Editing Kinsey Reports (section)

==Background and method==
Surveys of sexual behavior were considered unprecedented in American society, although [[Clelia Duel Mosher]] had conducted a survey of Victorian women. Qualitative studies had been done by [[Havelock Ellis]] and [[Magnus Hirschfeld]], but these researchers did not attempt to gather quantitative data. Kinsey built up academic prestige over decades of study and gained the support of [[Rockefeller family]]-backed philanthropists for a large-scale analysis. His research was unprecedented in scale, involving 18,000 interviews.

Data was gathered primarily by means of [[subjective report]] interviews, conducted according to a structured questionnaire memorized by the experimenters (but not marked on the response sheet in any way).<ref name="Ericksen1998">{{cite journal|last=Ericksen|first= J.|year= 1998 |title= With Enough Cases, Why Do You Need Statistics? Revisiting Kinsey's Methodology|journal=The Journal of Sex Research|volume=35|issue=2|pages=132–140|jstor=3813665|doi=10.1080/00224499809551926}}</ref> The response sheets were encoded in this way to maintain the confidentiality of the respondents, being entered on a blank grid using response symbols defined in advance.<ref name="Ericksen1998"/> The data were later computerized for processing. All of this material, including the original researchers' notes, remains available from the [[Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction|Kinsey Institute]] to qualified researchers who demonstrate a need to view such materials. The institute also allows researchers to use statistical software in order to analyze the data.