I did a survey at last years AusDWcon and I had a lot of comments about some of the questions. As I took the questions from an existing scale developed by psychologists I now need to come up with an explanation of why it didn't seem to work in the context. As part of this I'd like the help of anyone who's willing to do a quick exercise in grouping. If you can pm me I'll send you through the stuff. At this point I need people by themselves answering but after I get a few responses (if any) I'll put the same thing on the board and everyone can have a go. I just can't have one persons groups influencing someone elses groups at this stage...
Thanks guys. All pms have been responded to. It turns out I can't attach in pm so I've had to upload the document and then link it. Let me know if there are any problems. For those that think they will struggle to upload their finished doc, just email it to me at toni.eagar@anu.edu.au*. Thanks again *I know people avoid putting their email on the internet because it then goes onto every spamming database everywhere but as my email is already all over the internet it can't get any worse... But I do so love getting emails for penis enlargement, viagra and russian brides. All of which are incredibly useful to me
Mazekin did you know you seem to have turned your pm off so you I can't pm you? This is an interesting turn of events which I don't know how you do... but just thought you'd want to know.
THanks - I'm having trouble with the darned thing - not quite a technaphobe, but I do have moments when I am incredibly dense. It should be working now...sorry...
I think I've got a reply from nearly everyone I sent the stuff out to. And it was all greatly appreciated... So this is the all in challenge. Below is the statements as they were grouped by the psychologists with the type of fan they apparently represent. In as serious or unserious way as you like discuss these groups and whether you would agree/disagree or if you would regroup them... Entertainment-Social 1. My friends and I like to discuss what Terry Pratchett has done. 2. One of the main reasons I maintain an interest in Terry Pratchett is that doing so gives me a temporary escape from my life’s problems. 3. I enjoy watching, reading, or listening to Terry Pratchett because it means a good time. 4. I love to talk to others who admire Terry Pratchett. 5. When something bad happens to Terry Pratchett I feel like it happened to me. 6. Learning the life story of Terry Pratchett is a lot of fun. 7. It is enjoyable to be with others who like Terry Pratchett. 8. When Terry Pratchett fails or loses at something I feel like a failure myself. 9. I like watching and hearing about Terry Pratchett when I am in a large group of people. 10. Keeping up with the news about Terry Pratchett is an entertaining pastime Intense-Personal 11. If I were to meet Terry Pratchett in person, he would already somehow know that I am his biggest fan. 12. I share with Terry Pratchett a special bond that cannot be described in words. 13. I am obsessed by details of Terry Pratchett’s life. 14. When something good happens to Terry Pratchett I feel like it happened to me. 15. I have pictures and/or souvenirs of Terry Pratchett, which I always keep, in exactly the same place. 16. The successes of Terry Pratchett are my successes also. 17. I consider Terry Pratchett to be my soul mate. 18. I have frequent thoughts about Terry Pratchett, even when I don’t want to. 19. When Terry Pratchett dies I will feel like dying too. Borderline-Pathological 20. I often feel compelled to learn the personal habits of Terry Pratchett. 21. If I was lucky enough to meet Terry Pratchett, and he asked me to do something illegal as a favour, I would probably do it. 22. If someone gave me several thousand dollars to do with as I please, I would consider spending it on a personal possession (like a napkin or paper plate) once used by Terry Pratchett.
#s 5, 8, and 14 seem like they should be in the same grouping. It is my personal assumption that they would both be in the personal group. And 19 feels like it could go in either the personal or pathological group.
I pretty much agree with Nate. I could happily move a handful from each category down to the next category, but maybe I'm just being very English!
I don't think 15 fits into the intense-personal category. The other statements have to do with identifying yourself with Terry. Collecting things is a pretty normal acitvity and doesn't imply that. I think 20 and 22 could also go with intense-personal. It's not clear to me what separates the borderline-pathological from the intense-personal. Edit: 5 and 8 also go with intense-personal. I'm curious how the psychologists defined each grouping.
Marcia, I think that what Spiky is addressing is that the person has a dedicated shrine to Pratchett. I think it's more than just having some discworld nicknacks that one would place on a shelf in the the living room.
Me too! What degrees of fanaticism are we talking about here? I feel that if I had the definitions I might be able to be of some use... For example in the entertainment - social section, the wording of some of the statements makes me think they should be in another section For example: 4. I love to talk to others who admire Terry Pratchett. Here the words love and admire makes me think this should be in the intense personal section. At the moment I think that #s 5, 8 , 14 & 19 should be in the same group. Probably pathological. #20 pathological - if someone wants to know which hand Terry wipes his arse with they definitely have a problem! Also #19 to remain in the pathological section. I can understand someone committing certain crimes to protect their children, but not at an author's request. Will have to think some more.... Is the entertainment - social section meant to indicate an average joe with an interest in Terry, or with more than an 'normal interest'?
The items were taken from an English study so Grace you can't be too English in this case. However, they are based on a number of studies where the number of items was reduced from 34 to 22. i just used the 22 item version because I'm not trying to diagnose people and too many questions wears people out. So the categories mean the following: Entertainment-Social Considered the lowest level of celebrity worship. This reflects the social aspects of being a fan and the celebrity's ability to entertain and capture attention. Intense-Personal This is an internediate level of celebrity worship. This type of fan reflects intensive and compulsive feelings about a celebrity... often ascribed to fans who exhibit obsessional tendencies. Borderline-Pathological An extreme form of celebrity worship, but it is not a proper basket case stalker type fan but they are close. So it represents the pathological worshipping of a celebrity to the exclusion of other 'real' social relationships. I hope this helps. And yes i agree with everyone hear that 5 and 8 don't seem to sit with the first group very well. Nearly all of the post-survey stuff I've done supports this.
I would have thought that most of Pratchett's readers are fans of Discworld rather than fans of Terry Pratchett.
Yeah, I kind of get that feeling too, Terry isn't one for putting himself in the limelight much, it's more about the books... Also, Grace can always be more English than something. Grace is more English than a bowler hat.
tee hee. But Grace would look good in a bowler, it would prove her Brittishness. And you do realise that my whole thesis is around how your obsession/commitment/appreciation (or insert your own word here) of Discworld is influenced or improved by Terry Pratchett? If he does nothing what have i been spending the last 3 years on? Oh woe is me. :sad: and Bob.
Bit of fun... The British pride themselves on proper etiquette, well in bygone eras, not so sure 'bout today! Many people think British = English, and with this thought, this came to mind: BBC NEWS | Magazine | Midweek quiz: Etiquette Think Nobby Nobbs would do well!:surprised: Apologies for going off track Spiky - erm (thinking quickly*) no Pterry no Discworld?!:shock: or not as we know it eh captain?irate: I'll shut up now shall I? (stupid question, yeah just shut up) *not advisable - for me anyhow
This seems to be a semantic issue. Some people use the word "love" more easily others. I don't see anything strange about saying "I love pizza"; it doesn't mean I want to do sexual things with pizza. This may also be why I didn't see anything odd about collecting Terry Pratchett things. I think people may be making assumptions about what the statements actually mean based on what categories they think they could be in, rather than vice versa. Thus, the assumption that the collection = a shrine, even though the sentence doesn't state that.
It is a semantic issue, but at the time of writing I was basing my thoughts on how I felt, not on the definitions provided by Spiky. For example I like to talk to other people, some people I just love to talk to. I love most chocolate, but only like cadbury's! I love the Discworld series as a whole, but only liked Johnny and the Dead Are they actually items relating to Terry? Besides the books, I have a few other things relating to the Discworld, produced by others (with Terry's permission (except books)), but nothing of Terry's. As Buzzfloyd stated most readers of Terry are fans of the Discworld series, not the man himself. I agree that the category titles can affect how people respond to the questions. However the questions are aimed at how you feel towards Terry Pratchett - the man, and how news of his life affects you. For example the news of Terry's health, saddened me. As would hearing of anyone else who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's, or any other serious illness. Spiky has her work cut out - Although the Discworld is a creation of Terry's, and what has influenced/inspired him, the Discworld is not Terry. One of my other favourite authors has retired. But she passed her mantle on to her son - who is continuing the series she started.
Regarding the Like/Love issue, I work in Research, and something that has come up for the discussion is the fact that some people are just express things more emphatically than others. For example, if you have a rating scale which includes "Agree" and "Strongly Agree", there are some people who will put "Strongly Agree" for everything they agree with and some people who will never say "Strongly Agree" no matter how strongly they feel about someting. So the results will show that the "Strongly Agree" people are much more passionate about something than the "Agree" people, but that isn't necessarily the case; their answers reveal more about how they choose to express themselves than about how they feel about the subject.
Yeah, those type of surveys are flawed by people picking only the extremes of a yes/no answer out of laziness.
Indeedy! One thing I have noticed is that many people tend to use the word love instead of like, so when they do feel more strongly about something they would say 'really love...'; or 'I really really love...'. A bit of a bug bear with me, especially when a stranger uses it towards me. I worked with a girl who loved everything, and had did everything too - nice lass, but I couldn't stand her once she opened her mouth! PS I sometimes just tick agree - if I canny be arsed thinking to much about the survey! Get it over & done with, like....irate: Another dislike of mine - folk who end sentences with the word like. Eh? Add to that 'know what I mean', and 'but'. My cousin has a habit of using but. But what? really winds him up when I ask for what comes after the but!
Most of the time, when I read "strongly agree" on a survey I automatically switch it to mean "never disagree". And "strongly disagree" becomes "never agree". I hate surveys for that particular reason. A twenty question survey can take me fifteen minutes to complete, because I keep thinking over the question/statement and trying to gauge my personal idea about it. I always try to answer survey as correctly as possible, or else I just don't take them if I don't feel they deserve the time.
Yes surveys have many a flaw. When i was doing interviews one of the questions I asked was on a scale of 1 to 7, one being fan and 7 being fanatic how do you see yourself and why... I very rarely got someone who said I am 5... most people would say I'm 1 to 2, 3 to 4 etc. Surveys make people chose a number where most people see themselves as vassilating between states depending on the situation*... I prefer qualitative research, the online chats and interviews to surveys but for my thesis I needed to check whether this scale was appropriate. And yes my findings support that people are a fan of Discworld rather than Terry personally. But he does add something otherwise the queues to his book signings wouldn't be as long and the crowds wouldn't turn up to hear him speak everywhere. Its this dichotomy that I'm trying to unravel... Right now I feel I'm choking in the threads. *This is my opinion and not based on any research or validated by any other study.
Well, if he was conveniently located, I'd turn up to hear him speak because he's funny, and I like to laugh.
Sorry to do this again but I need some more help in understanding the results from my survey. Answer what you like but all the help I can get is greatly appreciated. Which is the best group of questions to represent your identification with the Discworld fan community and why? Keep in mind that questions asked in the negative (the ones marked with *) get reversed in the analysis, so that get counted as positive. Group A I have a lot in common with other Discworld fans. I feel strong ties to other Discworld fans. I find it difficult to form a bond with other Discworld fans.* Group B Overall, being a Discworld fan has very little to do with how I feel about myself.* In general, being a Discworld fan is an important part of my self-image. The fact that I am a Discworld fan rarely enters my mind.* Group C I often regret that I am a Discworld fan.* I don’t feel good about being a Discworld fan.*
Whichever. It can go on the board or if you don't want people to know what your thinking just PM me... It's been a little empty lately
I was about to send you a PM, but then I got confused :tongue: ... What do you mean when you say that questions get reversed in the analysis? BTW, please disregard this altogether if you no longer need the survey results!
Basically it means that questions asked in the negative way, i.e. I don't feel or I feel bad are scored on the same 1-5 scale as the positive questions. So for all questions to be analysed the answers to the negative questions get reversed so 5 becomes 1 and 1 becomes 5... Essentially it means that the questions actually means I do like and I feel good... Does that make more sense?
