Researcher Shere Hite shocked conservative America with her famous Hite Report on the permissive sexual attitudes of American men and women. In her book Women and Love: A Cultural Revolution in Progress (Knopf Press, 1988), Hite reveals some startling statistics describing how women feel about contemporary relationships:
• Eighty-four percent are not emotionally satisfied with their relationship.
• Ninety-five percent report "emotional and psychological harassment" from their men.
• Seventy percent of those married five years or more are having extramarital affairs.
• *Only 13% of those married more than two years are "in love."
Hite conducted the survey by mailing out 100,000 questionnaires to women across the country over a seven-year period. The questionnaires were mailed to a wide variety of organizations, including church groups, women's voting and political groups, women's rights organizations, and counseling and walk-in centers for women. Organizational leaders were asked to circulate the questionnaires to their members. Hite also relied on volunteer respondents who wrote in for copies of the questionnaire. Each questionnaire consisted of 127 open-ended questions, many with numerous sub questions and follow-ups. Hite's instructions read, "It is not necessary to answer every question! Feel free to skip around and answer those questions you choose." Approximately 4,500 completed questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 4.5%. These questionnaires form the data set from which the preceding percentages were determined. Hite claims that the 4,500 women respondents are a representative sample of all women in the United States and, therefore, that the survey results imply that vast numbers of women are "suffering a lot of pain in their love relationships with men." Critically assess the survey results. Do you believe they are reliable?