Furry Research - Participants Needed

[Moses S]

Hey Everyone


My name is Moses Simpson and I'm a Masters student from the University of Waikato, in New Zealand and I'm looking to get some participants for our research into the mental health and protective factors of the furry community.

I thought I would share my research poster/link here and see if anyone was interested in taking part in the research. This survey is completely anonymous and for completing the survey you can enter the draw for one of three $25 USD Amazon vouchers. Just remember to click through to the second survey at the end of the first one to enter the draw.

Here's the link: furryresearch.typeform.com: Furry Community - Protective Factors & Mental Health survey

This research draws from work done by the IARP and adds questions investigating how being within the furry community can be a predictor factor for or protective factor against mental health issues. We also ask about suicide and depression - but the good news is you can skip any question you don't want to answer.

We are looking for any and all furries who would want to spend 15 mins of their time helping further the knowledge base around the furry community.

I would be really appreciative if you could also share this survey with any furries you know who might not have seen it.
Once again here is the link

If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask and I'll get back to you as quickly as I can

Thanks!!

 

[real time strategist]

Completed it, I find it weird that your age can only be from 16 to 102, just saying.

 

[ellaerna]

Completed it, I find it weird that your age can only be from 16 to 102, just saying.

The 16 or the 102 end? Or both?
I don't know how research differs from New Zealand to the US, but I know over in the States you have to limit your sample to legal adults unless you get special approval from your review board. Children are seen as a vulnerable population for research; as are students, pregnant people, the elderly etc. It's easier just to run only adults through your study so you don't have to jump those extra hoops and avoid possible legal issues depending on the nature of your work.
As for 102, well, it's not likely that you'll meet a person over 100, let alone a furry that age. That's just statistics.

 

[Moses S]

The 16 or the 102 end? Or both?
I don't know how research differs from New Zealand to the US, but I know over in the States you have to limit your sample to legal adults unless you get special approval from your review board. Children are seen as a vulnerable population for research; as are students, pregnant people, the elderly etc. It's easier just to run only adults through your study so you don't have to jump those extra hoops and avoid possible legal issues depending on the nature of your work.
As for 102, well, it's not likely that you'll meet a person over 100, let alone a furry that age. That's just statistics.

You're exactly right, We set the limit at 16 because of issues with underage participants and ethics concerns and the 102 is because one of the measures in the survey is only validated to 102. 102 also makes a nice upper limit anyhow.

 

[ellaerna]

You're exactly right, We set the limit at 16 because of issues with underage participants and ethics concerns and the 102 is because one of the measures in the survey is only validated to 102. 102 also makes a nice upper limit anyhow.

Whoo. Social Sciences high five!
I wish you luck with your research. May your p values be low and your data easily replicated.

 

[Yakamaru]

Just a bit of a nitpick:

Furry FANDOM, not COMMUNITY.

Community would imply cohesion. We are nothing more than individuals with a common interest for anthropomorphic animals.

 

[Dmc10398]

Completed it, best of luck with your research. I hope you'll share your findings with us at same point in the future, I'm sure it would be a very interesting read.

 

[Troj]

Did the survey a bit ago, in fact. Good luck, Moses!

 

[quoting_mungo]

Just a bit of a nitpick:

Furry FANDOM, not COMMUNITY.

Community would imply cohesion. We are nothing more than individuals with a common interest for anthropomorphic animals.

I know you feel strongly about this, Yakamaru, but in this context I'd say "community" is appropriate; it seems the usage is similar to e.g. "local community" which in reality doesn't need to have all that much cohesion, really. However, from the point of view of the individual, the perception of being part of something could be important for mental health, and "community" catches that perception better than "fandom" would.

 

[GreenZone]

I know you feel strongly about this, Yakamaru, but in this context I'd say "community" is appropriate; it seems the usage is similar to e.g. "local community" which in reality doesn't need to have all that much cohesion, really. However, from the point of view of the individual, the perception of being part of something could be important for mental health, and "community" catches that perception better than "fandom" would.

Community killed Yakamaru's parents and he vowed to train under Samurai masters to take his revenge

 

[Moses S]

I know you feel strongly about this, Yakamaru, but in this context I'd say "community" is appropriate; it seems the usage is similar to e.g. "local community" which in reality doesn't need to have all that much cohesion, really. However, from the point of view of the individual, the perception of being part of something could be important for mental health, and "community" catches that perception better than "fandom" would.

This is exactly why I've used the term community. You are an online 'community' who interact around a shared common interest, whether or not you are cohesive. You have community discussion boards (such as we are on), community events (conventions/ furmeets) and other 'community' like links/connections. I hope this explains why I', using the term community, and I hope I haven't offended anyone.

 

[Beatle9]

Completed it. This is pretty interesting, I'm excited to see the results of this when it's finished.

Only nitpick was the sexual orientation one. The choice for "Asexual" or "no sexual attraction" was a little confusing. But that was the only issue.

 

[Yakamaru]

I know you feel strongly about this, Yakamaru, but in this context I'd say "community" is appropriate; it seems the usage is similar to e.g. "local community" which in reality doesn't need to have all that much cohesion, really. However, from the point of view of the individual, the perception of being part of something could be important for mental health, and "community" catches that perception better than "fandom" would.

If we are talking about FAF, then yes, "community" would be more appropriate, as this forum is where I spend a lot of time interacting, talking and having fun with other people. The fandom itself at large, other forums, cons, etc? Not really.

If we are talking about groups over Discord, those count as communities as well. Then yes, I would agree with you, and call it a community, as communities often have rules to follow. If you break those rules, there are consequences. The fandom itself? Nah.

This is exactly why I've used the term community. You are an online 'community' who interact around a shared common interest, whether or not you are cohesive. You have community discussion boards (such as we are on), community events (conventions/ furmeets) and other 'community' like links/connections. I hope this explains why I', using the term community, and I hope I haven't offended anyone.

No worries, mate. If ANYONE manage to rustle my jimmies I will send them $1oo as a reward for managing to offend me.
It takes a LOT to insult let alone offend me.

I'm a bit nitpicky when it comes to the terms fandom and community. Although you have communities inside the fandom, the fandom itself isn't a community, as you have a LOT of different communities inside the fandom that simply don't interact with one another. For instance, I've met people who assume I belong to a certain community because I am a Furry. An example would be fursuiting, meetups and/or cons. There is absolutely nothing wrong with assumptions, as I will simply be friendly and correct them.

An example question would be to for instance ask "Do you consider yourself to be a part of the fursuiting community?" and/or "Do you have a fursuit?". Can do the same for Fursona, meetups, cons, etc. If not, simply skip everything with fursuits, cons, meetups, Fursonas, etc.

Being in one community doesn't necessarily mean you are part of another community, which is basically the TL;DR version. The only communities I consider myself to be somewhat a part of, would be FAF and 3 on Discord.

 

[Sergei Sóhomo]

Bit odd at times with the wording, but otherwise an interesting survey.

Maybe it was included as other but would have been pretty dope to have asexual unless you're counting no sociosexual relationships/contacts as it, despite it not being it.

 

[Sivath]

I skipped a bunch of questions because I don't have a fursona.. not exactly.
I hope that's okay.

 

[Sagt]

One thing to mention is that there were some questions asking about how supportive friends and family were to us being furries, but there was no option to say something along the lines of 'I haven't told them that I'm a furry'.

Anyways, good luck with your research.

 

[Moses S]

Hey guys,

I thought I'd try give this a bump as we need just 60 more participants to hit 1000.
1000 participants gives this research serious strength and helps reduce any bias in the results.


So if you haven't yet completed the survey or know someone who hasn't could you please fill it out.

Here's the link: furryresearch.typeform.com: Furry Community - Protective Factors & Mental Health survey

I will be sharing the results as we interpret them and will post the formalize official results once all the interpretation is completed. Which should be in the next 3 months

Thanks so much!

 

[-Praydeth-]

Completed it, I find it weird that your age can only be from 16 to 102, just saying.

Yeah, If you want to take a servery observing people's mental health & how they may be at risk of suicide, as sad as it is you should include people in their youth because that is where people that are at risk of it are rampant.

 

[Sergei Sóhomo]

Yeah, If you want to take a servery observing people's mental health & how they may be at risk of suicide, as sad as it is you should include people in their youth because that is where people that are at risk of it are rampant.

If I'm not mistaken there are actually laws against conducting studies on youth

 

[Moses S]

Yeah, If you want to take a servery observing people's mental health & how they may be at risk of suicide, as sad as it is you should include people in their youth because that is where people that are at risk of it are rampant.

The ethics of doing suicide research with youth are very extensive and can be very very time consuming. It's an area that's worth researching but the time constraints of a master's deadline make it unsuitable currently.

Also The laws around child/youth research vary location to location - my university considers 16 old enough to participate without parental approval.

 

[RandomNinja11]

TFW you get error 403

ripperoni - helping someone with their work x.x

 

[Kellan Meig'h]

Something is fishy about this, y'all. Offering to get in a drawing for Amazon cards, then the survey site goes 403 forbidden? Also, the link he offers is different than the link shown in the advert. Just a bit fishy.

Can you say, "Troll?"

 

[Beatle9]

Something is fishy about this, y'all. Offering to get in a drawing for Amazon cards, then the survey site goes 403 forbidden? Also, the link he offers is different than the link shown in the advert. Just a bit fishy.

Can you say, "Troll?"

Sure would be a whole lot of effort to go into for a dumb joke, considering a full questionnaire that took around 15-30 minutes to complete was what the link directed to not too long ago. My guess is they finally got enough participants and just shut the link down.

 

[ellaerna]

Something is fishy about this, y'all. Offering to get in a drawing for Amazon cards, then the survey site goes 403 forbidden? Also, the link he offers is different than the link shown in the advert. Just a bit fishy.

Can you say, "Troll?"

1) Researchers use Amazon gift cards as compensation all the time. It's an easy thing to do when you're just sending out survey links online instead of using labs or survey sites that can automatically pay people. You offer a drawing for a large amount, ask people for an email to send it to if they win the drawing, and shoot off the winnings once the study is done. Not that weird.
2) As Beatle9 said, they probably closed the link after getting enough participants. Guy even said a few posts back that they were only 60 people away from their goal, so it's likely they finished before you got around to helping out. Closing links and shutting down surveys after data collection is done is also common practice for researchers. It just makes sense. Most studies are also pre-approved by a review board for a specific number of participants anyway, so researchers don't want to go too far over their initial goal.
3) If this is a "troll", they are doing a really lame job. Oh no, you clicked a link that did absolutely nothing! He really got you there! And everyone else in the thread must have been in on it too since they all posted about completing the survey. It's definitely all one huge conspiracy just to fuck with you. Clearly. It's the only logical explanation.

Like, fishy? I give it a weak "maybe".
Troll? Absolutely not.