Jeff Gavin

The ethics of using the internet to collect qualitative research data

The practice of conducting research online is in its infancy. Consequently there is debate concerning the ethical implications of online data collection. We outline three approaches to online data collection and focus specifically on the issues of consent and anonymity of participants. We conclude that ethical issues raised when planning and implementing online data collection are no different to those raised by more traditional approaches to data collection.

Investigating the “Self” in Deliberate Self-Harm

In this study, the authors explored how a group of young people aged 16 to 26 years (who identified themselves as having engaged in deliberate self-harm) made sense of the self by conducting two online focus groups and four e-mail interviews. They analyzed data using interpretive phenomenological analysis. The concept of validation was the primary means of making sense of the self and concerned the desire to be considered legitimate and of worth. This desire was clearly evident across three realms of conflict: (a) the intrinsic or extrinsic self, which marked the distinction between objective fact and subjective opinion; (b) the accepted or denied self; and (c) the notion of normality. It is possible that having one’s denied self validated online might lead to an exacerbation of an individual’s self-harming behavior. Further work is needed to explore the effects of online discussion forums on such taboo forms of behavior.

The relationship between Internet identification, Internet anxiety and Internet use

This paper reports a study investigating the relationship between Internet identification, Internet anxiety and Internet use. The participants were 446 students (319 females and 127 males) from two universities in the UK and one university in Australia. Measures of Internet identification and Internet anxiety were developed. The majority of participants were NOT anxious about using the Internet, although there were approximately 8% who showed evidence of Internet anxiety. There was a significant and negative relationship between Internet anxiety and Internet use. Those who were more anxious about using the Internet used the Internet less, although the magnitude of effect was small. There was a positive and significant relationship between Internet use and Internet identification. Those who scored high on the measure of Internet identification used the Internet more than those who did not. There was also a significant and negative relationship between Internet anxiety and Internet identification. Finally, males had a significantly higher Internet identification score than females. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Gender, Internet Experience, Internet Identification, and Internet Anxiety: A Ten-Year Followup

In 2002, we found gender differences in the use of the Internet. Since then, however, the Internet has changed considerably. We therefore conducted a follow-up study in 2012. The study involved 501 students (389 females and 100 males, 12 participants unspecified gender) and we measured Internet use, Internet anxiety, and Internet identification. We found that males had a greater breadth of Internet use; they used the Internet more for games and entertainment than females. The differentiation between males and females in terms of Internet use is evident, and in some ways is even more distinct than 10 years ago. In our previous research we had found no gender differences in the use of the Internet for communication, whereas in the current study we have found that females use the Internet for communication than males and were using social network sites more than males. We also found, consistent with our previous study, that Internet identification and Internet anxiety were related to Internet use.

The influence of prior relationship on perceptions of stalking in the United Kingdom and Australia

Research in the United Kingdom and Australia has produced inconsistent findings regarding the influence of the prior relationship between the perpetrator and the target on perceptions of stalking. It is unclear whether these inconsistencies represent a genuine cross-cultural difference. The current study investigates the influence of prior relationship and the nationality of participants on perceptions of stalking with a combined sample of 315 university students from the United Kingdom and Australia. Overall, perceptions failed to reflect the reality that ex-partner stalkers pose a greater threat than stranger or acquaintance stalkers. Participants were more likely to believe that behavior constituted stalking, necessitated police intervention, caused fear or apprehension, and caused mental or physical harm when the perpetrator was depicted as a stranger rather than an acquaintance or ex-partner. The direction of findings was consistent in the United Kingdom and Australia, although Australian participants perceived the perpetrator’s behavior to be more severe than did participants from the United Kingdom.

An Investigation of the Motivations Driving the Online Representation of Self-Injury: A Thematic Analysis

The objetive of the study was to identify a) the motivations for communicating about non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) in a publicly accessible online forum, b) The significance (if any) of the “publicness” of the behavior. Using a Thematic Analysis of 423 text-based posts from an online NSSI forum, 5 motivations for using the site were identified: confessional, marking a turning point, acting as a deterrent, dispelling myths and offering or seeking support. Motivations for using the site differ markedly from motivations for engaging in NSSI and tend to be more outwardly focused. The publicness of the site therefore seems to be significant in terms of bearing witness, providing the opportunity to confront negative stereotypes, and the ability to seek and offer support to like-minded individuals.

Online Dating in Japan: A Test of Social Information Processing Theory

This study examines the experiences of past and present members of a popular Japanese online dating site in order to explore the extent to which Western-based theories of computer-mediated communication (CMC) and the development of online relationships are relevant to the Japanese online dating experience. Specifically, it examines whether social information processing theory (SIPT) is applicable to Japanese online dating interactions, and how and to what extent Japanese daters overcome the limitations of CMC through the use of contextual and other cues. Thirty-six current members and 27 former members of Match.com Japan completed an online survey. Using issue-based procedures for grounded theory analysis, we found strong support for SIPT. Japanese online daters adapt their efforts to present and acquire social information using the cues that the online dating platform provides, although many of these cues are specific to Japanese social context.

Television Teen Drama and HIV/AIDS: The role of genre in audience understandings of safe sex

This study focuses on audience understandings of safe-sex messages ?contained? in television drama. It focuses on the process of audience construction of meaning; on the work that audiences engage in to understand HIV-related television messages. Data consist of 20 focus group discussions conducted subsequent to the viewing of one of two AIDS-related television programmes. Following a Shotterian approach to meaning construction, analyses of audience transcripts indicates that genre is an important hermeneutic tool shaping audience understandings of, and engaement with, health related messages. However, audience emphasis on ?the messag? works against audience engagement with this message. The message is so clearly signalled to viewers that they are able to prepare their defences against the message before it even arrives. The implications for health promotion via mass media generally are discussed.

International Perceptions of Relational Stalking The Influence of Prior Relationship, Perpetrator Sex, Target Sex, and Participant Sex

The present study examines the influence of prior relationship on perceptions of relational stalking in the context of both opposite- and same-sex scenarios using community samples from Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The study used a quasi-experimental 3 × 2 × 2 × 2 × 3 (prior relationship × perpetrator sex × target sex × participant sex × country) independent measures design. Participants comprised 2,160 members of the community, each receiving 1 of 12 versions of a hypothetical scenario and responding to scale items concerning the situation described. The findings support previous research, with scenarios involving a stranger (rather than an acquaintance or ex-partner), and scenarios involving a male perpetrator and a female target, being considered the most serious. The findings further indicate that female observers identify more closely with the role of the victim and male observers identify more closely with the role of the perpetrator, regardless of victim and perpetrator sex, and that differences in the findings across the three countries may be affected by location to a small but significant degree.

The Impact of Pathological Levels of Internet-Related Anxiety on Internet Usage

This article compares the use of the Internet during the first year of university education of students who have pathological levels of Internet anxiety with those who do not. Two hundred and sixteen first year psychology students (females 184, males 32) were surveyed for their levels of Internet-related anxiety, from which 12 (5.6%) were identified as having pathological levels (termed “technophobic”). At the beginning of the year, there were no differences in Internet usage between the two groups. However, at the end of the academic year, the non-technophobic group had increased their Internet usage, while the technophobic group had decreased their Internet usage. For the technophobic group, changes in Internet-related anxiety over the academic year correlated with changes in Internet usage. The technophobic group perceived a greater need for informal (home-based) support and formal (university-based) support than the non-technophobic group, though largely did not receive support. For the non-technophobic group, informal support was related to increased Internet usage. The decrease in usage in the technophobic group was particularly marked in those who did not receive support. Support did not impact upon changes in Internet-related anxiety. As study at university requires an increase in the use of Information Communication Technology, identification of Internet-related anxieties is crucial. Left unaddressed, this study suggests that a student experiencing pathological levels of Internet-related anxiety could become increasingly disadvantaged through their academic studies when Internet-based resources are required for study. These findings are discussed in terms of supporting technophobic students at university.