How many sexual partners have you had

[Jon Miller]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19374216/wid/11915773?GT1=10056

I ran into this.

I wonder whether Apolyton's median is similar to the American median?

JM

[Heraclitus]

I doubt it.

[KrazyHorse]

BTW, I think that median is a lifetime number, not a median of how many people have actually had at any given point in their lives. The article was less than clear, however.

[MikeH]

It said the survey covered people aged 20-59, I assume a 20 year old won't know what their lifetime score is so I guess it's their current value.

[MikeH]

That's the only thing that makes sense for it to be.

There's no way to ask a dead person for their score, and (in most cases) you can't assume someone won't have any more partners if they are still alive and between 20 and 59.

[Lorizael]

lol @ discussing the study's methods rather than the study's topic.

[KrazyHorse]

It said the survey covered people aged 20-59, I assume a 20 year old won't know what their lifetime score is so I guess it's their current value.

Mike, I suggest you look up how they calculate life expectancies. They calculate mortality rates among different age cohorts and then combine them to get an overall age.

[Japher]

And Ben, yourself doesn't count.

[KrazyHorse]

Just found the actual study. The median, which they report for men as 6.8 (?), is a crude number which is uncorrected even for the amount that the age structure of their survey does not correspond to the age structure of the 20-59 cohort in the US population.

The medians for age subgroups in their samples are as follows:

20-29: 5.4
30-39: 7.6
40-49: 6.9
50-59: 6.9

They don't appear to specify, but I'm interested in knowing what type of median they are using. The sample median will always be either an integer or half-integer for data restricted to the integers.

[Felch]

Maybe some people are thinking "I only stuck the tip in, so that's .3 there."

Or maybe those numbers are just fabrications.

[Japher]

Oral sex is only half sex

[KrazyHorse]

Then they should be restricted to multiples of 1/4

[Felch]

Maybe the numbers are complete fabrications.

[KrazyHorse]

Maybe they're using methodologies we simply don't understand/know.

[Felch]

Maybe they rate things on some funky scale.

Vaginal intercourse is worth 1
Oral sex is .5
Cleveland Steamer is 1.7
etc.