Participants Needed!! :)

[Pea]

Hi Guys,

Bit of a shameless plug, but I have to try!

I need participants for my dissertation, all it requires is filling out a questionnaire. If you could, I'd be eternally grateful to you all - the more people I can get to do it, the better my reliability / results will be.

I have explained in detail what the questionnaire is about if you follow the link, this will take you to the summary page - you are not obliged to have to do it, and if you decide half way through that you're not happy or comfortable, then you can stop by just closing the browser window. All the information I get via results is anonymous, so there's no way I can link it back to anybody who might want to complete it. If you do complete the questionnaire, and then change your mind, then please contact me on here, or via the email I've given on the summary, you don't need to give a reason, all you need to do is quote the six digit code you gave at the beginning (This is explained in better detail on the summary page, but essentially an anonymous way of allowing me to identify which data is yours so that if you want to have it taken out, you can quote me the code and I can remove it, without you ever having to give me your name etc) Psychologists eh? We've got to over complicate everything....!!
(I'm sorry - but I have to do that old boring bit!!)



Anyway, on the summary page it says the questionnaire takes 30 minutes. It really doesn't - I can see how long it takes to complete, so far 7 participants have completed it, all taking no more than 9 minutes!! I just have to put that it will take 30 minutes to cover my own back.


Please please pleeeeeeease help me out if you can. You'll get a big golden star! :~D


Here's the link: https://qtrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bjCt96m60YHxBqt

Thank you so much for your time!!

[Gullscorer]

As soon as I saw the word 'psychologists' I thought, oh dear, this guy (I'm assuming you are, but you might not be) obviously needs counselling if he actually believes in this pseudo-scientific claptrap. Still, I thought, I'll have a go, should be good for a laugh.

Seriously though, d'you really think you'll get anything remotely accurate or useful from 'research' like this? Half of such questionnaires are usually filled with loaded questions, imprecise definitions and designed with dubious methodologies to achieve results which merely confirm the researcher's prejudices, expectations or ideology.

On second thoughts I shall help you out by giving you the benefit of the doubt and proceeding with this as objectively and as accurately as I can, in the hope that it will at least help you with your dissertation. I wish you all the best with that. But I sometimes despair that so many people actually believe the nonsense that is to be found in Psychology, or Sociology, or, God help us, Women's/Gender Studies..!!

[Pea]

Haha, you should try to fool it then

On a serious note though, thanks for your help. A lot of time and thought has gone into it, I don't see any readily loaded questions in there, and when they are there, it's for a reason

Cheers!!

[Gullscorer]

Well, there we are. I made it as far as 'Issue1', and was unable to proceed any further, because none of the situations described therein applied to me, and so I could not answer any of the questions. Which immediately renders the whole thing less accurate (if it ever possessed any accuracy at all), since a certain section of the population willing to assist in the survey has been excluded from the outset. And to think that there are many people who take the results of research such as this seriously. Sorry and all that, but I'm not one of them. But if you think it would help, I shall be happy to give the organisers of this exercise the benefits of my knowledge, wisdom and experience, though I fear it's probably too late for that! =Z

[Pea]

Well, this is just the thing, I'm specifically experimenting a theory on a specific part of the population. I have no intention of generalising it to anybody outside of that cohort. I appreciate it didn't apply to you and I thank you for your time and at least giving it a try, but believe me when I say this isn't an off the cuff thing that I'm doing. I've planned it thoroughly, and used lots of different angles on this. Those who make it to the end see a summation of the questions used, and where they came from / what they were based upon, I don't present these at the beginning because it may influence the results, but these questions are taken from a very wide range of sources, some not even anything to do with relationships or dominance. I'm not just testing relationships and dominance within them, but also social desirability.

I appreciate your thoughts on this, but perhaps placing them, in such an opinionated manner to me ('the organiser of this event') is a little narrow minded. I've spent a long time doing this, and I'll be spending a long time more doing it. No, it's not my preferred area of psychology, but it's a bit heartless to essentially tell me what I'm researching is pointless, when I've got to spend the next six months analysing the data, coming to a conclusion, and writing a report of 10,000 words on it.

I appreciate that you have your thoughts and feelings on psychology, but if you yourself have ever tried to get a degree, or know somebody who has, you'll appreciate just how draining it is, without people dampening your spirits to boot!


Like I say though, thanks for at least taking the time to attempt the questionnaire - Perhaps you'll want a copy of the finalised report in a few months? :~D

[Gullscorer]

I'm sorry, Pea, I did not realise that it was you personally who organised this survey, and I made my comments without any detailed knowledge of the purpose of the exercise, so I trust they will be read with that in mind. My comments about psychology etc. were intended in a spirit of jocularity which has obviously been lost in the text but would have survived an oral expression, and I should have known that, so again I'm sorry; I blame my tiredness.

Anyway, I shall try to clarify my concerns regarding this kind of questionnaire. Feel free to ignore my comments, they may be irrelevant, but you will know that better than me.

Each question in 'Issue 1' requires us to answer in one of five ways, ranging from 'strongly agree' to 'neither agree nor disagree' to 'strongly disagree'. And at once we are channelled into accepting the assumptions innate in the questions and at the same time barred from giving any alternative answer beyond one of those requested.

Example 1: 'I am in control of the quality of my romantic relationships' : if one has or has had no romantic relationships, one cannot answer the question.

Example 2: ' If the relationship I am in has problems, it is my job to fix them' : the answer to this question, assuming one is in or has been in a relationship, may depend upon the nature of the problem or problems, as well as on that of the relationship itself. Yet one is again required to give one of five standard answers to a question which may well be meaningless to the subject.

Example 3: a majority of the questions assume that we have or have had a partner, and if one has never had a partner one is unable to answer even the first of these questions and cannot proceed further in the questionnaire. Moreover, the meaning of the word 'partner' is, so far as I can see, not defined in any way. Does it include a boy/girl friend or only a husband/wife or co-habiting partnership, or does it exclude platonic relationships or one-night-stands?

And if a proportion of the respondents are excluded in this way, does this not suggest that the survey may be skewed to an extent which will produce results of only limited usefulness?

I'm sorry I was unable to assist with the questionnaire, but I trust my comments on this thread have been useful at least in some small way. I should have told you I am prone to nit-picking, and it's possible that none of the above has any relevance to your survey at all, so feel free to ignore everything. I suppose it's a general criticism of the limitations of all such questionnaires, rather than your own particular survey. Anyway, I wish you all the best with it and with your dissertation. I'm sure you'll get there.

[Pea]

It's alright Gullscorer, Like you, I'm tired too!

I feel a bit bad - Im a bit defensive on the basis that this is essentially my baby as it were.

I fully appreciate your comments, and in some sort of answer, there are some things I would like to point out.

Firstly, you make the very valid observation that I use the word "partner", this is more for ease and in the hope that I don't offend anybody. I assume people would be able to understand that this is just a broad term used for your significant other for the moment, or at some prior stage. It saves me having to frame the questions with the old: "wife/husband, girlfriend/boyfriend, lover, somebody you live with" etc etc. It really bares no impact on the study in significant terms if the partner is a one night stand or a wedded partner of over 50 years. (I'll PM you with why).

As for the questions themselves - I do state at the beginning (I've called it my summary page for ease on here, but the Informed consent which is presented at the beginning) that if you are not currently in a relationship, to base your answers on previous relationships, or how you think you may act if you were in a relationship. I fully expect to get people to start the study and decided part way through that because they aren't in a relationship, or haven't ever been in one they just cannot answer, but that's okay, because I'm not actually testing the quality of the relationship. (Again, another point I will follow up in PM - don't want to give the game away to anybody who may read this and go on to do the study).

Further on in the study a lot of the questions change focus entirely, and have nothing to do with relationships, but rather opinions on politics and other things such like. The point of the likert-scale used (the strongly agree / neither agree nor disagree / strongly disagree) is to get a broad idea of what people may choose as an answer. You are correct in saying this may not give me the full impression of the reasons why, but my study is not interested in the why's and how's (Maybe that can be a follow up one day). That's partly due to the time restraints I have. Quantitative data is time consuming enough, but Qualitative data, whilst more rich and informative in some cases, would just take me far too long to analyse, content and factor analysis are some of the most time consuming, subjective analytical methods I've ever come across, and I have six months.

Anyway, the whole point of doing the quantitative was to be able to use these comments, and many many more, as critical review for part of my dissertation. Part of this is also giving methods which may be better in the future. Considering I'm aiming to come up with a so far non-existent scale, I expect there to be lots of further research in this area at a later date, and I hope to be able to see the pitfalls of the things I'm doing now in due course - but I have to start somewhere!!

I suppose you could argue the questionnaire is skewed, but it's been designed to be skewed. It's no good trying to test the effects of x therapy on ridding one of arachnophobia, if the people you are testing the therapy on don't have arachnophobia, is it?

I think I've covered everything, a short PM explaining those little bits is winging its way to you now


Thanks for at least trying, and thank you for taking the time to come back and explain, believe it or not, I'm a sensitive little thing, I don't like arguing! :~D

[Southampton Gull]

Pea is now a bloke? Bloody hell

Will do it for you tomorrow (later today), sweetcheeks

[Pea]

Oh yeah man, a big big musclesome strong bloke - Haven't you seen my biceps these days? :P

[Southampton Gull]

Well they're most likely a lot larger than Matt's

[Pea]

Everything is bigger than Matt!!

[Gullscorer]

Okay Pea, I've not read any PM yet, and before I do, in the light of the words in your posts I'll have another go at the questionnaire, starting afresh, because I don't want not to be useful and helpful..

[Pea]

Thanks ever so much Gullscorer!

Apologies for sending the PM as an email too - was half asleep last night!

[Southampton Gull]

As promised, done.

[Pea]

Thank you!! Really appreciate it - sorry it was so long!!