世論 What Japan Thinks

iShare often make me smile with the curious topics they investigate, and this one is no exception, what secrets people want to take to the grave.

Demographics

Between the 3rd and 6th of August 2010 415 members of the CLUB BBQ free email forwarding service completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 52.8% of the sample were male, 33.7% in their twenties, 32.8% in their thirties, and 33.5% in their forties.

I’ve probably got one, no two, secrets that I’ll never mention; one is bad, the other is just embarrassing. That’s really about all I’m prepared to say regarding this survey!

Research results

Q1: Do you have secrets that you cannot mention to people close to you which want to take to the grave? (Sample size=415)

	All	Male N=219	Female N=196
Yes (to SQ1, SQ2)	42.2%	40.2%	44.4%
No (to SQ3)	57.8%	59.8%	55.6%

Q1SQ1: What kinds of secrets are they? (Sample size=175, multiple answer)

	All	Male N=88	Female N=87
About love	57.1%	51.1%	63.2%
About illness	9.1%	9.1%	9.2%
About family	9.1%	8.0%	10.3%
About work	8.6%	6.8%	10.3%
About crime	7.4%	9.1%	5.7%
About my birth	5.7%	6.8%	4.6%
About debts	5.7%	5.7%	5.7%
Other	22.9%	22.7%	23.0%

Q1SQ2: Would you want to anonymously tell your secrets to an unknown third party? (Sample size=175)

	All	Male N=88	Female N=87
Really want to	2.3%	1.1%	3.4%
Perhaps want to	15.4%	13.6%	17.2%
Don’t want to	82.3%	85.2%	79.3%

Q1SQ3: Have you got secrets that you don’t want to take to the grave, yet don’t really want people close to you to learn about? (Sample size=240)

	All	Male N=131	Female N=109
Yes	33.3%	27.5%	40.4%
No	66.7%	72.5%	59.6%