I can see this requires some more explanation: here is the short version.

Current Mood: optimistic

Greetings!
My students and colleagues have been working very hard to prepare our study for this year's Anthrocon.
I would greatly value and appreciate your suggestions regarding the following:

We are planning to distribute the survey the same way we did last year, in the con bags and also put an ad in the con book asking people to take the survey.  Are there other suggestions you might have?

We will again provide a lovely pawprint ribbon to everyone who turns in a survey.

We want to encourage more people who are NOT FURRY to take the survey. These folks as you know from reading this site serve as a valuable comparison group. Any suggestions, in addition to making a more explicit appeal to them  in our ad and informed consent/cover letter?

At this point the survey is about 6 letter size pages long (one sided pages). We are guessing it might take 20-30 minutes to complete. We are worried that this may be too long, but we are hopeful that the folks who care enough to participate will take the time to do the survey thoughtfully.

We are again going to have a lottery for gift certificates for all those who turn in a survey. This year we are going to do one $20 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble per every 100 surveys submitted. Does that seem like a good incentive?

Our most unusual aspect of the study this year is to ask folks when they turn the survey in to allow us to photocopy their hands, we will have a photocopy machine on site and I have several assistants so I do not think it will take very long. There is solid biological/psychological research that makes this an important aspect of the study.   We will be providing a cute  colorful set of either paw print or little animal stickers for people's finger tips (person's choice)(so the fingerprints cannot be read from the photocopy thus keeping people's data anonymous) and the person will get to keep the stickers which will be a nice decoration for their con badge.  Do you think people will allow us to do this? Of course all participation is voluntary.
Would participants want to keep a copy of their hand photocopy?
Thanks for any comments and suggestions....see you in June! :)

Tags: furry research for june 2008
Current Mood: curious

Today at Mass. I am a cantor!

Tags: hpmusic2, last sang, what do you have to say?, writer's block

 

To summarize, I would say what most clearly jumps out from the personality survey is the higher scores the furries have in the Aesthetic Appreciation, Unconventionality, and Creativity areas.

Furries are a bit less extraverted than the controls, but do not score as a group on the extreme introversion end of the scale.

Finally in the area of the personality disorder traits, there are not many large differences between the two groups, and for most of the PD items both groups see themselves as NOT having those traits(mean scores are below the mid-point of the 7 point scale).  Please let me know if you have questions! Thank you!
I was unable to post the whole PD table here... the table below has the remaining non significant items and the mean of the furry group in (  ). The student control means were similar...Live Journal does not like big tables sorry!

#1 has relationship problems   (3.30) ns

#3 problems  paying attention  (3.73) ns

#6 anxious/tense (3.95) ns

#8 egotistical  (2.47 )ns

#10 depressed/helpless (2.51) ns

#12 impulsive/reckless (3.39) ns

#16 sensitive  (5.51) ns

#23 blames others (2.66) ns

#32 controlling/manipulative (2.86) ns

#34 have hallucinations& / or delusions (1.99) ns

#37 self-absorbed (2.89 )ns

#40 emotionally unstable  (2.64) ns

#43 hostile (2.18) ns

#45 jealous  (3.10 )ns

Current Mood: tired

 Reminder read the statistical info on the first of today's posts.

The PD items are various problem behaviors which are associated in certain patterns with personality disorders. (You will recall in the 2006 study, college student controls were more likely to perceive these traits as being typical of college students, than were furries to see these traits as typical of furries.) Please  note this survey does NOT measure personality disorders!

This time the responses were self-report...describe yourself, not describe the typical furry (or college student).

For 14 of the 19 traits there is no significant difference between the two groups, this includes one trait which was nearly significant.

 

For five of these items there is a significant difference between furries and college student controls, see mini table here.

 

#19 deceitful	PD	furry	2.50	.020
		control	2.89
#21 suspicious/distrustful	PD	furry	3.26	.005
		control	2.72
#25 self-critical	PD	furry	5.65	.021
		control	5.31
#28 aloof/isolated	PD	furry	3.62	.000
		control	2.75
#30 odd or unusual thoughts re daily situations	PD	furry	5.41	.000
		control	4.11

 

The only items that are above the mid-point of the scale are "odd or unusual thoughts about daily situations" and "self-critical", for both of these both furries and control group see that trait as being  above the mid point and furries score higher them than the college controls. 

For two of the remaining three items, the furries see themselves as being more like those traits(suspicious/distrustful and aloof/isolated)  than the college controls, but the mean is still below the mid point of the scale. For the final statistically significant trait (deceitful) the furries score significantly lower than the college student controls, but again both groups are considerably lower than the mid point of the scale.

 (The Live journal space does not permit me to upload the whole 19 item table...if you want it let me know).

 Reminder be sure to read the statistical info in the first personality post for today.

For one of the Big Five personality items which measure Agreeableness (A-) the furries score significantly lower than the controls, meaning they see themselves as less critical/quarrelsome than the college students see themselves.

 

For one of the Big Five personality Items which measure Openness to Experience (O-) the furries are significantly more open (they are NOT conventional and uncreative relative to the controls).

#27 critical quarrelsome	A(-)	furry	3.30	.011
		control	3.73
#29 sympathetic/warm	A	furry	5.46	ns
		control	5.52
#9 open to new experience	O	furry	5.78	ns
		control	5.68
#44 conventional/uncreative	O(-)	furry	2.15	.012
		control	2.53

Neither of the Big Five Items on Conscientiousness is significant, though one (C-) is approaching significance.

The furries do not differ significantly from the controls on either Big Five item (ES and ES-) on Emotional Stability.  (Live journal is not liking all my tables, the table with these non-signifcant results may make this post too big to enter).

 

#14dependable/self disciplined	C	furry	5.52	ns
		control	5.76
#22disorganized careless