Editing Kinsey Reports (section)

=== Other criticisms ===
More recent researchers have also criticized Kinsey's sampling methods and believe that he overestimated the frequency of nonheterosexual behaviors and attractions, because the Kinsey Reports show higher frequencies of homosexuality than more modern studies do.<ref name="Lehmiller" />{{rp|147}}<ref name="Bailey16">{{cite journal |last1=Bailey |first1=J. Michael |last2=Vasey |first2=Paul |last3=Diamond |first3=Lisa |last4=Breedlove |first4=S. Marc |author4-link=Marc Breedlove |last5=Vilain |first5=Eric |last6=Epprecht |first6=Marc |date=2016 |title=Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/301639075 |journal=Psychological Science in the Public Interest |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=45–101 |doi=10.1177/1529100616637616 |pmid=27113562 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Balthazart">{{cite book |last=Balthazart |first=Jacques |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3fjGjlcVINkC |title=The Biology of Homosexuality |date=2012 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-983882-0 |page=29}}</ref>{{rp|9}} This may be explained in part by Kinsey's interview style, which focused on in-depth conversations with subjects carried out by himself or highly trained members of his team; they emphasized creating rapport with the interviewee and making them feel comfortable and secure.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Gathorne-Hardy |first=Jonathan |title=Sex the Measure of All Things: A Life of Alfred C. Kinsey |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2000 |isbn=0-253-33734-8 |location=Bloomington, IN |pages=283-286}}</ref> Modern interviewers tend to be less thoroughly trained and emphasize scientific detachment, which may make respondents less likely to share sensitive personal details.<ref name=":2" />

It has been suggested that some data in the reports could not have been obtained without collaborations with child molesters.<ref>{{cite book |last=Salter, Ph.D. |first=Anna C. |title=Treating Child Sex Offenders and Victims: A Practical Guide |publisher=Sage Publications Inc |year=1988 |isbn=978-0-8039-3182-4 |pages=22–24}}</ref> The Kinsey Institute denies this charge, though it acknowledges that men who have had sexual experiences with children were interviewed, with Kinsey balancing what he saw as the need for their anonymity to solicit "honest answers on such taboo subjects" against the likelihood that their crimes would continue.<ref name="kinsey-inst">[http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/about/controversy%202.htm Kinsey Institute statement denies child abuse in study] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123084849/http://www.kinseyinstitute.org/about/controversy%202.htm|date=2013-01-23}}</ref><ref name="Welsh-Huggins">{{cite news |last=Welsh-Huggins |first=Andrews |date=September 1995 |title=Conservative group attacks Kinsey data on children |work=Herald-Times |url=http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/1995/09/06/archive.19950906.b0c15bb.sto  |access-date=2008-01-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130513184522/http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/stories/1995/09/06/archive.19950906.b0c15bb.sto |archive-date=2013-05-13 |quote=Providing such absolute assurances of anonymity was the only way to guarantee honest answers on such taboo subjects, said Gebhard.}}</ref>

Historian [[Peter Gay]] described ''Sexual Behavior in the Human Male'' as "methodologically far from persuasive".<ref>{{cite book |author=Gay, Peter |title=The Bourgeois Experience Victoria to Freud. Volume II: The Tender Passion |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1986 |isbn=978-0-19-503741-8 |location=New York |page=447}}</ref>

Sociologist Edward Laumann stated that the Kinsey Reports were limited to the biology of sex and lacked psychological and clinical information and analysis and that this "meant that sex research did not move into the mainstream of academic credibility. People took their reputations in their hands if they attempted to pursue it."<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=2003-01-27 |title=50 Years After The Kinsey Report - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/50-years-after-the-kinsey-report/ |access-date=2023-11-05 |website=www.cbsnews.com |language=en-US}}</ref> Laumann also acknowledged that "The Kinsey report was a cultural event of enormous consequence."<ref name=":3" />