale (AIS) is a set of 12 questions that were identified by Yule et al. to be strong statistical indicators for distinguishing between asexual and sexual persons. Based on the replies, the respondent gets a score, and there seems to be a typical range of scores for asexuals and a typical range for sexuals. However, this is very, very empirical, so the purpose of this study here is to independently check the validity. Which also means the questions have to be exactly the same as in the original work.

 

The paper where the AIS was published is the following:

Yule, Morag A., Lori A. Brotto, and Boris B. Gorzalka. "A validated measure of no sexual attraction: The Asexuality Identification Scale." Psychological assessment 27.1 (2015): 148.

Mhm, I've seen the scale before and understand the purpose. I just hope they're also looking at content validity also rather than just concurrent validity, since that seems to be many asexuals' frustration with this scale. :P We're having a definition that, for asexuals, includes acts that may both be acceptable and not acceptable... which makes the definition's accuracy questionable. But that may not happen for several more studies, since these processes can go slowly.

 

Thanks for the link to the AIS paper though, I may check that out.

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  • 2 weeks later...
shinigami1875

I just took the survey. I was able to answer most of the questions with ease but there were two that gave me some trouble. They both related to whether or not I would want to participate in sexual activity again. Since I have never participated in sexual activity, I just answered "neither true nor false". Hope I answered right!

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