With that in mind, I was trying to do a survey of people who had come out, to see what did and didn't go well. I wanted to limit the danger of survivorship bias by focusing only on coming out experiences that were positive. My hope was to identify indicators that there would be a higher probability a person would be accepting.
Unfortunately, I didn't manage to find many people to respond (I think 5 or 6; still haven't gotten back a second response from Virped as to whether they'd decided to participate). I want to do another survey testing other areas I didn't in the first one, but this time use something like surveymonkey, so it's easier for people to participate than having to write things manually. I'm not very technically skilled, though.
So here it is: the draft of the findings. (I said I'd notify participants when it was finished, but I'm not happy with it yet)
I'd like to do the same survey again to get more data. However I'm not sure how to get more people to participate.Having gathered as much information as I think I'm currently going to get, here are my findings from the first survey. Please note these trends will change with more data, especially considering that the sample size was less than 10 people. Also, please note, none of these traits guarantee a person will accept you.
Positive indicators that suggest a person may be more likely to be accepting if you come out as a MAP:
A family member
A long-time friend
A woman*
Your father
People who display open-mindedness
People who demonstrate a strong resilience to stress
People who show a willingness to listen
People who treat others respectfully
Negative indicators that suggest a person might be less likely to be accepting if you come out as a MAP:
A person who is religious*
People who study LGBT issues academically
A member of the LGBT community*
A recent acquaintance
*This isn't meant to be taken as an indication that women, religious people, or members of the LGBT community as whole have specific attitudes toward MAPs.
I'm currently working on a follow up survey to fill in the gaps of the original. If you've had experiences coming out and would like to participate, or you have experiences you would be willing to share that contradict the findings of the original survey, please contact me.
These are the questions for the second survey I'm thinking of doing for areas missing in the first survey:
Any suggestions to make the process easier or get more responses, would be appreciated. Also, I wouldn't mind having someone to collaborate with, it's been more work than I was expecting and I'm not very organized.Neutral experiences:
What were the ages of those with whom you had neutral experiences?
What was the education level of those with whom you had neutral experiences?
What was the economic status of those with whom you had neutral experiences?
What was the cultural background of those with whom you had neutral experiences?
Negative experiences:
What were the ages of those with whom you had negative experiences?
What was the education level of those with whom you had negative experiences?
What was the economic status of those with whom you had negative experiences?
What was the cultural background of those with whom you had negative experiences?
Positive experiences:
What were the ages of those with whom you had positive experiences?
What was the education level of those with whom you had positive experiences?
What was the economic status of those with whom you had positive experiences?
What was the cultural background of those with whom you had positive experiences?
