Research Request
 

Hello everyone,
You may have seen this post a few days ago, I now have approval from the moderators :)
I'm Steph, I'm 23 years old and in the third year of a psychology degree at Liverpool Hope University. For my dissertation I am carrying out a qualitative study of how users of a self-harm support forum construct and communicate their identity online. The participants will be required to answer some written questions via email that are in no way triggering. The questions are based around your screen name. The results and answers will be kept confidential and only your real name will be needed for the consent form which will be kept separate from the answers. I feel that this is a beneficial study as it will allow us as insight into how identities are constructed online, and how they may differ from offline identities.
If you are interested in participating I would be very very grateful. Questions should not take any longer than an hour to complete depending on how much detail you want to go into, and participants must be over 18 years old. If you volunteer then once you see the questions you decide not to go ahead, that is absolutely fine but I must stress that the questions are not triggering at all. I have approval from the moderators of this board, and ethical approval from the British Psychological Society.
If you want to get involved please send me a private message with your email and I can send all the info over :)
Thanks again and happy new year!!!
Steph

PM'd you. I probably won't have time to fill it in today but will be able to in next couple of days.

Great, thank you I've emailed the info over. Don't worry about when you get chance to do it, take your time!
Thanks again
Steph

PM'd. Internet connection here is hit and miss so I will prob get it sent over once I am at my mum's tommorow or day after at latest :)

Pm'd you to

I am so so grateful for the people volunteering. My tutor told me I would really struggle to get just one or two participants so thank you SO much! xx

Identity online .& offline? So like people being fake.? -_- . Fake people everywhere even irl.

^ I'd say it's more to do with how you present yourself online and offline and what the difference is. In my experience, people are more 'fake' (though I hate that word) offline because they feel they've got to be fine and to fit in, whereas online, there is less of a pressure. I wouldn't agree with the word 'fake' and would prefer to use a different word because people aren't being fake and might more be disguising who they really are, for fear of getting hurt of judged.

I've sent you a PM.

PMd you earlier too :) I'd be happy to help

Thank you so much for everyone's support, you have all been so lovely and helpful. If anyone is still interested in volunteering then please do. I currently don't have much money but as soon as my student grants arrive on 10th Jan, I will be making a contribution to the forum to show my appreciation. Can't afford much as I'm a student! But really thank you so much xx

Hi Mat, thanks for the comments, I'm not trying to identify "fake" people with this research, if fake is even something we could define, I'm just trying to look into differences between people's online, and offline personalities and identities. I'm a forum user and I definitely discuss things in some forums that I never would in offline life and vise versa, and this is what I am investigating

PM'd you~

Also PM'd.

ditto

After downloading some stuff to do it i've finally done it for you,
I hope it helps you out.
Mike

I did Psychology at uni so I'm going to do this to help you out - know what you're going through haha! Good luck with everything x

pm'd u

Hi again everyone!! First of all a MASSIVE thanks to those who volunteered, you have all helped me with my dissertation so much!
If there is anyone else who can possibly volunteer that hasn't already, I would be more than grateful! I need as many participants as possible :)
Can someone also send me the info of how to make a one off donation? I really cant afford much with being a student but I'd like to show my thanks. Is there a paypal account I send it to?
Thanks
Steph xx

would only our first name be visible? I am thinking about it and may drop you a PM :)