Survey

Richard

hey heres a survey a new member asked me to put up for you guys :)

Hey everyone,

My name is Matt Howard, and I am a graduate student at The Pennsylvania State University. Currently, I am researching online groups and their benefits for group members. After looking at this forum, it seems that this community would be perfect to take part in my survey. After contacting the admins and allowing them to look over the project, they agreed to let me post the survey (thanks!). So, I would be extremely appreciative if the users and members of this forum could complete the following survey:

https://pennstate.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_e4zhh6KvELpGBr7

When taking the survey, all information is confidential and anonymous. I do not record any identifying information, and there is no way for me to trace your answers back to you. Also, you must be 18 years or older, and you may stop whenever you wish. If you have any questions, please message me. When you complete the survey, a small amount of additional information is given.

Thank you for your time,
-Matt Howard

mchoward

Thanks Richard for posting this! If anyone has any questions about the survey, you can pm me on this account. I'd love to answer any questions, and I hope many of you take the survey.

Thanks again!

XWingardium_LeviosaX

Did the survey! It was really interesting, so others should do it too!

mchoward

Thanks for taking the survey and the good words!

mchoward

Hey everyone!

I still need some more people to take the survey. So, if you haven't already, I'd really appreciate if you would! Thanks!

silverarrowgriffin

I'll do this :)

mchoward

Thanks for taking the survey! I only need about 10 more responses before I can start on analyses.

mchoward

Thanks to everyone who participated in the survey! All your responses were very valuable, and certainly helped with the study. I apologize for the lengthy amount of time it’s taken for me to post the results. These things take time, and I recently had a few issues occur at work; however, those are finished now, and I had time to sit and properly analyze the data that you all provided. Here is a quick summary below. Also, in the results, “online group” refers to the community of this website.

The study was interested in two main factors. The first was whether individuals identify with this online group. The second was to understand whether membership in this online group affects a variety of outcomes.
1.) The study recorded responses from five Harry Potter fan websites, resulting In 49 participants who completed the survey.
2.) Most users identified with this online group.
3.) Users’ online group identity was significantly correlated with online group social support, how much users disclosed about themselves, how much they identified with other Harry Potter fans, and time spent with the online group.
4.) Time spent with this online group did not significantly relate to many other variables, but it did seem to negatively relate to well-being.

These results are interesting for many reasons. First, members do identify with online group. Second, a member’s online group identity had notable relationships, and inferences about how online group identity is formed can be made. Third, time spent with this online group did not have many outcomes, but it was negatively related to well-being. This is interesting, and I am unsure why this finding arose. Of course, further studies are needed before any conclusions can be made, and this will be done.

I want to thank everyone for participating. I know your time is valuable, and I really appreciate that you spent it to take the survey. If you have any questions, please ask them. I will gladly answer them. Also, if you have any ideas for future studies, please let me know about those, also. Thank you again and take care.