DO BRITISH MUMS CARE ABOUT CHEMICALS IN CHILDREN'S CLOTHING?

[FashionAndMumsResearch]

Along with the rise of clean eating, beauty, and homeware, fashion may be emerging as the next safety concern.

I'm a Master's student at the London College of Fashion, researching non-toxic childrenswear!

I'd be massively grateful if any British mothers of children aged 3-12 could take 5 minutes to complete the questionnaire. I have to hit 200 responses, which is challenging as I don't personally know many mothers. If you feel like it and have the time, please feel free to share it with any friends or group chats. https://arts.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cLOsTjZpcDVgKWy

Thank you so much and have a wonderful week Xx

Thank you for the support! 🙂xx

Thank you so much! Absolutely my logic x

I am not an academic researcher by profession, only a Master's student. It is difficult to know what questions to ask and what not to when there is so much information to unpack from previous academic literature/studies. I think I have read about 200 research papers in total. I asked my supervisor, and she said I should ask it, but I understand why people question its relevance.

Yes, I absolutely did not intend it to come across as obnoxious or shouty, more of a headline. It's ok if people abandon the survey. I know that people will have their opinions about questions, and that is fair. I will just keep distributing and powering through because I can't change it now.

Tbh, it was the last straw.

Firstly I wondered by it was so shouty, secondly I resented the assumption that knowledge about concerns over chemicals in clothing = believing they are bad - essentially the surgery was showing a clear bias, issues with question construction, and then I got to the gender question, thought 'FFS why am I even bothering' and closed it down.

I only mentioned the gender question on here because I gave the OP the benefit of the doubt about the others given she's clearly trying her best.

The gender question would also make the surgery very reliable. If anyone ticks anything other than female, it could be that it's because someone considers themselves trans and that's why, equally it could be because they weren't a mum and shouldn't be doing the surgery in the first places. It adds an ambiguity about whether the correct people were doing the survey, raising questions about its results.

Well precisely. How do you judge what will trigger people? It seems blatantly obvious that a survey about chemicals in children's clothing may contain information about chemicals in children's clothing so a trigger warning is redundant.

Perhaps we should have had a trigger warning about the gender question. I was just going about my day happily answering a survey and without warning I was asked an intrusive and triggering question about what my gender is. Now I'm going to have to have a lie down in a darkened room so I don't unalive myself from the trauma.

Hiii, thanks for the support! I only wanted the title to stand out, and in a way, I think the title may have worked because my post has had more traction than I thought it would! Also, putting it at the end means people fill out all of the prior questions, it gives me the option to remove the gender question from analysis, meaning I could still use the incomplete responses! Maybe people think that's a bad way to do it, but I think its tactical haha. Thank you so much and have a wonderful day x

In the interests of quantitative research surely its better to use something factual and binary like sex rather the meaningless term gender which can mean anything the respondent wants it to mean?

Thank you so much! That is really kind of you 😊Uniform is super interesting to me because children wear it so much, I considered making this research about it!
Consume has two definitions one is to eat drink or ingest and the other is to buy personal goods. However, I am realising maybe I should have changed the wording with that, for sure, thank you for the feedback! x

I really appreciate you taking the time to attempt the survey regardless. Thank you for the feedback.

I do have to include one because of my unis ethics. Some studies on non-toxic clothing may just ask opinions and not include specific information about health conditions or specific chemicals, so they would not require a warning. My study is designed to expose some of the participants to this information. For example, for studies on sustainability, some studies just ask about people's opinions and intentions, where some may give detailed information about environmental impacts, which some may find distressing and would require a trigger warning.

Again, sorry about the gender question. I don't ever want to make people uncomfortable.

This is a fair argument. On the other hand, this research is about psychology, so identity could be seen as more relevant than physiology. I also have never seen any previous literature in my field that asks specifically about sex, so I wouldn't be able to justify it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

But why does it matter what gender someone is, what are you using it for? What does it add to the data?

If you're only asking for gender then it's a meaningless data point surely, as it's not quantifiable - what it means to person A is not necessarily what it means to person B even if they give the same answer - and if it's not adding anything to the data that you can use to interrogate it, why ask it at all?

Genuine question, I'm honestly struggling to understand why it's a required question for you regardless of what anyone's beliefs may be.

I think the only person who can respond to the question about why it's needed is the OP's supervisor - and I imagine they're not going to come onto MN!

My brother works as a MRI radiographer and there is a certain type of underwear he can’t buy because it’s got metal in it. The stuff you have to think about.

I agree, I don't think it's particularly relevant. My supervisor said I should ask it as its a standard question. In many studies, they list demographic information about their participants but don't necessarily link it to the results.

Haha, yes I don't think she particularly thought about it in depth. I think she was just of the opinion that it's a standard question most surveys ask.

Gosh didn't realise this was a thing, thanks for sharing!

The pedantry while calling it a fucking surgery over and over is peak MN. *SURVEY in extra shouty letters just to get through.

I think you probably need to ask about sex, rather than gender.

you can't possibly be saying you haven't read any literature on your field asking specifically if someone is male/female? Because that is asking about sex. It's an extremely standard demographic question asked in research.

Quite.
I got to the gender question and decided not to submit the survey.

OP you should have argued with your supervisor and quoted the recent Supreme Court ruling.

Well why didn't you challenge her?
You're a Masters student, not a gap year teenager.

What does "gender " mean ?
Do you mean sex or something else?

God, people are so, so arsey on here! The OP is simply asking for help, no-one is obliged to give it, just scroll on by if you're so bothered.

It's very clear to anyone who's ever been involved in research (or had any kind of grown up job!) that you sometimes have to jump through hoops to get your project approved. The precise wording of the questions is not necessarily reflective of the OP's own political views.

OP, I hope you've had enough responses. I've completed the survey. Let's hope there are plenty of people who just want to help instead of nit-picking who have done it for you!