BellaClair Mynx Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Hello All!I am an undergraduate student at York University. My name is Lara (BellaClair Mynx in-world) and I can be contacted at leb@yorku.ca I am taking an undergrad research course. As a course requirement, I am working on a project entitled “Under Construction: Body Image and Self Representation in Virtual Worlds.” I am collecting information on how people represent themselves through their avatars in Second Life.• You will need to have Second Life open to answer some of the questions. • Additionally, you will be required to upload a headless picture of your avatar.Questions do not ask for confidential self or avatar identifying information. Your responses will only be used for this study and no future studies or commercial purposes. I am therefore asking if you would agree to participate in my research by answering the questionnaire.The questionnaire has (60) questions and should take about (10-15) minutes to complete. The survey will be conducted using SurveyGizmo, a cloud web-based survey solution. To help protect your confidentiality, all IP addresses, geo-location etc. are hidden from both me and the company.I can tell you that your response may be included in the paper I will write at the conclusion of this assignment.There are no foreseeable risks involved in participating, however some may find questions about image uncomfortable.Here is the URL should you choose to participate http://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/1505307/Under-Construction-Body-image-and-Self-Representation-in-Virtual-WorldsIf you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at leb@yorku.ca or my professor, Alistair Mapp at amapp@yorku.ca THANK YOU in advance for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigmoe Whitfield Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Suffice to say, go in world and talk heavily to people, I'm not doing this because I charge 5k L$ to do these. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenMichelle Lane Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Bella - It was my pleasure to participate in your questionnaire. I have to admit the direction you are focusing on is apparent later in the survey but still the results will be interesting. I think you need an essay portion to cover a few areas not asked about. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamoba Ferraris Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Interesting, I'll be sure to be have a go later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma Krokus Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 I would be interested to have a link to the results when your paper is finished. Emma Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syo Emerald Posted January 21, 2014 Share Posted January 21, 2014 Interesting survey. I tried to use some pretty swimmwear :matte-motes-big-grin-squint: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BellaClair Mynx Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 I appreciate your position that you charge companies to conduct research for them, and thus do not provide your time for free. This research is for fulfillment towards an undergraduate degree and not for commercial purposes.Thank you for taking the time to respond to my request, most would have just ignored, your suggestion for collecting qualitative data in the future is a good one Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BellaClair Mynx Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Thank you for taking the time to participate, and to offer suggestions. I love your suggestion for an essay portion, and I will definitely keep it in mind if I am excepted in to grad school and continue my research in more depth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BellaClair Mynx Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 I would be happy to provide you a link or a copy of the paper when it is done. I will be submitting the final paper at the end of March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BellaClair Mynx Posted January 22, 2014 Author Share Posted January 22, 2014 Thank you for taking the time to participate, I appreciate you having some fun with it :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pussycat Catnap Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Sooner or later we're going to find that almost everybody left in SL is a researcher investing the 'effects of a virtual world'... and that the zoo no longer has any animals... Its a 10-year ols crusty MMO - why go here to do your "research"? Your professor there should not have let his subscription to 'WIRED' expire back in 200-late... The world dun up and gone moved on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perrie Juran Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Pussycat Catnap wrote: Sooner or later we're going to find that almost everybody left in SL is a researcher investing the 'effects of a virtual world'... and that the zoo no longer has any animals... Its a 10-year ols crusty MMO - why go here to do your "research"? Your professor there should not have let his subscription to 'WIRED' expire back in 200-late... The world dun up and gone moved on... I've always found it fascinating that the official name is "Linden Research, d.b.a. Linden Lab." I've never read an official statement saying exactly what it is they are researching. Could it be us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tari Landar Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Perrie Juran wrote: Pussycat Catnap wrote: Sooner or later we're going to find that almost everybody left in SL is a researcher investing the 'effects of a virtual world'... and that the zoo no longer has any animals... Its a 10-year ols crusty MMO - why go here to do your "research"? Your professor there should not have let his subscription to 'WIRED' expire back in 200-late... The world dun up and gone moved on... I've always found it fascinating that the official name is "Linden Research, d.b.a. Linden Lab." I've never read an official statement saying exactly what it is they are researching. Could it be us? Could? Of course they're researching us! We're fascinating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kelli May Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 One of the best surveys I've participated in on SL, as well as a clear, infomative introduction to the research. You've avoided some of the normal elephant traps that many researchers stumble into such as calling SL a game, or not realising that multiple accounts and cross-gender avatars are common. I suspect that you've spent some time in SL itself, and BellaClair is perhaps the alt of a more established account? Either that, or you've had input from somone with experience in SL. A questionnaire can be a 'blunt little tool' for dissecting something as complex as SL, so there are criticisms I can make. male/female/not human is a rather limited choice given the variety of avatars available. There are sizable communitiess of (self-identified) shemales, gender-swappers and others who might stop at question one because there isn't an acceptable option for them. Plenty of non-humans choose a gender, too (most furries, certainly). A better choice might have been male/female/other. "Approximately how much time have you spent customizing the appearance of your PRIMARY AV in order to make it your own? " and "Approximately how many changes do you think you have made to your AV?" are amazingly difficult to quantify (for me, at least). In seven years, I've probably altered some aspect of my avatar every week, and still continue to do so. I suspect I'm not alone. I really didn't understand the second part of question 18. I think I was meant to rate the time and money spent on my alts vs my main account, but I couldn't work out how. Just as not every SL av isn't male/female/not human, not everyone identifies in RL as purely male or female. It's possible to take the survey more than once. Perhaps SurveyGizmo can sniff out likely duplicates and mark them for consideration, although normally these services block duplicate entries outright. In general, I'm not sure you appreciate how much and how often some residents change their avatars.I was happy to take part and I hope my participation and criticisms are useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dresden Ceriano Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 That was a nice survey... one of the only ones at which I've looked without thinking to myself, "How in hell am I supposed to answer such insufferably stupid/ignorant questions?" before giving up completely. ...Dres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BellaClair Mynx Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Thank you for participating, I appreciate your time and your thoughtful feedback. I have spent some time in SL though not since I returned to school last year. I will definitely incorpororate your suggestions in to future work, particularly those pertaining to gender. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BellaClair Mynx Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hi, I just wanted to clarify, I am not affiliated with Linden Labs in any way. This research is in partial fulfillment for an undergrad degree, and will not be used commercially in any way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dillon Levenque Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 BellaClair Mynx wrote: Hi, I just wanted to clarify, I am not affiliated with Linden Labs in any way. This research is in partial fulfillment for an undergrad degree, and will not be used commercially in any way. LOL. We knew that, Bella! Nobody from Linden Lab EVER posts in this Forum these days. Thus you're either not a Linden or working deep undercover (and you can count on the forumites to never betray a trust and call you out). Just for the record it is Linden Lab, not 'Linden Labs'. Trust me that it's important to know that. You've been very clear and very straightforward with this whole thing and I may even go against type and fill out the survey as best I can, but even if I don't I must tell you it's refreshing to see someone present a survey properly, as (in my opinion anyway) you have. We get a few good ones; we get a ton of bad ones. Nice to see a good one, and I hope you write a good paper. If you get a good mark, even better. edited to remove a duplicated personal pronoun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dresden Ceriano Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Dillon Levenque wrote: Just for the record it is Linden Lab, not 'Linden Labs'. Trust me that it's important to know that. Only because some people here think it's rather amusing to point out when someone erroneously adds an 's' to the end of Linden Lab, as if no one could possibly understand what entity they're referencing... which is, in my opinion, quite childish. You should take the survey when you've got the spare time, it was rather refreshingly well done, comparatively. Just be careful of #18, which, should you mark anything other than that you have no alts, activates a sub-question that is simply unanswerable. (I just marked that I had no alts to avoid it altogether.) ...Dres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BellaClair Mynx Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Thank you for your participation, and kind words about the survey. I too hope to do well. If you wishe a final copy of my paper just email me, I haven't offered it as an option, in order to maintain confidentiality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BellaClair Mynx Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 :-) yes rereading question 18b I see the confusion, I can't change it now that the survey is in progress, but will account for it in by discussion at the end of my paper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dresden Ceriano Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 BellaClair Mynx wrote: :-) yes rereading question 18b I see the confusion, I can't change it now that the survey is in progress, but will account for it in by discussion at the end of my paper. I applaud you for creating a halfway mostly decent survey with which to present to those of us in this forum who've had to endured having seen inane survey after inane survey cross our eyes for years now. I do hope that you will share your findings with us, simply because I'd be very interested to know why anyone would be interested enough in us SL inhabitants to think it's perfectly alright to treat us as fu(king Guinea pigs. ...Dres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BellaClair Mynx Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 I would be happy to share the paper, it will be submitted at the end of March. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pussycat Catnap Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 Dresden Ceriano wrote: Dillon Levenque wrote: Just for the record it is Linden Lab, not 'Linden Labs'. Trust me that it's important to know that. Only because some people here think it's rather amusing to point out when someone erroneously adds an 's' to the end of Linden Lab, as if no one could possibly understand what entity they're referencing... which is, in my opinion, quite childish. We could always start calling them Linden Labradors or Linden Labz instead. Linden Labels? Linden Labotomy? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dresden Ceriano Posted January 24, 2014 Share Posted January 24, 2014 Pussycat Catnap wrote: Dresden Ceriano wrote: Dillon Levenque wrote: Just for the record it is Linden Lab, not 'Linden Labs'. Trust me that it's important to know that. Only because some people here think it's rather amusing to point out when someone erroneously adds an 's' to the end of Linden Lab, as if no one could possibly understand what entity they're referencing... which is, in my opinion, quite childish. We could always start calling them Linden Labradors or Linden Labz instead. Linden Labels? Linden Labotomy? Lol... the last one fits the best. ...Dres Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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