A tale of research misconduct and gullible hacks?

“A lie can travel round the world while the truth is putting on its boots“

A story about women receiving abuse while running appeared in the Guardian here and on the BBC website here. It seems that 2/3 of women experience harassment while running. The real story, I suspect, is one of research misconduct, gullible hacks and an Australian ‘academic’ lacking in intellectual curiosity.

The ‘research’ was conducted by two academics at the University of Manchester, Dr Caroline Miles and Professor Rose Broad. However, if you look on their webpages at the University of Manchester you will find no mention of the supposed ‘research’ (as of 25/2/24). Neither the report in the Guardian nor the BBC carried any link to the actual study and that started to make me suspicious.

Predictably, male-feminist Professor Michael Flood tweeted his outrage but, when challenged, claimed he didn’t know how the ‘research’ had been conducted.

Two-thirds of women get harassed while running, England survey finds
University of Manchester study says abuse by men and boys is ‘everyday occurrence’ – with only 5% of cases reported to policehttps://t.co/hrfm9rjBR1 @carolinemiles01
1/2

— Professor Michael Flood (@MichaelGLFlood) February 24, 2024

Often, the technique with these studies is to look at a self selected group and then generalise from there. The problem with self-selected groups is just that, they are self-selected and usually not representative of the wider population. Professor Flood who tweeted about this study was unable to enlighten us and Dr Caroline Miles, also included in the tweets, went strangely quiet.

Are you a woman who runs or jogs outside regularly? Do you live in Greater Manchester or Merseyside? If so, a team from @CriminologyUoM would really appreciate your input into an anonymous online survey about your experiences and/or fear of abuse whilst out running. Please RT

— CriminologyUoM (@CriminologyUoM) April 26, 2023

However, looking at the University of Manchester tweets (above), a flavour of the methodology began to emerge. As I suspected, the study relied on a self-selected group recruited through social media. Two-thirds of respondents may have reported or feared abuse, but it was quite wrong to conclude that 2/3rds of women in general, experience abuse while running. The BBC prides itself on verifying some kinds of data but not, it seems, data originating from feminist sources. It is the job of journalists to ‘dig around’ and not take things at face value. The author of the piece on the BBC website, Katie Barnfield, yet another English Lit graduate, failed to do either. Perhaps she should be reminded of the old journalist’s maxim ‘if your mother says she loves you, check it out.’

My biggest criticism however, is of the academics involved. Real scholars are open about their methodology, are open about the limitations of their evidence and are careful not to over-interpret their data. None of that could be said of Dr Miles and Professor Broad. The problem is that academia has become a monoculture and feminism is the hegemonic ideology. I suspect nobody asked them awkward question before they went public and they never had the uncomfortable experience of having to defend their conclusions.

For example, were the abusive characters selectively abusive to women or was anyone the target of their taunts? How did the taunts directed at men and women differ? My suspicion is that there is semi-feral group of predominantly but not exclusively boys out there, often excluded from school. We need to understand more about them. Demonising masculinity was no doubt emotionally rewarding for the researchers but it will achieve nothing.

In the Guardian article, Professor Rose Broad was quoted as saying ‘it’s not all men, but it’s always men’. No men were surveyed so how would she know? I play tennis in my local park and I also volunteer, I know abuse does sometimes come from the girls. There is one area, however, where the girls excel. If you challenge a group engaged in antisocial behaviour the girls will peel off, start filming you and accuse you of being a nonce. They know, ‘as a result of believe women’ they wield immense power and they are not afraid to use it.

There is one domain where Rose Broad’s claim does hold. Where I live we have regular sessions in the local park where we cut back vegetation to improve sight lines, the aim is to make everyone, not just women, feel safer. Most of this work is done by volunteers and Rose Broad’s maxim really does apply, ‘It isn’t all men, but it is always men.’ Perhaps some of the feminist anger is performative.