Help me with my Research Paper: Survey #2B

[prosfilaes]

Exactly what kind of person is going to freely admit that they have mental illness and/or poor hygiene?

It doesn't seem that many are answering yes to poor hygiene. But it's an anonymous servey, and it's not like mental illness is a personal fault, anymore than physical illness is.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Validity? (x2)

But it's an anonymous servey, and it's not like mental illness is a personal fault, anymore than physical illness is.

Many ENworld residents know each other in "real life". Furthermore ... although social tolerance of mental illness has improved, it still carries a stigma.

Frankly, I think this survey is too broad ... and (as Rystil has already mentioned) the sample is fairly skewed.

-Samir

 

[Felix]

I also have an issue with the last two options. I neither flaunt nor hide my gaming from non-gamers. If it comes up in conversation, I'll talk about it, but if it doesn't, I won't bring it up. If that's hiding, then I suppose I hide my gaming.

 

[Xath]

Just to clarify, the survey is supposed to be from a viewpoint of gamers. My thesis revolves around the idea that the stereotype is so prevalant outside of the gaming society because it is so firmly entrenched inside.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Validity? (x3)

Just to clarify, the survey is supposed to be from a viewpoint of gamers. My thesis revolves around the idea that the stereotype is so prevalant outside of the gaming society because it is so firmly entrenched inside.

Perhaps it isn't a stereotype. Maybe gamers are simply relaying (or providing) first-hand evidence.

-Samir

 

[lior_shapira]

Perhaps its already been mentioned, but I think the profile of an ENWorlder is very different from the average role player. I think its a more mature community, lots of people from within the industry... If that's what you want great, otherwise you should take it into account.

 

[Kanegrundar]

Is it okay to not pick an option for the last two? In particular, I neither flaunt nor hide my hobby from nongamers. I don't bring it up except when it comes up. And I tell them they should play too. For instance, I had a conversation yesterday where someone thought that D&D was a collectible game and I said "Nah, that's more Magic the Gathering. Dungeons and Dragons is a fantasy roleplaying game. You should try it, it's fun." But the majority of acquaintances never learn that I play.

Ditto. Both options for the last question are inadequate for me.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Validity? (x4)

Perhaps its already been mentioned, but I think the profile of an ENWorlder is very different from the average role player.

Good point. Also ... many unemployed people tend to have issues with reliable computer access.

-Samir

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Where?

This is the same poll as in 2A ....

Link?

-Samir

 

[Joshua Randall]

How would you propose changing it? I realize that there are potential data-skewing issues, but I don't know that much about taking surveys.

Ah, then you may want to do some research into the theory of survey design. I'm sure any sufficiently large college/university library can help with this. (Google might help too.)

However, now that we know your hypothesis, it is a lot more clear to me why you created the surveys the way you did: to try to find out if gamers have an internal stereotype of themselves that is somehow* picked up by non-gamers.

* How this happens is also a potentially fascinating reserch topic.

Ideally, you would want two samples of survey respondents: non-gamers and gamers. You would start with a sufficiently large random sample of "normal people" and then shunt the ones who self-identify as gamers** into the gamer-specific survey. Everyone else answers the non-gamer survey. Then compare the responses.

** I would not ask the question, "are you a gamer?" because it is too open to interpretation. Rather, I would ask something like, "Have you ever / do you regularly play games like Dungeons & Dragons or [insert other examples here]?"

Alternatively you can survey a bunch of likely-to-be-gamers (like you are doing here on EN World) and separately survey a bunch of likely-to-be-non-gamers (e.g. by posting flyers or whatever). Of course the tricky thing is you need the non-gamers to be sufficiently familiar with gamers to have a stereotyped idea in mind for them.