Meeting 6/7

Results of the meeting with Gavin on 7/6/2007.

• Questionnaires have fundamental problems. Identify those problems and keep account of that fact while doing the research.
• It is important to keep ethics in mind when doing research. Add a statement to the questionnaire telling the questionnaire is only for 18+ and that everything will stay confidential.
• It is important to look after yourself and the people who participate in the survey. Be reflexive in everything you do. Ask yourself questions and try to find the answers to them.
• What is going to happen with the questionnaire? What are the different steps that have to be taken to insure a valid end result?
• Give the subjects the right not to answer certain questions (*Other).
• Create a specific research question from which you can draw multiple hypothesis.
• Think of the research in 3 parts: "this is what I want", "this is what i have", "this is what i learned". The most important is the first part, since it leads to the second, which ends in the third.
• Consider the option of a follow-up of the questionnaire: for example in-depth interviews. This means including the possibility at the start of the questionnaire.
• After the research is complete, which are the ways it can be taken further? Be reflexive in thinking of ways or paths which could still need more research.
• Did you get everything you wanted to find out?
• Is there a specific time people are more prone to fill in questionnaires?
• How can the results of the research be put back in the community? Website, publishing etc.

Books:

• "Cyberculture Reader" - Communities in the abstract (chapter)
• "A social history of the media"
• "Cyberplay"